Monday, March 15, 2021

The Hitchhikers, Nude Bandits

Vicious and brutal.  Alluring and prurient.  Heartbreaking and madcap.  Before there was "'Gator Bait," Ferd and Beverly Sebastian brought us 1972's "The Hitchhikers."  There will be skinny-dipping and pre-marital sex.  There will be nude frolicking and cat-fights (some, incredibly vicious).  There will be beer drinking and illegal drugs.  Misty Rowe delivers a tour-de-force performance as a fun loving, tragic heroine.  We might be cheering for the sexy hitchhikers but their crime spree will be brutal, and in another film, may be considered heartless or psychopathic.  But...let us have some frivolous fun today as we delve into this classic exploitation film. 

Maybe under-aged Maggie (Rowe) gets knocked up and thrown out.  Humiliated and pregnant, she hits the road for L.A.  Hitchhiking gets her only so far.  She'll be robbed by another babe hitchhiker, Diane (Linda Avery).  Now with no money, she's picked up by a sexual predator.  She'll be raped and cast out.  Hustling and robbing, Maggie is rescued by hippie Benson (Nick Klar).  He brings her to his free love colony in an out of the way ghost town.  Benson wants her to join his band of sexy highwaymen (women actually).  Uh oh...Diane is there.  Maggie attacks Diane and Diane kicks the living s**t out of Maggie.  In fact, Diane pummels Maggie so bad, she kills Maggie's baby.  Some of this film will be difficult to watch.

Maggie recovers and joins the crime spree.  Benson and his chicks are robbers.  The gals hitchhike and when middle-aged motorists stop for them, the gang robs them of all their valuables.  Maggie will fit right in.  Diane isn't done.  She sees Maggie and Benson falling in love.  More cat-fights will ensue and Benson and Maggie will have a lot of pre-marital sex.  More robberies by the roadside and some skinny-dipping, beer parties, and drunken revelry ensue.  As Diane realizes Maggie is the new object of obsession for Benson, she and Maggie will have a moment of truth.  As Maggie gets more and more hardened and depraved, more and more middle-aged men will be stripped of their cash and valuables.

Will Maggie and Diane ever have a cat-fight to the death?  Will a "Bonnie and Clyde" or a "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" ending await Benson and his sexy gang? Will any of these nubile cast members find a future in the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling?  Some of this film may be hard to watch, but there is enough frivolity, nudity, and Misty Rowe to ultimately make this a fun film...though you will probably not mention you saw it in mixed company.  For an important early 1970s exploitation film, see "The Hitchhikers."

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