''The Student Teachers'' is a 1973 film directed by

Jonathan Kaplan Jonathan Kaplan (born November 25, 1947) is an American film producer and director. His film '' The Accused'' (1988) earned actress Jodie Foster an Oscar for Best Actress and was nominated for the Golden Bear at the 39th Berlin Internation ...

. It was inspired by the "nurse" cycle of pictures starting with ''

The Student Nurses ''The Student Nurses'' is a 1970 American film directed by Stephanie Rothman. It was the second film from New World Pictures and the first in the popular "nurses" cycle of exploitation movies. It has since become a cult film. Plot Four young women ...

'' (1970). Roger Corman says it was one of the best of the cycle.

Plot

Three new high school teachers use unconventional methods to get through to their students. Rachel teaches after-school sex education; Tracey gets involved with nude photography; Jody recruits a former drop out to help with a half-way house and gets involved with a drug ring.

Cast

Production

Development and writing

Jon Davison says a script was apparently written by

Stephanie Rothman Stephanie Rothman (born November 9, 1936, in Paterson, New Jersey) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter, known for her low-budget independent exploitation films made in the 1960s and 1970s, especially ''The Student Nurses'' (1 ...

and Charles S. Swartz, but no one who worked on the film ever saw it. A draft was written by Kaplan and Danny Opatoshu, but Corman asked for it to be rewritten. It was shot in 15 days for under $100,000, including three days shooting at the Paramount Ranch. Corman removed a number of jokes from the final chase sequence so it was played straighter. Kaplan later said "When I looked at the filmographies of the directors I admired, I noticed that they made a hell of a lot of movies before they made a good one. And I made the decision consciously to make as many movies as I could in as short a period of time as I could"

Casting

The lead was written for Patti Byrne who was in Kaplan's earlier '' Night Call Nurses'' but she did not commit and the role ended up being played by Susan Damante. Kaplan's sister Nora Heflin and mother Frances Heflin are in the cast and share a scene together.

Chuck Norris Carlos Ray "Chuck" Norris (born March 10, 1940) is an American martial artist and actor. He is a black belt in Tang Soo Do, Brazilian jiu jitsu and judo. After serving in the United States Air Force, Norris won many martial arts championshi ...

plays the small role of the karate advisor.Jon Davison on ''The Student Teachers''
at

Trailers From Hell ''Trailers from Hell'' (branded as ''Trailers from Hell!'') is a web series in which filmmakers discuss and promote individual movies through commenting on their trailers. While the series emphasizes horror, science fiction, fantasy, cult, and expl ...

Critical responses

Writing in the

Chicago Reader The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative weekly newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. It was founded by ...

, film critic

Dave Kehr David Kehr (born 1953) is an American museum curator and film critic. For many years a critic at the '' Chicago Reader'' and the ''Chicago Tribune,'' he later wrote a weekly column for ''The New York Times'' on DVD releases. He later became a ...

described the film as "an ugly, exploitative downer," but that director Kaplan "puts some infectious high spirits into the incidental action ..it seems a shame when the film is forced to stop every 10 or 15 minutes so the three lead actresses can take off their shirts." Critic Tyler Foster wrote in

DVD Talk DVD Talk is a home video news and review website launched in 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman. History Kleinman founded the site in January 1999 in Beaverton, Oregon. Besides news and reviews, it features information on hidden DVD features known as ...

that the film was "a slog" and that "there's not enough of a connection between teaching and mobsters to justify shoehorning this material into the film."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Student Teachers 1973 films Films directed by Jonathan Kaplan New World Pictures films American high school films Films produced by Julie Corman 1970s sex comedy films 1973 comedy films American sex comedy films 1970s English-language films 1970s American films