by Stephen Vagg
One of the most unexpectedly resilient movie genres over the years has been the “three girls” movie – tales about the adventures of three girls (or four – it varies), always romantic and professional, sometimes melodramatic, sometimes comic, usually set in a big city.
Three girls movies first came to notice in the 1920s and 1930s with a series of films about “flappers” in the big city, such as Sally, Mary and Irene, Our Dancing Daughters, The Greeks Had a Word for Them and Three on a Match. The core of the appeal of these were romance and (to be blunt) sex: doing a story with three female protagonists meant the women could have a variety of experiences, good and bad; there would be a woman who got married and boring, like so many female characters in other movies of the time, but you could also have some who bucked societal norms and went a little wild. Yes, the latter typically had to be “punished” in some way, via an overdose or assault, but they could at least have some fun until then, and audiences appreciated the variety of experiences they could vicariously enjoy.
The popularity of three girl movies declined in the late ‘30s and through the ‘40s, only to re-emerge in the 1950s with glossy tales such as How to Marry a Millionaire, Three Coins in the Fountain, The Best of Everything and Where the Boys Are. These movies formalised the template of the genre: three/four contrasting types who would each have their own romance, mixed with dollops of comedy or tragedy depending on whether it was a romcom or melodrama. There were male versions of the genre too such as The Interns and (in Britain) Doctor in the House.
By the late 1960s, the three girl movie was going strong, with the huge box office success of The Valley of the Dolls showing that there was still money to be made if the content was up to date to societal trends (with Beyond the Valley of the Dolls pushing things even further). Then in 1969 came The Stewardesses, which applied the three girl philosophy to stewardesses and added softcore sex, resulting in large grosses. Thus begat 1970’s The Student Nurses.
The Student Nurses was one of the first movies from New World Pictures, a production company established by Roger Corman after he broke off with AIP. One of Corman’s original partners, Larry Woolner, thinking of the popularity of The Stewardesses and The Babysitter thought there might be money in a film about sexy nurses and Corman agreed, allocating the project to the husband-and-wife team of Stephanie Rothman and Charles Swartz. This duo had worked on a number of movies for Corman, including Beach Ball, Track of the Vampire, Queen of Blood, It’s a Bikini World and Gas! Corman gave them the brief, emphasised the need for violence and nudity to sell it, then went off to direct Von Richthofen and Brown in Ireland, giving his filmmakers freedom (as he was want to do).
Rothman and Swartz came up with a tale of four different student nurses who share a house together: blonde ditzy Phred (Karen Carlson) falls for a sexy doctor, Jim (Lawrence Casey); free spirited Priscilla (Barbara Leigh) has an affair with a drug-selling biker (Richard Rust) who impregnates her, then shoots though; serious Sharon (Elaine Giftos) forms a relationship with a terminally ill patient (Darrell Larson); while Latina Lynn (Brioni Farrell) falls for a labour activist (Reni Santoni).
Swartz produced, Rothman directed while Don Spencer wrote the script from their story. The best-known cast member is probably Remi Santoni who was Clint Eastwood’s partner in Dirty Harry although you might vaguely recognise the girls from various television guesties and the odd feature: Elaine Giftos was in Corman’s Gas! for instance, while Leigh was in Junior Bonner, Carlson in The Candidate and Farrell in Hell River (under her real name Xenia Gratsos).
The result was an absolutely terrific piece of feminist exploitation. The Student Nurses has everything Corman requested and more: nudity, character conflict, attractive performers, socially progressive attitudes, left-wing viewpoint, a bit of action and lots of sex. The four leads are all different character types, but all are in charge of their own destinies and support each other; they know the importance of friendship, a good root and a job with a career, make their own decisions, fight their own battles, and argue their own positions. Yes, they lend each other clothes in the living room to justify nudity, but two of them also arrange an abortion for the third, two console one whose lover dies, and none of them squabble over the same guy. At the end of the movie, three of the women are single, while the fourth goes on the run – all of them by choice. The male characters aren’t demonised, incidentally – some let down the women, others are supportive – it’s just pro-women.
The standout sequence concerns Priscilla’s decision to have an abortion. Rothman takes us through the steps – trying to get permission from an unsympathetic hospital board, a sympathetic female doctor advises her to “have a safe one,” Sharon and Lynn arrange for Jim to perform the procedure at home, which upsets Phred who is pro-life, but she doesn’t take it out on Priscilla, instead she’s angry at Jim and goes and seduces Jim’s friend. This is all excellent drama – the conflict is grounded, strong, and character driven, the stakes are huge. It’s an outstanding sequence that still hasn’t received its due critically.
The Student Nurses is not perfect – some of the acting is variable, there are consent issues with the doctor having sex with Phred who thinks she’s sleeping with Jim, the running time feels padded with shots of women walking through fields listening to music, etc. – but the whole film has tremendous verve and energy. It’s refreshingly sex positive – Phred is never punished for her sexual appetites, and Leigh’s sex scene on the beach while tripping is genuinely hot. It’s also gloriously late ‘60s, with love-ins, concerts in the park, and street theatre, and the end of the movie has Lynn on the run to help the revolution with a gun in the glove compartment, and Sharon ships off to Vietnam. The theme song got stuck in our head and wouldn’t leave for several days. It’s Stephanie Rothman’s best film (although she made far too few to get a proper sample size).
The Student Nurses was a big hit at the box office – costing around $120,000, it made a million dollars. A new cycle was launched…
