Crappy film

Absolutely Fantastic

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Uptight nerdette Karen (cute Diane Hull) and her more uninhibited gal pal Debbie (the equally adorable Kathleen Cody) are a couple of teenage gals who decide to hit the road in search of fun, boys, and thrills. The ladies visit a hippie encounter group on the beach and give a lift to troubled Vietnam veteran Will (a solid and credible performance by Michael Ontkean), who might just be the serial killer who's been terrorizing the area.Director Thomas J. Schmidt keeps the engrossing story moving along at a brisk pace, nicely captures the breezy'n'easy carefree mindset of the main adolescent protagonists, and pulls off a surprising tonal shift halfway through the picture, with things starting out pretty light and merry before becoming more increasingly dark and serious as the narrative unfolds towards a startlingly violent and ambiguous conclusion. Hull and Cody register as fetching and appealing leads; they receive sturdy support from Ralph Waite as charismatic guru John (who comes on to the underage Karen!), John McMurty as loopy oddball The Maker, Pamela Serpe as far-out chick Frances, Richard Grayling as a killjoy motorcycle cop, and Rigg Kennedy as laid-back guitar player Chip. Look fast for Uschi Digard as a bikini-clad babe on the beach. David M. Walsh's bright cinematography gives this film an attractive sunny look and makes the most out of the picturesque locations. Tom McIntosh's groovy score does the right-on harmonic trick. A nifty little time capsule of the early 1970's.

Girls On the Road has absolutely no socially redeeming value, but it is incredibly entertaining. Dianne Hull and Kathleen Cody star as Karen and Debbie, a pair of just out of high school waifs who drive off in their station wagon for a life of adventure on the road. First order of business: taking their bras off and wiggling their breasts around! Ah, freedom at last! But things take a turn for the wacky when the youngsters pick up hitchhiking veteran Will (Michael Ontkean), who's on his way back to a Big Sur commune run by future congressional candidate Ralph Waite. Activities at the commune revolve around spouting the most egregious psycho babble whilst sitting in a circle holding hands, and this soon attracts the interest of rejected ugly duckling Debbie. Meanwhile, Karen and Will are in the early stages of a budding romance, but their beachside strolls are disturbed by the local serial killer, who enjoys strangling young women. There are plenty of red herrings, flashbacks galore (complete with distorted camera angles), some truly awful clothing and hair cuts, and one of the worst folk-pop songs of the era--and that's saying a lot! Top quality garbage that will have your jaw repeatedly hanging open.

Seeing Ralph waite, the father on The Waltons, play a hippie who runs a commune and hits on 17-year-olds is worth the price of this baby! Plus, you gotta see his sideburns! The plot is no worse than any other road movie, and this is one of many, many female road movies that came before Thelma and Louise and gets no credit.

Saw this one late one night on television in Sweden, and went on watching, mostly because of Michael Ontkean. It's supposedly a thriller about two hitch-hiking girls. But this movie is just hilarious, with bizarre flashbacks, a freaky hippie community, and an ending that makes you wonder whether they had a script writer at all. A must-see for lover of bad films. You'll get at lot of laughs.