fertilecelluloid Review of Trip with the Teacher

Trip with the Teacher (1975)

A trip worth taking, despite the low nudity quotient

[7/10 · 26 September 2008]

"Trip With The Teacher" won me over with some intelligent writing and strong performances. A bunch of high school seniors (in short skirts) and their teacher are taking a trip through the desert in a yellow school bus. When the bus breaks down, three bikers pull up to help themselves to the girls. One of the bikers is kind-hearted, but the other two, led by the totally schizo Zalman King, are definitely not interested in getting the bus back on the road. A threatening cloud of rape hangs over the situation as the nasty bikers allow their primal urges to run rampant. Looking and sounding like a porno movie, this fine piece of exploitation didn't push the envelope as far as I wanted it to (which is all the way), but it did stay focused on delivering the essentials. The nudity quotient is surprisingly low, as is the sexual violence, but the menacing mood compensates somewhat for the conservative choices of director Earl Barton. Thankfully, some of the girls do strip down to their cotton panties in one scene where they are attempting to create a diversion, so we do get an ounce of titillation. King, looking like a young Marjoe Gortner, rules the desert with his unhinged, troubled, psycho performance. The other actors fall into the good enough category. This would have made a great XXX-rated roughie along the lines of the Japanese "White Rose Campus -- Then, Everybody Gets Raped", but it is what it is, and that ain't half bad.