Teenage Mother (1967)

Director: Jerry Gross

Starring: Arlene Farber, Frederick Riccio, Fred Willard, Julie Ange, Howard Le May, George Peters, Matt Reynolds, Lynne Lipton

More info: IMDb

Tagline: The Film That Dares To Explain What Most Parents Can't ...

Plot: A new health teacher in a high school is nearly raped by drug-dealing students and is blamed when a student turns up pregnant.

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again? Nope.

#17 on 42nd Street Forever Vol. 1 (part of the TRAILER TRASH PROJECT)

Teen angst about sex, drugs, rock & roll and parents that just don't understand 1960s style. This is a serious effort to get the message to the kids but it'll really only get to kids who don't know any better. HOLY SHIT! It's Fred Willard in his first movie! I love this guy! He's one of the funniest men on the planet!

"Health education being taught by a woman. That's something new." Classic. This isn't that bad of a picture. It's never boring, the rock tunes the kids dance to at the local club are typical 60s groovy fun, the dialogue is hip and it's really naive about drugs in a way that you get 40 years after the fact. It's only 78 minutes long so it doesn't over stay its welcome. WHAT THE HELL? Yes, they show you a few minutes of a live birth and then cut back to the picture. The whole way that scene is even allowed is hysterical. The parents get all up in arms about the new teacher teaching about sex and one of them says they need to see the film of the birth for themselves to see what it's all about. They do and then it's back to the fighting about whether or not she needs to keep her job. She makes the case and everything's back to normal; normal as in the kids are going to get the education they're not getting from home and the world is going to be a better place from now on. Whatever. The funny thing is, there's no teenage mother in the movie, just a girl who lies to everyone that she's pregnant so she can get her boyfriend to marry her!