This movie--which is the fifth (and last) film in the "Nurse Series"--revolves around 3 young women who for various reasons volunteer to become candy stripers at their local hospital. While there they meet some interesting people and get deeply involved in the lives of some of the patients. Billed as a comedy this movie is really more of a low-budget exploitation film than anything else as the humor isn't that sharp. It might also be worth mentioning that during this particular period in time drive-ins were starving for just about anything they could get because the regular theaters were acquiring all of the mainstream films. So this type of movie was a staple for outdoor theaters during this time. Unfortunately, the quality of these films were often lacking and this movie is no exception. Even so all 3 of the young ladies were somewhat attractive with Candice Rialson (as "Sandy") standing out the most in my opinion. But none of them were able to bring this movie up to even an average rating.

A trio of lovely young volunteer nurses get seriously involved in their work at a local California hospital: Brash and moody adolescent Marisa Valdez (a wonderfully feisty performance by Maria Rojo) goes out of her way to prove the innocence of angry framed patient Carlos (an excellent portrayal by Roger Cruz), sweet and spunky eager beaver Dianne (the adorable Robin Mattson) falls for hunky pillhead basketball player Cliff Gallagher (likable Rod Haase), and spunky and saucy Sandy (the delicious Candice Rialson in peak vibrant and sexy form) tries to seduce decadent and arrogant rock star Owen Boles (hysterically overplayed to the broad hilt by Kendrew Lascelles). Writer/director Alan Holleb's debut feature bristles with loads of frenetic energy and a certain infectious playfulness: the brisk pace never flags for a minute, the cheerfully tart and bawdy humor remains good-natured and inoffensive throughout, and, naturally, there's a pleasing abundance of tasty female nudity. A familiar cast of B-flick regulars pop up in nifty bits: Tara Shrohmeier, Sally Kirkland, Kimberly Hyde, and the ubiquitous Dick Miller as an obnoxious heckler. The bubbly soundtrack and funky-groovin' score by Thompson and Tabor both hit the right-on stirring spot. Randall Robinson's bright cinematography gives the picture an attractive sunny look. Highly recommended to 70's drive-in film buffs.

I was originally not planning to say much about this movie, pro or con, except to tell you what my only reason was for wanting to see it -- which I'll come back to later. My thinking was that it wouldn't be fair to pick on this movie for being merely a sophomoric sex comedy when it was never meant to be anything more. But there WAS an attempt to make it something more -- which succeeded only in making it something less. NURSES attempts to surgically graft two serious dramas onto the sex comedy, and IMHO, the graft didn't take. The end result doesn't even begin to qualify as serious drama, but has probably frustrated many folks who were looking for a sex comedy.To be fair, I should mention that the DVD edition includes an interview with Roger Corman, who produced the movie, in which he says NURSES was an experiment, and admits it might not have the same appeal as a movie that stuck strictly to formula. So if it was meant to be an experiment, I still shouldn't pick on it, but I have to say the experiment was a failure.Now, to get back to my reason for watching this movie, it seems there's a connection between NURSES and the controversial rape and revenge movie I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (a.k.a. DAY OF THE WOMAN). That connection is actor Eron Tabor, who played one of the four rapists (Johnny, the service station worker) from GRAVE, and co-wrote the rock music for NURSES. (My source is the feature-length commentary on the Millennium Edition DVD of GRAVE.) Unfortunately, there's no way to tell how much of the music was written by Tabor, because the opening credits attribute the music simply to `Thompson & Tabor.' There are a few vocal numbers, and I'm wondering if it could be Mr. Tabor singing.

Let's see if I got the plot to "Candy Stripe Nurses" correct. I believe it went something like this: topless woman, topless woman, naked woman, topless woman, naked woman, topless woman, 2(!!) topless women. There was also a subplot about one of the nurses trying to help a patient beat a charge of armed robbery.In all seriousness, I rather enjoyed parts of this movie. I know this is going to be hard to believe, but the acting by the women playing the nurses was wonderful. Usually the women in these types of movies simply have to speak English and look good without their clothes on. (Although sometimes the speaking English part isn't necessary.) Every one of the actresses in "Candy Stripe Nurses" did an admirable job and all of their characters were sympathetic ones. That really helped to partially overcome the cheesy plot. I've seen A LOT worse '70s movies similar to this one. Kinda fun little flick...but nothing that'll blow you away. 4/10