After his last day in a Southern California high school, shyly cute virgin Jay North (as Sean Roberts) goes out with a friend to spy on beautifully-figured Angel Tompkins (as Diane Marshall). Also watching the topless young teacher is psychotic Anthony James (as Ralph Gordon). The sleazy-looking stalker is in love with Ms. Tompkins. They (and we) get to see Tompkins rubbing her naked upper body with suntan lotion. Then, a tragic accident occurs as North's friend falls off a warehouse tower. The luckless lad is also the little brother of Mr. James, who blames North for the incident. Tompkins, who is no longer North's teacher, seduces him. This makes James jealous...The three main characters proceed through the story without rhyme or reason. Considering how haphazardly writer-director Howard Avedis presents the action; they often appear, understandably, lost. The main reason to watch is seeing Tompkins topless. She's never convincing as a teacher or "older woman," but the show stops every time Tomkins takes her shirt off. Her upturned assets are highly appealing. North gets bits of genuine acting in here and there, but it's an aimless effort. Far from his famous "Dennis the Menace" role, North appears to enjoy himself as an "R-rated" movie star. Inexplicably popping in and out, James suffers most from the production's overall weaknesses.***** The Teacher (5/29/74) Howard Avedis ~ Angel Tompkins, Jay North, Anthony James, Marlene Schmidt

The misleading ad campaign utilized during this movie's grind-house run to lure in that fanbase, which exclaims, "She Corrupted The Youthful Morality Of An Entire School!", unabashedly suggests a film far different than what actually unfolds here. The Teacher is most assuredly not a raunchy romp about a nymphomaniac administrator who beds a slew of lucky high school lads, and in fact the bulk of the film is devoted to a Mrs. Robinson-esque tale about an abnormally saccharine love connection between an attractive high school instructor named Diane and an awkward, freshly graduated young man named Sean.Since the titular educator is brought to life by the lovely Angel Tompkins, it's definitely not hard to buy in to the budding affair between Diane and Sean. Infinitely difficult to swallow, however, is how much time Sean spends resisting advances that 99.99% percent of the 18 year-old boys in the world would willingly and enthusiastically submit to immediately. When Sean finally succumbs to Diane's none-too-subtle wiles, his technique is astounding, and he somehow manages to have sex with her without removing, or even unzipping, his trousers.Diane and Sean's canoodling is hampered by the presence of an ardent admirer named Ralph who follows Diane around like a deranged, lovesick puppy, and shows his ardor by peering into her windows and spying on her with binoculars. The stalker's devotion is so all-encompassing that it isn't even limited to the land, and when Diane and Sean take a ride on her boat to pursue some high seas nookie, our diligent lurker dutifully dons a full frogman suit and snorkel gear to swim out and peep into the windows of her vessel.Matters are complicated further because Diane's swimfan is actually the older brother of Sean's best friend, who dies in an accident which the skewed creeper blames Sean for. George's obsession with Diane merges with his mission to punish Sean for his perceived transgression, and his peeping eventually evolves into menacing the couple with a knife.Aside from a generous allotment of nudity from Tompkins, nothing in the film veers anywhere near the exploitation elements enthusiasts will rightfully be expecting from a purported "grind-house" movie. Even the sexual component is decidedly un-kinky, and since the film features lighthearted scenes of Diane and Sean sharing intimate dinners, frolicking in the pool, and confessing their eternal love to one another, the allegedly "torrid" affair is actually a pretty sweet display of courting. The downer finale diffuses this impression a bit, but since the film up to that point is so innocuous, the climax seems to belong to another movie entirely.This isn't to say that The Teacher isn't a fairly enjoyable effort. Despite often-atrocious dialogue, stilted acting, and the relentlessly silly handling of the evil George subplot, it's easy to get wrapped up in the romance and root Diane and Sean on as they pursue their forbidden love. There's a fair share of both intentional and accidental humor, the former providing a few quirkily amusing scenes, the latter providing diversions for fans of inept film-making. Plus, if you enjoy '70s supermarket music, you'll find a veritable treasure trove on the score here.However, this whole thing is far too harmless to warrant inclusion on the grind-house circuit, and I would love to have been a fly on the wall in the theaters where this film was paired with some of the more infamous offerings of the era. I can only imagine the stupefied faces of audiences expecting the deviancy promised on the poster, when this is what they got instead.Unless you're enthralled by the prospect of seeing Angel Tompkins repeatedly bare her breasts (granted, this isn't entirely unpleasant), you probably don't need a lesson from The Teacher. But for what it's worth, I'm not sorry I sat through this, and considering how often I've spent my evening slogging through a piece of artless trash and wondered, "why the hell did I watch that, and when I'm on my death bed, will I wish I had that time back?", I'd consider this offering a comparatively decent exercise.

Awful film that deserves at the very least a two rating but is redeemed by the frequently topless Angel Tompkins and her flawless physical features, i.e. breasts. Jay North plays mop-topped Sean Roberts who while not learning the usefulness of a comb spends his summer vacation spying on his gorgeous former teacher who likes to sunbathe topless. When one of his peeping sessions leads to the accidental death of his best friend Lou he becomes relentlessly pursued by, the nuttier than a Planters factory, friend's older brother Ralph, who by the way, happens to live in the abandoned warehouse where the two scamps spy on the nude Tompkins. Did I mention Ralph keeps all of his belongings inside a red coffin? How about the fact that he drives a white hearse? Ralph is also obsessed with the teacher and is played with over-the-top gusto by Anthony James, the only actor worth noting who isn't nude. When a budding affair begins between Sean and the emotionally frustrated Mrs. Diane Marshall it pushes Ralph over the edge. Either that or he wants to kill him because of the hairy wildfire of a mane on top of Sean's head. Sean and Diane are supposed to be neighbors as that is the vehicle used to initiate the relationship yet the address on Sean's home is in 160th block of whatever and Diane's home is in the 120th block of whatever. A forty block difference a neighbor it does not make. (Sorry, I used to be a mailman.) The absurdity of the notion that the beautiful Tompkins would sacrifice her own marriage for the dopey Jay North is too much to believe. This movie might as well be considered science fiction. The love scenes, which basically consist of dry-humping, have all the sexual heat of being encased inside an iceberg. This is one of those movies where all Sean has to do is tell the police the truth and his problems are over but he's too stupid for that. I blame his hair. Never before has a pair of breasts saved a film from a rating it so richly deserves. Just fast forward to the nude scenes and call it a day.

One of the handful of pictures made by Hikmet Avedis, a classifiable low-budget director of not-quite schlock and drive-in flicks, The Teacher is ostensibly about a 28 year old teacher (lovely Angel Tompkins)- the hottie of the town without a husband as he's a drifter/biker somewheres- who bonds with the shy 18 year old former student neighbor (1/2 dimensional Jay North) and start up a passionate affair. This part of the story is basically more or less just a Penthouse letter extended to feature length (and, oddly enough for a drive-in flick, the amount of sex is actually shown to a minimum, above the belt as it were). What makes it just a little bit more interesting, if also insane, is the character Ralph (crazy-eyed Anthony James), who comes off like a 2nd string James Bond villain missing a couple of acting classes.He's weird and a snoop, with an obsession with Diane holding a torch for her unofficially while also trying to hunt down Sean after the death of his younger brother. It seems stranger still why Ralph would be so distraught over his brother's death when all Ralph seems to do is sit in his warehouse by the harbor, take out a pair of binoculars from his coffin (which comes out of the mysterious hearse he drives around) which also has a rifle. But he's a villain nonetheless, creeping up at pretty much any instance Sean and Diane are out, or even while they're on her boat making love as he creeps up like a Z-grade Aquaman.If nothing else his ridiculous performance of an even sillier, deranged cat makes it watchable, when all else is just kind of mundane romance (North especially can barely act his way out of a paper bag, at least Tompkins has her sex appeal). It's nothing very special, or memorable, but if the title ever came up in conversation it would be fun to wax poetic about Anthony James as Ralph, or to contemplate the ways it could make a decent self-made MST3K feature.