SENIORS (1978)
Theme Song:
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“Love Is” by Patrick Williams
Interesting Dated References: Sex without protection or threat of disease, Boogie Vans.
Best Line: In businessman voice — “There’s still nothing like a college girl!”
Social Context: Considering this movie showcases casual sex with total strangers without any mention of disease or protection, it’s hard to give it any kind of social context.
Summary: So I’m trying to figure out how to approach this review. It could start out one of two ways. The first option is, “How bad would it suck to die of a cerebral brain hemorrhage and your last notable contribution to popular culture was Garbage Pail Kids: The Movie?” The other way I could start this out is, “How awesome and incredible would it be to die of a cerebral brain hemorrhage, and your last notable contribution to popular culture was Garbage Pail Kids: The Movie?” I guess it depends on which side of the fence you’re on, so I’ll let the reader choose the line they like best. The Seniors was directed by Stanley Shapiro. Mr. Shapiro is also the man who wrote, produced, and directed Garbage Pail Kids: The Movie, which is highly regarded in nerd collector people in their late twenties who like being ironic. I’m not sure why I bring it up, but I felt it’s worth mentioning.
The Seniors starts off with an animated cartoon character standing around as the credits roll. This was kind of an interesting phenomenon around this time, and I would like to see it make a return. So after a little slapstick, the animated professor character sets up the entire plot for us in like under a minute: Four college guys about to graduate don’t want to face the real world and decide to find a way to stay on campus forever. Larry, Ben, Steve, Alan (Dennis Quaid), and their live-in concubine, Sylvia (Priscilla Barnes, Terri from Three’s Company), quickly recruit the nerdy Alan and the professor he works for into a fake sex study. The boys take out an ad in the paper and get “liberated” chicks age 18-21 to start coming in for the sex experiment. As a result, there’s plenty of 70s chicks running around flashing their cans. After the showcase of cans, the boys realize that in order to keep the study going, they will need to recruit businessmen aged 25-40 to make donations and “participate” in the study.
Aside from the overtly misogynistic theme of the movie, there’s nothing wrong with The Seniors. There’s plenty of dated jokes, interesting 70s scenery, and good enough acting to make this movie enjoyable. Sure it’s dated as fuck and super cheesy, but I would give this movie a pass, although that could also be if only for the fabulous array of 70s cans being flashed on the screen. Somehow it manages to steer clear of the annoying slapstick boobie movies of the late 70s. Wow, this is a short fucking review. I give this website another 2 weeks.
Poster and Box Art: If you were to look at this box art, you would know immediately it was a college sex comedy, ala Animal House, etc. Therefore, it is successful as an honest fun-loving cover. My beta cover is the same art as above, but it appears that the DVD has several different hilarious covers due to the variety of companies that have released it on DVD. This is another good example of what happens to a movie when it falls into the public domain and your uncle starts releasing it:
Availability: Since The Seniors has fallen into public domain, you’ll see it the dollar DVD section at Wal-Mart with a big airbrushed picture of Dennis Quaid. If you must order it online, you can get it here.