Softwing Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

Yash Wade Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Paynbob It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

wes-connors 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

Wayne King Sean and Lou are two average teenage boys spending the summer getting in to a little mischief by spying on their sexy teacher from a fourth floor walk-up with a pair of binoculars Lou stole from his older brother, Ralph. Ralph, a crazed Vietnam vet, surprises the boys and accidentally knocks his younger brother to his death. Shocked and upset, he ultimately blames the death on Sean. With nothing more than hearsay evidence, Sean is found "not guilty" making Ralph even more insane and psychotic. To make matters worse, the sexy teacher, who Ralph had also been stalking, now takes a liking to Sean whose now becoming a man. Ralph hatches an evil plan to teach Sean a lesson. This is typical drive-in fare but you can't knock those 70s movies. A little T&A went a lot further back then. There are some recognizable faces like Jay North (aka "Dennis the Menace", who at this time was probably pushing 30) stars as the 18 yo Sean. Anthony James (slimy, lanky baddie character actor from "In the Heat of the Night", "High Plains Drifter" and "Unforgiven") plays the unstable vet, Ralph. Also a brief cameo appearance by Barry Atwater and the mothers of John Cassavettes and Gena Rowlands. There are a few nice-looking women, especially the gorgeous California girl, ex-model Angel Tompkins as the teacher. If you appreciate good drive-in flicks give this one a whirl. It's nothing special but worth it just to see Dennis the Menace get his groove on.

OldAle1 This teacher-student seduction/psycho stalker tale starts out well enough that I actually thought it was going to be a genuinely good movie (as opposed to good sleaze) but is fairly quickly derailed by almost uniformly horrendous acting and some fairly idiotic plot developments. Still, the opening is memorable: a quick pan from a boat in a harbor with the name "Diane" to a dilapidated 3 or 4 story industrial building facing the docks, and a close-up on the crazy face of Ralph (Anthony James), closing up a red coffin that he keeps in a half-open room on the top floor. Ralph races downstairs to his white, circa 1960 hearse (the coffin/hearse thing are never explained) and off to stop outside of a school. There he witnesses Diane (Angel Tompkins) say goodbye to 2 boys, but Ralph only has eyes for the beautiful young teacher, as the title comes up and the terribly cheesy theme song "The Teacher", sung by Jackie Ward, makes the first of many appearances. Ralph waits for Diane to leave and follows her blue Corvette (Diane's got quite the lifestyle for a high school teacher) home, waiting outside her suburban house while she changes and then following her again. She notices at one point and stops, trying to confront him but he speeds past, soon arriving back at the industrial complex and heading to the top floor where he will spy on Diane in her eponymously-named boat sunbathing topless. Yes, Angel Tompkins' rack is the major draw here, and a fine one it is. But Ralph is interrupted in his salacious activity by the appearance of the two young men we saw a few minutes earlier, who hop off a motorcycle and make their way to his secret spot while he hides. Turns out one of them is Ralph's brother Lou (Rudy Herrera) and the other his best friend Sean (Jay North, not getting the best work since his halcyon TV "Dennis the Menace" days and looking very much like a smaller-framed John Schneider here); Lou has found the hiding place and the two proceed to spy on Diane until surprised by Ralph, at which point a shocked Lou falls to his death! Ralph blames Sean for Lou's death, and proceeds to chase him with a bayonet, but Sean gets away.The rest of the film essentially alternates between Diane's seduction of Sean - who has graduated, so I guess that makes it a little more OK - and Ralph's attempts both the revenge himself on Sean and to get a little special time with Diane. Sean has a fairly stereotypical family life, with a father who wants him to be working all the time and an indulgent mother (both very, very bady acted) but somehow seems to have time to do the nasty with Diane as often as possible (more gratuitous nudity, please). There's one particularly fascinating scene where the two lovers go to a bar - Sean is obviously underaged but the bartender serves Diane multiple bottles of wine which she shares with him - and they are spied on by a couple of old ladies who are horrified at the "over 40" Diane (she's actually 28) seducing the kid. The two old ladies are played by the Katherine Cassavetes and Lady Rowlands, mothers of John and Gena, very bizarre, and the bar is just exactly the perfect 70s suburban bar. Both Sean and Diane are completely sloshed but manage to make it home in Diane's corvette with no acknowledgment that drunk driving is dangerous - this would never happen in PC 2009.The ending is pretty cool too, though not very well shot or choreographed, as Ralph kidnaps Sean and takes him to his hideout, choking him to death, but is followed by Diane who allows herself to be raped on top of the coffin but in the middle of it grabs Ralph's bayonet and stabs him to death! I thought for sure that Sean would turn out to still be alive, but he's not and the film ends with Diane weeping - again, kind of atypical.All in all, lots of fun with very bad easy listening/lounge/muzak instrumental score and the stupid theme song popping up several times, good SoCal suburban and industrial locations, and an interesting if not terribly talented cast making for an interesting slice-of-exploitation life circa 35 years ago.

Wouldyabelieve I watched "The Teacher" as part of the Drive-in Cult Classics DVD. This one was actually not too bad. The story line of teacher and student relationship is an old one but this movie had two interesting twists: first a psycho neighbor stalking both teacher and student, and second, the boy's mother played by Marlene Schmidt seemed to encourage the relationship. The real surprise was the casting of Jay "the Menace" North as the student. He was around 23 at the time of the movie's release. The teacher is played by Angel Tompkins who along with appearing in many of the cop shows of the day (Ironside, McCloud and Kojak to name a few) was featured in the February 1972 issue of Playboy.The movie is very watchable for a "Drive-In" movie except for one or two musical interludes. I found Jay's acting a little stiff early on but a few love scenes, or hints of them, kept the movie flowing. The ending was somewhat anticlimactic but also somewhat unexpected.