The seventies-ness of this 1972 no-budgeter is telegraphed by the opening montage of quintessentially of-their-time bumper stickers—“Watch Mine Not Hers,” “Do It in the Dirt,” etc.—and handmade signs displayed by hitchhikers, in which form the opening credits are delivered. Further period specificity is evident in the subject matter, which echoes that of LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, TO BE TWENTY and TAKE AN EASY RIDE, seventies-sploiters that dramatized the dangers faced by thrill-seeking young women. 1972’s GIRLS ON THE TOAD (a.k.a. HOT SUMMER WEEK, the title on the Scorpion Releasing DVD) is noteworthy for the presence of Michael Ontkean (of TWIN PEAKS fame) and THE WALTONS’ John Waite, and for a consistently odd orientation that hovers somewhere between GODSPELL and TAXI DRIVER.
Amid a spate of unexplained killings of random girls, high school grads Debbie (Kathleen Cody) and Karen (Dianne Hull) embark on a road trip from their home in Santa Monica, CA. Within a few miles they manage to get ticketed, steal a hitchhiker’s guitar and nearly cause an accident when Karen flashes a passing driver (encouraged by Debbie as “an expression of your freedom as a woman”). The girls’ biggest faux pas occurs when they pick up a second hitchhiker, the recently discharged ‘Nam vet Will (Ontkean); this guy has severe mental problems, having just picked a fight with and severely injured some toughs at a pool hall.
The trio nonetheless hit it off, to the point that Will assumes driving duties. This, however, does nothing to quell his unquiet mental state, which becomes even more distraught when they stop off at a beachfront hippie commune run by the imperious John (Waite). There Debbie and Will carry on a sexual relationship while Karen tries, clumsily, to fit in with the hippie vibes, with chanting, face painting and role playing initiated by a supremely creepy fellow known as “The Maker” (John McMurtry). He casts Will as “the prince” and Debbie “the Queen,” roles they both forcibly reject. Bodies, meanwhile, are piling up in the commune, although we don’t learn who the killer is until the final scenes.
This film, the only feature directed by the late Thomas J. Schmidt (1939-1975), is clumsy (as is to be expected from a 1970s no-budgeter helmed by a first timer). It contains many ridiculous early seventies conventions, such as distorted lenses utilized to denote Will’s memories and an outrageously pretentious, pompously open-ended fade-out.
It’s not all bad, however. Ontkean is strong as the disturbed Will, and Ralph Waite appropriately commanding as the commune head. Plus the script, co-written by Michel Levesque (WEREWOLVES ON WHEELS), deserves credit for its wildly eccentric arc; it’s impossible to ever predict in where the narrative is heading, as it veers off in so many unexpected directions. GIRLS ON THE ROAD is very much what Kim Newman, in his seminal nonfiction study NIGHTMARE MOVIES, termed a “Weird Hippie Shit” movie, with all the interesting things, and drawbacks, that term suggests.
Vital Statistics
GIRLS ON THE ROAD
Fanfare Corporation
Director/Producer: Thomas J. Schmidt
Screenplay: Larry Bischof, Michel Levesque, Gloria Goldsmith
Cinematography: David Walsh
Editing: Jim Ballas
Cast: Dianne Hull, Michael Ontkean, Kathleen Cody, Ralph Waite, John McMurtry, Pamela Serpe, Richard Grayling, Michael Kopsche, Charlie Picerni, Bobby Bass, Rigg Kennedy, Sylvia Hayes, Elizabeth Saxon, Paul Sorensen, Ruth Warshawsky