THE TEACHER Movie Review

THE TEACHER (1974)

School is out for summer, and Sean is planning on to spend the months before college getting his van working, and lounging by his pool. His former teacher and neighbor Diane, though, has different plans for Sean and sets out to finally seduce him. And with Diane's smoking hot body and expertise in getting what she wants, she has no difficulty luring Sean into her bed. For the two of them, the summer should be nothing more than quickie romps and afternoons in Diane's boat, but trouble is lurking in the shadows in the form of a demented former Vietnam soldier, Ralph, who is completely obsessed with Diane and on top of that blames Sean for his brother's death. The summer sun is heating things up, but only two of these three will make it to see September!

This is essentially a seventies porno film without the money shots. The underlying sleazy feel and heat is radiated in every scene, and almost every single scene has the potential to branch off into some wild and dirty sex. The entire female cast spends most of the movie in a bikini, or at least some very revealing and suggestive attire, and the dialogue is riddled with innuendo and desires.


Diane, played by Angel Tompkins, takes her top off in almost every scene she is, and it is her steamy moves and gorgeous body that is the main reason to even watch this film, along with the added bonus of the classic fantasy of the teacher/student affair. She may not be believable as anyone you'd see at a chalkboard, but as the older woman hunting down some teenage man meat, she's got that down to a science. Jay North, who played Dennis The Menace as a kid in the fifties, takes on Sean in one of his final roles.

The tension is brought to their affair by Ralph, whose constantly follows Diane around, and hopes that one day she will return the love he has for her. His subplot is a bit at odds with the romantic affair and Sean's changing into a "man", and often detracts from the sex scenes as he pops up in windows at just the right time. If writer and director Howard Avedis was trying to bring anything to the screen past some taboo-breaking lusting and raincoat entertainment for the 42nd Street crowd, one could almost see Ralph as the flip side to Sean's attractiveness and vulnerability, or a comment on the mental damage done to the soldiers. As it stands, Ralph merely brings just the extra oomph of sleaze.

There's not much going for THE TEACHER, save as a reminder of just how far erotic and seductive entertainment has come over the years. For those that prefer sexual imagination and DEBBIE DOES DALLAS to Jenna Jameson's latest release, this is just the time travel ticket to a more innocent time. This movie is part of double-feature in the new "Welcome To The Grindhouse" line, and available on Amazon right now!