[Update 03/02/2022: Need to revisit this film and rewrite the review
completely. Fix the screenshots also.]I didn't expect from much this movie, but I ended up really digging it.
Today is Mindy's 18th birthday and her square boyfriend, instead of nailing the shit out of her, goes to the drag races. But that's not going to slow down the spunky Mindy. Ohhh no! Instead of being sad she goes over to her teacher's house and talks him into taking her out to the river to take some pictures. Once there they run into some skinny dippers, eat drug-laced birthday cake and gently screw. Each other, not the cake.
A few months go by and they continue their secret relationship until one day Mindy becomes scared she might be pregnant. She takes something called the rabbit test. Then for some reason Mindy just drives off in her bf's dune buggy. She takes a girlfriend along with her and they pick up a young gay hitchhiker named Pan. Eventually they run out of gas and instead of going to the nearest gas station they start thumbin' it! They get picked up by some hippies in a painted van, then a gang of bikers that beat the shit out of Pan, drug the girlfriend and try to gang rape Mindy. Mindy and the girlfriend escape and after spending the night in a barn they steal a motorcycle. The girlfriend is sick as hell and trippin' balls, but when she says she wants to go home the eternally happy Mindy tells her no and chirps "I've got wheels and I'm going to Big Sur!" Hahahaha!!! What the hell? So they go to the beach and immediately get caught up with a Charlie Manson-type hippie cult!!! This entire time the teacher and Mindy's boyfriend are driving up and down the California coast looking for Mindy.
This movie is truly weird, but it's so upbeat I couldn't help but just sit back and laugh. One time the girls eat at a diner and since they have no money they sneak out the backdoor, two hillbillies start chasing them and Mindy just says "Looks like we have company!" and laughs. Haha life is a gas! We just stole some food and we're being chased on our stolen motorcycle by rapist rednecks that are hanging out their windows screaming at us! Hahahaha! Woopeeee!!!
At the beginning of the movie I was kinda sad cause the chick who plays Mindy wasn't very cute, but she soon grew on me with her upbeat attitude and constant smile...but she never got totally naked! Boooo! There was only one topless scene in the entire movie and it was just some random unattractive chicks taking a shower at the high school.
When it was all said and done I ended up really enjoying THE YOUNG GRADUATES with its trippy clothes, bizarre slang and wacky script, but it definitely could've used a heavier dose of nudity. If you're into this sort of cinema then it's worth watching for sure. Not only is it entertaining, but it's like a time capsule to a place that I find endlessly fascinating: late 60's/early 70's America. What a truly bizarre world that must have been.
