Superchick (1973) Poster

(1973)

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4/10
"Love, American Style" With Boobies
ferbs5411 October 2007
Suggesting nothing less than a movie-length version of the 1970s TV hit "Love, American Style," decked out with flashes of nudity, "Superchick" (1973) is a lighthearted piece of fluff that somehow still manages to entertain. And the lead character here, Tara B. True, really IS some kind of superchick. A stewardess (not flight attendant) who's so good-looking that even her plane's autopilot has made a pass at her (!), and with a hunky boyfriend in every port, this wingin', swingin' gal really does put the "lay" in "layover." What with her germaphobe surgeon beau in New York, her playboy with gangster problems in Miami, and her creatively challenged rock star dude in L.A., Tara sure does keep busy. And when she's not draining these guys of all their manly energies, as the viewer learns, she's liable to be taking a karate class, mile-high clubbing, fending off flashers and rapists, attending groovy pot parties AND stopping a hijacking attempt on her airplane. As I said, lighthearted fun, and surely good for a night when you're feeling somewhat brain-dead and just want to veg out in front of the tube. Future astrologist Joyce Jillson does bring some vacuous charm to her role as Tara, and the film looks handsome enough to please. Disappointingly, buxom '70s faves Uschi Digard and Mary Gavin (aka Candy Samples) are wasted here in very small roles, but still get to do what they do best--show off their chesticles! Though the picture is never laff-out-loud funny and doesn't really have many thoughts in its metaphorical head, it does succeed in being consistently amusing, and I suppose that is something. Strange that the end credits should call attention to Ms. Jillson's body double, however; don't think I've ever seen THAT before!
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4/10
A feminist's cult movie.
bbhlthph16 August 2003
The name "cult movie" is often given to films which continue to be screened, or to sell in home movie format, more than a generation after they were first released. Superchick, which was first released in 1973, now comes into this category. Its cult status is largely due to ongoing interest in it by those women who regard it as an early and effective feminist film.

Despite the "Superwoman" connotation, "Superchick" is not a cartoon character but a very competent young lady working as an air stewardess - a career option which in the 1970's was commonly regarded as one of the most glamorous open to any girl, and which also enables her to emulate the traditional matelot who reputedly has a wife in every port. Since she holds black belt status in karate, she is in a position to make it quite clear that she is very happy with her bachelor existence, and is in no way beholden to any of her extensive suite of male admirers. This film is a situation comedy which avoids the generally much shorter lived appeal of outright farce. Its appeal to feminists is also heightened by a climax in which our heroine uses her karate abilities to avert a hijacking and save all the other passengers on her plane from a potentially unpleasant fate. To ensure that this film will appeal to men as well as to their partners, the Director has wisely ensured that is liberally sprinkled with eye candy.

Superchick can be enjoyed by those who are not too critical and want a very light easy to watch comedy which they will forget soon after viewing. It is so forgettable that they will probably find it equally enjoyable if watched again in a year's time; despite its age it may therefore retain its status as a cult movie for some time to come. However the dialogue and acting would make it hard to give this film a rating of more than 4/10.
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5/10
The Swinging 70s
bensonmum218 March 2006
Warning: Spoilers
Superchick is a bad movie lover's dream. The plot is utterly ridiculous. Tara B. True (Joyce Jillson) is, by day, a mild mannered stewardess (they weren't called flight attendants in the 70s) with a secret. Besides the long blond hair she hides under a brunette wig, she's also hiding a man in every city she regularly visits. Tara is a sexually liberated woman looking for a good time. The men she juggles think they are Tara's one true love and each wants to marry her. Tara will have none of that as she enjoys all her men too much to limit herself to one. However, one of her guys is mixed up with some crooks who want to use Tara to help them with their illegal plan.

The plot isn't the only bad thing about Superchick. Joyce Jillson has to be one of the worst actresses ever given this much screen time. She's as unnatural with her delivery as you'll find. And the dialogue she does come across with is painfully bad. These are some of the silliest lines I've ever heard. The film is supposed to be a comedy, but I don't remember laughing at anything that was meant to be funny. The jokes are lame and miss their mark on a consistent basis. Superchick is so bad that my rating (3/10) is probably over-generous.

Fortunatley though, Superchick is one of those movies that's "so bad its good". Much of the plot is soooo bad that it's actually laugh-out-loud funny. The swinging score, with a theme song very reminiscent of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, is catchy. Some of the action sequences are like a car wreck - impossible not to look at. You'll be amazed watching Tara use martial arts that must have Bruce Lee spinning in his grave. It's a riot. Finally, there's plenty of nudity and sex to keep things spiced up.

Overall, it may be a horrible movie, but Superchick is watchable for its ineptness.
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exquisitely bad
kurtcallaghan2 April 2004
I'm not a "bad movie" fan, but this one has to be one of the exceptions. Probably unwatchable in 1973, the lifestyles, the lingo, and the attitudes are so comically dated that they lift the film to the level of unintentional satire. The plot is terrific. At least I think it is. I never really figured out what the plot is. But the atmostphere is like Valley Of The Dolls with 1/3 the calories. Superchick wanders from bed to bed without any apparent reason, and stops to deliver a few ridiculously bad Karate shots on the unsuspecting bad guys. Well worth watching if you understand that you aren't getting The Maltese Falcon.
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4/10
Window into Seventies Pop Culture
Scott_Mercer29 October 2005
This is only somewhat attractive for fans of "bad movie" entertainment. It is more worthwhile for students of 1970's pop culture: the fashions, the furniture, the attitudes, and that great "women's lib" moment of the early 1970's, when it was still fresh and novel for a self-employed, independent woman to exist.

"Superchick" (Joyce Jillson) had a monetarily rewarding if stultifying career (after all, what is a flight attendant but a waitress at 30,000 feet -- that goes for the male ones too), she slept around with multiple men, could protect herself and others (with karate) and wasn't tied down to anything. This is the kind of emancipated woman that scared the juices out of anti-feminists, those retrograde idiots who believe that no woman is complete without a husband.

The "sexy stewardess" was a potent archetype of the late 1960's to 1970's, (geez, even on "The Partridge Family," I remember swinging bachelor Ruben Kincaid constantly hooking up with stewardesses) and from that point of view, this silly film is an important pop culture time capsule of the pre-AIDS, free-love, women's lib, swinging Seventies. The plot is quite awful though. And for those cavemen in the audience, there are few bare breasts to look at.
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5/10
A chick flick without the pun!
GOWBTW17 August 2015
Back in the 1970's there was a lot of exploitation films: Sexploitation, Blaxpoitation, and others to mention. In "Superchick", you won't find it in a comic book! Here you have a stewardess(Joyce Jillson, 1945-2004) who wears her stewardess uniform. When she's off duty, she goes from brunette, to long hair blonde. The short hair brunette her is meek and mild. Her Superchick mode is adventurous and uninhibited. Consider this, the ultimate lover. She has three: A brain surgeon in New York; a beach bum in Miami; and a musician in Los Angeles. Each one knew nothing about the other. But the one in Miami was involved with a criminal mastermind. Unaware of the situation, she does her regular job as usual. In California, she goes to karate class where she meets the champion who is secretly bilingual. After a fine jostling, he gets the surprise of his life. After thwarting a hijacking, she has her "coming out" party. The funny part during the interview is when has her "news flash". This one is subtle, still true to its name. At least she didn't wear a cape and fly all over the US looking for love. That would be too corny! 2 out of 5 stars.
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2/10
Bad sexploitation
SnoopyStyle1 April 2014
Tara B. True (Joyce Jillson) is plain Jane unisex stewardess until she changes into her blonde bombshell alter-ego Superchick. In NYC, she has a older wealthy man. In Miami, she has the young buck who is in debt to a bad criminal element. In LA, she has a musician. And on a flight, she hooks up with a soldier who's been stuck in Guantanamo Bay for 2 years.

This is a bad sexploitation. In some rare movies, there is some campy fun to watching sexploitation. This is not one of those rare movies. This is simply bad. It is unwatchable for most of the movie. The biggest assets that Joyce Jillson has are those two up front. The acting is horribly stiff. The plot is stupid. The writing is clunky. And it is bad in all the boring ways.
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2/10
almost no redeeming value
DukeFan7 July 2002
This was a quite brutal movie. There were huge implausibilities, and a silly script, bad acting, etc.

The only reason to watch this movie is that from time to time some quite impressive sets of breasts were exposed.
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4/10
idealisation of a stewardess
trashgang11 June 2012
Isn't everybody dreaming about a job on an airplane. In every city your lover and having parties all the time. That's exactly what this picture shows although most stewardesses are as boring as hell. It's a world full with ego's and girls who think that they are IT. But I'm off track so back to this flick.

For people thinking that this is some kind of superwoman they are wrong. This has nothing to do with bionic powers or supernatural gifts. By superchick they mean a girl who is only out to make love to men all over the world. So in fact, on board of the airplane she's a nerdy looking stewardess (like in the real world) but once she is the airport she do go to the restroom to change into a vixen. Played by Joyce Jillson, who really looked nice and do go nude with her boobies a lot of times. She just came out of the smasher series Peyton Place (1986) as Jill Smith. She did really well here with her disguise and performance which lead to bigger roles (in TV series) but she stopped acting in 1981 and died in 2004 due kidney failure. But she became notorious too as an astrologer and she even claimed that she advised Reagan campaign aides to select George Bush as Reagan's running mate in 1980. Also in this flick is John Carradine, father of Chris Carradine, David Carradine, Keith Carradine and Robert Carradine. Also notice the quick performance of big boobies by Candy Samples, one of Russ Meyer's favourites.

But at the end of the day, it doesn't has a lot to offer except stupid situations with some gangsters and a marine. It's just a no-brainer to have fun at pot parties and a flasher. Nothing more nothing less, not a superflick.

Gore 0/5 Nudity 2/5 Effects 0/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 1,5/5
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3/10
A 70's Feminism Satire That Isn't All That "Super!"
Celluloid_Fiend22 January 2019
Warning: Spoilers
The cause of feminism was a big one in the 70's and Hollywood is always one who'll gladly try to cash-in on any cause-du-jour. It's too bad that "Superchick" does such a lackluster job in doing that.

Perennial t.v. guest star, Joyce Jillson, plays "superchick" Tara B. True. She's the ultimate swinging 70's icon of the modern woman. A stewardess by trade, she has men in every port of call and never passes up the fun of a good time. But when one of her beaus gets her involved with a plot to hijack her flight, she busts out some heavy-duty karate action to stop them!

With a plot that preposterous, you'd think there's a lot of funny hijinks to be had. You'd be wrong. This exploitation sex comedy never really gets out of first gear. Most of the attempts at humor just don't work. What is passed off as clever and hip, is actually just boring and tedious. A scene where Tara almost gets busted at a pot party, is a prime example. She tries to play an innocent act, but it's so over the top ridiculous that you think she'd get arrested for bad overacting. A lot of the humor in the film ends up the same way. One of the rare moments it doesn't, is the scene with the flasher (played by Gus Peters). It's one of the very few moments that will actually bring a chuckle or two. Sadly, moments like that are very few and far in-between. Pretty much a kiss of death for a film of this kind. But the problems here don't just rest with an unfunny script.

Most of the actors just don't get to develop any connection with the audience. To call them ciphers to "Superchick" would be to insult non-entities everywhere. Even such well-known quantities, like Uschi Digard playing a lesbian porn star and John Carradine as a perverted has-been horror actor, look to be just phoning it in. There's no spark or interest in any of the performances at all. And for a film that is rooted in the "sexploitation" genre, there is very little in the way of nudity presented (with most of that given by Uschi Digard in one single scene). It's a sexploitation film with very little of a sexual component to it. Many PG-13 films today have more raunchiness to them. And as for the plane hijacking plot, by the time we reach the climax of that, your interest is likely to have wandered into thinking about anything else. Even the karate fight lacks any punch.

"Superchick" not only fails to be a funny satire spoof of the modern 70's feminist, but it fails at being a fun and sleazy exploitation film. Basically, it fails to do what it was likely intended to do. There's too little depravity and bawdiness for it to work as a sexploitation film, and too much contrived hokeyness for it to be truly funny. There's little here to recommend anyone check this out, even genre fans. There's lots of other films of this type that do a much better job with this kind of material. You should seek those out over this decidedly "un-super" flop!
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4/10
Blatant sexploitation movie from Crown International Pictures
Leofwine_draca16 July 2016
SUPERCHICK is an odd comedy/exploitation film made by Crown International Pictures in the early 1970s. It's the sort of film that's difficult to define in easy terms but the nearest would be sexploitation given that the director's emphasis very clearly is on naked women. The hard-working but non-acting Joye Jillson, bless her, plays a stewardess who is forced to go around in a disguise because she's so attractive to the male of the species.

She also has a different lover in each of the cities she regularly visits, and the film chronicles her misadventures with a few of those guys as she gets involved with petty criminals and is forced to use her kung fu skills in order to bring various bad guys to book. The martial arts scenes are some of the most inept ever staged and a complete embarrassment for anyone watching.

The film's most outrageous scenes involve cameos from starlets Uschi Digard and Candy Samples, who are both required to strip for their roles. More blatant random nudity you couldn't imagine. Alongside all this, the viewer is treated to the usual Crown staples of bad acting, bad fashions, cheap film-making, and a general high level of ineptitude souring the whole experience. You have been warned.
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10/10
Classic Awful Swinging Seventies Gem
shark-4328 September 2002
SUPERCHICK is so godawful that it is hysterically funny. Terrible acting, the worst fight staging ever seen, dialogue that makes you rewind just to make sure you heard it right ("Last one in bed gets no head" said by Superchick) Superchick is a dowdy brown haired stewardess who changes into a sexy long blonde haired daring adventurer who picks lovers like a kid picks candy. She's a sexually liberated woman who does what she wants - which mostly is baring a little breast, having sex under garish bedsheets and doing the worst karate moves ever done on Earth. The lead is played by Joyce Jillson who went ont to become a successful syndicated astrology columist.In fact, she became Nancy Reagan's personal astrologer and got a lot of press during Regan's presidency when it was revealed that Jillson's "readings" so influenced Nancy that she would have Ronnie follow them. Yikes!!! Hopefully she's a better astrologer than actress because she's very very bad. There's lots of quick nudity shots from what looks like washed-up, old strippers. There is a "verbal sex scene" that has to be seen to be believed. With an annoying yet catchy score, this movie has everything for the Ed Wood School Of Enjoyment.
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6/10
Here's Superchick...
Red-Barracuda3 November 2015
Tara B. True works for Crown International Airlines (yes, really) as a demur airline hostess by day. By night, she becomes…Superchick! Under the guise of the latter she transforms into a blonde bombshell who not only proves irresistible to men but who also fights crime whenever necessary. She holds a black belt in karate and has a doting man at every major flight destination, namely unwitting dopes in New York, Miami and Los Angeles; while at 40,000 feet different rules apply and she bags a young army stud in the airplane restroom.

Despite what its title and poster suggest, this one only barely qualifies as an action movie at all with a very thin supply of martial arts combat. The focus is squarely on comedy scenes. We follow the Superchick go from man to man, from one episode to another and marvel at the japes that accompany her. Truthfully, the comedy is only occasionally amusing and is often pretty clunky stuff, although the whole endeavour stays just on the right side of likability. It definitely has one foot in the sexploitation genre though, with a smattering of nudity throughout. Lead actress Joyce Jillson isn't too shy here and there are also a couple of very eye popping appearances for us to savour from busty 70's icons Uschi Digard and Candy Samples - going under the moniker of Mary Gavin. Yummy. We also have John Carradine turn up for one of the many bizarre cameo roles he made in all manner of low budget fare, in this one he is a retired actor with an S&M fetish and, needless to say, his character makes absolutely no sense and has no impact on the story as a whole but, as the saying goes, it's nice to know he was there. In the final analysis, this is one strictly for forgiving fans of 70's b-movies. While it has its problems, it ultimately ticked a few boxes for me.
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5/10
Silly exploitation superhero parody
hollywoodshack25 September 2023
Joyce Jillson seemed to be a shaggy dog type waiting for the studio bosses and celebrities to adopt. She did well on stage, but on screen a peculiar deadpan voice seemed to emerge not very appealing in this film. Since she wasn't given many chances to improve, she found a niche for herself as an astrologer. Her suggestions for new projects weren't that bad, after all, The Love Boat became a long running hit TV show. Superchick is of course a low budget spoof of Superman and Supergirl. Meanwhile disguised as homely airline stewardess Tara B True, Superchick fought for truth, justice and the American way! Not a bad idea for a TV series, either. But you know nobody ever wants to put a good show on TV, so we're stuck with this turkey. Tara has 3 men she's in love with in different cities, and can't decide which one she wants to marry. Nice karate work, though. Somebody younger might have given the part a little more enthusiasm.
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8/10
JOYCE JILLSON IS NAKED
nogodnomasters7 June 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Joyce Jillson plays Tara B. True, a free spirited stewardess with a lover in every "port". This is a reverse "R" rated 70's version of "Boeing Boeing." John Carradine plays a bit role as a retired "B" grade horror actor. That was a tough one for him. The puns and jokes are campy and stale by modern standards. While it was designed to be a comedy, don't be surprised if you groan more than laugh... "even the autopilot made a pass at me." The movie claims Jillson is a karate expect, but it actually looks more like judo. If you expect to see Jillson do a lot of fighting with Uma Thurman karate moves, don't blink.

There is abundant nudity including Candy Samples. The only reason why anyone would watch this film is because Joyce Jillson (1945-2004) of TV's "Peyton Place" and Broadway gets naked.
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Soft porn comedy with the great Carradine cameo
rudy-3013 November 2000
Tara B. True (Jillson) is the ultimate party-girl; she has enough love to share with the world, so she became a stewardess to romance the world. With a guy in every port, Tara hides her blonde bombshell body disguised as a brunette. This movie is so 1970's, that the fashions have returned. For those fans in the know, poor Louis Quinn probably went blind (see Archie Bunker's Place) by Tara's dazzling beauty. John Carradine has a wonderful cameo.
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"You're An Out-O'-Sight Chick!"...
azathothpwiggins22 September 2021
SUPERCHICK stars Joyce Jillson as a frumpy "stewardess" who transforms -between flights- into the titular crimefighter. Terra B. True (Jillson) hops off the plane and straight into some guy's bed, on a regular basis.

SHE'S ALSO INTO: Water skiing, tennis, and ultra-mod dancing.

HER TURN ONS ARE: Hunky guys, shag-a-delic puns, karate fights, and layovers.

HER TURN OFFS ARE: Clingy guys, hang-ups, and bad attitudes.

BEST SCENES: #1- The motorcycle gang -led by Dan Haggerty!- beat down! #2- Terra using her karate on a geriatric pervert (John Carradine)! This scene is rather uncomfortable to watch!

Incredibly, with everything that happens, SUPERCHICK is fairly dull. Its idiotic non-plot is packed with soft core cheeeze and absurd situations.

Another Crown International Pictures epic to fill the drive-ins of its day...
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The original promo says...
ya001825 October 2001
She's all woman - all every woman wants to be. Forceful, feminine, free. Superbrain, superbody, supercharged - Superchick. A swinging motion picture experience about a super kind of woman. In public she's a mild mannered stewardess. In private she's... Something else! Superchick - she's more than just one woman and too much for just one man! In New York she has Brian. In Los Angeles it's Dave, and in Miami there's Johnny. Superchick - the super kind of woman - always in the middle of where the action is - always ready for a new adventure. You can't afford to miss - Superchick - she's much more than you ever had before.

--from a promo for the 1973 movie SUPERCHICK, starring Joyce Jillson
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