This is something of an old-fashioned "scare" B-movie in the tradition of Reefer Madness--designed to warn youth about the consequences of bad decisions. Despite some camp value it's pretty uncomfortable to watch in places. "Pam" (the lovely Connie Nelson) is introduced as your typical all-American teenager who runs around in pigtails, loves playing with her dog, etc. but then gives birth out of wedlock. From there her life quickly spirals downward into drug addiction, prostitution, violence and more. I'll at least give the producers props for honesty in using the tag line "Not A Pretty Picture." There was a slightly shorter, re-cut version of this film (sans some of the "lecture" scenes) called "High School Hooker," released by the obscure "Alexander International Films" as a double bill with "The Stepdaughter" (itself a re-edited "R" version of the original 1972 PG film called "Winter Love"). I wouldn't call it "fun" to watch but like a train wreck or airplane crash, it certainly keeps your eyes glued to the screen.
8 Reviews
For some, the Hard Road may be the Hard Movie to Watch . . .
charles0008 October 2017
As one who grew up in this era, this production is absolutely one of those quintessential "don't do this or else" films that would be shown to the high school (or junior high) class, as a required A/V event.
Of course the production value is beyond ridiculous, and the story, such as it is, is the stuff of endless parodies and cliche's ever produced from the era, but that's not the point. The point is to just go with it, be absorbed in the moment. It really is a classic piece, a sort of permanent time capsule captured on film.
For those who really were "there" and lived in those times, they will be instantly pulled back into that vortex, it will become all too familiar in whatever context happens to resonate with them. For others, who were not even born yet, and would not be until decades later, this will likely seem like a grainy, absurdly bad film about "something" to do with drugs, hippies, and whatever that their parents probably don't want to talk about.
Yes, it does take the viewer down the hard road, as it were, as our seemingly lovely high school student descends and meanders her way down the laundry list of getting pregnant, starting off innocently with smoking a joint, and then from there going completely off the cliff into the abyss of sin, debauchery, and more drugs . . . lots more drugs.
The junkie friend detoxing in jail, and close-up scenes of festering VD sores are just some of the highlights awaiting the hapless viewer traveling this road.
I don't want to inadvertently insert any spoilers here, but the ending is particularly, well . . . classic in its own way.
For some, the Hard Road may be the Hard Movie to Watch . . . but hey, it can be a cultural experience, for some, maybe.
OK, that might be a stretch, but it's still an interesting viewing experience.
For production value, 1 (or less) stars, but as a sort of cultural time capsule piece, well, OK, let's go with a tentative 4 stars.
Of course the production value is beyond ridiculous, and the story, such as it is, is the stuff of endless parodies and cliche's ever produced from the era, but that's not the point. The point is to just go with it, be absorbed in the moment. It really is a classic piece, a sort of permanent time capsule captured on film.
For those who really were "there" and lived in those times, they will be instantly pulled back into that vortex, it will become all too familiar in whatever context happens to resonate with them. For others, who were not even born yet, and would not be until decades later, this will likely seem like a grainy, absurdly bad film about "something" to do with drugs, hippies, and whatever that their parents probably don't want to talk about.
Yes, it does take the viewer down the hard road, as it were, as our seemingly lovely high school student descends and meanders her way down the laundry list of getting pregnant, starting off innocently with smoking a joint, and then from there going completely off the cliff into the abyss of sin, debauchery, and more drugs . . . lots more drugs.
The junkie friend detoxing in jail, and close-up scenes of festering VD sores are just some of the highlights awaiting the hapless viewer traveling this road.
I don't want to inadvertently insert any spoilers here, but the ending is particularly, well . . . classic in its own way.
For some, the Hard Road may be the Hard Movie to Watch . . . but hey, it can be a cultural experience, for some, maybe.
OK, that might be a stretch, but it's still an interesting viewing experience.
For production value, 1 (or less) stars, but as a sort of cultural time capsule piece, well, OK, let's go with a tentative 4 stars.
Updated sensation film
Leofwine_draca20 September 2017
Warning: Spoilers
THE HARD ROAD feels very much like one of those old-fashioned sensation films from the 1930s, updated with a late '60s vibe. This one has a swinging atmosphere going down, opening with a clinical birth sequence before charting the fortunes of a girl into free love and drugs. The whole thing quickly descends into the usual displays of drug paraphernalia along with some shocking imagery and finally a jail setting. It seems to have been made as a precautionary tale, and it's fairly salacious at times with a grubby atmosphere. The version I watched was very tame, although that may be down to censorship at Amazon Prime.
The Hard Road is a road everyone travels
stevenakamichi27 January 2008
No, Pam's life was over before having her baby.
Can you imagine growing up with Liz Renay as your Mom and a dad who friends are all in the Hollywood Music Business (DEVILS!!!)? I think her life was over as soon as she was born.
What no one seems to capture that this was a movie to PROMOTE sex, w/o getting a STD by the pro-nudist/sex, sex, sex producer (Valle). Every message the movie makes is deliberately anti-drugs and pro-sex, but cautionary only as to how NOT to get an STD, or what to do if you do.
Something Weird Video deserves a thumbs-up for giving us pieces of culture newer people thrust into this world may never know about.
This is such a great movie, anyone who has any connection to SOUTHERN California will find something enjoyable in it.
A+
Can you imagine growing up with Liz Renay as your Mom and a dad who friends are all in the Hollywood Music Business (DEVILS!!!)? I think her life was over as soon as she was born.
What no one seems to capture that this was a movie to PROMOTE sex, w/o getting a STD by the pro-nudist/sex, sex, sex producer (Valle). Every message the movie makes is deliberately anti-drugs and pro-sex, but cautionary only as to how NOT to get an STD, or what to do if you do.
Something Weird Video deserves a thumbs-up for giving us pieces of culture newer people thrust into this world may never know about.
This is such a great movie, anyone who has any connection to SOUTHERN California will find something enjoyable in it.
A+
Pam...portrait of a moron.
planktonrules18 November 2009
Warning: Spoilers
The film begins with a pregnant 17 year-old (Pam) in the back seat of her parents' car. She is driven to a hospital or health clinic and they begin talking to her about her plans for the baby. At this point, a guy dressed like a doctor (but who obviously isn't as he mispronounces some of the words) talks--giving a dry lecture about pregnancy. This is NOT integrated into plot--just an interruption in the movie. Then, once the guy is finished, it returns back to the story and you see Pam about to give birth. Then, the baby pops out and she smiles. The narrator then tells us that that's the last she ever saw of the baby--it was soon adopted by strangers.
Now, after the baby has gone, the girl's parents are concerned about her and how people might treat her. And, in her new job as a receptionist for an agent, she proves that she is exactly that sort of girl by getting into drugs, quickies, STDs, prostitution and the like. Then, from out of no where, the narrator once again begins droning. Then, we are treated to a montage of all the sexual encounters Pam engages in--though they really don't show anything. Pam goes from a little girl to burned out skank in no time at all. The narrator seems to think this is all due to her missing her baby. I just think Pam is simply a moron.
This morality tale is never comprehensible because its narrative is jumbled. This isn't just because the narrator keeps interrupting or because the film has little mini-lectures built into it, but because for long extended portions the film just wanders--showing somewhat irrelevant scenes that last and last with no apparent attempt to tell a story or edit out what isn't needed. Instead of staying focused on Pam, the story goes off on tangents such as the guy beating some poor schmo to death for kicks or the guy running (ad nauseum) through the tunnel (ooh, Freud would have loved that), her boyfriend going to jail (this seemed to last a third of the movie), long psychedelic drug trips and transvestites. It's actually interesting how the film manages to lecture about so many topics--yet it manages to be not one bit interesting--no small feat.
By the way, I should warn you that the mini-lectures are pretty hard-core--filled with tons of very, very gross pictures. None of this is unrealistic but it's darn hard to watch and was obviously inserted for its shock value more than its educational value--plus it made darn nice padding for the thread-bare plot. In many ways, these were the BEST parts of the film, though, because at least they seemed to have some purpose--the rest of the film, I'm afraid, did not.
Overall, the idea wasn't bad but the execution was so amateurish and sloppy that it's hard to fathom a film worse-made or stupider than this one. Ed Wood would have been ashamed to put his name on this turkey.
Now, after the baby has gone, the girl's parents are concerned about her and how people might treat her. And, in her new job as a receptionist for an agent, she proves that she is exactly that sort of girl by getting into drugs, quickies, STDs, prostitution and the like. Then, from out of no where, the narrator once again begins droning. Then, we are treated to a montage of all the sexual encounters Pam engages in--though they really don't show anything. Pam goes from a little girl to burned out skank in no time at all. The narrator seems to think this is all due to her missing her baby. I just think Pam is simply a moron.
This morality tale is never comprehensible because its narrative is jumbled. This isn't just because the narrator keeps interrupting or because the film has little mini-lectures built into it, but because for long extended portions the film just wanders--showing somewhat irrelevant scenes that last and last with no apparent attempt to tell a story or edit out what isn't needed. Instead of staying focused on Pam, the story goes off on tangents such as the guy beating some poor schmo to death for kicks or the guy running (ad nauseum) through the tunnel (ooh, Freud would have loved that), her boyfriend going to jail (this seemed to last a third of the movie), long psychedelic drug trips and transvestites. It's actually interesting how the film manages to lecture about so many topics--yet it manages to be not one bit interesting--no small feat.
By the way, I should warn you that the mini-lectures are pretty hard-core--filled with tons of very, very gross pictures. None of this is unrealistic but it's darn hard to watch and was obviously inserted for its shock value more than its educational value--plus it made darn nice padding for the thread-bare plot. In many ways, these were the BEST parts of the film, though, because at least they seemed to have some purpose--the rest of the film, I'm afraid, did not.
Overall, the idea wasn't bad but the execution was so amateurish and sloppy that it's hard to fathom a film worse-made or stupider than this one. Ed Wood would have been ashamed to put his name on this turkey.
Gloriously lurid exploitation trash
Woodyanders6 July 2016
Warning: Spoilers
Naïve 17-year-old high school student Pam (an appealing portrayal by the fetching Connie Nelson) has a child out of wedlock and gives the kid away for adoption. Ashamed by this situation, Pam drops out of school and secures a job as a receptionist for Hollywood rock music agent Leo (Gary Kent in fine smarmy form). Pretty soon Pam gets caught up in a party hearty fast lane lifestyle that leads to drugs, prostitution, STDs, and even death.
Director Gary Graver, working from a blithely trashy and preachy script by Rick Stetson, keeps the entertainingly tawdry story zipping along at a snappy pace, maintains a perfectly sordid tone throughout, makes neat use of seedy Los Angeles locations, and occasionally interrupts the narrative for these hilariously heavy-handed lectures on such things as teenage pregnancy, drug addiction, and nasty venereal diseases (the latter comes complete with gut-churning graphic images of people's private parts ravaged by untreated syphilis and gonorrhea!). Better still, Graver even tosses in a lengthy acid trip sequence and concludes the whole seamy show with a spot-on depressing bummer ending. Liz Renay provides unintentional comic relief as Pam's shrill disapproving mother, Catherine Howard registers well as Pam's worldly pill head gal pal Jeannie, and John Alderman contributes a bravura turn as twitchy smack addict Jimmy, who goes cold turkey in jail after he's busted for possession of narcotics by the cops. Graver's proficient cinematography boasts plenty of funky visual flourishes. A scuzzy blast.
Director Gary Graver, working from a blithely trashy and preachy script by Rick Stetson, keeps the entertainingly tawdry story zipping along at a snappy pace, maintains a perfectly sordid tone throughout, makes neat use of seedy Los Angeles locations, and occasionally interrupts the narrative for these hilariously heavy-handed lectures on such things as teenage pregnancy, drug addiction, and nasty venereal diseases (the latter comes complete with gut-churning graphic images of people's private parts ravaged by untreated syphilis and gonorrhea!). Better still, Graver even tosses in a lengthy acid trip sequence and concludes the whole seamy show with a spot-on depressing bummer ending. Liz Renay provides unintentional comic relief as Pam's shrill disapproving mother, Catherine Howard registers well as Pam's worldly pill head gal pal Jeannie, and John Alderman contributes a bravura turn as twitchy smack addict Jimmy, who goes cold turkey in jail after he's busted for possession of narcotics by the cops. Graver's proficient cinematography boasts plenty of funky visual flourishes. A scuzzy blast.
It's not a pretty picture. (Spoilers)
crooow23 October 2004
Warning: Spoilers
"The Hard Road" is a forgotten film about the horrors of drug use and sexual misconduct in the late 1960s. The protagonist is Pam, a 17-year old girl from the Los Angeles area who becomes pregnant and gives her baby up for adoption. Her life then spirals down into a mess of drug use, casual sex, prostitution, and ultimately death.
The movie was made with sincere intentions, but winds up as a exercise in incompetent film-making. The editing is among the worst I've ever seen in a theatrical movie. The film also has a tendency to trail off following minor characters and their battles with addiction. Third-rate acting and tinny music add up to a grade-A loser.
The film also stops dead in its tracks to incorporate a health film about the horrors of venereal disease. This includes photos of male and female genitalia(in addition to other body parts) ravaged by syphilis and gonorrhea. You have been warned.
Something Weird Video rescued this film from obscurity and released it on DVD as a 2-pack with another sex-ed scare film, "Damaged Goods". Both movies are overdone time capsules of a simpler time and worth a few laughs. And you just might learn something too.
The movie was made with sincere intentions, but winds up as a exercise in incompetent film-making. The editing is among the worst I've ever seen in a theatrical movie. The film also has a tendency to trail off following minor characters and their battles with addiction. Third-rate acting and tinny music add up to a grade-A loser.
The film also stops dead in its tracks to incorporate a health film about the horrors of venereal disease. This includes photos of male and female genitalia(in addition to other body parts) ravaged by syphilis and gonorrhea. You have been warned.
Something Weird Video rescued this film from obscurity and released it on DVD as a 2-pack with another sex-ed scare film, "Damaged Goods". Both movies are overdone time capsules of a simpler time and worth a few laughs. And you just might learn something too.
See also
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