Year: 1971
Duration: 01:19:36
Directed by: George Armitage
Actors: Katherine Cannon, Joyce Williams, Pegi Boucher
Language: English
Country: USA
Also known as: Young L.A. Nurses 3
Description: If you wish you can read the Private Duty Nurses plot on its imdb page.
Review:
George Armitage, director of the cult favorite “Miami Blues” and the writer of the less-than-cult-favorite “Gas-s-s-s” made this one for Roger Corman (a few years after AIP’s infamous butchering of the release print of “Gas-s-s-s”). “Private Duty Nurses” is a particularly cheap-looking entry in the “Nurses” series which New World Pictures produced in the early 1970’s. And, as with the other “Nurses” entries, the film is essentially an excuse to show actresses in several different levels of undress. So much for Film as Art…
“Private Duty Nurses” begins with the three main characters, the female nurses (two white, one black), looking for an apartment. They get hit on by their new sleazy landlord. After work, the nurses end up at a crummy bar where even crummier rock music is played (the lead singer looks like a cross between Pete Townshend and Steve Perry). One of the nurses is astounded by the sight of a water bed (a novelty in 1971) and we get the first taste of nudity. Back at the hospital, one of the nurses meets a patient, a strange Vietnam veteran who races motorcycles. They become romantically involved. The black nurse becomes involved with a doctor working in the ghetto; he tells her about racism within the profession, making her see things in a more politically-motivated light.
Yes, the “Nurses” films all had their political slant, per order of Corman. It seems he liked to appeal to his youthful audience with more than just cheesecake; at least he tried adding nutritional value to these films, however obvious and awkward such attempts are (especially when analyzing these films at home on DVD). As with the other “Nurses” films, “Private Duty Nurses” is episodic and filled with unnecessary montages set to music, present mostly to fill up the running time. There are extended love making scenes (enter more gratuitous nudity, although it is tame by today’s standards).
There is drama: The Vietnam vet is hurt in a motorcycle competition and needs to be operated on. The Pete Townshend-Steve Perry look-alike sings more songs. There is an ugly rape scene, the point of which is only to give the movie some action. There’s a shoot-out which reveals one of the male characters as a drug smuggler. All of the plot details seem arbitrary, however, since Armitage seems to have made it all up as he went along.
One thing of special note is that little care seems to have been taken in the digital transfer of the sound and picture. Not that such refurbishing would help the film that much, but it would be nice to see “Private” get the same treatment New Horizons has given the other “Nurses” films.
“Private Duty Nurses” is not all that enjoyable. It takes itself too seriously, and the bits of humor Armitage does throw in (as he did with “Night Call Nurses”) get lost amid the heavy-handed moments of melodrama. Does the motorcyclist survive surgery after his accident? Who cares…”Private Duty Nurses” certainly doesn’t.
As with most of the “Nurses” films, this one is a minor diversion without any real substance. Sure, the main characters are likable enough but Armitage doesn’t give them much to play off of as far as a plotline or believable dialogue.
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