Best Friends

Best Friends

Excellent all the way! Not one bad scene in the whole movie. The only problem is the curse of Richard Hatch. No matter what he does film wise it turns out a loser. He's had the curse all his life, look up his film/TV credits and see what I mean. He ruins it in Best Friends by schlepping his way through most of the films scenes, and being too old for the part. His acting was fine per say but didn't compare to the exceptional performances by Noland and the rest of the cast. The ending was considered bad by most viewers but actually was kinda status quo for the era. ...Many films between 1967 and 1978 had the rather unfinished "imagine" type ending that left the viewer to determine the outcome in their own mind's eye.

Jesse (Richard Hatch, Battlestar Galactica) is the mature one. Pat (Doug Chapin, Where Have All the People Gone) is the goofy one. Together with their girls, Kathy (Susanne Benton, A Boy and His Dog) and Jo Ella (Ann Noland, Satan's School for Girls), they decide to go on a RV trip across the country. For everyone that has told me what a good idea that sounds like, I point them to movies like this. Actually, have any movies about being on a Winnebago trip ever gone well? Director Noel Nosseck made the move from movies like this into TV movies like this. Good for him. As for this movie, well, this movie promises some drive-in scumbag narrative and delivers a relationship film. No matter what, I always end up judging movies by their cover.

Two friends since childhood named "Jesse" (Richard Hatch) and "Pat" (Doug Chapin) get out of the army and decide to rent a mobile home and tour a part of the country with their girlfriends "Kathy" (Susanne Benton) and "Jo Ella" (Ann Noland). Although Jesse loves Kathy and wants to get married, Pat desperately wants things to remain the same. Soon his fears get the best of him and he tries everything he can think of to cause Jesse and Kathy to break up. Now, rather than reveal what happens next and possibly ruin the film for those who haven't seen it I will just say that for a low-budget drive-in type of movie this wasn't too bad. Yet while there were some parts that were a little slow and I would have preferred a bit more action or passion it still kept my interest for the most part. Having said that, although it certainly isn't a great movie by any means I didn't think it was that bad either. If anything I would rate it as about average.

"Best Friends" is a real obscurity. It doesn't seem to be listed in any movie reference books. Also, it was never released on VHS, and it was only quietly given a release on DVD (in box sets containing other Crown-International movies) a few years ago. If you know what Crown-International typically released, you will see that their pickup of this movie was a very atypical choice. Although there is some nudity and sex, the movie never feels like exploitation - the events of the movie unfold in a very serious dramatic fashion. I can only wonder what drive-in audiences thought of it. As for what I thought, it is kind of slow-moving, but at the same time I found it strangely compelling; I was really interested in seeing how things would turn out for the four central characters. This movie is definitely not for everyone, but if you like dramatic and unconventional films from the 1970s (and like movies about road trips), you might find enough interest here.