Hot Summer Week (1972)

Teenage California girls on a summer trip to a beach house, a traumatised hitchhiking Vietnam veteran (Michael Ontkean) who has just been released from psychiatric treatment, a deranged hippie beach cult led by lecherous but charismatic guru John (Ralph Waite from The Waltons) and continuous news bulletins about a murderous maniac at large . . . what could possibly go wrong?

Uptight nerdette Karen (Diane Hull) and her more uninhibited pal Debbie (Kathleen Cody) are in search of fun, boys and thrills, and on a mission to get laid.

Also featured are John McMurty as loopy drug-addled oddball “The Maker”; Pamela Serpe as far-out chick Frances; Richard Grayling as a killjoy motorcycle cop, and Rigg Kennedy as laid-back guitar player Chip.

Look out for sexploitation starlet Uschi Digard as a bikini-clad babe on the beach in the opening credits sequence.

The middle of the film is a mess of heavy-petting, mind-expanding “experiences” and silly PTSD flashbacks.

The direction is clumsy, the script is poor and the suspense doesn’t work very well but it’s (unintentionally) funny and qualifies as “so bad, it’s good”.

Filming took place on location in California’s scenic Big Sur and Malibu areas. Also known as Girls On The Road.

Karen
Dianne Hull
Will
Michael Ontkean
Debbie
Kathleen Cody
John
Ralph Waite
The Maker
John McMurtry
Frances
Pamela Serpe
Psychiatrist
Michael Kopsche
Chip
Rigg Kennedy
Motorcycle cop
Richard Grayling
Lady at Hamburger Stand
Sylvia Hayes
Mrs Rae
Elizabeth Saxon
Mr Rae
Paul Sorensen
Store Keeper
Ruth Warshawsky

Director
Thomas J. Schmidt