It’s been a while since I have watched an exploitation movie and to be honest, it hasn’t been long enough. I mean, I know why these were so prolific in the 60’s and 70’s; they were cheap to make and able to be rotated into drive-ins rather quickly. Still, as far as movie genres go, they tend to be one of my least favorites. Anyways, today’s movie happens to be on two collections that I own, which I can take two ways. Either this is one of the rare good ones or it is absolute crap and they are just trying to get it out to as many viewers as possible. Well, let’s see what I have on my hands with today’s movie, Trip With The Teacher.
The plot: Miss Teeny is taking 4 of her students, Julie, Bobbie, Tina, and Pam, on a field trip out into the desert. Meanwhile, Al and his brother Pete are riding their motorcycles along the highway when Pete gets a flat tire. As Pete works on taking off the tire, another biker, Jay, pulls over and offers to help, saying he has a hand pump and patch kit. With the tire fixed, Al and Pete prepare to get back on the road and Jay rides with them to make sure the tire stays inflated. As they make their way down the road, they come across the school bus and the girls start waving at the bikers, with Jay showing off and trying to flirt with them. As the bus and bikes all pull into the service station, Jay starts talking and flirting with some of the girls as their bus driver, Marvin, has the station attendant fill up the tank and check the oil. As the bus drives off, the attendant fills up the motorcycles and Al takes offence at the old man’s attitude towards them. He tells Pete to go ahead and start their motorcycles while he goes in to pay but after paying, he uses the cover of the motorcycle engines to mask his releasing the jack and lowering the car the attendant is working on, crushing him to death. Out in the desert, the bus’s engine acts up and Marvin pulls over to take a look at it, saying he will flag someone down for help when a car passes by to get some help. The girls get off the bus and sit in the shade of some nearby trees but Pam and Bobbie start fighting over Bobbie’s promiscuity and Pam’s lack there of. As Miss Teeny tries to break up the fight, the three bikers catch up to them and pull over, catching everyone’s attention. Jay asks what the problem is and when Marvin explains that they are having engine trouble. Jay convinces Pete to take a look and he starts flirting with Julie while Al flirts with Bobbie. When Pete tells Marvin that they blew their fuel pump, Miss Teeny asks Al if they would be willing to ride to the next town and send some help. Al says they will if she lets Bobbie ride to town with him but Miss Teeny refuses, saying the girls are her responsibility. Marvin talks with the three bikers to try and ask for some help and Al doesn’t want to waste any time on them but Pete mentions a farmer working on a tractor nearby and says they can tow the bus there to see if he can help. Meanwhile, back at the gas station, a man pulls in and calls out for the attendant and when he sees him dead underneath the car, he calls the police. Back in the desert, Al, Pete, and Jay tow the bus towards an abandoned cabin and when Marvin asks what is going on, Al says he is leaving them there. When Miss Teeny hears this and argues with Al over bringing them to the middle of nowhere, she ends up slapping him and Al moves to hit her. Marvin stops him and the two end up fighting but Pete comes back on his motorcycle to help his brother. Al gets on his motorcycle and he and Pete chase down Marvin and Al runs him down, breaking his neck. Miss Teeny tries to attack Al and Jay and the girls pull her back while Pete keeps Al away. Pete and Al talk and Al says that he isn’t going back to prison and makes plans on what to do with Jay and the girls, with Pete reluctantly going along with his plan. Meanwhile, Jay goes to get a sheet to cover Marvin’s body and talks with Julie, saying that they are in trouble and they have to go along with what Al wants until they can get away or else he will probably kill them as well since they are witnesses. Al has everyone head into the cabin and once there, he has Bobbie take her clothes off. Jay tries to stop him but Al and Pete knock him out, then Al rips off Miss Teeny’s clothes. Al takes her into another room and prepares to rape her while Pete ties up Jay. After tying him up, Pete sits down next to the girls and starts kissing them but as Bobbie and Tina go along with him, Bobbie motions to Julie to untie Jay. Julie does so, then heads over to keep Pete distracted, allowing Jay to sneak outside and run to his motorcycle. As he tries to start it, Pete and Al hear him and Pete runs off to stop him, with Al yelling to not let him get away. Jay gets his motorcycle started and Pete gets on his motorcycle and chases after him while Al flips out and chases the girls back into the cabin before collapsing onto the floor. Jay races across the desert but Pete catches up to him and starts kicking at his bike, causing Jay to go off a cliff and crash down into the riverbed below. Pete rides to the edge of the cliff and looks down at Jay’s body, then heads back to the cabin. Back at the cabin, Al lets Tina go check on Miss Teeny then heads outside to wait for his brother. When Pete shows up and tells him about Jay’s going off the cliff, Al congratulates him and they head back into the cabin but as they walk out of site, Miss Teeny convince Tina to sneak out the window and try to go for help. Inside the cabin, Al tells Pete to choose one of the girls to take and Pete wants Tina but when he goes into the other room, he finds that she is gone. Al tells Pete to watch the others then he goes outside and sees Tina running down the hill so he gives chase. He eventually catches up to her and, knocking her down, presses her face into the ground, suffocating her, then collapses onto the ground. When he wakes up, he starts to carry Tina’s body back to the cabin but when he comes to the river, decides to set her down and let her body float away, then collapses on the bank. As night falls, Al returns to the cabin and the other girls ask about Tina but he says he couldn’t find her, then heads towards Bobbie and proceeds to rape her. In the morning, Julie gets up to use the restroom and Al tells Pete to go with her. As they step outside, a noose suddenly slips around Pete’s neck and Julie sees that Jay had survived and watches as he strangles Pete to death. Motioning Julie to keep quiet, Jay drags Pete’s body away only to turn and find Al outside watching them. Al pulls out his switchblade and Jay grabs a branch to defend himself as Miss Teeny, Bobbie, and Pam come out to see what is happening. With Al’s attention focused on Jay, Miss Teeny grabs a nearby stake and jabs it into Al’s back, killing him. Later, Jay gets on Al’s bike and prepares to go get help and Miss Teeny, Julie, Bobbie, and Pam all thank him for his help and tell him to be careful, then watch as he rides off, glad that their ordeal is almost over.
Yeh, this is unfortunately the latter of the choices for me because it wasn’t that good. The acting was so-so, with Zalman King doing a good job as the psychotic Al but everyone else was simply bland. The story was honestly pretty boring and somewhat predictable. I mean, you knew that one or more of the girls were going to end up raped and possibly killed and you knew that somehow, the two bad guys would be killed. I will be honest, I expected it to all be Miss Teeny going psycho kind of like Jennifer in I Spit On Your Grave. I will admit that I did have to laugh at the beginning of the movie when Pam and Bobbie were fighting and they would flash to Marvin, who was watching and throwing his fists as if he was watching a boxing match. There was a fair amount of drama in the movie that did lend itself well to the plot, but it couldn’t help make it a better movie. This is a late night time killer if you want to have something on to fall asleep too, but it’s not worth hunting down to watch.
Rating: 1 1/2 out of 5
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