The Teacher

Original movie poster.

Starting my drive-in cult classics review I'll begin with "The Teacher" the first movie from the set that caught my attention.

Plot Summary:

18-year-old Sean's first summer after completing high school is much spent with 28-year-old teacher Diane, who's husband is too often motorcycle-racing instead of with her. Wacko Ralph also has "the hots" for Diane; and it doesn't help that Sean was with Ralph's younger brother, Lou, when Lou died. Written by Kim Williams

Cast

Complete credited cast:

Angel Tompkins ... Diane Marshall

Jay North ... Sean Roberts

Anthony James ... Ralph Gordon

Marlene Schmidt ... Alice Roberts

Barry Atwater ... Sheriff Murphy

Med Flory ... Joe Roberts

Rudy Herrera Jr. ... Lou Gordon

Quinn O'Hara ... Margaret Parker

Sivi Aberg ... Bonnie Nelson

Richard Winterstein ... Russell Marshall (as Dick Winterstein)

Katherine Cassavetes ... Gossiping Lady 1 (as Katherine Cassavettes)

Lady Rowlands ... Gossiping Lady 2 (as Lady Rolands)

Cassandra Lucas ... Waitress

"After School her lessons began with sex...and ended with violence" I'm not really sure if this phrase comes from the original release or if it was written for the DVD version but anyways it's very catchy and it perfectly defines the movie's mood.

Here's your first lesson, learn it well.

Vintage movie poster.

Today's lesson.

This is my school outfit.

So here it goes. There's this hot looking teacher played by Angel Tompkins. This teacher is separated (not divorced) from her husband and develops a notorious interest for one of his former students, an 18 years old recently graduated lucky guy named Sean, who happens to be unbelievably frightened by the constant proposals made by her former teacher.

She seduces him all over the place, or at least tries to! The lovemaking is simulated very poorly but I guess for 1974 that was the way to go.

Meanwhile there is this voyeuristic lunatic, Anthony James, who follows her around and spies on her everytime she goes out on her boat to sunbathe topless (yeah, awesome boobs), he even dons his frogman suit and snorkels out just to play a little peeping tom through the porthole of her outstanding boat (god, I'm a teacher and i don't have her big swimming pool and outrageous Corvette)

Every time something interesting is about to happen involving the body of Angel Tompkins (yeah I mean sex), James shows up from his voyeur hideout to interrupt things. He does it so often that it is clear he has to die hahaha

What kind of salary does this teacher earn to own a yacht!

Today's lesson: the female body.

Homework.

after teaching, a good shower!

The music is very smooth,probably influenced by 70's funk, disco and pop ballads (weird cause they had Deep Purple, Led Zep, and a thousand more artists to choose from or at least to be inspired by) Doing some research I found out music was composed by Shorty Rogers, an iconic jazz trumpeter and arranger of the 50s and the main song "The Teacher" is a very catchy tune that fits Angel Tompknis persona all the way. A shame I found no mp3 on the internet as to add it here for your listening pleasure.

Overall the acting, directing and photography are not that bad, besides Angel Tompkins is the whole reason the movie was made, but still there's some plot going on and a grand finale.

This was the official trailer released for the movie:

To finish I'd say it is a shame Angel Tompkins didn't get to act in some more transcendental movies, I mean she did work on some more films, but her movies faded into obscurity being The Teacher and Prime Cut the only available films on DVD to date. She also had plenty of TV series roles as in Bonanza, Kojak and Knight Rider to name a few, but I'm sure her legacy will live on as long as she has fans left to post anything related to her talents.