She’s made a fine art of playing around!
Mayday (Uschi Digard), Sims (Junero Jennings) and Tara (Joyce Jillson)
at a pot party in Superchick
One of my favorite sexploitation films from the seventies is Ed Forsyth’s Superchick
Superchick stars the American actress Joyce Jillson as a fun loving airline hostess named Tara B. True (a.k.a. Superchick). Tara takes advantage of the mobility that her airline hostess job offers her to travel from coast to coast across the continental US and she takes different lovers wherever her plane lands. Tara’s taste in men is extremely varied and her lovers range from highbrow intellectuals who woo her with words to rock stars who romance her at Hollywood nightclubs.
Unlike a lot of sexploitation films from the era that portray woman as willing victims to men’s desires, Tara B. True is a sexually liberated woman who’s in control of the various men she toys with in Superchick. Tara also has a black belt in karate and she uses her martial art skills in the movie to fight off a gang of dangerous bikers, hold off the advances of a sadistic old man and stop potential plane highjackers.
Viewers will easily be able to spot Tara’s stunt double in the poorly executed action sequences, which takes away from the movie’s charm. But these kinds of goofs also offer viewers lots of unintentional laughs. Thankfully Tara’s freewheeling sexual adventures, numerous groovy costume changes and memorable dialogue help keep the film entertaining. Tara tries to seduce men with her body and brain, but lines like “Last one in bed gets no head!” make you wonder what script writer Gary Crutcher was thinking.
A Superchick tip for potential swingers: “The easiest place in the world to find a new experience is Hollywood. The people capitol of the world. Even the straight people here look like they’re on a trip. Sometimes you can find a farout ad in one of the underground newspapers.”
If you’re looking for cheap thrills, Superchick has very few. The sexual content of Superchick is really tame by today’s standards and far from gratuitous. The movie is much more playful and fun than sexy, and whenever possible director Ed Forsyth goes for laughs over titillation.
Superchick is the only film Joyce Jillson made besides the forgettable comedy Slumber Party ’57 (1976). She had guest roles in many popular American television shows during the seventies such as Columbo, The Night Stalker and Police Woman but Jillson’s acting career didn’t really go anywhere. After watching Superchick it’s easy to see why she had a hard time finding roles. Jillson is very cute and had a sort of naive appeal. But she lacked charisma and her acting is incredibly flat and impossible to take seriously. She also can’t dance and seemed to have poor coordination, which often makes her performance in Superchick really funny to watch.
Joyce Jillson spent most of her life studying astrology and writing popular books like The Fine Art of Flirting and Real Women Don’t Pump Gas. She became an “Astrologer to the Stars” in the late seventies and two of her most well-known clients were future first lady Nancy Reagan and president Ronald Reagan. Before passing away from kidney failure in 2004, Jillson claimed that she had advised the Reagans to select George Bush as Ronald Reagan’s running mate in 1980. I guess we can all blame Joyce Jillson for the current state of world events if that’s true.
While watching Superchick it’s hard not to be amused by Jillson’s transformation from seventies sexploitation star to astrologer and confident of conservative right-wing politicians. This adds to the movies entertainment value and will make viewers wonder what the Reagan and Bush families were up to in the swinging seventies. If Superchick offers us any clues, it seems that they were having a rather wild time.
Superchick also includes some memorable appearances by various cult film stars. Look for the well-endowed Russ Meyer star Uschi Digard in a brief but memorable role as the lesbian porn actress Mayday and John Carradine as an old retired horror film actor with a sadistic streak named Igor Smith. Even Grizzly Adams television star Dan Haggerty shows up as a rowdy biker.
You can watch the trailer for Superchick here:
CINEBEATS 
SUPERCHICK has a great trailer, but I think the film is something of a letdown, even by ’70s sexploitation standards. Rhino also released the similar and much better POLICEWOMEN on DVD, which stars sexy redhead Sondra Currie doing action scenes and nude scenes. Check it out and tell us what you think.
Thanks for the comment Marty, but I’ve seen PoliceWoman and actually own the DVD. I really enjoyed it and I agree that it’s a much better film than Superchick. PoliceWoman is actually pretty good, where as Superchick is a “so bad it’s good” movie in my opinion.
There’s a lot of interesting sexploitation films in a similar vein out there.
I like Superchick due to the great supporting cast and I find Jill pretty interesting.
Thanks Kimberly,
I have never seen this and it looks…well, Supercool so I put it in my Netflix que. Thanks for reviewing, I’m looking forward to watching it. I’ll also check out Policewomen as well…
Thanks Jeremy! I’d think you’d enjoy both movies a lot, but Superchick is definitely not as good as Policewoman. It’s more funny than anything.
If you like these types of films you should also give Doll Squad a look which I wrote about briefly for Cinedelica awhile back here:
http://www.cinedelica.com/2007/03/cult_clip_the_d.html
I love swinging, karate-chopping airline hostesses! One of these days, I’ll do a series on them (combined with Airport air-disaster knockoffs) at Groovy Age.
I really hope you do that swinging airline hostess series soon Curt! I would love to see it. I’d also love to contribute to it. I’ve got a ton of nifty old airline hostess photos that you’re welcome to use if you happen to need any material.
Superchick is a really lousy film…I should know, I was an extra in it…got paid all of $10.-, plus all the food we could eat from the cast/crew buffet…the marijuana smoke in the pot party scene is my buddies and myself smoking and blowing cigar smoke in front of the lens…..
Oh I agree Kimberly. Superchick is a favorite. I especially dig the underrated score by Alllan Alper. A great flick. Sad that Carradine was essentially playing the same role over and over since, well, the late 40s. Yet, he always delivers – a consummate pro. Your site is bottomless, I find something new and fun every day! All the best.
What a great film. I have fond memories of watching the movie with the writer who was a close friend. He had many stories to tell about the making of the movie and its inspiration. He has a cameo as one of the cops in the party scene and his mother is an extra on an airplane scene. Be sure to check out Stanley and Name of the Game is Kill.
I think I’ll watch it again tonight.