Sexcellent Sexsploitation with Sarah Jane: Little Miss Innocence (1973)
Hello again! It’s time for another edition of Sexcellent Sexploitation with yours truly. After the publication of my first column, I got a little negative feedback on Twitter. Someone said something to the effect of ‘beware of cineastes who are writing about movies before their time and not knowing they were made as masturbation material’. When I called him out on it, he said to ignore him, that he was drunk but still… I guess his complaint stems from the fact that I didn’t say that One Naked Night (1965) was made as a jerk-off movie. I was operating under the assumption that if you’re reading this column, you already know what sexploitation is so I didn’t give any explanation. Maybe I should have and that’s my fault. In a nutshell, sexploitation movies are generally low-budget affairs that were used to show the public a ton of sexual situations and nudity. So, yes, they were jerk-off pictures for the most part. Especially those made in the 60s, like One Naked Night. There are different types of sexploitation films including “roughies” and “nudie cuties”. Most of the movies are soft core and were shown in theatres called grindhouses. These were the precursors to the adult theatres that sprung up in the 1970s that were able to show hardcore pornography. Okay, now on to this week’s movie, Little Miss Innocence from 1973.
Carol (Sandy Dempsey) and Judy (Terri Johnson) are out hitchhiking in Hollywood. Record producer Rick (John Alderman) decides to stop and give the girls a ride in his big, beautiful convertible. They get out a few miles down the road but not before finding out where he lives. They show up on his doorstep in the Hollywood Hills a little later on. Rick is surprised at first to see the girls again but he’s not upset about it because these are two beautiful young woman and who the hell is going to turn them away? Judy comes on to him first. He doesn’t realize it but she’s a virgin looking to get laid ASAP and Rick is just the man to do it. Later, Carol also comes on to Rick. What seems like heaven to Rick at first, sleeping with two hot and ready women turns into a kind of hell when he can’t get rid of the girls. They pretty much force him to fuck around the clock. He misses work, he’s exhausted, and he just wants them to go. He can’t call the police because they are both underage so he just puts up with it. Carol, especially, seems hell-bent on punishing Rick for reasons eventually discovers.
If this sounds like a familiar plot, that’s because it is. Remember 1977’s Death Game starring Colleen Camp and Sondra Locke? Or, I guess you could also remember Eli Roth’s remake of Death Game called Knock Knock from 2015. Either way, yes, Little Miss Innocence (or Teenage Innocence as it’s also known) was, essentially, the precursor for both of those movies. This movie is able to go where the other movies didn’t in terms of explicitness because there is plenty of full frontal nudity and sexual situations, 70s style.
For a sexploitation movie, this one is better than most. The acting is pretty good. You might recognize John Alderman from his many stints in movies and television. He’s the better of the three but the women are pretty okay, too, especially Dempsey. Is this award winning work? Of course not, but if you’re watching these movie for that reason, you’ll be sorely disappointed, my friend.
Little Miss Innocence is available from Vinegar Syndrome on a double-feature DVD with Teenage Seductress (another one you should see!). The movie is also available on their streaming platform ExploitationTV.
