Take an Easy Ride (1976) Movie Review, Film Still and Poster

UK 1976
Director: Kenneth F. Rowles
Cast: Helen Bernat, Margaret Heald, Pauline Bates, Christianne, Derrick Slater, Jeanne Field, Sam Avent
Rating: 18 (UK)
Release Date: 24 May 2010
Running Time: 40 minutes

The Movie Review

Take an Easy Ride film still 1


TAKE An EASY RIDE
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Have any of you dear readers done a Hitchhike before? They say the 70s with all the flower power and hippies was the era of hitch-hiking which is an action of getting a free ride by waving your hand or thumb to passing cars hoping they would stop and take you inside their car and drive you to mutual destination for free. The idea sounds nice eih? Getting to places for free including free chauffeur, but it does have a serious risk and dangerous for both sides. You get a sicko hitchhiker then you're doom or if as hitchhiker you hop in into a sicko car. Take an Easy Ride is a British Short film aimed to portray just that. With opening plays like a documentary movie, this rare film released in 1976 surely is an interesting point of view.

We are following four parties living in London here: 1st. Two girls hitch-hiking on a big truck driven by an old truck driver; 2nd. Two girls hitch-hiking on a convertible with its hood open driven by a pervert guy with stash of porn magazines in the car; 3rd. Two girls hitch-hiking on a nice-enough car driven by a man in suit; and 4th. A single girl hitch-hiking on a luxurious car driven by a couple of husband and wife. They aim to go to a pop-festival. Which party is in for a perilous journey with awful surprise and which party is going to be just fine.

That's the fun of this short film, guess who is doom?

Take an Easy Ride delivers quite a unique viewing experience, the early scenes are so joyful and clean but once the girls are already on the moving cars, things start to go dark and the movie starts to convey what I think is actually the soul of it, the danger of hitch-hiking. Some girls got raped, lured into sexual activity and some got offed. You never know what might happen to you. Even though the violence is off-screen, this 40 minutes show is dense with messages and it would make you dilly-dally before embarking on a hitch-hiking sessions. Some people believe the story to be far-fetched, well if you have read many crime books, you'll know that the most seemingly absurd story of all 4 parties above is not fictional.

Nudity also plays a big part in what is labelled as British most shocking sexploitation. Okay, the nudity is graphic with all the bushes and breasts are exposed clearly in lingering shots, but somehow, they are an integral part in trying to tell you the naked truth behind the dark side of hitch-hiking. A kind of shock therapy maybe? And by the way with a twist ending, you'll probably never guess who's doom and who's not.