Blue Summer (1973) - Chuck Vincent

Teenage pals Tracy and Gene have just graduated high school and have approximately one week left of freedom before the start of college.  Deceiving their parents about their true intentions, the duo pack up a van, labeled the Meat Wagon, and hit the road in search of sex prior to facing the responsibilities associated with Adulthood.  I wasn't sure what to expect going into Renen Schorr's Blue Summer and I was certainly surprised to find that this was essentially a skin flick of the 1970s.  For much of the films running time the characters and situations are all rather flat and uninteresting, merely used as a paper thin narrative device to buoy the film in-between sex scenes.  Basically this film is pretty standard smut for the time but it does have a few transcendent scenes which are surprisingly poignant.  The scene with the older woman is surprisingly effective, as we see the regret of her actions mere minutes after her and Tracy make love.  When her son arrives home, who happens to be roughly the same age as Tracy, it shatters the eroticism which had been created from the sex scene.  Blue Summer is definitely a bi-product of its time creating a nice time capsule of the carefree early 70s, with a breezy vibe that personifies the decade of love.  Besides being clearly a low-budget endeavor, Vincent gives the film a nice aesthetic with some nice compositions and lighting choices that certainly support the film as more than simply a skin flick.   In the end, I just grew too tiresome of the sex scenes, frequently hoping to experience more of the poignant moments which pop-up throughout the sexually charged narrative.  5.5/10

---