Jailbait Babysitter (1977)

The title of this cheaply made exploitation flick is enough to set expectations appropriately low, and, indeed, the movie provides neither less nor more than the title promises. It’s a crude, dumb picture about a pretty 17-year-old whose conflicted attitudes about sex lead to trouble. Los Angeles teen Vicki (Therese Pare) works as a babysitter for middle-class families, but as soon as her employers leave her alone, she invites her boyfriend, Robert (Roscoe Born), into the employers’ houses for long makeout sessions. Unlike her loose friends, Vicki won’t go all the way, so Robert’s frustrated. One evening, Vicki invites several friends to a house where she’s working, and during the ensuing party, a male friend nearly rapes Vicki. She flees, and the guy pursues her until Vicki runs into the path of a car driven by Lorraine (Lydia Wagner), a grown-up who exits her car and brandishes a gun to make the would-be rapist withdraw. Lorraine takes Vicki home, offering the young woman a place to stay until she gets her head together. One day, Lorraine leaves Vicki car keys and money, so Vicki hits the town trying to act as sophisticated as her patron, with disastrous results culminating in a close encounter with a pile of animal excrement. Then Vicki discovers Lorraine is a hooker, which leads to the following priceless dialogue from Lorraine: “No way was I training you to be a hooker—but I can teach you how to watch out for dog shit!” That line paints a clear picture of where this picture’s at—Jailbait Babysitter is like a strange hybrid of an Afterschool Special and a skin flick. It’s also extremely boring, with terrible actors playing trite scenes against a backdrop of bargain-basement production values. The smut factor is fairly low, mostly comprising topless scenes, so Jailbait Babysitter manages to simultaneously fail as erotica and melodrama. It’s not the most shameful movie of its type, but that doesn’t mean it’s worthwhile.

Jailbait Babysitter: LAME