B.S. I Love You

 (1971)

by Johnny Web

The Graduate (1967) was the Pulp Fiction of its day in that it was simultaneously so hip and so successful that it was widely copied. B.S I Love You came close to being a Graduate clone. Our young hero romances a mother-daughter team, and in the end he runs desperately against the clock to prevent his true love from slipping away with another. He dashes for the pier, calling out her name, as he imagines her in a wedding dress, sailing off with her hunky boyfriend. It's such a blatant rip-off that the producers of The Graduate might have considered suing

 - in the unlikely event that this made any money.

Fat chance of that. According to TV Guide it was never made to make money in the first place. That probably would have ruined the tax breaks! The Guide summed it up as follows:

"Independently made Canadian film apparently designed to be a tax-shelter for its investors."

If it had been sued I think the defense would have been that it was meant as a parody of the Graduate's genre, focusing on the mother of all Graduate-style pics, the original. I guess there could have been some justification for that. Some reviewers have identified this as a comedy, notably the N.Y Times, which gushed, "Some gifted people are involved in what turns out to be a neatly organized morality comedy with bright contemporary trimmings." Based on that, some people must have considered it hip and funny at the time, but looking back from today at the films made in the 67-71 period, it's pretty damned hard to tell which ones are parodies. If I ever had the cultural context necessary to make that determination, I have lost it in the intervening years. For example, I really can't tell you whether this film's topless go-go dancing scene with the runaway zoom lens was trying to be hip or was making fun of other films which tried to be hip. Somewhere in the back of my head is the notion that we used to think it was groovy when the camera would zoom in and out rapidly on some action while bad rock songs played in the background.

Like, it was psychedelic, man.

Suffice it to say that the film is no longer hip.

Or funny.

Peace, brother.

THE CRITICS AND ACADEMIES

It was nominated for an Oscar for cinematography.

1.5 TV Guide (of 4 stars)

THE PEOPLE

   
3.9 IMDB summary (of 10)

THE BOX OFFICE

Unknown

 

NUDITY REPORT

  • Joanna Cameron, Mighty Isis, did an extended topless dance immediately followed by an apres-sex discussion. Beautiful smile, beautiful breasts. Per The Bare Facts, these two scenes have been cut from many VHS versions of the film.

Our Grade:

If you are not familiar with our grading system, you need to read the explanation, because the grading is not linear. For example, by our definition, a C is solid and a C+ is a VERY good movie. There are very few Bs and As. Based on our descriptive system, this film is a:

D

I don't know whether it was ever watchable, but it is no longer, except as an illustration of the era's filmmaking excesses.