Hugely appealing slice of hard-edged exploitation trash from Crown International that overflows with bikers, murder, blackmail, adultery and free love. Assistant DA George Maxwell (George E. Carey) is prosecuting Mackey (Robert Tessier), the psychotic leader of a bike gang for a horrific murder. At home he's struggling to keep a grip of his marriage to the frigid Edith (Anne Bellamy) and control of his teen lesbian daughter, Joan (Sheri Jackson). After a night out with Edith, George ends up driving home his sexy, hippie babysitter Candy (Patricia Wymer) and immediate falls for the groovy, swinging blonde. Despite the age difference the pair begin a passionate affair, but when Mackey's girlfriend Julie (Kathy Williams) gets wind of it she sets out to blackmail Maxwell, with unintended consequences for all.
The screenplay is by James E. McLarty, from a story by director Don Henderson and the star of the film George E. Carey. The trio manage to squeeze in an almighty amount of plot, that moves along at great breathless pace. They also ensure that every theme has a really uncomfortable edge to it. The affair (and the soft core sex) between the older professional man and girlish Candy; the matter of fact approach to the free-love, hippie morality; the gratuitous sexual assaults or the voyeuristic look at George and Edith's disintegrating marriage are all edgy and above all are exploitatively presented. Despite that and despite it not being a movie concerned about the hurt, pain and anger of a failing marriage, it was interesting to find these elements still managing to seep into the overall feel of the film. The dialogue is full of great fun, hipster slang, which I'm not convinced that writer McLarty was even vaguely familiar with. The film is shot in black and white, with director Don Henderson moving things from one scenario to the next with little undue fuss and a sharp eye for a salacious shot. The actors are all pretty good and reasonably believable: George E. Carey is solid throughout and Anne Bellamy is appropriately bitchy, but it is Patricia Wymer who dominates proceedings as the beautiful, amoral, fun-loving hippie chick Candy. "The Babysitter" therefore makes for an immensely trashy, tawdry and fast-moving piece of work. It piles on one piece of immorality on top of the next making for a tasteless, superior and hugely enjoyable slice of exploitation movie-making. ( )