The Harrad Experiment

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The Harrad Experiment
Poster of the movie The Harrad Experiment.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Ted Post
Written byMichael Werner
Ted Cassidy
Based onThe Harrad Experiment
by Robert H. Rimmer
Produced by Noel Marshall
Mel Sokolow
Dennis F. Stevens
Starring James Whitmore
Tippi Hedren
Don Johnson
Bruno Kirby
Laurie Walters
Victoria Thompson
Cinematography Richard H. Kline
Edited byBill Brame
Music by Artie Butler
Distributed by Cinerama Releasing Corporation
Release date
  • May 11, 1973 (1973-05-11)
Running time
97 minutes
CountryUnited States
Language English
Budget$400,000 [1]
Box office$3 million (US/Canada rentals) [2] [3]

The Harrad Experiment is a 1973 coming-of-age film about a fictional school called Harrad College where the students learn about sexuality and experiment with each other. Based on the 1966 novel of the same name by Robert Rimmer, this film deals with the concept of free love during the height of the sexual revolution, which took place in the United States during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Contents

The movie stars James Whitmore and Tippi Hedren as the married couple who run the school, and includes a young Don Johnson as one of the students who tries to go beyond the rules. It was directed by Ted Post. The screenplay was co-written by Ted Cassidy and Michael Werner based upon Rimmer's novel.

A sequel, Harrad Summer , was released in 1974.

Plot

Cast

Appearing in uncredited roles are Ted Cassidy as a diner patron, Melanie Griffith and Gregory Harrison as students, Melody Patterson as Jeannie, Dennis F. Stevens as a heckler at the Ice House, and George Memmoli, Bill Saluga, and Fred Willard as Ace Trucking Company employees.

Home media

The film was released on DVD on May 22, 2001 by Marengo Films. [4]

Reception

In The Boston Phoenix , Steve Vineberg reviewed the film negatively, writing, "It's more or less tailored to the suburban set who don't feel up to Last Tango in Paris ." [5] He added, "The Harrad Experiment can probably be summed up by its opening and closing sequences — it begins with one of the girls wandering around the new campus and hugging a tree, and ends with the two couples whose relationships are the heart of the film clasping hands, repeating some inane contact exercise, and finally falling into a four-way embrace."

Time Out said that while Ted Post had employed long, "voyeuristic" takes and the theme music was poor, the film had more appeal than his other work and deserved its success. [6]

See also

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References

  1. "'Harrad' Film Isn't 'Another Dirty Movie'". Sarasota Journal. April 21, 1972. p. 8C via Google News Archive.
  2. "Big Rental Films of 1973". Variety. January 9, 1974. p. 19.
  3. Donahue, Suzanne Mary (1987). American Film Distribution: the Changing Marketplace. UMI Research Press. p. 294. ISBN   978-0835717762.
  4. Tribbey, Ralph (March 30, 2001). "DVD NEWS BRIEFS: Marengo's 'Killer B's'; BFS' 'Sharpe's' Series; MGM's May Slate; A&E;'s 'Pearl Harbor'; Vanguard's June". hive4media.com. Archived from the original on April 9, 2001. Retrieved September 14, 2019.
  5. Vineberg, Steve (June 12, 1973). "The Harrad Experiment". The Boston Phoenix . Vol. 2, no. 24. p. 4. Retrieved September 1, 2023.
  6. "The Harrad Experiment". Time Out . September 10, 2012. Retrieved December 18, 2019.