Today's film for Hippie Hotties is a disturbing drama called When Ya Comin' Back, Red Ryder? from 1979 which includes nudity from two very sexy actresses. Let's check it out:
When Ya Comin Back, Red Ryder? was based on a play by Mark Medoff that debuted in 1974. Medoff also wrote the screenplay which was directed by Milton Kastelas. It takes place in a diner in the southwest where Marjoe Gortner plays Teddy, a Vietnam vet suffering from PTSD whose car breaks down outside of the diner. He goes inside the diner and causes absolute chaos to the diners inside.
Teddy spends the entire film acting up in the diner until everyone around him is sucked into his miserable vortex. He's obviously suffering inside, but he refuses to suffer in silence. He's pissed about his car, he's pissed about the war, he's pissed about money, and he wants to make sure everyone knows it.
I count this 1979 film among the hippie movies for a few reasons: it's based on a play that was written earlier in the 70s as a response to the end of the hippie era, it takes place in 1968, and we see the immediate effects of the Vietnam War in Teddy's character.
The movie itself shows us how much people put up with vs. how far someone will go to continue to push people's boundaries. Teddy humiliates, bullies, and tortures everyone in the diner before people finally stand up to him. At first, they try to ignore him, but it becomes unbearable.
Candy Clark has two nude scenes and she plays Teddy's love interest. With a sweet piece like Candy, it's kind of wild that he is so angry. In one of her sexy nude scenes, she bathes herself in the stream which lets us see her entire body, bush and all:
Lee Grant, a favorite of this era, once again goes topless in the movie. She plays a rich customer whom Teddy berates and eventually gets to take her top off. Teddy is insulting everyone and causing chaos, but at least his antics lead to Lee Grant's yabos.
In that way, the writer was making this film a commentary on the horrors of the Vietnam War and the ways in which he felt the country was ignoring its issues - and its soldiers - until things became horrific. The movie was decently received, but it is hardly a classic. That being said, a copy of this movie is very hard to come by. I did a search before writing this piece and found only one DVD being sold on eBay.
This film was Milton Kastelas' last feature. He had previously directed the free-spirited hippie movie Butterflies are Free with Goldie Hawn. There was no nudity in that movie, so nudity is not free. That being said, Goldie did get down to her skivvies.
All in all, When Ya Comin' Back, Red Ryder? is a bit of a forgotten movie. It's hard to come by, not much has been written about it, and it's rarely talked about. Still, I think it's an interesting psychodrama even if you spend the entire film wanting to punch Teddy in the face. At least Candy and Lee are sexy!
