ROGER CORMAN and CHEESE part XI: "The Young Nurses" and Totino's Ultimate Pizza Uncured Pepperoni

Roger rarely stopped working, if ever; vacations were often just an excuse for scouting new shooting locations. The workload was so great that his wife, Julie, often took on many responsibilities - up to and including the sole credited Producer. 

New World Pictures began financing "Nurse" movies in 1970 (the year Roger and Julie got married), and 1973's The Young Nurses was their fourth in this very specific subgenre. Like the others, it's an Altmanesque Melodrama that starts off like a lighthearted Nudie picture but then gradually beings to spiral into darker conflicts; apart from peripherally addressing social issues like Women's Lib and healthcare bureaucracy, there's also a menacing thread about violent drug dealers. That's not to say that there aren't plenty of fun elements; Kitty (Jeane Manson) has a sexy fling with one of her patients (that includes a very memorable kite-flying scene), and Joanne (Ashley Porter) asserts her Girl Power at one point by stripping nude and marching into the ocean. But it's Michelle (Angela Gibbs giving the best performance in the film) who's caught in her own Blaxploitation movie that provides this Soap Opera Skin Flick with an exciting edge. 

Totino's is obviously best known for their pizza rolls (though old folks like us remember them under the "Jeno's" label), but now they've unleashed the regular-shaped "Ultimate Pizza". It's difficult to determine which characteristics of this pizza make it "ultimate" - they maybe bent the truth a bit to boost sales. Nevertheless, the results are actually quite remarkable. First impression was that it tasted like a flat, crunchy pizza roll, but that illusion mostly melted away as a gooier, greasier pizza came into focus. Our oven sucks so it was impossible to brown the cheese without blackening the crust, but as it is it came out as a gelatinous fatty delight that frozen pizza rarely pulls off. They're needlessly small, but cheap, so get yourself two. Or, if you're like us, three. 

The Movie: C+

The Pizza: B+