Groupie Girl


Groupie Girl is a 1970 British drama film, directed by Derek Ford and starring Esme Johns, Donald Sumpter and the band Opal Butterfly. The film was written by Ford and former groupie Suzanne Mercer.
American International Pictures bought the US distribution rights for £50,000 and released the film in America in 1971 under the title I am a Groupie. It was released in France in 1973, with additional sex scenes, as Les demi-sels de la perversion. It was re-released in France in 1974 as Les affamées du mâle, this time with hardcore inserts. Seventeen minutes of hardcore footage, shot for the film, were discovered in 2024.

Plot

Sally runs away from her strict upbringing, straight to London, where she sleeps with men from pop groups.

Cast

Ford complained to Cinema X magazine: "We were shooting in a discotheque one Saturday night and my ears rang right through to Monday morning. I was sick – physically sick – on Sunday from the noise level we suffered."

Soundtrack

A soundtrack album was released in 1970. English Rose were Lynton Guest, Jimmy Edwards and Paul Wolloff, who also have minor roles in the film.
Side 1
  1. "You're A Groupie Girl"
  2. "To Jackie"
  3. "Four Wheel Drive"
  4. "Got A Lot Of Life"
  5. "I Wonder Did You"
  6. "Gigging Song"
  7. "Disco 2"
  8. "Now You're Gone, I'm A Man"
Side 2
  1. "Yesterday's Hero"
  2. "Love Me, Give A Little"
  3. "Looking For Love"
  4. "Sweet Motion"
  5. "Love's a Word Away"
  6. "True Blue"
  7. "Groupie Girl, It Doesn't Matter What You Do"

    Critical reception

Monthly Film Bulletin said: "Tedious cautionary tale whose blend of sex, loose life and pop music has obviously been compounded for a specific market which will care little if the story becomes increasingly contrived as it proceeds and will probably remain unmoved by the moralising coda and quite touching fade-out. Elsewhere the tone is, if anything, amoral and the sexploitation blatant."
Variety said: "This is obviously a quick attempt to cash-in on a facet of the pop group scene and, tawdry though it is, it may catch the interest of youngsters, intrigued by title and theme. ... Dialog and situations are stereotyped and Ford's direction is conventional and uninspired. It's not helped either by minimal thesping and diction of a cast, the femmes of which, at least, seem mainly to be intro'd for a number of strip scenes. Lensing and editing are reasonably okay and the two groups, named in the pic as "The Sweaty Betty" and "Orange Butterfly", put over some pop numbers pretty well and some may well click on the Polydor label."

Releases

The film was released on UK DVD in January 2007 by Slam Dunk Media as part of their "Saucy Seventies" series.