The Harrad Experiment

"Harrad College... where free, liberated relations between coed students are encouraged!"

1973 1h 35m EN

💀

3.7

SKIP

⭐

4.6

IMDB

★3.7TMDB · 17★4.6IMDB · 1,061

DramaRomance

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

At fictional Harrad College students learn about sexuality and experiment with each other. Based on the 1966 book of the same name by Robert Rimmer, this movie deals with the concept of free love during the height of the sexual revolution which took place in the United States.

“Harrad College... where free, liberated relations between coed students are encouraged!”

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Cast

James Whitmore
Philip Tenhausen
Tippi Hedren
Margaret Tenhausen
Don Johnson
Stanley Cole
Bruno Kirby
Harry Schacht
Laurie Walters
Sheila Grove
Victoria Thompson
Beth Hillyer
Elliott Street
Wilson
Billy Sands
Jack

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Ted Post
Writers: Michael Werner, Ted Cassidy
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $0.4M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

53 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Harrad College Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Ted Post, shot by Richard H. Kline. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Artie Butler. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Bill Brame shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

James Whitmore and Tippi Hedren and Don Johnson carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Harrad College... where free, liberated relations between coed students are encouraged!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Ted Post directs. Richard H. Kline behind the camera. Artie Butler scores. Bill Brame cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $0.4M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
253 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
3Part of the "Harrad College Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
4Directed by Ted Post, shot by Richard H. Kline. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Artie Butler. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Bill Brame shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7James Whitmore and Tippi Hedren and Don Johnson carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "Harrad College... where free, liberated relations between coed students are encouraged!".
9IMDB entry: tt0070157 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Only 17 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
11Classified under 13 themes, including "free love", "sexuality", "group sex", "menage a trois".

The technical file

Cinematography: Richard H. Kline
Original score: Artie Butler
Editing: Bill Brame
Makeup / hair: James Doerr
Runtime: 95 min · 1h 35m
Status: Released
Budget: $400,000
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: The Harrad Experiment (1973)
IMDB rating: 4.6/10 · 1,061 votes
MPAA: R
US box office: $177,930

Part of

Harrad College Collection

Collection for the movies in this series.

Also by

Ted Post

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Wuchak2023-11-25
★ 4/10
Love American Style, the college years, albeit with nudity A new college in the Los Angeles area is run by two professors (James Whitmore and Tippi Hedren) interested in experimenting with coed living conditions, intentionally placing males and females together who happen to be opposites. The story focuses on two couples: studly Stanley (Don Johnson) and shy Sheila (Laurie Walters), as well as conservative Harry (Bruno Kirby) and liberal Beth (Victoria Thompson). Based on the 1966 tome for sexual awareness and responsibility, “The Harrad Experiment” (1973) is a drama/romance with a lighthearted score by Artie Butler and a couple of songs on the soundtrack written by Charles Fox, who’s known for the music on Love American Style. (The other two songs on the soundtrack were sung by none-other-than Don Johnson). So, while this isn’t a comedy, it’s not deadly serious either. It’s a relatively fun soap opera with a college milieu and cringe-inducing situations/ dialogues. Look no further than the eye-rolling nude yoga sequence. It’s like Woodstock on campus. The name for the college, by the way, is a conjunction of Harvard, which was a predominantly male school at the time, and Radcliffe, a women's university; hence, Har-rad. With the counterculture revolution of the 60s, nudity became the hip thang, which explains the skinny-dipping sequence in “Woodstock” and, a year later, in “The Last Picture Show.” “Stigma” upped the ante in 1972, which paved the way for this. Of course, nudity in mainstream movies was nothing new in light of the pre-Hays era. Look no further than “Tarzan and His Mate” from 1934. With the code lifted after almost three decades, movies like this seemed to exult in a new sense of freedom. But don’t get too excited as the bulk of the nudity on display here is rather tame and what Seinfeld would call “bad naked.” Although some students in the “free love” environment are comfortable with the sexual libertinism, others are understandably shy about exposing themselves to relative strangers, physically, sexually or otherwise. Then there’s the glaring issue of the couple in a monogamous marriage, the Tenhausens, overseeing a group of youths who are encouraged to experiment with uncommitted intimate relationships. Yet this and other potential issues are addressed in the film: The Tenhausens defend their position on the grounds that they’re older and represent the traditional model. Nevertheless, it smacks of hypocrisy and even abuse since some of the students might be too immature to handle the complications linked to the morally loose lifestyle (guilt, jealousy, depression, etc.). Don Johnson was 22 during shooting and the king of cool. Tippi said she experienced “sheer panic” when it became clear that Don and her 14 years-old daughter were attracted to each other (Melanie Griffith plays an uncredited student). The two married when she turned 18 in 1976, but it only lasted half a year, although they would remarry years later, which lasted from 1989-1996. While there are (unnecessarily) censored versions, the full-length movie runs 1 hour, 37 minutes, and was shot just north of Los Angeles in Pasadena (the college) and Sherwood Forest, which is 25 miles to the west (yoga sequence). GRADE: C-/C

Production companies