I thought the girl that had sex with Bobby and bursts his waterbed was actually pretty attractive. They tried to make her seem huge, and maybe compared to the other women in the film she was big, but, in reality, she really didn't have that bad of a figure. I remember looking up her name in the cast list and seeing if she went on to do anything on imdb. It seems like The Van was her only role. That's too bad.
shareThis one? https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075378/mediaviewer/rm2638664705/
I have the movie but I have not watched it yet. Compared to the other late '70s girls in the movie she's not very good, but compared to current girls, she's probably a bit above average.
No, the actress I'm talking about is not Debra White (pictured). I looked through all 13 pictures and the heavy-set one who had sex with him on the waterbed in his van is not pictured. But thank you for trying, whynotwriteme. I'm telling you, she was basically a speaking extra. She had one or two lines. She did get naked, but it seemed as though on original release or on the DVD I purchased, they did something to blur out her pubic area.
shareI looked not he full cast list on imdb. I think her name is Cherise Wilson. She is listed as "Mexican girl." I know, racist. Why imdb didn't describer as "Waterbed partner," or "Girl on waterbed," I don't know. The Van is her only credit.
shareI'll definitely watch it now. I like curvy Mexican girls very much.
shareYou'll like Cherise Wilson.
shareOk I watched it and I certainly do not consider her as huge! There wasn't anything wrong with her at all. She did not particularly look or seem Mexican, so I wonder why she was credited that way.
I guess back in the 1970s her physique was considered obese, but by modern standards, she was just fine.
I was just beginning middle school when The Van came out so I was too young for that kind of scene. I wonder if it really was that easy back then. If one could score with a decent chick after just exchanging a couple of lines about ones' van? What an amazing era!
It was an amazing era, whynotwriteme. I was even younger than you (I was born in '77), so you might have a better idea as to how truly easy it was to score back then - even if you were to young to be the one scoring. But I have researched the '70's significantly, and, though I do not know firsthand, everything seems to indicate that the sexual permissiveness exemplified in The Van was present in reality.
The other reason I think it really was that easy back then has to do with my own coming-of-age in the '90's. I was in high school and college in the 1990's. As you recall, AIDS that rocked the nation (and the world) in the '80's and '90's. One thing HIV/AIDS did was, certainly by the 1990's, get the school system to warn teens against the dangers of unprotected sex (if not sex, in general, even with condom-use) through their sex ed. curriculum. This notwithstanding, it was still easy to find willing partners with whom to have intercourse or oral sex - both with or without condoms. So I've got to figure, if that was the reality of the '90's, after we knew that HIUV/AIDS could be transmitted through heterosexual sex, imagine how permissive things must have been in the '70's before HIV/AIDS became a known entity. STD's were largely treatable with an injection or pills, and the birth control pill had been available since the 1960's. Not that I would personally endorse a careless approach to abortion, it also must be noted that abortion was a constitutional right for any woman in any and every state starting in 1973, and that would be the case until two years ago.
In terms of Cherise Wilson, I'm glad you agree about her appearance and physique. Also, as I said, it was racist to credit her "Mexican girl," especially since she was not of Mexican descent. She was only 'fat' compared to Debra White and the other (perhaps too skinny) actresses in The Van. That waterbed popped because it was cheap. It had nothing to do with Cherise's weight.