Ginger In The Morning (1974)

Set in New Mexico, a lonely uptight businessman (Monte Markham) picks up a hitchhiker (Sissy Spacek) in the desert. Despite their differences, she's a non conformist "hippie", they find themselves attracted to each other. Directed by Gordon Wiles, this romantic comedy is an artifact of its era. Spacek's flower child comes across as a flake today rather than a free spirit. It's fortunate that Spacek is so likable so that we can look beyond the hippie dippy act. As Markham's best friend, Mark Miller (who also wrote the original screenplay) is an irritating, loudmouth hick and the section with Markham and Miller on an all night drunken binge is hideous to watch. The only person I could remotely relate to was Susan Oliver as Miller's ex-wife but the script demeans her when she begs her ape of an ex to take her back! Spacek wrote and sings a couple of songs on the film's soundtrack. Fortunately for her, CARRIE (1976) was right around the corner so she wouldn't have to do tripe such as this anymore. With Slim Pickens, David Doyle, Fred Ward and Beatrice Kay.