Drive-In

I throw my hat in the ring with most of the other commenters here. This is a marvelous little film with a sly sense of humor, acted with gusto by (mostly) local nonprofessional actors. I doubt this movie would ever get made today. Who'd fund it? As an added bonus the passage of the years has turned it into a time capsule of both drive-ins and small-town life. "Drive-In" sets up several major plot threads - a holdup attempt, Glowie's plan to dump her gang-leader boyfriend for the nice and shy Orville, Bill Hill's proposal to his girlfriend - and then tosses in a few additional minor ones once the sun goes down and the action shifts to the theater. Everything collides in a cascade of hilarity. The feature film showing in the background, "Disaster '76," is a great sendup of seventies disaster movies and just adds to the fun.

I once saw Glenn Morshower in an interview ruefully recalling a review of "Drive-In" which stated "Gets better after twelve beers." You don't need even one to appreciate this flick. If you can find it, watch it.

I saw this movie at a drive-in back in the summer of 1976 in rural Wyoming, not Texas, but it still seemed pretty close. It was the second feature to another movie that I cannot even remember. I was with my big brother and his girl friend, and so this movie just seemed to fit us. I remember we were belly-laughing through the whole thing. Saw it later on someone's VHS. Didn't laugh as hard, but it sure brought back memories. And this movie does catch that part of small town life dead on--a summer night when everyone gathers at the drive-in.

Of course, the best thing about this movie was the movie within the movie--"Disaster '76." With it's "macho" hero delivering lame disaster movie lines while encountering situations out of the "Airport" movies, "Towering Inferno," "Earthquake," and "Jaws," it was a send up of just about every disaster movie made at that time. And this still a couple of years before "Airplane." I still laugh just thinking about it.

I have not seen this film since its cable run in the mid-1970s, but I still occasionally enjoy a private laugh when I think about it. The filmmakers clearly had a good eye for the details of small southern towns (the setting was Texas, but it would have been just fine for my native Tennessee). There is an early scene at a classic roller rink, where the dough-faced, slack-jawed teens used as extras were just perfect for the parts.

As mentioned by other reviewers, the movie-within-the-movie, DISASTER '76, is a solid parody worth watching just by itself. If a DVD is ever made (unlikely, I'm sure), DISASTER '76 should be included by itself as an extra.

7 out of 10.

After a little more than three decades of only watching the last 30 or more minutes of this movie on the "ABC Friday Night Movie", I finally saw the whole thing on Google Video just now. Taking place on a day in a Texas town, Drive-In has an ensemble feel as we view many events like the opening of the drive-in theatre, a couple of men planning to rob it, a teenage girl breaking up with a gang leader, and a teenage boy and his little brother talking about the former's shyness around girls among other subplots. When we get to the scenes of the feature playing at the outdoor screen, it's filled with parodies of various popular disaster flicks like the Airport series, The Towering Inferno, The Poseiden Adventure, and Jaws (I loved when both TTI and Jaws got referenced). This was both a funny and touching take on the various characters' foibles especially that of the teen lead of Orville Hennigson who I just found out was played by actual teen of that time Glenn Morshower-the future Secret Service Agent Aaron Pierce on "24"! Another scene of that film-within-film I thought was hilarious was the way many people in the water was just calm when that shark's tail was moving around just nonchalantly! And how about that model plane crashing into a model building (post-9/11 irony notwithstanding)? So on that note, I highly recommend Drive-In.

There are some movies that just stick in your head. I saw Drive-In when it came out in the 70s and a couple of times on TV in the 80s, and I just recall it being very likable. I tend to think of it along with Smile, which I recall being a similar movie from around the same time, although one that got far more attention.

The movie is a loving tribute to what was then a dying industry, the drive-in. Taking place in a small town in Texas, the movie follows the fortunes of a variety of characters whose fates will take decisive turns - or not - by the end of the movie, including a couple of thieves, a bland teen boy and his annoyingly precocious younger brother, the girl who inexplicably likes the bland teen boy, her ex and his gang of troublemakers, the only black guy in town and a few others. It's essentially the structure of American Graffiti, only the soundtrack for this one is sprightly country western music.

Once they all reach the drive-in the action flits from character to character, pausing in between to show the movie itself, a send-up of disaster movies seen in amusing snippets.

Drive-In is not quite as good as I recall, but then, I was 17 when I saw it the first time and 54 when I saw it most recently and I don't always agree with my younger self. But even though the acting is hit and miss, some of the story threads are weak, and the movie-within-a-movie didn't make me laugh nearly as much this time as it did in the '70s, I still found this movie charming and likable, an ode to a bygone era that probably never really existed. It's one of those little B movies you're glad you've seen.