In Hollywood ist der Teufel los

A beautiful blonde from Indiana (Candice Rialson) moves to Hollywood to become an actress and find fame. She hooks-up with a dubious team of moviemakers who run Miracle Pictures. Their slogan is: "If it's a good picture, it's a miracle." Statuesque Mary Woronov is on hand as an increasingly bitter actress who works for the company.

"Hollywood Boulevard" (1976) is an amusing send-up of Grade Z filmmaking with comedy, action, slasher, you-name-it. It's amusing for the first 40 minutes or so, but starts to lose its charm by the second half. Sure, it's entertaining to a point if you want to turn-off your brain for a fun time, but that doesn't change the fact that it's a shallow, throwaway flick.

Nevertheless, there's a surprising sequence that obviously influenced Coppola and his outstanding air raid on the village sequence in "Apocalypse Now."

Blonde Candice Rialson was a memorable B-film starlet in the 70s, along the lines of redhead Claudia Jennings; and, less so, thin Tara Strohmeier, who plays Jill here. Meanwhile brunette Rita George is notable as Bobbi. There's quite a bit of top nudity, so stay away if you find that objectionable.

Eleven years later, "Howling III: The Marsupials" would feature a satirical filmmaking crew, similar to the one in this one.

It runs 1 hour, 23 minutes, and was shot in Los Angeles, including Hollywood, except for sequences done at Paramount Ranch in Agoura Hills, which is west of there, just north of Malibu in the high country (the Western town set and open landscape shots).

GRADE: C.

but probably nobody else.

A young, beautiful woman (Candice Rialson) comes to Hollywood to become a star. She starts working with Miracle Pictures ("If it's a good picture, it's a miracle") as a stunt girl. Miracle makes nothing but ultra cheap t&a movies. There's the star director (Parl Bartel) who supposedly thinks he's making art and an arrogant diva (Mary Woronov) who wants all the film to herself. Then woman are being killed on the set. Who's doing it...and why?

Film was actually shot in 10 days with directors Joe Dante and Allan Arkush using tons of footage from previous Roger Corman movies. The movie never takes itself too seriously and does have some VERY funny lines. But the plot is way too feeble even at 83 minutes (there's LOTS of padding); the acting is pretty bad (except for Bartel, Woronov and Dick Miller--all having a GREAT time); there is an unnecessary (and stupid) wet T-shirt sequence; there's a very sick rape scene played for laughs (and repeated twice); a very brutal knife slashing and plot holes galore (why DOES that guy at the end have all that stuff about victims in his little shed?).

What kept me watching is the tons of funny little injokes for movie fans. They're way too numerous to mention but they are there. Also it was just released in a 25th anniversary edition and looks just great. Most casual viewers will probably find this dull, stupid and sick--they're right, but it is fun for film fans.

Don't miss the jokes during the closing credits and one right after them.

I spent the best years of the 1970s at the drive-in, and this film is a most enjoyable look at drive-in movies and the people who made them. If you don't count the Ingmar Bergmans, it may be the best picture ever released by New World Studios. I saw this on big screen, before the print had gotten very many scratches, and more recently on video where it held up as any other classic does.

New World editors Joe Dante and Allan Arkush were allowed by boss Roger Corman to direct a picture, within very strict budgetary limitations, and they produced this classic look at drive-in films and the people who make them, just a few years before the whole genre was kicked into limbo by the VCR. Through clever use of action footage from older New World films, Arkush and Dante brought their film in on budget and earned their first professional directorial credits.

Aspiring actress Candice Rialson (wow!) hits town, fresh from Indiana, and secures the services of scruffy talent agent Walter Paisley (okay!), who gets her work in lowbudget pix from Miracle Studios ("It it's a good picture, it's a Miracle!") -- where they make movies like BAD GIRL IN BOYS TOWN and ATOMIC WAR BRIDES, where director Paul Bartel reminds Godzilla, "Your motivation in this scene is to step on as many people as possible," and where Mary Woronov is the queen of the lot. Skinny snarling starlets blast away with machine guns. Extras from THE HOT BOX fall out of trees in the Philippines. Model-Ts crash in BIG BAD MAMA. Candy jumps to dodge rolling car debris. Wait a minute, somebody is killing the starlets here at Miracle! Rita George dies! Tara Strohmeier dies (NOOO!!!!). Who's doing it? Is Candy next on the list? Who will survive and what will be left of them?

We also visit a glam movie premiere at a Valley drive-in, watch a boy-girl scene scored to a somewhat revised version of "Everybody's Truckin'," with the band serenading the gropers live, and we see Paisley audition Robby the Robot ("Let me hear you say 'Frankly, Scarlett, I don't give a damn'"). Candice Rialson is perfect (in her best role) as the naive Candy, Mary Woronov goes gleefully over the top as movie legend Mary McQueen, and Dick Miller should be in EVERY motion picture that comes out of Hollywood. The treatment of the wacky world of drive-in moviemaking is affectionate, there are a lot of cameos, and anyone who likes Dante's or Arkush's other work will find this well worth the 80-odd minutes it takes to watch. However, I have never been able to spot Belinda Balaski anywhere in this, and she's not named in the IMDB credits. Is this the only Dante film she's not in?

Corman remade the film in 1989 as HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD 2, with Ginger Lynn Allen in the lead, but it is just a remake, not a sequel, and even though the budget is considerably larger it is not as fresh or as funny (though it's not as bad as the remakes of BIG BAD MAMA or ROCK 'N' ROLL HIGH SCHOOL).

This film belongs on a drive-in screen, not on your tv set, but since that is the only place you're ever going to see it now, crank up your living room Rolls Canardly and have some fun. I used to give this a rating of 9 on the IMDB scale, but having finally seen THE PASSION OF JEANNE D'ARC in the meantime, I have lowered BOULEVARD to a more realistic 8.

This is a fun movie, especially if you like filmmaking you can apreciate the silly movie making gags. I wasn't expecting much when i rented this movie, but i ended up being entertained from beginning to end. It is stuffed full of nudity and silly humor to make this a sugercoated fluffy bunnyhop throught the Glitter Dome.

Hollywood Boulevard (1976)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Fun homage to the trash pictures of the 70s from directors Joe Dante and Allan Arkush. Candy (Candice Rialson) arrives in Hollywood and before long she realizes that becoming a star isn't going to be so easy. After several doors are slammed in her face, she eventually picks up an agent (Dick Miller) who gets her working at Miracle Pictures but soon a maniac is knocking off their stars. Hollywood BOULEVARD's history is actually much more entertaining than the film itself so those interested in the movie should certainly hear how this picture came to be and what type of budget the directors were working with. Overall I think fans of 70's drive-in pictures should get a kick out of this but at the same time there's no question that the majority of the film is just the same note over and over. I say this because when you're spoofing the entire drive-in genre, after a while it's clear that you're just spoofing the same type of stuff only with a different setting. We get a spoof of Philapeano movies, action movies, slashers and just about every other popular thing at the drive-in. These spoofs are actually somewhat clever but I think the film works best early on when the woman first arrives in Hollywood. The scene dealing with a bank robbery is just priceless. Also priceless is the work from Dick Miller who hands down steals the picture in his role as the agent. Rialson is also extremely charming (and beautiful) in her role and she really makes you believe that she's just some young girl who gets in over her head. The supporting players all do justice to their parts. At just 82-minutes the film flies by rather quick and even with its flaws the thing is still worth watching.