Barquillo de limón

Well now then after a comment like that how can I back it up. Well firstly by stating that this is obviously a subjective view.

But to the movie.

This was released in the UK on video in the early 1980's. It's the story of Benji, Bobby and Huey, well atleast those were the names in the English translation. This is an Israeli [not sure if that's how you spell that but you get the point] movie. It tells the story of the Boys search for Love and..... Sex basically. Making the point early on that the two are not necessarily connected.

Benji the "quiet" one falls for a girl who he invites to a party, she says no but then turns up with his best friend, the `good looking' one, True to life or what! She eventually succumbs to Bobby's advances, and gets pregnant, at which point he dumps her. Benji stands by her organising an abortion and paying for it, well I never said this was a family film. At which point as soon as they return home .. well check out the end yourself, if you can get a copy that is, why I don't know but this is almost impossible to obtain a copy of. Other stories revolve around the boys visit to a prostitute, their catching of an embarrassing condition, And their run in with an Italian nymphomaniac while delivering ice.

So basically if you want to categorise this movie it's a sex comedy set in the 1960's. But it's more than that. For a start it has one of the best soundtracks I've ever heard, and the story and characterisation is in my opinion well up to the standard of Hollywood

Taking a trip smack dab to the origins of Cannon Films founders Yoram Globus and Menahem Golan, I wanted to see the movie that (in a way) launched it all. Equal parts a coming of age story and prerequisite sex film, 'Lemon Popsicle' was pretty much what I expected ... but what a doozy that ending is.

The story is your simple boy meets girl and falls in love in 50's Israel. He tries to get her attention, but to no avail (she's not interested). He has two schoolyard friends and when the good looking, confident boy of the trio sets his sights on his dream girl he isn't able to say or do much. Saying anything more would venture into spoiler territory and give away the third act.

An Israeli production you can see it with an English dub or keep the original language and go for subtitles. The acting is raw, but solid. There's some light crude talk between the boys, but nothing highly offensive. Light nudity as well. There's a lot of vintage American music tracks featured.

'Lemon Popsicle' is a everyday tale at its heart beyond the lite sexual escapades. It holds a lot of real truths and hurts that young boys and grown men alike come to learn the hard way. Potent for 1978, director Boaz Davidson and Cannon Films would do an Americanized remake years later.

Israeli teen sex comedy Lemon Popsicle was without a doubt a trip down memory for co-writer and director Boaz Davidson, who would have been a teenager himself at the time that the film is set: the late-1950s/early-'60s. Watching the film is also a big dose of nostalgia for me, reminding me of the early '80s when my teenage self and my best friend would attempt to hire the most racy videos from the local rental shop. The shop-keeper wouldn't let us have any of the Electric Blue titles from the top shelf (although we did somehow manage to rent a heavily-edited version of Dracula Exotica on one occasion); more often than not we would make do with one of the Lemon Popsicle films, which the man behind the counter was happy to let us take home despite the 18 certificates.

Lemon Popsicle details the sexploits of best friends Benji (Yftach Katzur), Bobby (Jonathan Sagall) and Huey (Zachi Noy), who spend their spare time trying to get laid. Benji thinks he has found the girl of his dreams when he sees Nikki (Anat Atzmon), the beautiful new student at his school, but to his dismay, she falls for Bobby, who is way more popular with the ladies. When Bobby pops Nikki's cherry and gets her preggers, he dumps her, leaving Benji, who is in love with the girl, to raise the cash for an abortion and care for her while she convalesces. Unable to keep it in their pants, the guys also take take part in a penis measuring competition in the high school locker room, score with a nymphomaniac called Stella (Ophelia Shtruhl), and pay for a prostitute (Denise Bouzaglo) who gives them all crabs.

The film definitely features enough T&A to satisfy a pair of horn-dog youngsters (Shtruhl and the lovely Atzmon get totally nekkid), but it is also a well told tale of teenage angst, with engaging characters, a strong script with lots of amusing escapades, a rockin' soundtrack featuring 24 chart bustin' hits of the '50s, and a wonderfully downbeat ending that goes to show that the course of true love never did run smooth. The film was big hit at the box-office (and on home video, its success helped just a little by yours truly) and was followed by numerous sequels, spin-offs and remakes.

After so many years, I finally watched this, the original Israeli version that was remade in America as The Last American Virgin by the same writer/director Boaz Davidson. Possibly set in the late '50s or early '60s, it concerns three teen boys and their attempts of having sex with various girls/women. But one of them, Benji, has a crush on a new girl named Nikki. Nikki, however, seems more into Benji's friend Bobby. The third boy is their heavyset friend, Huey. Since the set-ups are mostly the same as The Last American Virgin, I'll discuss them when I review that one. For now, I'll just say that I find the characterizations somewhat inconsistent but I guess that's to provide some excuse for easy laughs concerning sexual situations before the surprising ending concerning who ends up with who. Having said that, I did indeed still find those situations funny. And the conclusion is the kind that you'd rarely find in this particular genre of film...

If hollywood needed to learn from a script for 'The Last American Virgin', it would have come from this movie. The movie was made in the late 70's and depicts an early 60's Israel. The movie portrays teen-age situations, surrounded by a wonderfully rich soundtrack. In fact, the soundtrack is so good, you can just close your eyes and not watch the movie at all. HOWEVER, the soundtrack is thoughtfully mixed into the plot to provide a very nice effect.