Drive-In

Once upon a time there were drive-in movies which provided double and even triple features.including cartoons,and endless intermission ads between the films,and snack bars which sold a coil shaped mosquito repellant called Pic.This film captures that time even though it features only one movie called Disaster 75 which beat airplane to the punch in parody of Airport and Posidion Adventure type movies.It does include one of those intermission ads {when it was shown on ABC-TV of course they took a commercial break}.The film includes as its characters a gang member,the good guy and the lady he defends,a pair of inept robbers,and many more who make this night in Texas a real fun night at the movies

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.

In the mid-1970's the Texas Film Commission provided considerable assistance to local filmmakers in an effort to grow the in-state film industry. One benefit of this was a little film appropriately titled "Drive-In"; a feature about drive-in movies meant to be shown at drive-ins. Although set in a small town outside Dallas, it could be Anywhere, USA; or at least any place where teen entertainment is centered around a town's roller skating rink and the drive-in theater.

If "Drive-In" was nothing more than a loving look at drive-ins and a time-capsule of the mid-70's it would be a treat, but this film is actually very well made. I originally saw it at a drive in Orange County, CA a few months after moving there from Texas. Although most of America's drive-ins have vanished, the entertainment aspect of this film has held up very well.

Don't go looking for a lot of familiar faces in the cast, part of the film commission's mission was to utilize local talent so you will see a lot of Texas folks getting their first and last screen credits. You might recognize Engelberg (Gary Cavagnaro), the fat catcher from "The Bad News Bears"; and character actor Glenn Morshower but the rest of the cast are folks like Michelle Franks, a local beauty who just acts natural.

The main story involves the efforts of the town's hottest girl (Glowie played by Lisa LeMole) to convince nice but very shy Orville (Morshower) that she is sincerely interested in him. But the film is loaded with side stories that weave into and around the main story. These include two wimpy teen gangs, The Widow Makers and The Gear Grinders who have a mild fight witnessed by a couple of outlaw bikers who comment: "Gang violence, its frightening". There are a couple of bumbling small time thieves who attempt to rob the theater box office. There is an auxiliary sheriff with gun rack and right-wing bumper stickers who shuts up his nagging mother by smoking a joint with her. There is an engaged couple having second thoughts about getting married, especially after the guy gets a look at Michelle Franks at the concession stand.

Much of the humor comes from "Disaster 76", a movie within the movie. It is being screened at the drive-in and there are frequent cuts to the action on that screen. It is a nice spoof of a whole group of disaster flicks including "Airport", "Jaws", and "The Towering Inferno". Current viewers will be shocked when a 747 crashes into the side of a skyscraper in a manner almost identical to the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center. Obviously this idea has been around for a long time although apparently no one in the FBI ever viewed "Drive-In", wonder if it got any play in the Middle East?

There is also a television show within the movie as The Widow Makers spend their downtime watching "Ozzie and Harriet" reruns on the television set in their van.

At one point Engleberg refers to Oklahoma as Baja Arkansas and says "reasoning with a woman is like eating soup with a fork". Glowie turns down the offer of a ride home from a guy hitting on her with the immortal line: "I'd rather have a nonspecific infection".

Fans of classic country music will love the soundtrack featuring Loretta Lynn, Conway Twitty, Ronnie Milsap, Merle Haggard, George Jones, Tammy Wynette, and Jerry Lee Lewis. "Whatever Happened to Randolph Scott?" by The Statler Brothers is the theme song.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

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.

I had the privilege of viewing this comic gem in the summer of 1976 at a drive-in theater with my wife. We revisited our youth as we watched these small town Texas teens laugh it up. The town nice guy, Orville Hennigson, played by a very young Glenn Morshower in his movie debut, is so shy that it is ridiculous. That, of course, is all part of the fun. Our bad boy, Enoch(Billy Milliken), is trying to control the very sexy Glowie(Lisa LeMole), who has her eyes on someone more sincere. Meanwhile, Orville's younger brother Little Bit (Gary Cavagnaro) is trying to grow up all in one night. Would-be hold up man Will Henry (Gordon Hurst)steals the show with his hilarious bumbling. With two brothers, two love interests, two car crashes, two rival gangs, two fights,two goofball robbers, two hick cops, and two movies (the one you're watching, and a movie within the movie that is on the screen at the drive-in called "Disaster 76")this winner really gets the job done. I haven't laughed this hard since Jesse Jackson ran for President. The dialogue is simple yet clever. Lines like "he's busier than a man with his hat on fire" are uniquely Southern and perfectly suited to the feel of the film. Lets call it "American Graffiti" meets "The Dukes Of Hazzard". By the movie's end my comic belly was as full as a tick on a hound dog.