Pinball, des filles et des flippers

PICK-UP SUMMER (Pinball Summer) was shown as part of the Grindhouse Film Festival at the New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles March 9-10, 2007. This film among others was chosen by Quentin Tarantino as a favorite from his personal 35mm collection. I saw him briefly in the lobby of the theater and he said that he saw this in 1982 when it was first released. On Friday night when I saw it in a packed house, the mainly young audience got the jokes (lots of laughter) and had fun with the film. Obviously inspired by other teen films like THE VAN and THE POM-POM GIRLS, this film revolves around a Pinball Machine (remember them?) tournament. Not too shabby...

This movie ended up making me feel like I'd been sucking helium or something. Fun, silly and kind of surreal. Similar feeling to watching Dazed & Confused... except in D&C at least there were somewhat realistic characters with somewhat believable lines. The characters in this movie are all cartoons with silly lines and over-the-top acting. Total drive-in movie fare. It's perfect for a bunch of friends to hang out and watch while drinking a bunch of beer. You don't have to follow the plot too closely to understand what's happening. It's got everything. Cool vans, pinball, bikers, hot chicks, disco dancing and a happy 70s soundtrack.

I actually had a kinda hard time placing the year when I first saw it. I thought for sure 80s but in the arcade scenes not one video game was visible and instead pinball machines seemed to be the big craze.

I have to say I liked this movie a lot and could see myself going back and watching it a few more times. I've tried to watch Meatballs again recently and found to my disappointment that I no longer enjoyed it but somehow this film has the perfect knucklehead teen comedy vibe. I only heard of this movie because the band Fu Manchu mentioned it as an inspiration... I was unable to find a copy anywhere until one showed up on e-bay.

This movie alternately called "Pinball Summer" or "Pick-up Summer" (since the pinball craze had long since ended by the time it hit American drive-ins) is basically a Canadian version of the 1970's American teen exploitation (or "sexploitation") drive-in flicks, which means that despite the thick Canadian accents it is virtually indistinguishable from contemporary American teen comedies like "The Pom-Pom Girls", "The Van", "Malibu Beach" and so forth. There is no real plot, for instance, just a lot pranks and zany hijinks revolving around a pinball tournament and a trophy that keeps getting lost or stolen. The male protagonists are two over-aged high school students who are much more obnoxious and somewhat less funny than actual teenagers. Their enemies are a sorry motorcycle gang who look like north-of-the border rejects from "Grease" or the Frankie and Annette beach movies, and a snooty rich couple who the protagonists seem to torment for no other reason than because they're rich and snooty.

Of course, the main reason to see any of these movies is the girls. The two protagonists are chasing around two sisters played by a couple of very attractive actresses (Karin Stephens and Helene Udy). The two wear various outfits that are never more than ridiculously skimpy, but have only very brief nude scenes. Most of the nudity is provided by the voluptuous Joy Boushel, who later became a minor Canadian scream queen appearing in "Humongous" and "The Fly". She leaves an indelible impression of boobs and freckles here, especially in the big "strip pinball" scene. Unfortunately, her character "Sally" also has her own theme song ("Sally Joy/you ain't no boy. . ."). Which brings me to the music: imagine the worst kind of sappy music from the late 1970's--now imagine something much, much worse and you're starting to get an idea of the godawful soundtrack to this movie.

So all things considered would I recommend this? Well, it could have used a little more nudity and a LOT less music, but it's really no worse than the American teen movies of the time, so if you like those. . . And the director, George Mihalka, would go on to make one of the better Canadian "slash-for-cash" horror movies "My Bloody Valentine" (if only some psycho in a miner's helmet would have put all the male hosers in THIS movie out of my misery, but oh well. . .).

This was one of my favorite movies growing up in the 80's, although back then, it was called "Pinball Summer", not "Pick-Up Summer." Being 12 years old, I thought it was hilariously brilliant when the two guys decided to stuff hot dogs, hamburgers, pizza, and popcorn into the exhaust pipe of a car in the drive-in movie so when it started up, the car behind it got a blast of greasy food! Anyone going into a movie like this expecting anything more than pure hedonistic fun, stupidity, and laughs, will be sorely disappointed. However, if you want a break from your week to just chill and relive the carefree days of the early 80's then sit back and enjoy the ride!

Quite clearly filmed under the title, PINBALL SUMMER, PICKUP is a truly bizarre Canadian version of USA teen flicks. The film tries to pass off Canada as the USA, but that is hardly the largest of its credibility problems. This is one of those films where you are led to believe that a group of teens is going to spend all summer chasing down a trophy for a pinball tournament as the be all and end all of existence! Even supposedly rough and tumble biker gangs go gaga for the hunk of metal and faux wood.

But, between the hackneyed boyfriend-girlfriend storyline, the loser virgin clichés and the chase for the elusive trophy, PICKUP SUMMER gains momentum to become a truly indescribable bit of 80's nostalgia. Leering shots at the pretty leads are expected and break up the monotony, but when the film has over-the-top homo-erotic biker dudes chasing after not only the girls, but this trophy and, seemingly, each other, it truly goes off the rails - in it's own "good-bad" way.

The theme song "Pinball Summer" (they even did a custom Pinball Summer video game) is genuinely catchy in a pop 80's kind of way, and there is a quirky energy to the second half of the film.

Grindhouse fest