Van Nuys Blvd.

VAN NUYS BLVD is another Crown International teen film that shows what a different place America was in the 1970's. Kids cruise around for sex, drugs and bad disco music. They also get to go to jail and then go to Magic Mountain the next day. Why I live for these movies I'll never know. Lots of drag racing, cool cars and hot chicks round out a film about doing nothing that totally makes a movie-watching SESSION a memorable experience. Recommended for the right people.

This movie has nothing but scenes stitched together BUT it's oddly fun and charming if only because its so aimless. Lots of nudity and clips of amusement parks and disco dancing make this a real treat for late 70's fans.

I came across this movie when it was playing on BRAVO, and since they don't show commercials I had no time to get distracted by something else. It's not a particularly good movie, but fun, and something about it kept me watching until 3 in the morning. Probably because I missed the beginning, so I never figured out which guy was the hick, as mentioned on the satelleite summary. That and Cynthia Wood. Wow she looks sweet in this movie. Writer/Director Sachs somehow manages to attach a subplot to no plot. It's an interesting 'slice of life' film that rates high on kitch, low on substance.

VAN NUYS BLVD. is a near-plot less slice of late '70s exploitation from those guys at Crown International Pictures. This one attempts to gather interest from various sources so it comes across as a mix of road movie, disco flick, and teen sex comedy. There's nudity thrown into the mix, along with scenes of racing and even long, protracted moments of disco dancing that go on for twenty minutes or more.

None of it particularly sticks, and I think it's fair to note that this is a dull and relatively pointless movie. Unless, that is, you're interested in the era, in which case it's a fun snapshot of its time allowing you to checking out the fashions, the cars, and the music scene in the wake of GREASE and Saturday NIGHT FEVER. The young actresses are attractive, but the male performers are pretty hopeless, and the tries-to-be-funny script just doesn't cut it. Writer/director William Sachs also helmed THE INCREDIBLE MELTING MAN, which on the strength of this I would say was his best movie.

I appreciate that having been born in 1946, I don't really have the right to review this film. My period is 1968/69, some ten years before this and boy does it show! Here, the car has already become God once more, the dancing looks more like aerobics and the music! Well, I got through prog rock and even punk but this disco sound was beyond me. Amazing though just how early the 'eighties' began because this really looks absolutely on the button for the eighties and yet was presumably made no later than 1978 if it came out in '79. As others have mentioned no plot to speak of, lots of very cute naked bodies, but, for me, too much motoring, too much fairground riding and too much of that music. For anyone ten years younger, however, probably absolutely essential viewing.