American Drive-In

Hey, I am a TRASH movies fan and I almost stopped seeing this movie before it finished. What else is to be said? This movie follows the 80's American comedy formula: Stereotypes ( the fat family, the rebel gang, the good guy with his blonde girl, the drunk, the nerds, etc ), but this particular movie beats them all in stupid jokes and cliches.

Let's face it, this film, could of been worse. It could of been a lot worse. I've viewed this cheap entertaining flick, quite a few times in my earlier days. And that's what it is, cheap and entertaining, but also I found this surprisingly funny. Though no performance should be commended, or may'be the one of Sarge a little bit, and Pat Kirton's not bad, this flick isn't one you just should flick off, and I'm the not the undemanding viewer. If you want to kill 88 minutes, there are far worse comedies. This is a cheesy one, but tasty cheese. Yes, we do have nudity, thankfully providing by our hottie Dina where the sound guy bugs their van, so their sounds of sex replaces the sound of this crappy zombie flick. It's hysterically funny. I know what sounds I'd listen to if I was ever watching that piece of s**t. We even hear her literally broadcast that her father, the town mayor, is here to nab a dope ring. See. Funny! The two or three scenes involving our two lovers are the only naughty bits in the movie, so it's not all sex. The mayor, so desperately wanting to nab the culprit of this dope ring, supposedly operating on the grounds of the drive in, scumbag, that he is, he uses his teen son as a buyer. The son meets Sarge, the leader of this gang, who sells him some weed. Sarge and his boys, the stealers of this show, who are all for one, one for all, like to cause havoc, terrorizing and intimidating other drive in folk, by smashing heads, speakers, or screaming around in their loud cars, and eventually worse, that leads to a dramatic showdown of vengeance. I liked the rape angle in this comedy, cause it was unexpected. The rape scene was quite intense I thought for a comedy. These repulsive p***ks even terrorize the rotund ticket lady, by letting them in free and scabbing money off of her. One of these guys actually makes out with a blow up doll, and the mayor gets caught on live television with a working woman, who uses her crummy caravan as a bordello on the outskirts of the drive in. We have a sexy young couple, Marge and Ric, having sexual problems, cause the woman won't answer one of his sexual requests, so it's over to the caravan of courage. And then as our two leads, clean cut city boy and strong attitude country girl, where a proposal occurs right before our eyes, and what better place to propose, than the drive in. Only, a little stupid remark, regarding the girl's mother, sparks a big feud. At one point, our city boy and Ric meet on the swings on the playground, the big screen framed behind them, a great use of shot, and exchange their dilemmas, one thinking he has the solution. We have the vain midget actor (you've seen this guy many times) who's crummy flick is playing right before his eyes. Check his reaction which his voice is replaced by Dina's and her hunk's lovemaking. Then we have an old lady couple, one of them actually says the F word. Shame on you. And also, we have a lonely old reader, really wasting his money, or has he just lost interest in the crap on the screen. I guess there's no pleasing some people. American Drive In throws in a lot of other great gags, one involving a dirty old guy in the candy bar, who hooks up a hidden camera so you can see down girl's breasts, including a twelve year old as she approaches a counter. He crudely comments on this girl, afterwards, which I thought was a bit sick. Okay, this isn't the best flick ever made. Even the quick intro music and opening titles might send a forewarning that what is to transpire is gonna be weak. Wrong! Totally. I found this flick something of a surprise. It's funny! And the very old guy running the drive in, is a hoot, using comparisons of Hardrock Zombies to Sound of Music, and washing his mouth free of expletives, with scotch I think.

The movie is pretty lame and innocuous for the first half--there is a raffle joke that goes on insanely long. But once the bad guys decide they are going to give it to poor Emily Longstreth, the movie just gets gross. Although she is never fully naked, one of the punks literally has his hands all over her, and it is shocking. Glad to see this rape as humor trend has vanished. Where's Poppa, The Knack, even the ending of Young Frankenstein utilized this "comic" device (as have many other films, I'm sure) and it's good to see political correctness is good for some things.

One of those films where nobody got paid much (if anything) for contributing to it. Therefore, YOU shouldn't pay much to see it (in terms of time AND money). Cheap actors; cheap sound and lighting; cheap location. Cheap; cheap; cheap. There IS depth to the cross-section of society which patronized drive-ins, which this movie attempts to convey. At the top of the list are those whose hormones need satisfying: horny guys; nympho gals (including a whore); intimidating losers in a gang; even a middle-aged all-MALE couple. Then there's the all-American couple; the scholarly couple; a couple of old ladies; the ambitious politico and his kids; and the fat family. But wait - there's more: among others, we meet the guy who's seen the flick so many times that he knows the dialogue; then there are the three mischievous pre-teens on bicycles; the geek who messes with the lot's sound system; the voyeuristic old guy; and the booze-guzzling projectionist. My final mention will be of the dwarf who appeared in the picture being shown at the drive-in, which is why I didn't mark this as low as I could have: I'm reserving THAT grade for what was on the bill. It's a real title, and, if I ever see it, believe it or not, it might be worse than American Drive-in.

this movie combines social satire with deep philosophical questions under the lens of the drive-in theater. characters are niched, with each car having its own perspective on the movie and the culture of the drive-in. the only thing that's lacking is the horror aspect, with most of the 'horror' happening on the big screen. the hooligans are the perfect slap-stick villains, while little old ladies just want to know what's going on. the 'attempted rape' that seems to have bothered others is over-the-top and completely satirical. all in all, American Drive-in is perfect for any fan of Hard Rock Zombies. Sabu lends him musical genius to this film as well (even though most of the songs are already in Hard ock Zombies).