White background  Black background

The Hollywood Knights (1980)

Directed by: Floyd Mutrux
Screenplay by: Floyd Mutrux, Richard Lederer and Bill Tennant
Starring: Robert Wuhl, Fran Drescher, Michelle Pfeiffer, Tony Danza, Gailard Sartain and many others, including Glenn Withrow.
Rated: R (USA) - language, nudity, coarse humour


The Hollywood Knights is a movie in the vein of Porky's, Animal House and American Graffiti (or for those that aren't ancient like me, American Pie).

The Hollywood Knights are a car club - a high school fraternity of sorts. Their hangout, Tubby's Drive-in, is closing Halloween night 1965. Since the movie is set in 1965, it already scored a point with me. I have a thing for movies set in the '60s. It features some awesome classic cars (score another point) and has a soundtrack I would marry (score another point). Add the fact that Glenn Withrow is in it and I don't think this movie can lose with me. (I'm not kidding about the soundtrack - I'll post the tracks later, but seriously - it kicks butt.)

The main premise of the movie is following the Hollywood Knights (led by Newbomb Turk (Robert Wuhl) they are Shorty (Glenn Withrow), Wheatly (Randy Gornel) and Simpson (P.R. Paul)) set out to create some havoc. From interrupting a neighbourhood meeting, to spying on local girls, pranking the school pep rally and talent contest, to assigning their four new pledges some initiation tasks, the Knights have a busy evening planned. Out to ruin it are Officers Bimbeau (Gailard Sartain) and Clark (Sandy Hedburg), who have pretty much had it with the Knights.

Meanwhile, Knight member Duke (Tony Danza) is having a hard time dealing with his girlfriend Suzy Q (Michelle Pfeiffer) and her chosen career - acting. To add to that, fellow Knight Jimmy Shine (Gary Graham) has been drafted and is shipping off to Vietnam. These two storylines serve to slow down the action from the sequences with the Knights, the pledges and the adults in the community. It really breaks up the flow of the movie to have these quiet moments...the movie is primarily about the hijinx of the Hollywood Knights, and these ultra serious moments don't really work for me. In particular the story with Duke and Suzy is a snooze-fest. I just don't feel like they had much chemistry on screen. I have to say Michelle Pfeiffer looks absolutely beautiful in this. She's really stunning.

The storyline with Jimmy Shine going off to Vietnam - I think it works on some level. I like the juxtaposition of the easygoing and fun times the Knights have with the serious aspect of Jimmy Shine going off to Vietnam, it echoes the changing times. The movie really has an "end of an era" feel - not only is Tubby's closing, but you get the feeling it's ending in more ways than that for these guys. I think the storyline of Jimmy Shine helps to give it that feeling. (It's weird, but even though it's Halloween, the movie has an 'end of summer' or 'end of school/graduation' feel to it). I just wish Jimmy Shine had been a little more involved with the goings on with all the other Knights - the scenes with his boss at Smitty's, Duke etc, they were a little too removed from the rest of the movie. If they could've brought Duke and Jimmy Shine a little more into the fun stuff that was going on, I might not have been so bored with the storyline.

All the characters are supposed to be high school students, Robert Wuhl in particular looks like he's in his 30s (he was 28 at the time of filming ... looked older. Sorry, Robert). It's sort of like watching Beverly Hills 90210 and watching Gabrielle Carteris play a high school student. Major suspension of disbelief is required. I actually think Randy Gornel and Glenn Withrow were the only two that could pass for high school students (and Glenn was 26 according to IMDb). 

I have to say, Gailard Sartain is absolutely hilarious as Officer Bimbeau. His delivery is just spot on, he makes me laugh every time he's on screen. The movie is worth it just for him.

Another favourite - Stuart Pankin as Dudley Laywicker. "Please don't hurt me, I think I'm a bleeder." He is absolutely hilarious. His voice just gets me every time, it's enough to make me laugh on its own. Speaking of voices (I seem to have a thing for voices, huh?) the character of the DJ (who sort of narrates the film) was played by a real LA-area DJ. He has a fantastic voice - kind of reminds me of Bing Crosby, just a wonderful baritone.

Which brings me to the soundtrack, which wins at life. Best soundtrack ever and here's the track listing (in order of appearance in the movie if I got it right - yes, I'm that obsessed with it):

Fun Fun Fun (The Beach Boys)
Barbara Ann (The Beach Boys)
One Fine Day (The Chiffons)
Sherri (The Four Seasons)
Goin' Out of My head (Little Anthony and the Imperials)
Quicksand (Martha and the Vandellas)
Volare (Bobby Rydell) heh, not the version Newbomb does ;-)
Rag Doll (The Four Seasons)
Little Darlin' (The Diamonds)
Surf City (Jan and Dean)
He's So Fine (The Chiffons) also plays near the end before Heat Wave I think
Sh-Boom (The Crew Cuts)
Hey Baby (Bruce Channel)
What'd I Say (Ray Charles)
Baby Love (The Supremes)
Wooly Bully (Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs)
Surfin' USA (The Beach Boys)
Wipeout (The Surfaris)
Why Do Fools Fall In Love (Frankie Lymon)
In The Midnight Hour (Wilson Pickett)
Hello Dolly (Louis Armstrong)
I Will Follow Him (Little Peggy March)
California Dreamin' (The Mamas and the Papas)
Pipeline (The Chantays)
Mr. Tambourine Man (The Byrds)
Under the Boardwalk (The Drifters)
Big Girls Don't Cry (The Four Seasons)
Come Go With Me (The Del Vikings)
I Hear a Symphony (The Supremes)
Heat Wave (Martha and the Vandellas)
The Hollywood Knights (Brooklyn Dreams)

A few characters also sing - Tracks of My Tears (Smokey Robinson), Runaround Sue (Dion and the Belmonts), I Wonder Why (Dion and the Belmonts), Angel Baby (Rosie and the Originals).

This movie is a lot of fun - I actually prefer a lot of the older comedies like this over stuff like American Pie. I think even though both share the same type of juvenile humour, the older comedies just do it better - it's not as crude and it works just as well. Maybe I'm showing my age.

The DVD has audio commentary by director Floyd Mutrux (is it bad that I don't enjoy the director commentaries as much as actor commentaries? I notice the actors always talk about the stuff I'm more interested in. And I love it when it's a ton of cast members in one room watching together, the best commentaries come out of that - The Outsiders, The Goonies, Karate Kid), a few pieces of info on certain cast members, trailers for a few Michelle Pfeiffer movies and that's about it. It's too bad there weren't more special features, but you can't expect much from movies made before special features were even a consideration in filmmaking.

Glenn seriously looked adorable in this movie - I think the first picture proves that =) Glenn appears in the movie quite a bit, and the movie it self is really funny, a great soundtrack and that '60s feel, so the DVD deserves a spot on your shelves. I've got lots of screencaps for you - although not of every scene Glenn's in ... I'm judicious.

Purchase Information

DVD - Available at CDuniverse.com and Amazon.com as well as other online retailers. It's 50th in overall sales at CDuniverse.

Pictures
(Click to enlarge)



The Knights are stopped by Bimbeau and Clark. I heart the glasses.



Simpson and Shorty wait for for Wheatly to arrive at Tubby's.



Hangin' at Tubby's.



Hangin' in a tree lol. (I especially love Gailard Sartain in this scene lol)



Chattin' about cars.



Shorty checking out a girl at Tubby's.



....Until Wheatly blows it for him.



Newbomb's brother shows up and Wheatly and Shorty cover for Newbomb.



Near the end of the movie - Wheatly, Shorty and Jimmy Shine.

 

Video Clip




In this first vid, Shorty (Glenn) and Wheatly (Gornel) are hanging out when a girl walks by.



Another vid I found on YouTube - you can see Glenn gets to drive a sweet chopped VW with frickin' suicide doors. Loving it.