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Rating: 1 star

All movies seen on 11/01/2011

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The Hollywood Knights (1980)

Directed by Floyd Mutrux

Comedy

Overview

Led by their comedic and pranking leader, Newbomb Turk, the Hollywood Knights car gang raise hell throughout Beverly Hills on Halloween Night, 1965. Everything from drag racing to Vietnam to high school love.

Rated R | Length 91 minutes

Actors

Robert Wuhl | Tony Danza | Fran Drescher | Michelle Pfeiffer | Joyce Hyser | Gary Graham | Stuart Pankin | Otis Young | Moosie Drier | Gailard Sartain | Roberta Wallach | Debra Feuer | Dawn Clark | Kim Hopkins | Michele Drake | Sandy Helberg | Ed Morgan | Mike Binder | T. K. Carter

Viewing History (seen 1 time)

Viewing Notes

THE HOLLYWOOD KNIGHTS is the spiritual predecessor to DAZED & CONFUSED, except without the good parts.

The film tries to set the scene of Halloween 1965 as some drive-in is being closed down and a group of 30-year old teenage pranksters try to save it…or something. I don’t know; the narrative isn’t really clear because the writers tried to combine 40-different cliche stories and make something cohesive. As a result the movie comes across as a series of disconnected “jokes” that are only thinly connected with guys mooning other guys. I’m also not sure that anyone who had anything to do with making the film had any idea what 1965 looked like, or at times, how to focus the camera lens.

To make it worse, the cast is extremely annoying. Instead of making the teenagers sympathetic, but rebellious (as in DAZED), the “teens” here are a bag of assholes that I’d enjoy punching in the face. Repeatedly. Starting with Robert Wuhl.

The film’s only saving grace is the soundtrack and the appearance of T.K. Carter from GOOD MORNING, MISS BLISS and PUNKY BREWSTER.

I can’t imagine why I’d ever want to to watch this again. This film needed some real work before it was put out. And maybe some reshoots.

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