The Hollywood Knights
by Floyd Mutrux
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Julius Averitt, Michelle Pfeiffer, Phil Berle, Steve Ballard, Tony DanzaDirector: Floyd Mutrux
Brand: Hollywood
Cinematographer: William A. Fraker
Writer: Floyd Mutrux
Editor: Scott Conrad
Producer: Richard Lederer
Writer: Richard Lederer
Producer: William Tennant
Writer: William Tennant
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; Spanish (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Color, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 91 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2000-05-09
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Sony
Movie Reviews of The Hollywood Knights
Movie Review: A little bit 'American Graffiti', a little bit 'Porky's.....
Summary: 5 Stars
... This flick about a car-gang, the Hollywood Knights, having themselves a major blast on the final night before their main hangout, Tubby's Drive In (Home of the BIG ONE) gets closed down by some conservative Beverly Hills beauracracy - - - -, could very well be the funniest movie of all-time as well as the greatest CAR-movie ever (it's an absolute SIN that it isn't even in MSN's Top 10 car-movies). 'Graffiti', as classic and deservingly so as it is, is a bit too politically-correct, PG-rated, a la Ron Howard/Cindy Williams. 'Hollywood Knights', however, gets STRAIGHT-TO-THE-POINT comedically even if a bit crude at times although not quite as crude as 'Porky's. Though the movie does 'star' Tony Danza (perhaps to sell more tickets at the time being that 'Taxi' was a current hit in 1980) and a young up-and-coming Goddess, Michele Pfieffer, it's simply ROBERT WUHL's rendition of NEWBOMB TURK that far-and-away steals the show and then some. For me to tell you just how hysterical this character is throughout the movie, I would not be able to finish beneath the 1,000-word-limit. That is why you simply have to get this one and see it for yourself. Yes, and to think that in the director's narrative (very worth listening to, by the way) it is told that Wuhl (this being his first role) was actually 'shy' and 'nervous' during shooting; amazing. Let's not forget Fran Drescher's role in this as well. Apart from being easy on the eyes, she is also such a trip; a real funny lady ("Did you come?! You're so inmatuue!!") 'Knights' is practically non-stop laughs and pranks throughout with the exception of the movie every now and then shifting to the cheesy love-plot between Danza and Pfieffer's characters (perhaps installed just to give the viewer a short break from laughing to death). Other, but more forgiveable, 'breaks' from the ongoing tomfoolery in the movie also include focusing on one of the Knights (played by the one who ended up on 'Alien Nation' years later) going off to Vietnam the next day. This segment of the movie's plot is an example as to why this flick is more than just laughs-galore but also touches on the end of an era. Conviently taking place on Halloween 1965, the viewer can feel THE 60s creep in as the movie goes on, whether it be the fact that there are ONLY FOUR Hollywood Knight-pledges wanting to initiate themselves into the car-gang when in years past, as Danza's character put it, "when I was in junior high school, everyone wanted to be a Knight", or whether it be the 8-TRACK PLAYER put into one of the hot-rods playing 'California Dreamin' by the Mamas and the Papas, or whether it be the young high-school street-surfer being told at Tubby's by his older peers to 'cut his hair', or whether it be the 'treat' that the street-corner do-woppers gave the four Knight-pledges while singing 'Under the Boardwalk', and simply the fact that A DRIVE-IN WAS CLOSING DOWN. Just like 'Fast Times' touches up on the 80s before the 80s BECAME the 80s (MTV) and just like 'Wayne's World' touched up on a time in the early 90s when metal-heads still had their thing going in the face of Nirvana and Pearl Jam (and Ugly Kid Joe??), 'Knights' focused on a fraternity of 60s high-schoolers that were still hanging onto the 50s just before finally having no choice but to drop (no pun intended) into the turbulent times of the day. 'Dudley', the 'nerd' of the flick ("Mother, I knooow! I knooow!), was a rather funny role as well and it was cool that the Knights ended up accepting him after putting him through an 'initiation' in itself. They allowed him the opportunity to have 'a life' well before the last day of school whereas the T-birds (in 'Grease') never accepted Eugene, even at the time of the carnival. This is definitely why...KNIGHTS RULE!
Summary of The Hollywood Knights
LED BY THEIR COMEDIC AND PRANK LEADER, NEWBOMB TURK, THEHOLLYWOOD KNIGHTS CAR GANG RAISES HELL THROUGHOUT BEVERLY HILLS ON HALLOWEEN NIGHT, 1965. EVERYTHING FROM DRAG RACING TO VIETNAMTO HIGH SCHOOL LOVE. SPECIAL FEATURES: DIRECTOR'S COMMENTARY, THEATRICAL TRAILERS, TALENT FILES, INTERACTIVE MENUS AND MORE.You've got to give credit to the Hollywood Knights. They may be crass, juvenile, sex-mad pranksters, but they have an open-door policy: nerds and jocks alike are welcome, as long as they show proper disrespect for authority. The Hollywood Knights, a minor 1980 cult comedy poised somewhere between the innocent nostalgia of American Graffiti and the raunchy humor of Animal House, chronicles the antics of a practical-joking high school gang on Halloween night, 1965. In tribute to the last night of their favorite hangout, a Beverly Hills drive-in marked for destruction by the snooty Chamber of Commerce, the gang's court jester Newbomb Turk (Robert Wuhl in his film debut) leads the Knights in an all-out assault on the forces of law and order, conformity, and good taste. Nestled in the parade of toilet humor, fart jokes, mooning rebels, and topless co-eds, however, are the ruminations of the end of an era: the times they are a changin'. The doo-wop and surf soundtrack gives way to Motown, the Mamas and the Papas, and the Byrds as high school sweethearts Tony Danza and Michelle Pfeiffer weather the transition from puppy love to adult romance and Vietnam looms on the horizon. It's a schizophrenic film, bopping from juvenile anarchy to thoughtful drama and back again with a sloppy but energetic drive and a rowdy rebelliousness that will never be accused of sensitivity, decency, or dignity. Fran Drescher, Gary Graham, and a hilarious Stuart Pankin also star. --Sean Axmaker
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