The Hollywood Knights (1980)

"Hollywood Knights" is a tedious knock off of "American Graffiti", only with flashes of nudity to stand in for the nostalgia. Today it is only worth watching for the actors and actresses who would go on to become stars in TV and film, namely Fran Drescher, Tony Danza and Michelle Pfeiffer. Robert Wuhl, a lesser star but still an Emmy winner, plays the main character.This character's name, "Newbomb Turk", represents the high point of the filmmaker's creativity. Aside from that, the only memorable scene is a bit where a cheerleader comes out to do a routine on a basketball court and isn't wearing any underwear, flashing the audience.Pfeiffer and Danza are only in the movie to add a "serious" love story note, and in this case "serious" means "tedious". There is no chemistry between them, with Pfeiffer looking as bored as we are. These parts are the low point of a bad movie. They're also the only parts I remember that really have much of a narrative; the movie is an episodic job like "The Last American Virgin", and also like that movie, it seems to deliberately avoid making you feel anything other than mirth, which would be okay if it were funny in the least.It isn't.

Released in 1980, this was another crazy teenage comedy which tried to emulate the exceptional '70s films "American Graffiti" and "Animal House", and comes up short. The loose plot takes place in 1965 (even though some of the characters retain their late-seventies hairstyles) and is centered around the closing of Tubby's, a favorite local teen hangout. There's a group of pranksters called The Hollywood Knights who decide to say farewell to Tubby's' by playing practical jokes on stuffy adults and police officers. This includes spiking the punch at a party, stuffing the toilets, and doing other such childlike shenanigans. A few of these are humorous, but most of them fall flat. Throughout the movie are strewn many classic old '50s and '60s tunes, something of a consolation. Stand-up comedian Robert Wuhl plays the lead gang member, called Newbomb Turk. He's got at least one funny bit involving Fran Drescher as a gorgeous bimbo who he manages to get in the back seat of his car, but not for very long (it's the best scene in the film). There is a fat cop who becomes the frequent victim of the Knights' gags, which isn't too bad. And last and least, we get Michelle Pfeiffer and TAXI's Tony Danza taking up unnecessary screen time as a couple going through some troubles in extraneous segments which are completely unrelated and take you out of the movie. ** out of ****

...of the better films that came before it.I first heard of this movie in 1984 when cable TV was really coming into its own and a buddy of mine tried to describe the "Volare" singing scene but couldn't get through it without cracking up...guess it was the times..the anything goes 80's.Years later I was surfing the internet and came across some glowing reviews(like many of the ones appearing here)and after finding out that the same guy who was behind "American Hot Wax"( a film I saw on cable and liked )was behind this I thought I'd give it a shot.What a disappointment...a series of low brow gags frenetically paced and interspersed with some attempts at seriousness ( Jimmy Shine's impending departure to Nam )and romance ( the Tony Danza/Michelle Pfeiffer "breakup")...scenes that have a contrived,tacked-on feel as if they came from some other undeveloped project.Its as if the writer director Floyd Mutrux couldn't decide what kind of movie he wanted to make so he just threw this up on the wall to see if any of it stuck.. and based on the comments of many viewers here it sticks just fine.While not a total waste ( afterall... I'd probably watch film footage of Michelle Pfeiffer polishing furniture...and the cars are cool)this film is just way too derivative of the territory mined by George Lucas 7 years previous with "American Graffiti" and John Landis 2 years previous with "Animal House"...Mutrux gives nothing new to the formula other than swinging much wider with the smutty style of humor that the passage of a couple of years time has allowed. What pains me is the comments of those who regard this as some sort of masterpiece of comedic nostalgia that puts the aforementioned Lucas/Landis projects to shame ...this film may be a suitable time capsule for your recollections of 1965 as filtered through "Porky's"-tinted glasses but you folks really need to gain some perspective before you diss "Graffiti"...George Lucas practically invented the genre that Mutrux is exploiting here...I know cause I remember being a kid in the early 60's and facing Vietnam while leaving high school...and in 1973 "Graffiti" was such a welcome voyage back to a more secure and innocent past that only two films that year drew a bigger audience..."The Sting" and "The Exorcist" and Lucas achieved that with a pittance in funding compared to the other two yet garnered several Academy Award nominations...including Best Picture.And he pretty much invented the use of a period music soundtrack to achieve realism..a technique that has been copied in addition to the use of multiple story lines occurring simultaneously that are both commonplace today.The epilogue ending with the "where are they now"?character cards was totally original and a real jolt at the time..a sucker punch that fortold of things to come and was effectively stood on its ear by Landis in his closing in "Animal House" . "Graffiti"'s success ushered in the whole nostalgia craze that set in during the post-Vietnam era...and all the lame exploitations to follow ..such as "Happy Days"...and this forgettable epic.

Sort of American GRAFFITI MEETS ANIMAL HOUSE.It's funny & very lowbrow.Look at how many of the actors in their first feature went on to great success.Michelle Pfeiffer has several Oscar nominations to her credit.Robert Wuhl has been in several movies since.Stuart Pankin did NOT NECESSARILY THE NEWS & DINOSAURS.Fran Drescher was THE NANNY.Gary Graham had a recurring role on ENTERPRISE.My only disappointment was no "where are they now?" segment at the end.I also sort of hoped for a sequel.I recently bought the DVD,director Floyd Mutrux's commentary is very interesting.Any old car buff will love the autos used in the drag race & Tubby's Drive-In scenes.