If you enjoyed American Graffiti, then there is a good chance you might also enjoy Hollywood Knights. Oh, not if you watch them back-to-back, mind you. But if you watched AG back in the day (1973), then all these years later now you will like HK (made 7 years later.) Follow that at all..?

Here's the thing. See if you recognize this plot at all: We have a Car Club back in the 50s-60s called the Hollywood Knights. One of their guys is leaving for the army in the morning, and the local hang out, Tubby's, is due to be demolished. We follow these guys on Jimmy's last night before being shipped off, complete with recurrent blips of a Wolfman Jack-ish DJ spinning excellent tunes throughout. Hell, there is even the tampering-with of the doofus cop's car.

Yeah. Thought so.

Still... Even with the obviously re-worked AG script, this one is not a complete loss. On the contrary. It has been a good 20 years since I watched Graffiti, so catching Knights was almost nostalgic for me. The best part of it all is seeing todays stars back when they were sorta just bit parts. I mean yeah, Michelle Pfeiffer was supposedly the female lead, but it was a cheap imitation of AG and didn't get much attention because of that. At any rate, she is even more gorgeous as a teen than she is today. Wait. I take that back. She is equally gorgeous. She was also very talented even way back then.

Fran Drescher has aa part in this one too. You will recognize her older self as TV's The Nanny. Same personality in this role, same infectious laugh.

Tony Danza is the male lead here. I really liked him in Taxi, not so much in Who's the Boss. His talk show is not very painful. I really liked him in this movie. He's just a really likable kinda guy. I don't think he could play the bad guy if he tried. Unfortunately, he was no match for Pfeiffer as her boyfriend. He was simply out-classed.... but then who wouldn't be?

Did you ever hear the joke about the man with five penises? His pants fit like a glove.

The star of this recycled story though is really the soundtrack. I mean we were both bopping and jiggling to the songs as they came up. Things like California Dreamin, Wipeout, Under the Boardwalk, and Surfing U.S.A just to name a few of my favorites. They picked the songs well to put you in the mood of the time frame this was set in.

This one is Rated R in the US, and I think like 15 and up in Sweden. Look. There is language, there is backseat shennanigans, and humerous underwear scenes. So what. I say 8 and up, but I wouldn't stop the film if a 5 year old walked in the room either... of course, I am very anti-sheltering. Your mileage may vary.

So. I'm a bit torn. I mean, it really is a cheap imitation of a great movie, but yet.. but yet... I enjoyed it a great deal. I'm going with 3 1/2 stars here, and rounding down to 3, but recommending it. If you find yourself in a nostalgic mood and it happens to be coming on cable, go ahead and get some popcorn ready. I can think of a lot worse ways to spend 91 minutes.


Recommended:
Yes