One of the interesting aspects of going to see movies at a drive-in was the unpredictability of how features would be paired together.  Savvy programmers would put together themed combinations of films but often the viewer was at the mercy of the distributor and whatever they decided to send out for the second-half of the bill.  The feeling of watching and odd drive-in pairing is recreated nicely by the folks at BCI via this “Starlite Drive-In” double bill, which pairs youthsploitation opus Van Nuys Blvd. with the rural gangster outing Little Laura & Big John.  These strange bedfellows offer audiovisual time-warps of two different kinds for the viewer…

 

VAN NUYS BLVD : 4/5

 

Like many a drive-in classic, Van Nuys Blvd. capitalizes on a then-popular youth craze – in this case, the car-enthusiast hobby of having a “cruise night” on the titular boulevard in L.A. ’s  San  Fernando Valley .  The protagonist is Bobby (Bill Adler), a young guy living in a dead-end California town who is eager to race his van against a worthy opponent.  A t.v. news report inspires him to travel to Van Nuys Blvd and check out cruise night for himself. 

 

Bobby quickly meets his match in female car enthusiast Moon (ex-Playmate Cynthia Wood) and gets into a series of adventures that includes a run-in with local fascist cop Officer Zass (Dana Gladstone), visits to all the local hotspots and the inevitable drag-race with Moon.  Bobby and Moon also interact with plenty of local scenesters: major subplots focus on Greg (Dennis Bowen), a young smartaleck chasing after his dreamgirl (Melissa Prophet), and the Chooch (David Hayward), an aging hipster who finds love with a carhop (Tara Strohmeier) as he ponders how long he can keep on cruisin’ with the kids.

 

Van Nuys Blvd. was written and directed by William Sachs, who is better known for genre fare like The Incredible Melting Man and Galaxina.  He helms this quickie with confidence and style, building it on an episodic script that hits the right blend of laughs, skin and youth-conscious novelty while also making fine use of the sights and sounds available in the Los Angeles area (highlights include trips to Magic Mountain, Malibu Grand Prix and a disco!).  Sachs never over-sells the gags or the softcore thrills – instead, he just keeps the pace rolling forward and lets the fun speak for itself.  He also works in a few mild but effective moments of drama that give the film a little something extra.

 

The film’s engaging feel is anchored by an original song-score that gives the film a nostalgic period flavor, including a fun disco theme song, and skillful cinematography from Joe Mangine that makes the film look more expensive than it actually is.  It further benefits from a likeable cast – Adler and Wood have a believably tempestuous chemistry as the film’s rebellious leads while Bowen and Hayward both show good comic timing in their roles.  Elsewhere, Gladstone steals many a scene with deadpan wisecracks as Officer Zass – a predicament he suffers midway through the film gives it some of its best comedic highlights - and Tara Strohmeier gives a warm, unaffected performance that is oh so sexy as Chooch’s love interest.

 

In short, this works both as a time capsule and a primo example of the teen-hijinx genre.  Any fan of California-based exploitation fare should check it out.

 

LITTLE LAURA & BIG JOHN: 1.5/5

 

The disc’s second feature isn’t quite as much fun as the first.  Little Laura & Big John is a lesser-known entry into the ‘rural bank robber” genre that became big in the early 1970’s: classic examples include Bloody Mama, Dillinger and, of course, Big Bad Mama.  Unfortunately, it never hits the heights of those films a takes a less-interesting road into this territory.

 

The film takes its inspiration from the real-life crimes of John Ashley, who is portrayed here by ex-teen idol Fabian Forte.  John grows up in a backwater burg, resorting to light criminal scams to provide luxuries for his childhood sweetheart Laura (Karen Black).  When a poaching scam results in an accidental death, John is accused of murder and goes on the lam with Laura and some like-minded friends.  They soon add bank robbing to their repertoire and run afoul of Palm Beach sheriff (a pre-Breakfast Club Paul Gleason).

 

Simply put, it’s a low-budget riff on Bonnie And Clyde.  The end result has some pretty Floridian scenery but falls short in most other departments.  Despite an interesting framing device – the story is narrated in flashback by Laura’s mother – the script rushes through the story in a perfunctory style, failing to milk the individual incidents for the drama or excitement that would make them stick in the memory.  It also fails to build up its characters, making John and Laura look like a couple of self-indulgent twits who fall short of criminal mastermind status. 

 

The problems extend to the filmmaking itself – writer/directors Luke Moberly and Bob Johnston aspire to a certain artsiness with the film’s fractured narrative and its use of an original song score but their technique is so crude that the end result comes off like a half-baked student film.  The songs are really annoying, by the way – look out for the brain-damaging ditty about a “player piano man” and a song about the prison town of Raiford that goes on for an eternity.  Sadly, the performances don’t help things – Black brings a nice Southern-Gothic vibe to her role but is given too little to do and Forte is as wooden as the palm trees of the film’s locale.  Finally, it’s a little too light on mayhem and skin to suffice as good drive-in fare: take away two brief bits of nudity and you have something that could pass as PG-bordering-on-G-rated film.