The Hollywood Knights

Starring:Robert Wuhl, Tony Danza, Fran Drescher, Leigh French, Randy Gornel, Gary Graham, Sandy Helberg, James Jeter, Stuart Pankin, P.R. Paul, Michelle Pfeiffer, Gailard Sartain, Richard Schaal, Julius Averitt, Steve Ballard, Phil Berle, Herbert Bress, Denyse Diane, Virginia Petto, Charles Stewart (III)
Director: Floyd Mutrux
Studio: Sony Pictures
Product Type: DVD

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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

Customer Reviews:

Wuhl is a GAS!.......2007-06-11

Robert Wuhl is the BEST in this funny, funny film (his first film role)! It's Halloween 1965 and the local teen hangout is about to be shut down and demolished by the town council, who can't wait to get rid of the kids (mainly the Hollywood Knights gang) who loiter there. There's lots of great tunes from the era by the Beach Boys, Byrds, Sam the Sham, Motown artists and more.

The scene where Wuhl farts the song "Volare'" in the gym is maybe only 30 seconds long but it's so funny, I had to rewind to see it over and over again! What else does he (as Newbomb Turk) do? Oh, not much...he and some Knights pee in the party punch, tapes some girls in the bathroom, causes a cop's toilet to overflow and "attempts" a sexcapade with Fran Drescher in the back seat.

By the way, Drescher is so incredibly sexy in this film (maybe accidently?), you'll forget all the other stuff she was in (her voice isn't as annoying as it would be in "The Nanny"). She's young and gorgeous with a taut, toned body that you'll be dreamin' about!

My other favorite scenes are with Gailard Sartain as the cop/archenemy of the Knights and Stuart Pankin as the nerdly bandmember/magician/honor student, Dudley. These two character actors add a HUGE part to this movie!

The only disappointing factor in this film is the inclusion of the relationship between Tony Danza and Michelle Pfeiffer. Yeah, Michelle's very pretty and Tony may cause a few female hearts to flutter but their scenes drag the film down...WAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY down! Just as you're on an incredible high from Wuhl's hilarious antics, they cut to the completely unfunny seriousness of Tony and Michelle's fragile relationship. What a drag! It's s'posed to be a funny film but their scenes veer sharply into soap opera territory...blech! Funny thing is, Tony NEVER, EVER appears with Wuhl or any of the other mischief makers in the film - he's not even listed in the closing credits, which leads me to believe his inclusion in the movie was an afterthought, maybe for some star-power thanks to his co-starring stint on "Taxi."

Aside from those EXTREMELY unfunny scenes, I gave it five stars anyway, because there are many, many funny vignettes with Sartain, Pankin, Leigh French, Dick Schaal and many of the others. This is Robert Wuhl at his best! DON'T MISS IT!!!

1965 revisited.......2007-05-18

This movie is a "hoot". I graduated in 1965 and Viet Nam was just in its first stages, the drive in, dance, teacher was all like revisiting my high school graduation. Our class had each one of these characters. When we get down we will definately put in this DVD and have a couple hours of pure laughs.

CLASSIC! ONE OF MY FAVORITE COMEDY FILMS.......2007-04-11

This is a very funny movie. Robert Wuhl is hilarious as Newbomb Turk a rather mischievous horn dog. "Tubby's Drive-in" is where the film centers itself,so there are some mighty fine cars to ogle in this forgotten classic. The DVD transfer id good, I did check this out on a HD channel and it looked incredible.

Hollywood Knights.......2007-04-11

Step One -- Put it in your DVD player. Step Two -- Turn off your brain.
Step Three -- Just enjoy yourself.

Hilarious breakout film for many now-famous stars.......2007-03-17

Great coming-of-age movie that came out in 1980. Although it has a similar format and was probably inspired by American Graffiti, it has an irreverance and comedy charm all it's own, especially for gearheads, lovers of 1960's music, and for people that like to see basically good kids "Stickin' it to the Man". Tony Danza was somewhat established by this point but Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert Wuhl, Fran Drescher and even Stuart Pankin were pretty much getting their big-screen starts with this movie, at least with roles that anyone can remember. The musclecars and soundtrack are phenomenal, and the story line is pretty entertaining too. If you've never seen it, put this movie on your must-see list. If you have but it's been a while, pop it in and take another trip back to 1965...you'll be glad you did.

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