Hollywood Boulevard (1976)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Directors:

Allan Arkush
Joe Dante

Writer:

Danny Opatoshu (written by)

Release Date:

25 April 1976 (USA)

Genre:

Thriller | Comedy

Tagline:

The street where starlets are made!

Plot:

Joe Dante directs this story of the glamour, the glitter, the magical allure of Hollywood... and not a speck of it rubs off on Miracle Pictures...

Plot Keywords:

Hollywood | Black Comedy | Robby The Robot | Wilhelm Scream | Show Business

Cast

Candice Rialson	...	Candy Hope
Mary Woronov	...	Mary McQueen
Rita George	...	Bobbi Quackenbush
Jeffrey Kramer	...	Patrick Hobby
Dick Miller	...	Walter Paisley
Richard Doran	...	P.G.
Tara Strohmeier	...	Jill McBain
Paul Bartel	...	Erich Von Leppe
John Kramer	...	Duke Mantee
Jonathan Kaplan	...	Scotty
Billy C. Farlow	...	Singer (as His Lost Airmen)
George Frayne	...	Commander Cody (as Commander Cody)
George Wagner	...	Cameraman
W.L. Luckey	...	Rico Bandello
David Boyle	...	Obnoxious Kid

Also Known As:

The Starlets (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

83 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Norway:16 | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Gilmore Drive-In Theater - 3rd Street & Fairfax Avenue, Fairfax, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

New World Entertainment Films

Trivia:

Dick Miller's character is named for his character in A Bucket of Blood (1959).

Quotes:

Obnoxious Kid: Can I have your autograph?
Bobbi Quackenbush: Sure, kid. What's your name?
Obnoxious Kid: David.
Bobbi Quackenbush: OK, David.
[signs paper and hands it to the kid]
Bobbi Quackenbush: There you go.
Obnoxious Kid: Here's what I think of the Avengers!
[tears up autograph, kicks Bobbi in the shin, and leaves]
Bobbi Quackenbush: I could sure dig meeting a better class of people.

Movie Connections:

Edited into Not of This Earth (1988)

Lively, engaging send-up of B movie film-making.

A typical, ambitious young aspiring actress named Candy Hope (Candice Rialson) arrives in Hollywood determined to make it big, only to get hooked up with a low-rent studio named Miracle (as in "If it's a good picture, it's a...) specializing in cheap and sleazy drive-in fare. In short order, she's doing an action film in the Phillippines and a positively goofy sci-fi flick. On the set of the latter, the movie turns into a murder mystery, as the young starlets are being bumped off...who could be doing it?

This lovable movie takes such knowing and sly jabs at the travails of low-budget movie-making that it's just a blast. New World is basically poking fun at itself with this little gem, and I love them all the more for it. It's full of hilarious lines, and clever moments, right down to the barrage of in-jokes (a cameo by Robby the Robot, a fleeting reference to hall-of-infamy howler "Robot Monster", Dick Miller actually watching himself on screen in the Corman movie "The Terror", acting opposite Boris Karloff, etc.). Arising out of an idea to make the cheapest movie that New World had yet produced, the film-makers (New World trailer editors Joe Dante and Allan Arkush made their directing debuts here) hit upon the idea of utilizing as much existing New World footage as they possibly could. So when you see action scenes, special effects, and stunts in this movie, you're seeing stock footage. (Fans of the early 70's New World canon can have fun identifying all of the clips.)

Rialson makes for a very appealing and fetching lead, although her co-stars often take center stage. Dick Miller and Paul Bartel are indeed the most fun as the shamelessly greasy agent and the pretentious director who treats his schlock epics as if they are genuine works of art. Mary Woronov is the delightfully campy reigning bitch-queen of the studio; as always, she's well worth watching. The equally delectable Rita George and Tara Strohmeier do fine as the other budding young starlets (Arkush and Dante never hesitate to give us some prime T & A here), with director Jonathan Kaplan amusing as a bumbling crew member, and Jeffrey Kramer (Deputy Hendricks in the first two "Jaws" movies) perfectly likable as the in-house screenwriter and love interest.

Also highlighted by a romantic interlude punctuated by a musical performance by Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen, the kind of thing that might ordinarily stop a movie cold, but is such a hilariously catchy and raunchy little ditty that I had fun with it.

It's a wild and wacky comedy with no pretensions. It is exactly what it is - extremely economically made and cheerfully trashy drive-in movie fun, the kind of thing that always leaves a smile on my face.

Another bonus: that theme song really is quite nice!

Easily entertaining enough for me to give it 8 out of 10.