Lemon Popsicle (1978) User Reviews

I love you Nikki and I know it's forever.

[lastliberal-853-253708 · 7/10 · 23 November 2013]

Watching this movie is like listen to a CD with all the great songs of the 50s: Little Richard, The Chordettes, Bill Haley and the Comets, Jerry Lee Lewis, and so many many more. It was the best soundtrack I have ever heard in a movie. Nineteen hits!

The movie is the original that The Last American Virgin was based upon. If you like to see the originals as I do, then you can't miss this. Did I mention the awesome soundtrack?

Yftach Katzur was fantastic as Benz. He and his two buddies, Momo (Jonathan Sagall) and Hughie (Zachi Noy), are on a mission to get laid. They get involved in several situations, and Benz just seems to be luckless in this department.

The main theme of the movie is Benz's infatuation with Niki (Anat Atzmon). He loses her immediately to Momo, and things go downhill. The ending is a heart-breaker.

Yes, there is a sequel, supposedly seven of them!

Amusing and nostalgic

[grybop · 6/10 · 27 January 2002]

Although Lemon Popsicle is actually a sex comedy, it's not offensive at all and the fact that it is set in the early 60s provokes a feeling of innocence and naivety. It's about situations most of us have been through during puberty (and beyond) : chasing after some girl, going to parties hoping to make new acquaintances etc. The soundtrack is beautiful and adds a lot to the accurate depiction of that era. The direction is another story...

The first sequel was not as good.

6

lemon popsicle rocks

[wayneclarke13 · 7/10 · 2 January 2009]

right guys first off I've been watching these films since i was a very small boy,these films especially this first one are all amazing,the soundtracks to most of them are brill,50s and 60s rock n roll tunes playing in the background of an old fashioned coming of age movie.music like bobby vinton,bryan hyland,etc etc,it follows the exploits of 3 friends,benji,huey and ladies man bobby,the plot lines are roughly the same on all films,benji falls in love,then gets hurt,bobby just has a good time,going from girl to girl,and unlucky huey who's always getting picked on,lol,but if your looking for a good old fashioned softcore titillation with an amazing soundtrack,then these films are definitely worth the look.

IN TOTAL AGREEMENT - ONE OF THE GREATEST MOVIES EVER MADE

[annualman · 3 August 2001]

Originally available in the UK on Hokushin Home Video (remember them??), this, the first of the Lemon Popsicle series, kind of showed what growing up in the 60s was really like (after the sanitised schmaltz of GREASE). Three horny teenage friends spend most of the film searching for love, sex, and parties, and they find all three in abundance. This film has a magnificent soundtrack of late 50s early 60s classics (which was released on blue vinyl in the UK) and some way over the top comic sequences which belie its non-mainstream production values; this film was made as a German-Israeli co productionby director Boaz Davidson. One of the stars, Zachi Noy, Huey (the overweight kid) has gone on to become a major star in his home country (even starring in a 9th instalment of the series released this year - see the imdb for further details). So, besides the music, I love the romance, I love the comedy, and I love the sex scenes which come across as very dirty in certain scenes. The first two sequels, Going Steady and Hot Bubblegum are also sheer brilliance; the fourth film Private Popsicle is okay, but the fifth in the series BABY LOVE is possibly the most awesome teenage film EVER made!! See it if you can find a copy - come on lets have DVD releases please!! Number 6 is total rubblish, and 7,8, and 9 don't seem to have been translated into English yet (or released in English anyway).

Footnote: Lemon Popsicle was remade in the US in the mid-80s as THE LAST AMERICAN VIRGIN which also features a phenomenal 80s soundtrack and is recommended to all!! Any other fans of the series please contact me.

Lemon Popsicle or Eskimo Limon was the original version of The Last American Virgin

[tonyvmonte-54973 · 6/10 · 8 October 2023]

After so many years, I finally watched this, the original Israeli version that was remade in America as The Last American Virgin by the same writer/director Boaz Davidson. Possibly set in the late '50s or early '60s, it concerns three teen boys and their attempts of having sex with various girls/women. But one of them, Benji, has a crush on a new girl named Nikki. Nikki, however, seems more into Benji's friend Bobby. The third boy is their heavyset friend, Huey. Since the set-ups are mostly the same as The Last American Virgin, I'll discuss them when I review that one. For now, I'll just say that I find the characterizations somewhat inconsistent but I guess that's to provide some excuse for easy laughs concerning sexual situations before the surprising ending concerning who ends up with who. Having said that, I did indeed still find those situations funny. And the conclusion is the kind that you'd rarely find in this particular genre of film...

A cut above

[Groverdox · 7/10 · 5 June 2022]

"Eskimo Limon", or "Lemon Popsicle" in English, is an Israeli-West German film which can be seen as a forerunner to all those eighties teen sex comedies like "Porky's", "Screwballs", and especially "The Last American Virgin", which is a remake of it. It was hugely successful in Israel and West Germany, spawning no less than an incredible eight sequels.

Perhaps it seemed fresh or even transgressive on release, but its material and many of its scenarios seem familiar now. The movie is mostly episodic, showing the same group of teenagers trying to get laid with predictably zany results, ie. Making out in a car and accidentally releasing the hand brake, or being ushered into the bedroom by a horny middle-aged woman, only to have her violent spouse return.

The only real through-line to the movie is the main character, Benji's love for a girl, and helping her out when she gets pregnant to his friend which leads to a surprisingly distressing abortion scene where the girl is clearly distraught and the doctor is callous toward her.

If you've seen "The Last American Virgin", you've never forgotten the ending. Both that movie and this its inspiration are surprisingly emotionally effective toward the end. The movie is never funny (very few teen sex comedies are) but at least it makes you feel something other than boredom or disgust. The hero is also relatable as someone who has emotional feelings as well as sexual ones, and does not just want to get laid.

The movie is also notable for its great soundtrack. Indeed there is barely a second of screen time without some classic of the '50s playing. So much music that it often doesn't seem related to the movie all that much, like you're listening to an oldies radio station while you watch. I don't believe for a second that they paid for the rights to use all those songs, which might be why the movie is not widely available on DVD. Allegedly the producers Golan and Globus were broke before the movie came out. The wild success of this movie in Israel and West Germany allowed them to found the legendary b-movie studio Cannon.

Life's Learning Lessons

[refinedsugar · 7/10 · 28 August 2023]

Taking a trip smack dab to the origins of Cannon Films founders Yoram Globus and Menahem Golan, I wanted to see the movie that (in a way) launched it all. Equal parts a coming of age story and prerequisite sex film, 'Lemon Popsicle' was pretty much what I expected ... but what a doozy that ending is.

The story is your simple boy meets girl and falls in love in 50's Israel. He tries to get her attention, but to no avail (she's not interested). He has two schoolyard friends and when the good looking, confident boy of the trio sets his sights on his dream girl he isn't able to say or do anything. Saying anything more would venture into spoiler territory and give away the third act.

An Israeli production you can see it in an English dub or keep the original language and go for subtitles. The acting is raw, but solid. There's some light crude talk between the boys, but nothing highly offensive. Light nudity as well. There's a lot of vintage American music tracks featured.

'Lemon Popsicle' is a everyday tale at its heart beyond the sexual escapades. It holds a lot of real truths and hurts that young boys and grown men alike come to learn the hard way. Potent for 1978, director Boaz Davidson and Cannon Films would do an Americanized remake years later.

Forced to prefer American Pie

[Mort-31 · 1/10 · 31 July 2002]

A couple of teenagers have a little sex on the beach in the 1960s. That's all. They say they are fifteen while one of the actors is really twenty-five. Maybe this movie was somewhat revolutionary in 1978 in its way of touching `taboo' topics but I can't imagine that at that time anything shown in Esmiko Limon was regarded as tabooish.

Shallow dialogues are mixed with disco music that is even shallower. The selection of songs doesn't involve anything but the very very well-known `classics' that are still heard on every second radio station today. The plot of American Pie is not much different but it is at least a little bit funny. Eskimo Limon is dull, flat and not aesthetic. Almost unbelievable that it had six sequels!

Pretty good teen sex comedy/drama from Isreal

[gangstahippie · 9/10 · 21 October 2007]

Rated R for Language,Sexuality/Nudity and drinking - all involving teens

I was curious to see the film The Last American Virgin.Since I am a teenager(im 15 years old) I enjoy teen movies.I do not just like newer ones such as American Pie or Superbad but I also like the classics such as Fast Times At Ridgemont High and Sixteen Candles.I wanted to see The Last American Virgin because I heard it was fairly realistic.I had heard that it was a remake of an Isreali film from 1978 entitled Lemon Popsicle.When I found the entire movie on youtube, I watched it.Unlike Last American Virgin which took place in the 1980's, Lemon Popsicle takes place in the late 1950's or early 1960's.The best part about this film is the 1950's soundtrack.There are plenty of hits from the fifties in this film.The film is about Benji and his two friends.Benji meets this girl who he falls in love with but this girl has the hots for his best friend who is the stud of the group.The first part of the film is like any other teen sex comedy, there are plenty of funny sexual situations that the characters get into.Then suddenly the film turns from comedy to drama as the girl Benji likes tells him that she is pregnant and his friend will not pay for the abortion.Benji then helps her out and confesses his love to her.You probably will not see the ending coming and I will not spoil it here.Lemon Popsicle is a teen sex comedy which is pretty funny at times and has a good amount of drama as well.It is a fairly hard to find film and has not been released on DVD yet.

Lemon Popsicle!

[BandSAboutMovies · 7/10 · 13 June 2021]

Welcome to yet another movie that got me in trouble when Becca came down and saw a scene out of context, 1978's Israeli coming of age movie Lemon Popsicle/Eskimo Limon.

This takes place in the Israel in the 1950s, a time when most of this film's budget is spent on the music. The poster claims it has 24 different artists, including Bill Haley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley, Gene Vincent and Chuck Berry. Producer Menahem Golan - one of the saints of scummy cinema who ran Cannon - claimed that the music rights cost more than making the rest of the movie.

Nili or Niki in the American edit is the new girl at school who meets three boys whose whole lives revolve around sex. They are Benzi/Benji, Momo/Bobby iand Yudale/Huey. Of course, nice guy Benzi falls for her, but she's into the bad boy Momo, who tells his friends that he plans on taking her virginity and will soon get rid of her. Benzi is such a nice guy - we'd call him an incel today - that he doesn't warn her or tell his friend to maybe not treat her so poorly. And before we know it, she's pregnant. He becomes her emotional friend and even takes her to get her abotion, which should lead to them as a couple yet just means that she gets back with Momo.

If you're reading this and saying, "Sam, are you describing The Last American Virgin?" Congratulations. Writer and director Boaz Davidson remade this movie four years later in the United States, destroying minds and reaping souls.

Unlike that movie, there's no scene where all the boys line up to measure one another's members or all sleep with the same older woman one after the other. For all the very foreign feeling in The Last American Virgin that don't really translate, those moments would really stick out.

Since the release of Lemon Popsicle, there have been seven official sequels: Going Steady, Hot Bubblegum, Private Popsicle, Baby Love, Up Your Anchor, Young Love and Summertime Blues. There was also a spin-off, 1983's Private Maneuvers, and the 2001 reboot, The Party Goes On. That's because this series was huge in Germany and Japan.

The First Teen Sex Comedy

[victorinps-57662 · 10/10 · 3 August 2015]

I recently found out that Lemon Popsicle is considered to be the world's first teen sex comedy. It helped start all those ones in the 1980s like Porky's. Anyways Lemon Popsicle if anything is more of a drama with a few comedic moments. If you know this you will enjoy the film more.

Lemon Popsicle stars Yifatch Kitzur as Benji the nice guy, Jonathan Sagall is the good looking one who plays Bobby, and Zachi Noy plays Hughie the Fat one who honestly is just there for comedic relief.

One day a beautiful new girl named Niki moves too town and Benji immediately falls in love with her. But she likes Bobby just because he is better looking. Eventually Bobby gets Niki pregnant and when he finds out he wants nothing to do with her. And Benji being the nice guy pays for Niki's abortion and takes care of her. She invites him to her 18th birthday party and she is in the arms of Bobby leading Benji to be very sad in the end.

I definitely recommend this film it is very relatable and realistic.

A sex comedy or a love story?

[jorgesgsa · 7/10 · 12 January 2019]

I watched this movie again for nostalgia. It's an enjoyable movie and the fact is: would someone do what Benji did if it wasn't for real love?

ONE OF THE BEST FILMS EVER MADE

[ROK · 24 March 2001]

Well now then after a comment like that how can I back it up. Well firstly by stating that this is obviously a subjective view.

But to the movie.

This was released in the UK on video in the early 1980's. It's the story of Benji, Bobby and Huey, well atleast those were the names in the English translation. This is an Israeli [not sure if that's how you spell that but you get the point] movie. It tells the story of the Boys search for Love and..... Sex basically. Making the point early on that the two are not necessarily connected.

Benji the "quiet" one falls for a girl who he invites to a party, she says no but then turns up with his best friend, the `good looking' one, True to life or what! She eventually succumbs to Bobby's advances, and gets pregnant, at which point he dumps her. Benji stands by her organising an abortion and paying for it, well I never said this was a family film. At which point as soon as they return home .. well check out the end yourself, if you can get a copy that is, why I don't know but this is almost impossible to obtain a copy of. Other stories revolve around the boys visit to a prostitute, their catching of an embarrassing condition, And their run in with an Italian nymphomaniac while delivering ice.

So basically if you want to categorise this movie it's a sex comedy set in the 1960's. But it's more than that. For a start it has one of the best soundtracks I've ever heard, and the story and characterisation is in my opinion well up to the standard of Hollywood

The First Popsicle

[morrison-dylan-fan · 6/10 · 13 March 2017]

When reading up on the Teen Sex Comedy genre I would always find references to the Israeli Lemon Popsicle movies as being landmarks in the genre,but sadly not able to track any of the series down. Talking to my dad about what DVDs he had recently picked up,I was surprised to learn that he had tracked down an uncut box set of the Popsicle flicks!,which led to me finally tasting the first popsicle.

The plot:

Bonding over music,school friends Benzi, Bobby and Huey start to bond over another subject:losing their virginity. Looking for an easy way out,the lads get a nymphomaniac and a prostitute to help them out. Whilst keeping his sexual activity secret, Benzi learns that school jock Momo has gotten fellow student Niki. Secretly having had a crush on Niki,Benzi decides to become Niki's "rock" when she goes for an abortion.

View on the film:

Putting a million Israeli dollars down on a toe-tapping 50's soundtrack,co-writer/(along with Eli Tavor) director Boaz Davidson & cinematographer Adam Greenberg put their rose-tinted glasses on a version of the 50's that has gone awry,where the Bubble Gum Pop is used as a backdrop against kinky sex in steamy locations. Corrupting the sweet Pop tunes, Davidson offers up a steamy side order of raunchy action,which whilst not being "hardcore",does feature some surprisingly graphic thrusting.

Following Benzi,Huey and Bobby chase after every girl that catches their eyes,the screenplay by Davidson and Tavor skip over any non- sexual related interest that the trio have,causing the friendship to be left with a hollow centre. Helping to make the films sudden change to an "issue" movie run smooth, Yftach Katzur dazzles the film with a charming sincerity as Benzi,as the first lemon popsicle melts.

Love is for suckers.

[BA_Harrison · 8/10 · 30 May 2021]

Israeli teen sex comedy Lemon Popsicle was without a doubt a trip down memory for co-writer and director Boaz Davidson, who would have been a teenager himself at the time that the film is set: the late-1950s/early-'60s. Watching the film is also a big dose of nostalgia for me, reminding me of the early '80s when my teenage self and my best friend would attempt to hire the most racy videos from the local rental shop. The shop-keeper wouldn't let us have any of the Electric Blue titles from the top shelf (although we did somehow manage to rent a heavily-edited version of Dracula Exotica on one occasion); more often than not we would make do with one of the Lemon Popsicle films, which the man behind the counter was happy to let us take home despite the 18 certificates.

Lemon Popsicle details the sexploits of best friends Benji (Yftach Katzur), Bobby (Jonathan Sagall) and Huey (Zachi Noy), who spend their spare time trying to get laid. Benji thinks he has found the girl of his dreams when he sees Nikki (Anat Atzmon), the beautiful new student at his school, but to his dismay, she falls for Bobby, who is way more popular with the ladies. When Bobby pops Nikki's cherry and gets her preggers, he dumps her, leaving Benji, who is in love with the girl, to raise the cash for an abortion and care for her while she convalesces. Unable to keep it in their pants, the guys also take take part in a penis measuring competition in the high school locker room, score with a nymphomaniac called Stella (Ophelia Shtruhl), and pay for a prostitute (Denise Bouzaglo) who gives them all crabs.

The film definitely features enough T&A to satisfy a pair of horn-dog youngsters (Shtruhl and the lovely Atzmon get totally nekkid), but it is also a well told tale of teenage angst, with engaging characters, a strong script with lots of amusing escapades, a rockin' soundtrack featuring 24 chart bustin' hits of the '50s, and a wonderfully downbeat ending that goes to show that the course of true love never did run smooth. The film was big hit at the box-office (and on home video, its success helped just a little by yours truly) and was followed by numerous sequels, spin-offs and remakes.

absolutely brilliant kicks the ass of American pie

[DJ-Chojin · 10/10 · 1 February 2007]

well what can you say?this movie rocks totally. you got three lad's trying to get laid.Falling in love and heartbreak. its laugh out load funny. with a few serious messages like use a condom in a heart rending scene towards the end.which was so serious and brilliantly filmed. hard hitting with some good acting by Nicky and the,Dr man hes horrid and some good filming. there's something in this film for everyone and most of you have been there. the music is superb the acting good the misadventures hilarious. it needs reissue on DVD the whole series does in English uncut.this movie started the trend for porkys,Kentucky fried movie,American pie and all the other imitations that followed this.this movie is a must see from 15 to 115 you'll laugh yourself stupid at it.

beautiful movie - totally stunned!!!

[jannispetersen · 10/10 · 22 May 2008]

Since my early teenage years the title of this movie was in my, and of course in everyone of my friends', ears. First to say, I always wanted to watch this film but never had the guts to do so back then. Haven forgotten the title as years passed, I'm now 23 years old and just watched it for the first time - and I have to say, I'm totally stunned! The story line is very down to earth and pure realistic; I would guess about 90% of everyone watching this movie has had some of the same experience in his early teenage years. So don't get it wrong: this isn't comedy or a sex-film at all; it's pure drama - and when you know this in forehand, you will get, what you are searching for. I've read many reviews about people comparing this movie to American Pie and other modern teenage-movies. You shouldn't do that. This film is very far above the ones named and totally in another category - you cannot compare such two extremely different movies with another! As for the acting: even though for some scenes, you normally should dislike some of the characters, you will love them anyway. Reason is that you know what happens is so realistic, you could have been any of the characters yourself. And this is what makes the movie worth 10 stars! Open your memory-box and take a time-warp back to when you were 15 (in case you were 15 in the early '90s or earlier).

One of a kind

[thinwater · 24 November 2001]

If hollywood needed to learn from a script for 'The Last American Virgin', it would have come from this movie. The movie was made in the late 70's and depicts an early 60's Israel. The movie portrays teen-age situations, surrounded by a wonderfully rich soundtrack. In fact, the soundtrack is so good, you can just close your eyes and not watch the movie at all. HOWEVER, the soundtrack is thoughtfully mixed into the plot to provide a very nice effect.

All Time Classic!

[ddac_headquarter · 10/10 · 19 March 2018]

This show rises great memories of my own youth. Always worth watching and makes me laugh, even on a bad day.

There are one or two movies, which couldn't keep up with the rest, but the first two and the last one are highly recommended!