License to Drive (1988)

A teen decides to go for a night on the town with his friends despite flunking his driver's test.

Director:

Greg Beeman

Writer:

Neil Tolkin

Stars:

Corey Haim, Corey Feldman, Carol Kane

2 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Corey Haim	...	Les Anderson
Corey Feldman	...	Dean
Carol Kane	...	Mrs. Anderson
Richard Masur	...	Mr. Anderson
Heather Graham	...	Mercedes Lane
Michael Manasseri	...	Charles
Harvey Miller	...	The Professor
Michael A. Nickles	...	Paolo (as M.A. Nickles)
Nina Siemaszko	...	Natalie Anderson
Grant Goodeve	...	Natalie's DMV Examiner
James Avery	...	Les' DMV Examiner
Grant Heslov	...	Karl
Michael Ensign	...	School Teacher / Bus Driver
Helen Hanft	...	Miss Hellberg
Christopher Burton	...	Rudy

Storyline

Les doesn't have a driving license yet, but to impress his gorgeous date Mercedes he borrows his grandpa's Cadillac for a night out... and has to witness the poor car going through more and more intense maltreatments.

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Plot Keywords:

los angeles california | driving test | teenage boy | teenage girl | teen movie | 

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Taglines:

Some guys get all the brakes!

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

PG-13

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 July 1988 (USA)

Also Known As:

To Live and Drive in L.A.

Filming Locations:

340 N. Faring Rd. Los Angeles, California

Box Office

Budget:

$8,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$3,850,934, 10 July 1988

Gross USA:

$22,433,275

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$22,433,275

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox, Davis Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Director Greg Beeman wanted to use a song by The Beatles for the opening credits.

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Goofs

The license plate on the caddy changes from "GRANDPA" to "GRANPA" in various scenes.

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Quotes

Les: Crazy? You want to talk about crazy? Crazy is ME going home, and trying to explain to my grandfather that this piece of shit is his car!

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Alternate Versions

To receive a PG certificate, 7 seconds were cut from the original UK video version with the removal of the line "You mustn't fuck with the Department of Motor Vehicles." The line was reinstated for the 2012 UK DVD, which is rated 12.

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Connections

Referenced in The Benchwarmers (2006)

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Soundtracks

I Feel Free
Written by Jack Bruce and Pete Brown (as Peter Brown)
Produced by Rick Nowels
Performed by Belinda Carlisle
Courtesy of MCA Records

User Reviews

An innocent girl. A harmless drive. What could possibly go wrong?

Feast your eyes one of the last films that both Corey's will appear in that are of any merit for the rest of their brief careers. And this can be considered something of merit, despite the nature of the film, since they were only teen stars.

License to Drive is a movie about taking chances, though you can probably figure out from beginning to end how the movie is going to go. No less, it's good 80s fun. Les Anderson (Haim) has turned 16 and is desperate to get his driver's license. Over-confident, it is no surprise that he flunks the exam. But he figures no one would notice. So, he lies to his folks and friends about the whole thing, expecting everything will be smooth sailing until he can retake the exam.

But Les is wrong once again when his parents learned that he lied, serving up a harsh two week grounded term. But Les doens't know when to quit while he's ahead, and decides he's not going to let this little matter inconvenience him. After all, he has a Friday night date with his dream girl Mercedes Lane (Heather Graham). Hence the line, "an innocent girl, a harmless drive, what could possibly go wrong?" Everything. It all has to do with Les borrowing his grandfather's antique (and very off limits) Caddillac, a drunk date, and two friends looking for their newly licensed friend to show them a wild night. Sure it's predictable, but it's just a simple 80s comedy.