Movies-TV

Next Stop Van Nuys Blvd!!!!

I've been waiting for this movie to come out on DVD FOR-EVER! This is the REAL Boogie Nights! One of the ultimate 70s pop culture films without a doubt and a unique twist on a classic coming of age story. It's still a heck of a lot of fun. I actually didn't see it until several years after Star Wars came out, but Mark Hamill IS Kenny--I mean he may not be the greatest actor in the world but he pulls off a great performance with this movie.

I could watch this over and over again...

My ex-husband, Bobs, and I saw this on our first date. By the end of the movie Bobs head was pressed to my bossom and he was crying like a baby (Bobs always was so emotional). We bought a Corvette for our fifth wedding anniversary but I never could fit comfortably in the passenger's seat so Bobs gave it to our neighbor, Chompson. I hear through the grapevine that he still takes it out every Sunday when he visits his mother in prison.

A good dopey-funny movie

This is one of those artifacts that you saw years ago and thought it was good, and then see it again to realize it wasn't as risque or daring and you remember as a kid. (Annie Potts as a hooker?) Anyway, it's one of those 1970's style comedy action movies to while away a rainy Sunday afternoon. Not great, but a nice time-filler.

Let's see this on DVD (Widescreen)!

I loved this movie as a kid, and bought the VHS! I've owned three Corvette's in my life so far, and this movie was definitely an inspiration to the obsession. The quality of the VHS is not so great, and the audio is starting to go bad. With all the older movies now being re-produced on DVD, I wonder how this one was missed? I wish MGM would release this on DVD.

Corvette Summer...summer release...what a concept!!!

Yeah, that's right, I'll admit it: I've been waiting for this one to be released on DVD. Is that so wrong? Back in '78, this was Mark Hamill's first post-Star Wars project; we were excited to see "Luke Skywalker" again; even if he wasn't Luke here. We were also excited because Corvette Summer boasted one of the coolest custom 'vettes we'd ever seen, not to mention Annie Potts as a "working girl" This is a nice time capsule of the late 70's, I would recommend to anyone who grew up in that decade, Star Wars fans in particular.

Nostalgia aside this isn't a bad comic chase as Hamill ("Kenny" here) searches for his custom car, made by his own 2 hands, neither of which is robotic at this point, aided and hindered by Potts, as the love-right-in-front-of-his-eyes interest. Hamill's youthful overacting is a pleasure to watch in itself.

This film has aged well and has some really funny moments, like Hamill hitchhiking encounter with a lowrider fleet creeping to Vegas. Hamill and Potts are really in their prime here, Hamill maybe too much so, he was in an auto-accident following production which dramatically changed the looks preserved in "Summer." Take a look at "The Empire Strikes Back" and compare.

A Lost Drive-In Classic

"Corvette Summer" might not be a perfect film, but it's a breezy, occasionally funny sleeper...the type of movie that used to pack them in at drive-ins all the time. Today, there's the added value of seeing Mark "Luke Skywalker" Hamill and Annie "Designing Women" Potts in very early roles before they became big stars. There's even an appearance by Danny (Partridge) Bonaduce. Good summertime entertainment!

c'mon!!

I caught a bit of this movie on the good ole Superstation last night. Where would we be without Ted Turner?? Anyway.. True, this movie sucks for directing, story but there's a certain 70's kitsch that is immeasurable appealing. Don't, like, rent it or anything though! God NO! It's simply a fun, lighthearted movie, if you don't think about it much.

Rare Laserdiscs - dvds Movies Collector.

'tis a great Movie,I have the dvd,A cherry Corvette Stingray,A goreous girl,And a Summer in glittery las vegas,What more does a guy need for the wildest,weirdest,Funniest,Freakiest time of his life? :P

If you love Luke skywalker you'll like this film!!!!

I thought that Mark Hamill gave a wonderful portrayal of a naive teen who finds himself suddenly thrown into the big bad world. The plot is well written, but the acting is even better. I think anyone should see the movie if for nothing more than seeing Mark Hamill in a tank top. The movie has a good message as well: " Money can't buy you love." See the movie the least you will get is a good laugh.

Super-Cool, Super-Seventies, Super-Cars, Super-Fast!

The coolest movie ever. Seventies films rock n' rule. Got that? Good, now watch it.

One of my favorite coming of age movies

I remember this movie well. First saw it on HBO in 1979 and it is one of my favorite coming of age movies. The Custom Corvette used in the film has been bashed by Corvette fans since this movie came out and with good reason, it is utterly hideous. Annie Potts is simply beautiful in this movie and although this was supposed to be Mark Hamil's post Star Wars debut, Potts, then an unknown, steals the movie. Our generation ( I was born in 65) will love this movie. Younger people will be puzzled by it.

Still 3 out of 5 stars. Stretching my rating a little.

I just saw Corvette Summer again last Saturday night on Speedvision. My predicted rating hasn't changed much. Bruce Dern making his own personal comments while cruising down Sunset Boulevard in his very cherry blue '58 Olds convertible.

I will say Annie Potts still makes a very likeable hooker though.

Altogether a pretty good Lost-Drive-In flick.

Lost-Drive-In - Sat. night 8 P.M. PST. Speedvision... Be sure to have your barf bag handy.

Don't blame me if you didn't get to watch it.

Corvette Summer (70's riced out Stingray??)

Yeah the car is gawdy as hell, but back when I was a kid and a confirmed car freak (still am!), it was the holy grail of movie cars. A good cast with a good script. It is a little low budget movie, but it should appeal to the car nuts, and vintage Vegas buffs. The big chase scene at the end is pretty good, but hands down the funniest scene in the movie is Kenny on a 10 Speed actually trying to catch the Vette.

Bottom line, not the best car movie ever, but a top 20 pick in the same line as Hollywood Knights, American Graffiti, Two Lane Black Top, and Vanishing Point.

Annie steals the wheels from this dreadful movie.

Mark Hamill should have felt mighty embarrassed with CORVETTE SUMMER! This time, he uses a new kind of "force" to regain the possession of his dream machine, a bright red 'Vette. It looks like another sour teen-age flick the first half-hour and does a U-turn in heading for the wrong direction. The writing and directing jobs are dreadfully done, with a few scenes you can't hardly take. You're expecting this to happen anyway, and you're also sniffing the smell of late-70s hodgepodge. Only a former newcomer like Annie Potts would easily steal the show and save this poor movie from the repo creeps! Her impractical but delightful personality holds on to your interest for good, and this is the finest chance to see her in a swimsuit. Hooray for Annie! Sorry, Mark! I guess the Force wasn't with you this time around.

Or, Quest for the Holy Ride

The summer of 1979, when this flick was a staple on that new movie medium called HBO, was Gas Line Summer & Iranian Hostage Crisis Summer. A change of mood was about to end low-budget, loner-on-a-mission car films, although "Smokey & the Bandit" kept need-for-speed flicks going as live-action Roadrunner cartoons for a few more years. "Corvette Summer" is as quirky as any earlier movie like "Vanishing Point" or "Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry," if lighter & sexier than most. Just-graduated, high-school automotive genius Kenneth (Hamill) hitchhikes to Vegas in pursuit of the car theft ring that ripped off his Shop Class masterpiece, a super-custom, right-hand-drive Vette. In the spiritual limbo of the I-15 desert (see "Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas") he gets into a custom van (yes, this was the tail end of the van craze, too) tricked out as a mobile bordello & driven by sassy, aspiring hooker Vanessa (Potts), on her way to Sin City to make her, well, whatever it is ambitious hookers make. VANessa, get it? Shy, innocent Kenneth is in way over his head in Vegas, with only his all-American resolve & his new friend to help him, although the hard-edged young call girl is predictably less world-wise than she first seems. Why, in the "I am Woman" age, Vanessa invested her talents, money & future in the world's oldest but least dignified profession over, say, college or even hairdressing, can be explained by young men who'd like to think that all women at least consider the joys of that career path. Remember the target audience, right? Hamill is a good choice for the whitebread Kenneth (the car doesn't even belong to him personally, but to his school), who won't be deterred from his goal by violence, money or even love--until he finds out why the car was really stolen. Potts acts with style & energy but Vanessa is too incredible for any but the most credulous testosterone machine to buy into. The bad guys are made surprisingly human, especially by the always-fine Brion James. But there's not much action & this isn't the kind of movie that can be carried by dialog, plot twists or Heavy Themes. You could always reach up, turn the TV dial & plug in your "Pong" console. The similar but meaner Chris Mitchum vehicle "Stingray," which appeared at about the same time, featured lamer acting but more skin, speed & mayhem. The best features of each film might have produced a Vette movie worth remembering. Thus the Trans Am was left to rule the box-office muscle car showroom. Another forgotten car movie brought back from the dead by "Speed Channel's" fine weekend series, Lost Drive-in.

Still a nice little Boy-meets-Car (and girl) movie

Well, I bought the DVD from Amazon (Thank You), and I realized I had forgotten a lot about this movie, which I hadn't seen in close to twenty years. Believe it or not, Mark Hamill is quite good as Kenny Dantley, a high school senior who rebuilds a junk Corvette in his auto-shop class, falls in love with it, and then loses it when it is stolen by the bad guys. Hamill actually conveys more emotion in this movie than "Star Wars", the film which made him famous. Annie Potts, best known for her TV work on "Designing Women",is Vanessa, the hooker Kenny meets in Las Vegas while searching for the stolen Corvette. They have a pleasant, believable chemistry between them. Of course, the Corvette is the real star of the show, though it looks a lot more modified than I'd remembered; so much in fact, the front end of the vehicle doesn't really look like a Corvette. This movie was rated PG when it was released in 1978, but if it were released today, it would probably carry a PG-13 thanks to a brief topless scene by Potts (I'm not complaining).

The DVD itself is no-frills, though it is in widescreen format and does include the trailer, which is in surprisingly good condition. The picture quality, in my opinion, is not bad, given the movie is from 1978 and probably not high on the film-restoration list at the studio. Some nighttime scenes are murky, but there are some daytime scenes which are remarkably crisp. The sound is good, particularly if you have a home theater system. The DVD is distributed by Warner Bros., though MGM was the studio that released the film to theaters.


"Corvette Summer" is a nice little movie that would probably never be made today. If you remember this movie from your childhood, re-visit it. For the price, it's well worth the money.

a classic 70's film

brings back memories of growing up during this time.classic combo, cute chick and cool car!

Better Than Citizen Kane!

THIS is the greatest movie of all time. Anyone who's nostolgic for Seventies Kustum Kar Kulture will be in heaven. Annie Potts is the most beautiful and underrated actress of all time. She carries this movie. Her cool water-bed van is worth the price of the video alone.

Great movie for any car buff

This movie has it all, Hot cars, Hot women, action, comedy, and a good storyline

that 70's movie.....

I'd love to see a show where actors take questions and answers about their experience and thoughts on their past films that quickly ended up becoming obscure, or collecting dust at Blockbusters. I mean, in 2003 we have available to us on DVD every nuance of every film made from the mid-80's on. I suspect "Corvette Summer" will never quite get that amount of respect.
Indeed, it shouldn't. Mark Hamill looks tired in this flik. As unwilling as he is to have sex with Annie Potts it seems so was his enthusiasm to play in this role. Still, if nothing else, the film does bring back memories of a now bygone era. I also (surprisingly) found myself being quite entertained by this movie, expect for the drawn out and unnessary car chase scenes at the end, the movie held my interest. Most appealing was the acting of Annie Potts and the on screen chemistry between her and Hamill. She undergoes some physical transformations here, all of them cutesy. It was also interesting to notice that bike helmets and H2O bottles (for bikes) were on the market back in '78, my wife and I didn't recall that these products were available during this era. Anyhow, in summary, this is a very light but fun film that unintentionally evokes some chuckles and is worth checking out.
Just seeing that late 70's Corvette (and that groovy van!) is worth the price of admission, not to mention Danny Partridge before his DJ/VJ days!