Search - The Hollywood Knights on DVD

ONE OF THE FOUR BEST MOVIES OF ALL-TIME!!!

Brian A. Hathaway | 01/19/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I seriously PITY anyone who doesn't agree with this; especially someone who don't agree with this WHO'S ACTUALLY SEEN the movie! I recently looked at 'The Wizard of Oz', 'It's a Wonderful Life', and 'Star Wars' as the three best flicks of all-time (not necessarily in any particular order), but ever since I got 'Hollywood Knights' on DVD for Christmas last month and have seen it ever some more times since I first became familiar of it all them years ago, I would HAVE to say that it DOES join in the Top-FOUR (neither of the quartet in any particular order). The flick is just so POWERFUL to me! Yes, the flick has a bit of 'Porkys', 'Animal House', and 'American Grafitti' inspiration, but the thing is......is that it's BETTER than ANY of them flicks! BETTER than 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High', BETTER than 'Sixteen Candles' or ANY of the awesome brat-pack flicks, BETTER than 'Dazed and Confused'; etc, etc, etc......HOLLYWOOD KNIGHTS RULES!! Plain and simple. 'American Grafitti', as classic as it is (and it is INDEED a classic, and deservingly so), is a little too politically-correct/PG-rated ala Richy Cunningham/Shirey (Happy Days). Hell, Lucas already is in my Top-4 flicks of all-time anyway. 'Knights' is a little more lewd, but much more to-the-point than 'Graffiti' as far as straight-comedy is concerned. Tony Danza and Michele Phiefer are the two 'stars' of the flick (most-likely because the movie wanted to sell more tickets being that Tony was already known for starring in 'Taxi' at the time and that Phiefer was a budding-star and EVER-so a Goddess - and is she EVER, EVER-so a Goddess in this flick; oh my!!), but it really is Robert Wuhl (in his first ever role) who completely steals the flick with his non-stop, endless comedy tactics as the role of Newbaum Turk. Too, too, TOO funny he is! He just rules!! And to think (acccording to the director's take) that he actually was 'nervous', 'shy' when this flick was being done. I can't even TELL you just how much of a trip he is throughout this flick without keeping you for 3 hours so I will simply just have to tell you to get this flick and see it for yourself. He practially REINVENTED comedy-relief in this cult-classic. This is one of Fran Drescher's first roles as well. Not only is she, as well, hot-as-hell in it but she also shows just how cool, fun, and spunky she can be as well. Fran rules! However, this flick isn't only a strictly funny flick with practical jokes galore (ala 'Porkys'), but it definitely takes you back to a crossroads of an era - an era that not only is of the most significance of the 20th century, but the most significant decade in AMERICAN HISTORY (the 1960s) - most drastic! Haloween 1965 is when this classic takes place, and although the 60s was already 'the 60s' when this flick took place, there were still many circles throughout the country that were still feeling the 50s (hot-rod clubs, greasers in leather jackets, etc). Despite the colorful 60s-friendly soundtrack, not a single Beatles or Dylan song was in it. The Hollywood Knights was a hot-rod club that was spending it's last night before their main hangout, Tubby's Drive In - Home of the Big One, would get closed down by some conseravative Beverly Hills beauracracy crap. Play as many practical jokes as possible before closing down, ala Neubaum, would be their game. One can actually feel the LATE 60s creep in as the movie went on. That character, one of the Knights, (who ended up playing in 'Alien Nation') who was going to Vietnam the next day and everyone in the flick wondering if the 'Knights' were going to stay together after the closing of Tubby's and the car which they were going to save for him when he came back home (with an EIGHT-TRACK inside - 'California Dreaming' playing ), only FOUR guys trying to initiate themselves into the 'Knights' instead of many more like in years past and having to run naked through Watts - when it wasn't quite what it would become - and request a song on the local radio station to Tubby's then make it back to Tubby's by 2AM are ALL examples of this change in the era. Even if you weren't around in this very very turbulant era, you can for sure feel it in this flick; and laugh out loud all at the same time. Just like 'Fast Times' marked a time just before the 80s became...MTV and just like 'Wayne's World' marked a time when metal-heads were still doing their thing when Cobain and Pearl Jam (Ugly Kid Joe) were already making their mark, 'Hollywood Knights' marked that time just before the 60s, indeed, BECAME THE SIXTIES. This movie simply offers you everything, without boring you for a second. Even the cheesy love plot between Danza and Phiefer have something to offer, whether it is with the help of such powerful 60s songs like 'Out of my Head' or just the fact that the two wanted to simply do something else with their lifes; MOVE ON (to, perhaps, the LATE 60s). Like 'Grease' (obviously a super-classic), what made the movie a total blast wasn't just the 'nerd' of the movie getting picked on and the odd way in which he acted ('mother, I knooooow'; 'I need my puffer'), but everything else besides it (ESPECIALLY Wuhl); but what makes this one even BETTER, is that Dudley at least ended up getting EXCEPTED where as Eugene even on the last day of school (carnival) was still not liked by the others. 'Hollywood Knights' is simply one of the four best flicks of all-time and if you see it for yourself and don't agree, I truly, TRULY feel sorry for you. I do. KNIGHTS RULE!PS - And for those who do see it for yourselves and AGREE, I expect you to say, "Thanks.....maaaaaaaan.""