If there's one thing I love, it' late 70's/early 80's drive-in movies. There's always been something magical to me about this time period and its movies. Nothing makes me happier than a long music montage set to 70's music with Chevy vans, shorts and tube socks, and slow motion scenes of teens splashing each other at the lake. One of my absolute favorite examples of this is Pinball Summer (or Pick-Up Summer, which was an alternate title used for the film since it was released after the pinball craze of the mid-70s and it was thought the original title would harm the film's box office upon release).
This movie involves two guys named Greg and Steve who are your typical 70's high school boys. They each have a love interest they're chasing after, who both happen to be best friends (of course!). Greg and Steve spend a lot of their time at Pete's, a local pinball arcade, which is the big hangout for high school kids in their town.
The antagonist in this movie is named Bert. Bert leads a local motorcycle gang who end up stealing the pinball trophy which is to be awarded to the pinball champion. Greg and Steve steal the trophy back and hide it in a pinball machine, thinking it will be safe there. Enter Whimpy, an overweight loser kid who finds the trophy and tries to strike up a deal with Bert in which he'll exchange the trophy for sexual liaisons with this red-haired girl Whimpy has the hots for.
Pete, the owner of "Pete's" (duh) finds the trophy before Whimpy can deliver it to Bert. I won't give much more of this movie away, except to add that there's a strip pinball game thrown in the middle and Bert goes back and forth with Greg and Steve in a classic game of 70's one-upsmanship. The film culminates in a battle of the champions for the ages, as Greg faces Bert in the finals of the pinball championship.
I first saw this movie in my early teen years and had forgotten the title. For years I thought about how badly I wanted to see it again until one day I was in Eckerd Drugs, browsing their dvd rack when I came across it for the unbelievably low price of 5 dollars. It was the greatest investment I've ever made.
I recently had a conversation with my neighbor (over a few beers) about my love of 70's drive-in cinema and we started talking about the classics. Big Bad Mama, H.O.T.S., The Pom-Pom Girls, The Van, Malibu High....I could go on all day. I asked if he'd ever seen Pinball Summer and, of course, he hadn't. I ran to my shelf, grabbed the disc, and brought it to him. I talked passionately about the plot and must have had a look in my eye that said "watch this movie or I'll seriously hurt you," because he ended up watching it a day or so later. (And yes, he really did watch it as I quizzed him extensively about the plot and he seemed to have a decent idea of what happened.)
Though he wasn't nearly as in love with this movie as I am, he was at least polite and said "that was different." That's good enough for me.
For all you Netflix users out there, they have this movie and you'll forever thank me once you see it. It's a piece of Americana that I'd put in a time capsule without hesitation and be proud to know future generations would be able to enjoy.
