High school kid Bobby does not have a reputation of being a cool guy. This effects his luck with girls. His solution? Save up the cash he's making from working at a car wash to buy something that would up his status. Being that the year was 1977 there is only one thing in his mind that would do that. A brand new Dodge D300 Tradesman van. Fully customized and with shag carpeted walls & mirrors on the ceiling, a fridge, multiple TV sets, an 8 track player and, of course, a waterbed. He thinks it will change everything in his life. It does but it's not all for the good.
This film has all the trappings of a 1970's Drive In film. Underage drinking, carefree sex, pin doobies, girls playing pinball, the total jerk rich kid, the Cooper font used for the credits, pimps and drag racing (well, actually in the case here, van racing) to name a handful of them.
Bobby is played by Stuart Getz. He is probably known best for an episode of the Brady Bunch where he played Charlie, the guy Marsha forgot she had a date with when the more popular Doug asked her out. Y'know the episode I am talking about. The one where Marsha got her nose beaned by a football.
Bobby's boss at the car wash is played by Danny DeVito. He wears Hawaiian shirts and has a bit of gambling problem in the movie.
The theme song is Sammy Johns cheese classic "Chevy Van." Apparently the folks behind the film weren't concerned too much about continuity because no one bothered to point out "but the van he's driving is a Dodge."
This is a summer viewing classic in my book of 1970's teensploitation. I first saw it at the drive in too. I wasn't a teenager yet then. Hell, I still had a year to even enter junior high. Much different times indeed.
