I Revisited Pinball Summer

It's a 1980 Canuxploitation picture I reviewed here more than a dozen (!) years ago. Here are new thoughts on it: 

A random Canadian T&A comedy that has a surprisingly worthwhile soundtrack.

I have viewed this obscurity before, and had a brief review up from my early days on Letterboxd; it was discussed long ago on a now-defunct movie podcast, Bad Movie Fiends. Three of the four hosts hated the film, mainly due to the two leads and their ASSTAGONIST behavior-their term, not mine. Those “protagonists” were asses, and the motorcycle-riding “villain” was more likable! No kidding, this is from the director of the original My Bloody Valentine! Some of the leads here were bit players in Valentine; sadly, none of the leads in Valentine were in Summer.

In a small Quebec town, a summer was spent w/ goofball youths. Greg and Steve are the leads, although their behavior probably will make you think they’re detestable. Pete’s Arcade is the hotspot in town, fit for anyone in striped socks and short-shorts.

A pinball tournament takes place in the final act; before that, we see people drive around in a SWEET 70’s GMC Van, eat at quaint burger joints, visit a drive-in-whether Krakatoa: East of Java plays-a discotheque, and the “heel” seriously attempts to help a possibly mentally-handicapped worker at Pete’s known as WHIMPY get laid! That’s more than Greg and Steve did for Whimpy; instead, they insult him. As you’d expect in a T&A comedy, “rich people” are insulted, nudity is shown (including men mooning the camera), marijuana & alcohol use horny characters are a-plenty, and so are the hijinks.

This movie is no Porky’s, to make the obvious comparison to another vulgar Canadian comedy from the era. It’s still fascinating who you’ll likely root for in this picture… unless you detest everyone, which is possible. Whether you view the movie under its original title of Pinball Summer or alternate title Pick-Up Summer-it is a mediocre film full of low-stake events such as spray-painting male genitalia onto your rival’s 70’s van & sneaking out of the house. The highlight: a soundtrack that goes FAR harder than you’d expect for a silly movie that came in the wake of Animal House becoming an unexpected hit.

Whether it be songs or score, the tunes by Jay Boivin and Germain Gauthier are full of earworms and are quite catchy. For reasons unknown, the film has never made it to the HD era. However, via someone online visiting an Alamo Drafthouse in NYC years ago where they had a mystery afternoon of AGFA films, this was one of them. If they’re able to, it’d be nice to see the movie in its original aspect ratio, as flawed as the end product is.