CORVETTE SUMMER (1978)

[The Burgomaster]

Annoying geek Kenny (Mark Hamill) and some classmates (including Danny Bonaduce) rebuild a Corvette Stingray in the school auto shop.  Kenny becomes obsessed with the car and tracks it to Las Vegas after it is stolen.  Kenny hitches a ride with would-be hooker Annie Potts (who drives a custom van with a waterbed in the back); has his pocket picked; sleeps in a U-Haul trailer; doesn't bathe for days; meets Dick Miller at a fast-food joint; gets jobs at a gas station and a car wash; crashes a bicycle into a pile of tires; gets covered in oil; and gets smacked around by a chop-shop owner who looks about as tough as one of the Bay City Rollers.

This is a light, harmless 1970s drive-in movie that easily could have been a TV movie or even an episode of "Eight is Enough."  The one bright spot is Annie Potts, who is funny and sexy and looks GREAT in shorts and a T-shirt.  B-movie fans will be pleased to see Brion James, Kim Milford, and T.K. Carter in small roles.

[lester1/2jr]

that sounds awesome.  I've been trying to get into weird mainstream 70's stuff rather than something weird type stuff. 

[Jack]

I vaguely remember seeing that in the theater when I was a kid.  I was a bit too young to appreciate Annie Potts, and there didn't seem much else to appreciate.  Even at that age I thought it was pretty dull.

[SaintMort]

Now I get the joke in the beck song time Corvette Bummer

[lester1/2jr]

   this was actually more substantial than the title would have you think.  Mark hamill does a good job playing a sort of kurt cobain like loner  with a genius for making sick cars.   It has some really cool twists and turns. 


slight spoiler

 There is a nice sort of sub theme about how the good guy buys american and the bad guy explains his bad deeds using twisted free market excuses about cars simply being commodities.  If Pat buchanan looked like a then teenage annie potts I'd probaly buy into alot of that protectionist stuff too. 

[AndyC]

I remember liking this movie as a kid. After all these years, the thing that stands out in my memory is that wild hood scoop.

[RCMerchant]

 I liked it better than STAR WARS...believe it not! Of course...I ain't wild about STAR WARS. But this and EAT MY DUST and USED CARS would make a great triple bill in some fantasy drive-land drive in!

[lester1/2jr]

Kim Milford is batting a thousand in my book:  laserblast and this 

[trekgeezer]

I liked it better than STAR WARS...believe it not!

This was Hamill's first movie after Star Wars

This is a light, harmless 1970s drive-in movie that easily could have been a TV movie or even an episode of "Eight is Enough." 

I don't know if you mentioned "Eight is Enough" on purpose or if it was coincidence, but Hamill played the oldest brother David in the pilot for that show after Star Wars was shot. He tried to drop out of the series  to pursue a movie career  but ABC wouldn't let him out of his contract until he had the car wreck that messed up his face. He was unavailable because of the surgeries he had to have.

[Zebra 3]

I liked it better than STAR WARS...believe it not! Of course...I ain't wild about STAR WARS. But this and EAT MY DUST and USED CARS would make a great triple bill in some fantasy drive-land drive in!

I totally agree, I saw Corvette Summer at cinema, and waited for Star Wars on TV.