The Hollywood Knights Blu-Ray Review

On Halloween night in 1965, a group of pranksters wreak havoc on the “respectable” citizens of Beverly Hills to protest the impending destruction of their favorite burger joint. A cult favorite among kids of the 1980s who grew up watching it on HBO, The Hollywood Knights features a bevy of hilarious and raunchy jokes, a soundtrack chock full of some of the biggest hits of the era, and a cast of newcomers who would soon leave a mark on Hollywood, including Robert Wuhl, Fran Drescher, Michelle Pfeiffer, Tony Danza, Stuart Pankin, and Gailard Sautain. However, the dramatic bits slow the film down and make it feel episodic, keeping it from becoming a bona fide comedy classic. Image, who licensed it from Sony, has brought it to Blu-Ray with serviceable picture and sound but dropped the director’s commentary from the DVD.

The Hollywood Knights (1980)

Studio: Columbia Pictures (distributed by Image Entertainment)

Year: 1980

Rated: R

Length: 91 Minutes

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Resolution: 1080p

Languages: English 5.1 DTS-HD MA

Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish

MSRP: $17.97

Film Release Date: May 30, 1980

Disc Release Date: October 18, 2011

Review Date: November 20, 2011

The Movie:

3/5

As the 1950s and 1960s started to pass further and further into history, American Graffiti, Happy Days, Grease, and Animal House solidified Hollywood’s vision of the era: leather jackets, rock and roll, T-Birds and Bel Airs, bouffants, and burger joints, and a lack of awareness of how much it would change in a short time. The Hollywood Knights is a very much in the vein of American Graffiti and Animal House, but much raunchier, more destructive — albeit in a comical way — and less nostalgic for the era. Its director/screenwriter, Floyd Mutrux, is more interested in social rebellion, or rather antisocial rebellion.

It all starts on Halloween night in 1965, and Tubby’s drive-in is about to be torn down thanks to the efforts of the Beverly Hill Residents’ Association. This does not sit well with Tubby’s biggest clients, a group of rowdy pranksters called the Hollywood Knights; the fact that they used the place as their hangout prompted the Resident’s Association and its leaders, Jack and Jacqueline Freedman (Garry Goodrow and Leigh French) and Mr. Nevans (Richard Schaal), to get it shut down. The Knights, led by Newbomb Turk (Robert Wuhl), have vowed revenge while adding some new pledges. While they wreak havoc on the upper crust of the city, they also have personal lives. Turk tries to win the affections of Sally (Fran Drescher), while Duke (Tony Danza) and his girlfriend Suzie Q (Michelle Pfeiffer) worry about their future, and recent draftee Jimmy (Gary Graham) is about to be shipped off to fight in Vietnam.

While the film’s rowdy, off-color humor is quite often hilarious, the film drags when it becomes preoccupied with the less interesting dramatic episodes. In addition, despite the amusing non-sequitirs of one of their adversaries, Officer Bimbeau (Gailard Sautain), there is not much of a central villain, and the Freedmans, though they are proven to be hypocrites, are not that much of a threat to the Knights. Without a strong villain to root against, the narrative momentum depends more on the individual pranks than any dramatic conflict. While the presence of Tony Danza and Michelle Pfeiffer on the cover suggests that they are the stars, their presence on the cover had more to do with Danza’s subsequent sitcom stardom (although Taxi had been on the air for two years already) and Michelle Pfeiffer’s highly successful film career. Their screen time is limited—mercifully so, as their characters’ relationship adds little to the film. If anyone is the star, it’s Robert Wuhl; he gets the most funny business like the, shall we say, unusual instrument he uses in his rendition of “Volare.” It’s his outrageous antics that keep the film moving through the less interesting dramatic bits.

The film cost $2.5 million, a quarter of the average movie budget at that time, and ultimately grossed $10 million, making it a minor hit. After its theatrical release, it was shown on HBO constantly throughout the 1980s (back when it stood for “Hey, Beastmaster’s On!”), where it gained a cult following, and became unavailable for years, ostensibly due to those dreaded music rights issues; the soundtrack includes a whopping 31 tracks by such groups as The Beach Boys, The Four Seasons, The Drifters, Ray Charles, The Mamas and the Papas, The Supremes, Wilson Pickett, and others that have long since become oldies radio staples.

The Video:

3/5

The film is presented in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio that does a good job of representing how the film looks. Largely shot in low light with heavy diffusion, the picture features a fair amount of grain, subdued colors, weak contrast and an average level of detail. Any problems with the transfer can be traced to the source material.

The Audio:

2.5/5

Originally released in mono, the disc features a 5.1 DTS-HD MA track. The main thing to benefit from this expansion is the Columbia Pictures logo; most of the dialogue is front-centered and boxy in that 1970s-pre-Star Wars-mono way, while the oldies that constitute the film’s soundtrack don’t have much of a surround feeling; a lot of them were in mono to begin with. However, it’s far from unlistenable, and considering its relatively low budget, it’s adequate.

The Extras:

0.5/5

In 2000, Columbia TriStar released a DVD of the film with a commentary by writer-director Floyd Mutrux; that commentary is nowhere to be found on this disc. On the plus side, it adds a theatrical trailer in HD.

Final Score:

3/5

A film that mixes raucous, off-color comedy with comparatively lackluster dramatic interludes, The Hollywood Knights falls short of comedy classic status, but the comedy bits make the slow parts worth sitting through to get to the good stuff. While there are no picture and sound problems that Sony or Image can be blamed for, the fact that they did not see fit to include the DVD commentary is bothersome and reflects their erratic policy towards legacy extras. However, fans of the film who are familiar with the way it looks should be more than happy with the film’s technical presentation.