Popular reviews

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  Review by oldsoulkaty 🧸🍰 ★★★★ 2

  there’s really nothing better than the drive-in in the 70’s and 80’s! 

  this was a really cute, fun little movie. it was one of those movies where it didn’t have a major storyline. it was just a hangout movie sort of like diner (one of my faves) where you follow all the different characters around and see all the shenanigans they get up to. luckily, i liked most of the characters and the acting was good too. 

  the aesthetic and atmosphere of this movie was fantastic. they didn’t just show the drive-in, they also showed the roller skating rink. it doesn’t get better than that! it was a major trip back in time and it made you really feel like…

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  Review by teamgal ★★½

  A dozen shit-kicking country songs are recycled endlessly throughout a 96-minute-long, Linklater-like look at a drive-in in rural Texas. This low-budget picture for high school students has its charms but AMERICAN GRAFFITI it ain't.

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  Review by Brian Saur ★★★½ 2

  A very southern-fried and goofy ensemble story that feels like something along the lines of AMERICAN GRAFFITI or thereabouts but obviously mostly takes place during one night at a drive-in theater. The soundtrack is a fun blast of wall-to-wall country music featuring folks like The Statler Brothers, Hank Williams, Jerry Reed, Del Reeves, Stonewall Jackson, Loretta Lynn & Conway Twitty, Merle Haggard, George Jones & Tammy Wynette and more (this may be part of the reason this film isn't streaming except for YouTube & has sadly never made it to Blu-ray). The movie is stuffed with lots of screwball characters and dialogue like:
  "You got a bent Flywheel?"
  "Well, kiss my transmission."
  "We ain't been kids since Jesus was a lance corporal."
  "All…

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  Review by MichaelEternity ★★★

  Not precisely "American Graffiti Goes to the Drive-in" because it's set in the contemporary '70s, but yes basically the middle ground between the George Lucas slice-of-life hang-out and "Dazed and Confused" (which incidentally is like the reverse of "Graffiti": takes place around the same time as "Drive-in" but was made 20 years later). Spend a day following around Texas youth from the roller rink to the movies, checking in on dozens of different characters, check out the inventory of details about this specific time and place (can't remember the last time I thought of Montgomery Ward, or where the saying "rain check" came from). It's a movie more about Texas than drive-ins, frankly, so even as a time capsule I'm…

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  Review by bwolo ★★★★★

  A missing link between Nashville and Dazed and Confused, or a dream Rick Linklater had after taking cold medicine. Regional outsider art, a monument to Texas with the bicentennial Spirit of '76. Screened on a hyper-sharp 35mm print with almost surreally rich colors. One of the best Chicago Film Society screenings ever.

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  Review by HalloweenH

  What a backdrop!!!!

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  Review by gh ★★★½

  Always a fan of low budget hangout movies from the 70’s.
  Also a big fan of drive-ins. This does a solid job of capturing the spirit of texas. Simple, easy, & enjoyable.

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  Review by julianblair ★★★

  For people who never got to experience the Drive In movies in their heyday...this movie comes as close as I've ever seen to capturing that lightning in a bottle.

  As noted in other reviews, this is a fun movie. It does not feature any stars and is probably derivative of several hit movies that were currently popular in the mid-70s...but it all worked for me.

  The story takes place in a small Texas town and features plenty of scenes at the local roller rink as well as some goofy culminating drama at the Drive In theater. The gee-whiz male lead would have been a perfect role for Ron Howard...but I doubt this regional production could have afforded him.

  There is…

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  Review by RetroHound ★★★½ 3

  A time capsule of a 1970s Texas plains Friday. The movie opens with The Statler Brothers singing "Whatever Happened to Randolph Scott?" Drive-in begins during the day, we are introduced to the players. Two dim-witted small-time hub-cap thieves who are planning to rob the drive-in, 1955 Chevy; A gang called the Widow Makers in a custom van with a water bed; Orville and his amazing head of red hair with a little brother, Chevelle SS convertible. He accidentally knocks off the driver's door of the Widow Makers van; Bill Hill (who everyone calls Bill Hill every time they say his name, even his girlfriend/fiance) in a tricked-out Chevy step-side pickup. Oh, all of this is shown while there is wall-to-wall…

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  Review by Kevin_Robbins ★★½

  I recently watched Drive-In (1976) on Tubi. The storyline takes place at a drive-in in Texas one night when a new movie is scheduled to premiere. Everyone has different motives for wanting to attend the event leading to chaos ensuing….

  Directed by Rodney Amateau (The Garbage Pail Kid Movie), the film stars Lisa Oz (Boxing Helena), Bill McGhee (Don’t Look in the Basement), Jessie Lee Fulton (Paper Moon), and Kent Perkins (Breeders).

  This is an inconsistent, clichéd comedy from the 70s, featuring a straightforward concept with hit or miss comedic elements. The settings and backdrops are solid, but the group of friends, along with the "girlfriend" caught between a conservative guy and a brutal boyfriend, can be annoying. Some woman-slapping…

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  Review by Dan Santelli ★★★½

  I’m a total sucker for these low-key hangout movies with regional vibes and this one plays like someone cribbed from American Graffiti and The Last Picture Show, rejiggered the nostalgia (here, it’s for the present as opposed to the past), and tuned it to the key of Altman. The result: a no-frills ensemble portraiture of small-town Texas teenagers backed by cornball comedy and twangy country tunes. Stellar first 40 minutes: little else but driving around, skating at the roller rink, pranking the cops, and figuring out who you’re gonna crush on next. It all plays in this pleasingly laid-back, subdued register, as if we’re glimpsing lives of people who’ll probably never get out into the world. The true star of…

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  Review by mrbalihai ★★★½

  Having spent a fair portion of my teenage years getting drunk, stoned, or to 2nd/3rd base at drive-in theaters in Southern California, I was pleasantly surprised by how accurately this no-budget little teen comedy from Texas reflected my experiences. Take away the southern drawls and replace the twangy Country and Western tunes on the radio with bland AM pop, and this could really be set anywhere in the U.S.

  What's also surprising about this film is that it's actually pretty good, especially considering the mostly no-name cast. These kids act like real teenagers and don't have that obnoxious Hollywood kid actor vibe so common in teen exploitation films. The location shooting in a dusty Texas town lends a concrete sense…