Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Merolliv I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

ready4fun01 I could've sworn I had already written a comment on this flick, but guess I didn't. A shame, too. Because this is one of the few non-mainstream movies that I really think deserves a "10" on IMDb's scale.All right. Call me a romantic blatherer, but no movie other than the first "American Graffiti" is still able--this long after its release, and noting how far cinema has come in the meantime--to transport the watcher to a specific time period in a specific place with so little effort. Rod Amateau deserves a place in cinematic history for that, if nothing else. And the amazing thing about it is that the specific time period--and place--to which it transports the watcher is none other than the very one in which it was filmed! Not something lovingly recreated, but fresh while it was happening! No nostalgic tweaking, just slice-of-life with a smile.Perhaps I gush, but I remember very well the first time I saw "Drive-In." It was at a dollar-admission cinema and was a new release at the time. The movie house changed its movies every Friday, and for some reason I went to see this on opening night. I was back on Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday--five shows in seven days, and if they hadn't changed the movie again on Friday, I would have been back for more the next week. And I brought people with me to every show after that first one, all of whom claimed to adore it as well. That was 30 years ago, and I can remember no other movie before or after for which I felt that kind of exhilaration with the exception of "O Lucky Man!".What makes the movie so much fun? What makes it amazingly re-watchable? I haven't the slightest idea. It's just a bunch of kids doing what kids do, while the (few) adults around them remain largely clueless. That, and mentally filling in the blanks as to what happens during the unseen parts of "Disaster '76," the movie-within-a-movie on-screen at the drive-in, is always fun. And of course, just the plain old' down-home good humor and never-taking-itself-too-seriously writing doesn't hurt a bit. They pink, Orville...pink as bubblegum! Goodness knows several of the songs are used WAY too often (the Statler Brothers must have gotten GOBS of royalty payments from "Whatever Happened to Randolph Scott" being used more times than I can count) and Enoch is just a little too over-the-top (as is his pseudo-demise) while still being a real character, and NOBODY is believable as being quite what they pretend (just like real life, except these are actors playing parts), so don't look for great performances or something that would make Stanislavski or Strasberg sit up and take notice. But if you're looking for 90 minutes worth of pure entertainment that NO ONE need take seriously but everyone can smile at, I highly recommend searching out a VHS copy of this flick or praying for its release on DVD.Folks, it's a fantasy. Could it have happened? The odds AGAINST it are as high as the percent given in the Ronnie Milsap song on the soundtrack. But it's too pretty a fantasy to ignore. Give yourself over to it, and remember how life used to be, whether it ever really was or not.

aimless-46 In the mid-1970's the Texas Film Commission provided considerable assistance to local filmmakers in an effort to grow the in-state film industry. One benefit of this was a little film appropriately titled "Drive-In"; a feature about drive-in movies meant to be shown at drive-ins. Although set in a small town outside Dallas, it could be Anywhere, USA; or at least any place where teen entertainment is centered around a town's roller skating rink and the drive-in theater.If "Drive-In" was nothing more than a loving look at drive-ins and a time-capsule of the mid-70's it would be a treat, but this film is actually very well made. I originally saw it at a drive in Orange County, CA a few months after moving there from Texas. Although most of America's drive-ins have vanished, the entertainment aspect of this film has held up very well.Don't go looking for a lot of familiar faces in the cast, part of the film commission's mission was to utilize local talent so you will see a lot of Texas folks getting their first and last screen credits. You might recognize Engelberg (Gary Cavagnaro), the fat catcher from "The Bad News Bears"; and character actor Glenn Morshower but the rest of the cast are folks like Michelle Franks, a local beauty who just acts natural.The main story involves the efforts of the town's hottest girl (Glowie played by Lisa LeMole) to convince nice but very shy Orville (Morshower) that she is sincerely interested in him. But the film is loaded with side stories that weave into and around the main story. These include two wimpy teen gangs, The Widow Makers and The Gear Grinders who have a mild fight witnessed by a couple of outlaw bikers who comment: "Gang violence, its frightening". There are a couple of bumbling small time thieves who attempt to rob the theater box office. There is an auxiliary sheriff with gun rack and right-wing bumper stickers who shuts up his nagging mother by smoking a joint with her. There is an engaged couple having second thoughts about getting married, especially after the guy gets a look at Michelle Franks at the concession stand.Much of the humor comes from "Disaster 76", a movie within the movie. It is being screened at the drive-in and there are frequent cuts to the action on that screen. It is a nice spoof of a whole group of disaster flicks including "Airport", "Jaws", and "The Towering Inferno". Current viewers will be shocked when a 747 crashes into the side of a skyscraper in a manner almost identical to the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center. Obviously this idea has been around for a long time although apparently no one in the FBI ever viewed "Drive-In", wonder if it got any play in the Middle East?There is also a television show within the movie as The Widow Makers spend their downtime watching "Ozzie and Harriet" reruns on the television set in their van.At one point Engleberg refers to Oklahoma as Baja Arkansas and says "reasoning with a woman is like eating soup with a fork". Glowie turns down the offer of a ride home from a guy hitting on her with the immortal line: "I'd rather have a nonspecific infection".Fans of classic country music will love the soundtrack featuring Loretta Lynn, Conway Twitty, Ronnie Milsap, Merle Haggard, George Jones, Tammy Wynette, and Jerry Lee Lewis. "Whatever Happened to Randolph Scott?" by The Statler Brothers is the theme song.Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

djedi I had the privilege of viewing this comic gem in the summer of 1976 at a drive-in theater with my wife. We revisited our youth as we watched these small town Texas teens laugh it up. The town nice guy, Orville Hennigson, played by a very young Glenn Morshower in his movie debut, is so shy that it is ridiculous. That, of course, is all part of the fun. Our bad boy, Enoch(Billy Milliken), is trying to control the very sexy Glowie(Lisa LeMole), who has her eyes on someone more sincere. Meanwhile, Orville's younger brother Little Bit (Gary Cavagnaro) is trying to grow up all in one night. Would-be hold up man Will Henry (Gordon Hurst)steals the show with his hilarious bumbling. With two brothers, two love interests, two car crashes, two rival gangs, two fights,two goofball robbers, two hick cops, and two movies (the one you're watching, and a movie within the movie that is on the screen at the drive-in called "Disaster 76")this winner really gets the job done. I haven't laughed this hard since Jesse Jackson ran for President. The dialogue is simple yet clever. Lines like "he's busier than a man with his hat on fire" are uniquely Southern and perfectly suited to the feel of the film. Lets call it "American Graffiti" meets "The Dukes Of Hazzard". By the movie's end my comic belly was as full as a tick on a hound dog.

Revo I caught this movie quite by accident on a cable system in 1976, and immediately fell in love with it! DRIVE-IN, featuring character actor Glenn Morshower in his movie debut, is an entertaining comedy about teens (and adults) gathering at a drive-in movie in a small Texas town in the mid 70's. Lisa Lemole is wonderful as the femme fatale who switches romantic partners mid-movie. DRIVE-IN features romance, gang violence, wonderful moments between two brothers, and enough slapstick comedy to satisfy almost anyone! And, let's not forget the movie-within-a-movie, "Disaster '76". which is the movie that's playing at the...DRIVE-IN! Highly recommend this one!