Starhops

1978

Comedy

4
IMDb Rating 4.2/10 10 260 260

loan woman director roller skates exploitation cinema independent film

Plot summary

After the owner of a failing drive-in restaurant sells his establishment, two waitresses and a French chef try to turn it around.

Director

Barbara Peeters Photo
Barbara Peeters

Top cast

Paul Ryan Photo
Paul Ryan as Norman
Matthew Bright Photo
Matthew Bright as Customer
Peter Liapis Photo
Peter Liapis as Ron
Anthony Mannino Photo
Anthony Mannino as Kong
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
752.44 MB
1280*690
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 21 min
Seeds 2
1.36 GB
1920*1036
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 21 min
Seeds 5

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by Uriah43 4 / 10

A Burger Joint in Financial Difficulty

This film begins with a beleaguered cook by the name of "Jerry" (Dick Miller) finally deciding that he cannot handle the pressure of owning and operating an old-fashioned burger joint and simply quits. But as he is leaving two waitresses there named "Angel" (Jillian Kesner) and "Cupcake" (Sterling Frazier) convince him to give them the opportunity to own the fast-food restaurant instead. Although he doesn't think that they can be very successful-especially in light of all the bills that still need to be paid-he reluctantly agrees and walks away. Immediately afterward Angel and Cupcake go to the bank and through the power of their personality persuade the manager to give them a loan to help them out. But what they don't know is that a ruthless oil tycoon named "Carter Axe" (Al Hopson) desperately wants this property and will stop at nothing to get it. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a rather standard low-budget comedy for this time period which essentially failed to rise to the point of mediocrity due in large part to the overall lack of humor and second-rate cast. Yet even so, it managed to pass the time and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Slightly below average.
Reviewed by madsagittarian

Drive-in feminist fare.

Now here's an interesting by-product of the 1970's... the "feminist" drive-in exploitation fare, which featured female protagonists making their way in a man's world. Courtesy director Barbara Peeters (BURY ME AN ANGEL) and screenwriter Stephanie Rothman (GROUP MARRIAGE), both specialists in this mini-genre, the conventions of these films are the same, however because the protagonists are women, there is kind of a reverse stereotype. In other words, it's okay if women take their clothes off, as long as they're being directed by women.This story is pure corny sex fluff (but with little sex): a trio of enterprising gals set out to save their fledgling drive-in restaurant despite all obstacles. Because this is a drive-in movie with a lot of wah-wah pedal soundtrack and male pigs with bad clothing, you know that these girls aren't taking the Sally Struthers correspondence course on business. They take advantage of their sexuality to get their way in a corporate man's world... always on their terms, yet still don't go ALL the way.Angel and Cupcake (great names, eh?) use their feminine wiles to get a business loan to take over the restaurant once boss Jerry flips his lid. With the help of Danielle, who can make cheeseburgers into French gourmet, they are in business, until... ...man-child millionaire Carter Axe wants to take over the property. He even gets his spoiled son Norman to work there to sabotage the place. What follows would not garner a Thalberg award anytime soon, but still this is amiable schlock despite the insane overacting, and the sitcom-level screenwriting (I'm not kidding- Stephanie Rothman must have had "Three's Company" on in the background while typing this; there is a blatant lift from one of the show's sexual innuendoes).But thankfully, STARHOPS is of its time. Because it is the 1970's, these girls miraculously know kung fu, the credits open just like those in STAR WARS, transitions occur with star-shaped lap dissolves, the score is country-and-western sounding porn music (so I'm told -ahem), the floors are those cheap panelling in the Home Depot ads, and there is even a cheesy "Also Sprach Zarathustra" as the girls learn to roller skate! Plus, what is this film without a three-minute sequence taking place in a discotheque which has no relation to the plot whatsoever? Ah, bliss.Finally, STARHOPS is of a subgenre of late-1970's mosaic films which celebrate the working class (CAR WASH, LUNCH WAGON, etc.), before the honest Johns onscreen were replaced by robots and frat boys. One begs the question, "Where are they now?" The restaurant at which this was shot (it's probably a Starbucks now), and the people in the cast (except Dick Miller)-- all doe-eyed hopefuls whom we once identified with, for in that immortal decade of cinema, the screen was actually filled with "real people".
Reviewed by BandSAboutMovies 4 / 10

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