Aloha, Bobby and Rose

Last updated
Aloha, Bobby and Rose
Film Poster for Aloha, Bobby and Rose.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Floyd Mutrux
Written byFloyd Mutrux
Produced by Fouad Said
Starring Paul Le Mat
Dianne Hull
Cinematography William A. Fraker
Edited by Danford B. Greene
Music by Jaime Mendoza-Nava
Production
company
Cine Artists International
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release date
  • March 20, 1976 (1976-03-20)(United States) [1]
Running time
88 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$600,000
Box office$35 million [2]

Aloha, Bobby and Rose is a 1975 American road drama film written and directed by Floyd Mutrux and starring Paul Le Mat, Dianne Hull and Robert Carradine. The plot concerns a young working-class couple who accidentally cause the death of a store clerk during their first date and go on the run from the law. [3]

Contents

Plot

In 1970s Hollywood, Bobby works as an auto mechanic by day and shoots pool and races his red 1968 Chevrolet Camaro by night. His friend Moxey is excited to be accepted to transmission school and build his skills for a better-paying job. The less responsible Bobby seems to have no such direction in life and is still relying on his uncle Charlie, a used-car salesman, to help him out of jams, such as by lending him money to pay off his poolhall bets to some menacing Chicanos.

Rose is the young single mother of a five-year-old son. Rose and her son live with her mother, who minds the boy while Rose works at a car wash. Bobby meets Rose when he returns her Volkswagen Beetle Cabriolet after it had been serviced at his garage. Bobby tries to charm Rose into driving him back to the garage, but she refuses and tells him to take the bus. Later, she sees him unsuccessfully trying to hitchhike in the rain and picks him up. When Rose stops at her house to change, Bobby discovers that she has a young son, but he is not bothered by it and spends time talking to the boy.

Bobby and Rose go on a date, including ice skating, window shopping, a stop at Pink's Hot Dogs, parking under the Hollywood Sign and cruising the Sunset Strip. They daydream about moving to Hawaii. During a stop at a convenience store for wine, Bobby pulls a prank on the teenage store clerk by pretending he is a robber with a fake gun. But the joke backfires when the shop owner emerges from the back room with a shotgun pointed at Bobby. To save Bobby, Rose hits the owner over the head with a bottle, and as he falls, the gun fires, accidentally killing the young clerk.

Bobby and Rose flee, first in Rose's VW, which they crash, and then in Bobby's red Camaro, heading for Mexico. Rose misses her son and at one point boards a bus to return home, but she cannot leave Bobby and exits the bus. In San Diego, the pair meet flamboyant Texans Buford and Donna Sue, who invite Bobby and Rose to go to Mexico with them. The two couples travel to Tijuana where Buford and Bobby bond in the party atmosphere, but Rose still misses her son, so Bobby and Rose leave Mexico and return to Los Angeles to retrieve him.

After painting Bobby's car black and picking up Rose's son, Bobby and Rose stop at an ice-cream parlor on the way out of town, where Rose leaves her son alone in the car for a few minutes while going inside. A police officer sees the boy alone in the car. Upon seeing police surrounding their car, Bobby and Rose abandon the car, leaving her son to be taken by the police, and hurry to a nearby cheap motel to hide out. Bobby calls his uncle Charlie to bring him a getaway car, but Rose separately contacts the police, who have her son, and tells them that she wants to talk about the recent "accident," offering the name of the motel where she and Bobby are staying. The police arrive that night in a rainstorm just as Charlie drives up with the getaway car. As Bobby runs toward the car, the police mistakenly think that he has a gun and, despite Rose's screams, shoot Bobby down. Rose cries over Bobby's body.

Cast

Release and reception

The film was distributed by Columbia Pictures. Although production began on October 22, 1973, [4] the release date was April 23, 1975. [1]

Box office

The film was produced on a low budget of $600,000, but it topped the American box office during its opening weekend (April 25–26), earning $5.3 million on 557,000 admissions from 365 screens. [5] As of May 20, 1975, it had grossed ($35 million). [6] The film was the seventh-highest-grossing American film of 1975. According to Variety , the film earned $6 million in theatrical rentals at the North American box office. [7]

Critical response

Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote a negative review, stating: "The only tragic thing in a film like this is the quality of stupidity the characters are forced to exhibit in order to keep the plot going." [8] Joseph McBride of Variety wrote: "Youth-on-the-lam theme, the staple of so many pix in the last 10 years, is getting tired, and the fatigue shows clearly in 'Aloha, Bobby and Rose.'" [9] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune awarded the film two stars out of four and dismissed it as "one of those overwrought sob stories about a young couple who are always getting in trouble. The guy's got a slightly brutish outlook on the world; the girl knows how to twist her hair and cry a lot." [10] Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the film "plays like a rehash of several dozen movies that you've sat through before, restlessly. You wince to see the waste of two attractive performers and a fair amount of competent craftsmanship on material so lacking in originality, aptness of thought or simple interest." [11] Gary Arnold of The Washington Post called it "an inarticulate film about inarticulate characters." [12] In a retrospective review, Richard Brody of the New Yorker described it as a "tough, uncompromising, and inventive independent film that cleaned up at the box office." [13]

A review in Time Out compared the film with the critically acclaimed 1973 film American Graffiti , which also starred Le Mat, but the review goes on to say: "[W]ith little characterisation or depth, the plot doesn't finally add up to much more than a coda to Graffiti." [14]

See also

Related Research Articles

Paul Le Mat is an American actor. He first came to prominence with his role in American Graffiti (1973); his performance was met with critical acclaim and earned him the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year - Actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Carradine</span> American actor (born 1954)

Robert Reed Carradine is an American actor. A member of the Carradine family, he made his first appearances on television Western series such as Bonanza and his brother David's TV series, Kung Fu. Carradine's first film role was in the 1972 film The Cowboys, which starred John Wayne and Roscoe Lee Browne. Carradine also portrayed fraternity president Lewis Skolnick in the Revenge of the Nerds series of comedy films.

<i>Smokey and the Bandit</i> 1977 film by Hal Needham

Smokey and the Bandit is a 1977 American action comedy road film starring Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Jackie Gleason, Jerry Reed, Pat McCormick, Paul Williams, and Mike Henry. The film marks the directorial debut of stuntman Hal Needham.

<i>Funny Lady</i> 1975 musical film directed by Herbert Ross

Funny Lady is a 1975 American biographical musical comedy-drama film and the sequel to the 1968 film Funny Girl. The film stars Barbra Streisand, James Caan, Omar Sharif, Roddy McDowall and Ben Vereen.

<i>Death Race 2000</i> 1975 action film directed by Paul Bartel

Death Race 2000 is a 1975 American dystopian science-fiction action film directed by Paul Bartel and produced by Roger Corman for New World Pictures. Set in a dystopian American society in the year 2000, the film centers on the murderous Transcontinental Road Race, in which participants score points by striking and killing pedestrians. David Carradine stars as "Frankenstein," the leading champion of the race, who is targeted by an underground rebel movement seeking to abolish the race. The cast also features Simone Griffeth, Sylvester Stallone, Mary Woronov, Martin Kove, and Don Steele.

<i>Something Wild</i> (1986 film) 1986 film by Jonathan Demme

Something Wild is a 1986 American comedy thriller film directed by Jonathan Demme, written by E. Max Frye, and starring Melanie Griffith, Jeff Daniels and Ray Liotta. It was screened out of competition at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival. The film has some elements of a road movie combined with screwball comedy.

<i>Smokey and the Bandit II</i> 1980 film by Hal Needham

Smokey and the Bandit II is a 1980 American action comedy film directed by Hal Needham, and starring Burt Reynolds, Jackie Gleason, Jerry Reed, Dom DeLuise, Sally Field, Mike Henry, Paul Williams and Pat McCormick. The film is the second installment of the Smokey and the Bandit trilogy in the Smokey and the Bandit franchise and a sequel to Smokey and the Bandit (1977).

<i>Smokey and the Bandit Part 3</i> 1983 film by Dick Lowry

Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 is a 1983 American action comedy film and a spinoff/legacy sequel to Smokey and the Bandit (1977) and Smokey and the Bandit II (1980). The film is the third and final installment of the Smokey and the Bandit trilogy in the Smokey and the Bandit franchise, starring Jackie Gleason, Jerry Reed, Paul Williams, Pat McCormick, Mike Henry and Colleen Camp. The film also includes a cameo near the end by the original Bandit, Burt Reynolds.

<i>Drowning Mona</i> 2000 American film

Drowning Mona is a 2000 American crime comedy film starring Danny DeVito as Wyatt Rash, a local police chief from Verplanck, New York, who investigates the mysterious death of Mona Dearly, a spiteful, hard-drinking, loud-mouthed, abusive woman, hated by all who knew her, who drove her son's car off a cliff and drowned in a river. The film received negative reviews from critics.

<i>Jeopardy</i> (film) 1953 film by John Sturges

Jeopardy is a 1953 American crime drama directed by John Sturges. The black-and-white film stars Barbara Stanwyck and Barry Sullivan as a married couple, and Ralph Meeker as an escaped convict. The film was based on the 22-minute radio play "A Question of Time".

<i>Thieves Like Us</i> (film) 1974 film by Robert Altman

Thieves Like Us is a 1974 American crime film, set in the United States of the 1930s. It was directed by Robert Altman and starred Keith Carradine and Shelley Duvall. The film was based on the novel of the same name by Edward Anderson, which also supplied source material for the 1948 film They Live by Night, directed by Nicholas Ray. The Altman film sticks much closer to the book. The supporting cast includes Louise Fletcher and Tom Skerritt.

<i>The Hitcher</i> (2007 film) 2007 American film

The Hitcher is a 2007 American road thriller film starring Sean Bean, Sophia Bush and Zachary Knighton. It is a remake of the 1986 film of the same name starring Rutger Hauer, C. Thomas Howell and Jennifer Jason Leigh. The Hitcher was directed by Dave Meyers and produced by Michael Bay’s production company Platinum Dunes.

<i>Management</i> (film) 2008 American film

Management is a 2008 American romantic comedy-drama directed by Stephen Belber and starring Jennifer Aniston and Steve Zahn. It premiered at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival and received a limited theatrical release on May 15, 2009.

<i>Peacock</i> (2010 film) 2010 film by Michael Lander

Peacock is a 2010 American psychological thriller directed by Michael Lander, written by Lander and Ryan Roy, and starring Cillian Murphy, Elliot Page and Susan Sarandon.

<i>The Bounty Hunter</i> (2010 film) 2010 American film

The Bounty Hunter is a 2010 American romantic action comedy directed by Andy Tennant, starring Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler. The story centers on a bounty hunter hired to retrieve his ex-wife, who has skipped bail. The film was released in the United States on March 19, 2010. The film received negative reviews from critics but was a box office success, grossing $136.3 million against a production budget of $40–45 million.

<i>Jackson County Jail</i> (film) 1976 Michael Miller film

Jackson County Jail is a 1976 American crime film directed by Michael Miller, and starring Yvette Mimieux, Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Carradine.

Dianne Hull is an American actress whose film career spanned from 1969 to the early 1990s. The films she has acted in include The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart, Aloha, Bobby and Rose, The Arrangement, Christmas Evil, The Onion Field and The Fifth Floor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lou Solverson</span> American tv character, created 2014

Lou Solverson is a fictional character in the FX television series Fargo. He first appeared as a supporting character in the first season, played by Keith Carradine, and then as a main character in season two, played by Patrick Wilson.

<i>The Florida Project</i> 2017 film by Sean Baker

The Florida Project is a 2017 American drama film directed by Sean Baker and written by Baker and Chris Bergoch. Starring Bria Vinaite, Brooklynn Prince, and Willem Dafoe, with Valeria Cotto, Christopher Rivera, and Caleb Landry Jones in supporting roles, it was many of the cast members' first film appearance. The slice of life plot focuses on the summertime adventures of a six-year-old girl who lives with her unemployed single mother in a budget motel in Kissimmee, Florida. Their struggle to make ends meet and stave off homelessness takes place in a surreal environment dominated by the nearby Walt Disney World, which was code-named "The Florida Project" during its planning stages. It juxtaposes this with the local residents' less glamorous day-to-day lives and the children's joyful adventures as they explore and make the most of their surroundings while remaining blissfully ignorant of the hardships their adult caretakers face.

<i>The Dead Dont Die</i> (2019 film) 2019 American absurdist horror comedy film

The Dead Don't Die is a 2019 American absurdist zombie comedy film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch. It features an ensemble cast including Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Chloë Sevigny, Steve Buscemi, Tilda Swinton, Tom Waits, Danny Glover, Caleb Landry Jones, Rosie Perez, Iggy Pop, Carol Kane, Austin Butler, and Selena Gomez and follows a small town's police force as they combat a sudden zombie invasion.

References

  1. 1 2 "Aloha, Bobby and Rose". AFI Catalog of Feature Films . American Film Institute . Retrieved May 28, 2019.
  2. ↑ Phase 4 Films presents Aloha, Bobby and Rose. Phase 4 Films. Retrieved May 15, 2014.
  3. ↑ Pratt, Douglas (30 November 2004). Doug Pratt's DVD: Movies, Television, Music, Art, Adult, and More!. UNET 2 Corporation. p. 54. ISBN   978-1-932916-00-3 . Retrieved 29 April 2012.
  4. ↑ "ALOHA BOBBY AND ROSE". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 8 February 2009. Retrieved 20 April 2012.
  5. ↑ Mark Schilling (March 9, 2015). "Japan Box Office: Latest 'Doraemon' Cartoon Opens on Top". Variety . Retrieved March 10, 2015.
  6. ↑ Gavin J. Blair (April 19, 2015). "Japan Box Office: 'Furious 7' Opens in Third, Hits Franchise-Best Numbers". The Hollywood Reporter . (Prometheus Global Media). Retrieved April 20, 2015.
  7. ↑ "All-time Film Rental Champs", Variety, 7 January 1976 p 46
  8. ↑ Canby, Vincent (30 April 1975). "Aloha, Bobby And Rose (1974)". The New York Times . Retrieved 29 April 2012.
  9. ↑ McBride, Joseph (April 16, 1975). "Film Reviews: Aloha, Bobby and Rose". Variety . 22.
  10. ↑ Siskel, Gene (July 22, 1975). "Dismal duo for a drive-in double bill". Chicago Tribune . Section 3, p. 5.
  11. ↑ Champlin, Charles (April 23, 1975). "Back With the Born Losers". Los Angeles Times . Part IV, p. 11.
  12. ↑ Arnold, Gary (August 28, 1975). "'Aloha' to Good Dialogue". The Washington Post . B13.
  13. ↑ Brody, Richard. "Movie of the Week: "Aloha, Bobby and Rose"". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2021-02-22.
  14. ↑ "Aloha Bobby and Rose". Timeout.com. Archived from the original on 17 September 2012. Retrieved 29 April 2012.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.