Starhops

Last updated

Starhops
Starhops poster.jpg
Starhops poster
Directed by Barbara Peeters
Written by Stephanie Rothman (as "Dallas Meredith")
Produced byRobert D. Kritzman
John B Kelley
executive
Daniel Grodnick
Robert Sharpe
co-executive
Jack Rose
Cinematography Eric Saarinen
Edited by Steve Zaillian
Production
company
Roseworld Films
Distributed byFirst American Films
Release date
  • 23 November 1977 (1977-11-23) [1]
CountryUSA
LanguageEnglish
Budget$450,000 [2]

Starhops is 1977 exploitation comedy film directed by Barbara Peeters, based on a script by Stephanie Rothman, writing under a pseudonym, and was edited by future Oscar winning screenwriter Steve Zaillian.

Contents

Three carhops team up to save their cash-strapped Venice Beach drive-in restaurant from the clutches of a greedy oil baron who wants the land it sits on.

Plot

Three girls - Danielle, Cupcake and Angel - work at a drive in restaurant in Venice owned by Jerry who is financially struggling. Jerry decides to quit and sells the restaurant to the three girls.

Cast

Production

Rothman originally wrote the script, then entitled Carhops, while she was at Dimension Pictures. She took it with her when she left Dimension in 1975 and sold it to some producers, with whom she signed a contract to direct. Rothman says "They gave me a start date for the picture, but I never heard from them after that. Instead, one day I read in Daily Variety that Barbara Peeters had been hired to direct it. The reason given for replacing me was that old excuse “artistic differences.” I don’t know how much, if anything, Barbara Peeters knew about this. All I know is the wanna-bes lacked the courage or decency to inform me personally of their decision." [3]

The drive-in was located on the northeast corner of Knox St. and N. Maclay Ave in the San Fernando Valley. The Masonic Lodge with its distinctive white pillars and square sign is still across the street.

Rothman says she saw the finished film and asked for her name to be taken off the credits as she felt "there was not an idea, a scene, a word, or even a comma left from my original script." [3] She took the psuedonym "Dallas Meredith", later specifying "Let me say it as plainly as I can: Starhops is not my fault." [3]

Peeters called the film "camp. Just these girls running amok. It was stuff we [she and her friends] would have done, just crazy kind of stuff.” [4]

The movie was retitled due to the fact there was another film released called The Carhops.

In a later interview, Rothman said "I was not very good at what is called networking. I really didn’t know how to go about it. There was another woman who has had a career, a successful career, as a director, who was just getting started then and she was much better than I was at doing that." She may have been talking about Peeters. [5]

Peeters had been diagnosed with terminal stage melanoma before filming and during the shoot was undergoing an experimental treatment program at UCLA. However due to her experience and extensive planning the film ws completed on budget. (Peeters' health later recovered.) [4]

Reception

The Los Angeles Times called it "a good natured, fast and funny Horatio Alger tale... Peeters makes you care about these no-nonsense working women. Peeter's direction exudes energy and diplays style and skill in the handling of actors and action." [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catherine Hardwicke</span> American filmmaker (born 1955)

Helen Catherine Hardwicke is an American film director, production designer, and screenwriter. Her directorial work includes Thirteen (2003), which she co-wrote with Nikki Reed, the film's co-star, Lords of Dogtown (2005), The Nativity Story (2006), Twilight (2008), Red Riding Hood (2011), Plush (2013), Miss You Already (2015), Miss Bala (2019), and Prisoner's Daughter (2022).

<i>Blood Bath</i> 1966 American horror film by Stephanie Rothman and Jack Hill

Blood Bath is a 1966 American horror film directed by Jack Hill and Stephanie Rothman and starring William Campbell, Linda Saunders, Marissa Mathes, and Sid Haig. The film concerns a mad painter of weird art who turns into a vampire-like man by night, apparently as a result of a family curse, and believes that he has found his reincarnated mistress in the person of an avant-garde ballerina.

<i>Sorority Girl</i> 1957 film by Roger Corman

Sorority Girl is a 1957 film noir exploitation film directed by Roger Corman. It stars Susan Cabot as Sabra, a sociopath who plays a very disruptive role in a sorority, with Barboura Morris, Dick Miller and June Kenney. It was released by American International Pictures as a double feature with Motorcycle Gang.

<i>Humanoids from the Deep</i> 1980 film by Barbara Peeters

Humanoids from the Deep is a 1980 American science fiction horror film starring Doug McClure, Ann Turkel, and Vic Morrow. Roger Corman served as the film's uncredited executive producer, and his company, New World Pictures, distributed it. Humanoids from the Deep was directed by Barbara Peeters and an uncredited Jimmy T. Murakami.

<i>Gas-s-s-s</i> 1970 film by Roger Corman

Gas-s-s-s is a 1970 post-apocalyptic black comedy film produced and released by American International Pictures.

<i>Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet</i> 1965 Soviet Union film

Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet is a 1965 science fiction film, one of two versions adapted for Roger Corman from the Soviet science fiction film Planeta Bur, scripted by Aleksandr Kazantsev and directed by Pavel Klushantsev. Curtis Harrington oversaw the editing and dubbing of principal portions of the source film, and directed new principal scenes featuring Basil Rathbone and Faith Domergue. The resulting new film was syndicated directly to television by American International Television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephanie Rothman</span> American film director

Stephanie Rothman is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter, known for her low-budget independent exploitation films made in the 1960s and 1970s, especially The Student Nurses (1970) and Terminal Island (1974).

Barbara Peeters, also known as Barbara Peters, is an American director and screenwriter of television and film. She is best known for her collaborations with producer-director Roger Corman on films such as Humanoids from the Deep, and directing episodes of television shows such as Remington Steele.

<i>Its a Bikini World</i> 1967 film by Stephanie Rothman

It's a Bikini World is a 1967 American musical comedy film starring Tommy Kirk, Deborah Walley and Bobby Pickett. The film features cameos by the music groups the Gentrys, the Animals, Pat & Lolly Vegas, the Castaways and R&B girl group the Toys. Featuring a pro-feminist plotline, it is the only film in the beach party genre to be directed by a woman.

<i>Night Call Nurses</i> 1972 film by Jonathan Kaplan

Night Call Nurses is a 1972 American sex comedy film directed by Jonathan Kaplan. It is the third in Roger Corman's "nurses" cycle of films, starting with The Student Nurses (1970).

<i>The Student Teachers</i> 1973 film by Jonathan Kaplan

The Student Teachers is a 1973 film directed by Jonathan Kaplan. It was inspired by the "nurse" cycle of pictures starting with The Student Nurses (1970). Roger Corman says it was one of the best of the cycle. It was made by the same team who had done Night Call Nurses.

<i>The Working Girls</i> 1974 film by Stephanie Rothman

The Working Girls is a 1974 sexploitation film written and directed by Stephanie Rothman and starring Sarah Kennedy, Laurie Rose and Cassandra Peterson.

<i>The Velvet Vampire</i> 1971 film by Stephanie Rothman

The Velvet Vampire, also known as Cemetery Girls, is a 1971 American vampire film directed by Stephanie Rothman. It stars Celeste Yarnall, Michael Blodgett, Sherry Miles, Gene Shane, Jerry Daniels, Sandy Ward, and Paul Prokop. It has been cited as a cult film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dimension Pictures (1970s company)</span> American film studio founded in 1970

Dimension Pictures Inc. (DPI) was an American film studio founded in 1971, which primarily released exploitation and horror films. The studio went defunct in 1981, after which many of its films were acquired by 21st Century Film Corporation.

<i>The Student Nurses</i> 1970 American film

The Student Nurses is a 1970 American film directed by Stephanie Rothman. It was the second film from New World Pictures and the first in the popular "nurses" cycle of exploitation movies. It has since become a cult film.

<i>Terminal Island</i> (film) 1973 film by Stephanie Rothman

Terminal Island, released theatrically in the U.K. as Knuckle Men, is a 1973 American action–drama thriller film directed by Stephanie Rothman. It features early screen performances by Tom Selleck and Roger E. Mosley. Although an exploitation film, it has been treated with much serious discussion by critics and academics over the years. It is regarded as a cult film.

<i>Group Marriage</i> 1973 film by Stephanie Rothman

Group Marriage is a 1972 sex comedy film directed by Stephanie Rothman. It was the first film she made for Dimension Pictures, a company in which she was a minor shareholder with her husband Charles Swartz along with Larry Woolner.

<i>Bury Me an Angel</i> 1971 American film

Bury Me an Angel is a 1971 American biker film from female director Barbara Peeters, who was script supervisor on Angels Die Hard (1970). She was the first woman to direct a biker film. The film was acquired by Roger Corman's New World Pictures.

<i>Happy Death Day</i> 2017 American slasher film

Happy Death Day is a 2017 American black comedy slasher film directed by Christopher Landon, and written by Scott Lobdell. It stars Jessica Rothe and Israel Broussard. The film was produced by Jason Blum through his Blumhouse Productions banner. It follows college student Tree Gelbman, who is murdered on the night of her birthday but begins reliving the day repeatedly, at which point she sets out to find the killer and stop her death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tree Gelbman</span> Fictional character in the Happy Death Day franchise

Theresa "Tree" Gelbman is a fictional character in Christopher Landon's slasher film Happy Death Day (2017) and its sequel, Happy Death Day 2U (2019). She was created by writer Scott Lobdell and portrayed by Jessica Rothe in both of her performances. Gelbman's storyline revolves around her being murdered on the night of her birthday and finding herself reliving the day repeatedly. She uses this as an opportunity to figure out her killer's identity and prevent her death from ever occurring.

References

  1. "Advertisement". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. November 23, 1977. p. 28.
  2. Starhops at AFi
  3. 1 2 3 Stephanie Rothman (July 27, 2010). "Charles S. Swartz, producer, dies at 67". AV Maniacs. Archived from the original on September 23, 2015.
  4. 1 2 Smukler, Maya Montanez. Working Girls: The History of Women Directors in 1970s Hollywood (PDF). p. 148-149.
  5. Collings, Jane. "Interview of Stephanie Rothman" (PDF). UCLA Library Center for Oral History Research.
  6. Gross, Linda (March 10, 1978). "Starhops - Female Horatio Alger tale". The Los Angeles Times Part 4. p. 33.