Spetters

Last updated
Spetters
Spetters.jpg
Dutch film poster for Spetters
Directed by Paul Verhoeven
Written by Gerard Soeteman
Jan Wolkers (uncredited)
Produced by Joop van den Ende
Starring Hans van Tongeren
Renée Soutendijk
Toon Agterberg
Maarten Spanjer
Marianne Boyer
Jeroen Krabbé
Rutger Hauer
Cinematography Jost Vacano
Edited byIne Schenkkan
Music by Ton Scherpenzeel
Kayak
Release date
  • 25 February 1980 (1980-02-25)
Running time
120 minutes
CountryNetherlands
LanguageDutch

Spetters (English translation: Splashes) is a Dutch film released in 1980 and directed by Paul Verhoeven. [1] The film follows the lives of three young men who have little in common but their love for dirt-bike racing. Set on the outskirts of Rotterdam, the film depicts three characters who are hoping to escape a dead-end, working-class existence.

Contents

Each of the boys is seduced by a young woman who, with her brother, sells French fries and kroket at the races. She is looking for the person who will help her get out of the business and away from her brother. The motocross racers want to make their marks as professional racers, but their hopes don't go according to their plans.

Spetters led to protests about how Verhoeven portrayed gays, [2] Christians, the police, and the press. Although Verhoeven made one more film in the Netherlands, the response to Spetters led him to leave for Hollywood. Despite the large amount of controversy surrounding it, [2] the film proved to be popular, [3] with 1,124,162 admissions in the Netherlands alone.

The film was a small success in the United States, and it helped launch the Hollywood careers of Verhoeven and some of the actors, including Jeroen Krabbé, Rutger Hauer and Renee Soutendijk. [4]

The town of Maassluis was the setting for the movie.

Plot

Two young motocross racers, Rien (Hans van Tongeren) and Hans (Maarten Spanjer), and their mechanic, Eef (Toon Agterberg), dream of fame, fortune and casual sex. Their hero is legendary motocross champion Gerrit Witkamp (Rutger Hauer), who inspires their competitive rides. Their lives are changed when they meet a young seductress named Fientje (Renée Soutendijk). Eventually, she makes the three men face the reality of success, defeat and homosexuality.

Cast

Title

"Spetter" (plural: "spetters") means 'good looking boy or girl', comparable to the American hunk and babe. It also means "splatters" and thereby refers to dirt splattering up while motorcrossing as well as the oil splattering when Soutendijk's character lowers the chips into the frying pan at the chips stall where she works.

Film rating

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rutger Hauer</span> Dutch actor (1944–2019)

Rutger Oelsen Hauer was a Dutch actor. In 1999, he was named by the Dutch public as the Best Dutch Actor of the Century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Verhoeven</span> Dutch filmmaker (born 1938)

Paul Verhoeven is a Dutch filmmaker. His films are known for their graphic violence and sexual content, combined with social satire. After receiving attention for the TV series Floris in his native Netherlands, Verhoeven's breakthrough film was the romantic drama Turkish Delight (1973), starring frequent collaborator Rutger Hauer. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film and later received the award for Best Dutch Film of the Century at the Netherlands Film Festival. Verhoeven later directed successful Dutch films including the period drama Keetje Tippel (1975), the war film Soldier of Orange (1977), the teen drama Spetters (1980) and the psychological thriller The Fourth Man (1983).

<i>Floris</i> (TV series) 1969 Dutch action television series

Floris is a 1969 Dutch action television series starring Rutger Hauer and Jos Bergman, written by Gerard Soeteman, and directed by Paul Verhoeven.

<i>Flesh and Blood</i> (1985 film) 1985 film by Paul Verhoeven

Flesh and Blood is a 1985 romantic historical adventure film directed by Paul Verhoeven, and starring Rutger Hauer, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tom Burlinson, Susan Tyrrell, Ronald Lacey, Bruno Kirby and Jack Thompson. The script was written by Verhoeven and Gerard Soeteman. The story is set in the year 1501 in Italy, during the early modern period, and follows two warring groups of mercenaries and their longstanding quarrel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeroen Krabbé</span> Dutch actor and film director

Jeroen Aart Krabbé is a Dutch actor and film director with a successful career in both Dutch- and English-language films. He is best known to international audiences for his leading roles in the Paul Verhoeven films Soldier of Orange (1977) and The Fourth Man (1983), for playing the villain General Georgi Koskov in the James Bond film The Living Daylights (1987) and his parts in The Prince of Tides (1991), The Fugitive (1993), and Immortal Beloved (1994). His 1998 directorial debut, Left Luggage, was nominated for the Golden Bear at the 49th Berlin International Film Festival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Renée Soutendijk</span> Dutch actress (born 1957)

Renette Pauline Soutendijk, known professionally as Renée Soutendijk, is a Dutch actress. A gymnast in her youth, Soutendijk began her acting career in the late 1970s. She was a favorite star of director Paul Verhoeven's films, and is perhaps best known for her work in his 1980 release Spetters and 1983's The Fourth Man. Her good looks and striking blond hair secured her status as a Dutch sex symbol in the 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cinema of the Netherlands</span> Filmmaking industry in Netherlands

Cinema of the Netherlands refers to the film industry based in the Netherlands. Because the Dutch film industry is relatively small, and there is little or no international market for Dutch films, almost all films rely on state funding. This funding can be achieved through several sources, for instance through the Netherlands Film Fund or the public broadcast networks. In recent years the Dutch Government has established several tax shelters for private investments in Dutch films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Golden Calf (award)</span> Dutch film award

The Golden Calf is the award of the Netherlands Film Festival, which is held annually in Utrecht. The award has been presented since 1981, originally in six categories: Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Feature Film, Best Short Film, Culture Prize and Honourable mention. In 2004, there were 16 award categories, mainly because in 2003 the categories Best Photography, Best Montage, Best Music, Best Production Design, Best Sound Design were added.

<i>The Fourth Man</i> (1983 film) 1983 film by Paul Verhoeven

The Fourth Man is a 1983 Dutch psychological thriller film directed by Paul Verhoeven and starring Jeroen Krabbé, Renée Soutendijk and Thom Hoffman. Based on the 1981 novel of the same name by Gerard Reve, it follows Gerard, a bisexual writer who has a romantic encounter with a mysterious woman, Christine, and subsequently becomes enamored of Herman, another of her male lovers; while attempting to pursue Herman, Gerard is plagued by a series of disturbing visions suggesting Christine may be a murderess who has chosen him as her fourth victim.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Netherlands Film Festival</span> Annual film festival held in Utrecht, Netherlands

The Netherlands Film Festival is an annual film festival, held in September and October of each year in the city of Utrecht.

All Things Pass is a 1981 television film directed by Paul Verhoeven. In Douglas Keesey's book on Verhoeven, he writes that the film is a coda to Verhoeven's previous film Soldier of Orange (1977).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gerrit Wolsink</span> Dutch motorcycle racer

Gerrit Wolsink is a Dutch former professional Grand Prix motocross racer. He competed in the Motocross World Championships from 1970 to 1981. Wolsink was one of the top competitors in the 500cc Motocross World Championships, placing as the runner-up twice along with two third-place finishes. Wolsink is notable for being a five-time winner of the 500cc United States Grand Prix of motocross.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">P. C. Hooft Award</span> Dutch literature award

The P.C. Hooft Award, inaugurated in 1948, is a Dutch-language literary lifetime-achievement award named after 17th-century Dutch poet and playwright Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft. The award is made annually.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hans van Tongeren</span> Dutch actor (1955–1982)

Johannes Adrianus Maria (Hans) van Tongeren was a Dutch movie actor, who made his debut in the 1980 Paul Verhoeven movie Spetters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rijk de Gooyer</span> Dutch actor (1925–2011)

Rijk de Gooyer was a Dutch Golden Calf-winning actor, writer, comedian and singer. From the 1950s until the early 1970s, he became well known in The Netherlands as part of a comic duo with John Kraaijkamp, Sr. In the United States best known for having small roles in films such as Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht, Soldaat van Oranje, A Time to Die and The Wilby Conspiracy.

The Rembrandt Award was a Dutch film award. Initially created in 1993, it was not awarded between 1999 and 2006, but was recreated in 2007 by René Mioch. It has not been awarded since 2015.

De vierde man is a 1981 novel by Dutch author Gerard Reve, the basis for the film of the same name by Paul Verhoeven. Among Reve's works, it stands out as one of only a few novels to have a heterosexual theme.

LGBT writers in the Dutch-language area are writers from de Lage Landen, that is Flanders and the Netherlands,

References

  1. The New York Times
  2. 1 2 Chen, Nick (7 March 2017). "Six of Paul Verhoeven's most controversial moments". lwlies.com. Retrieved 14 July 2018.
  3. Smith, Adam; Williams, Owen (31 August 2016). "Triple Dutch: Paul Verhoeven's sci-fi trilogy". empireonline.com. Retrieved 14 July 2018.
  4. Dutch Centre for international cultural activities website: Dutch cinema: less sex and violence Archived 2010-09-19 at the Wayback Machine , published 2008, visited 9 October 2010