"Corvette Summer" is a coming-of-age story, but it runs pretty rough (I know, I know, I'll watch it with the car puns). It hits the right notes for such a movie, and the right characters get what they're meant to have in the end, but it's a surprisingly somber affair. Mark Hamill (looking particularly squalid) spends a great deal of time sulking through the streets of Sin City in search of his stolen hot rod, and that character just seems to sap the life outta this thing. Stick with it and there's that appropriate ending and even an eleventh-hour car chase.
But here's why this movie is worth a watch: Annie Potts. Charming, warm and unbelievably attractive, she's the reason "Corvette Summer" has any life at all. It's the kind of performance that makes you look forward to her next scene.
She's something else.
6/10
Corvette Summer
1978
Action / Adventure / Comedy
Corvette Summer
1978
Action / Adventure / Comedy
Plot summary
Ken loves to design and build exotic cars. When the High School shop class project car, a fully tricked out dream Corvette, is stolen, he begins searching for it. His search leads him to Las Vegas, where Vanessa, a teenaged prostitute wannabe, helps him try to track it down.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
July 27, 2019 at 01:28 AM
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Worth it for Annie
Car wars
This is a charm piece that depends on the chemistry and skill of Mark Hamill and Annie Potts. Corvette Summer never quite found an audience in 1978, but today it is a cult-classic among car enthusiasts, as well as Star Wars fans who are curious about what Mark Hamill was doing between Luke Skywalker gigs. Hamill plays a high school senior who falls in love with a car he's restored. The car is stolen, and he hears it's in Las Vegas. He hitchhikes to Vegas, and along the way meets Annie Potts. Her character is determined to make a career--whatever it may be--in Vegas. Hamill is funny as someone who's a know-it-all about cars, but naive about everything else. Potts is very funny as a girl who hides her brains and feelings behind an ever-changing mask and a series of one-liners.
The film features a parade of colorful characters, including a memorable performance by the late Eugene Roche as a downtrodden school teacher. However the actors take a back seat (pun intended) to the film's non-human stars, namely the candy-apple 1973 Stingray and the city of Las Vegas itself, which serves as the film's glittery backdrop. Recommended.
70's camp
Kenny Dantley Jr. (Mark Hamill) is on a school trip to the junkyard when he rescues a trashed Corvette. He brings it back to his L.A. school. The students fix it up and trick it out with the help of shop teacher Ed McGrath (Eugene Roche). The class takes it out for a ride when it gets stolen. Everybody including the cops write it off and then a traveling salesman tells him about seeing it in Las Vegas. He hitches a ride from Vanessa (Annie Potts) who is going to Vegas to go pro as a hooker.
This is a fun little film with plenty of 70s kitsch, car-obsession, and an early Annie Potts. She's the fun that keeps the movie interesting and more than a flat B-movie. It's Hamill's first film after his unexpected stardom from Star Wars and probably filmed before that. He's a cute leading man but he's a bit overshadowed by the outrageous Potts. She's cute, funny, and a compelling character. At least, I care about her much more than the car.