DVDs

The Last American Virgin

Summer vacation gets its last hurrah in high school. Then comes that most dubious of nightmares known as responsibility. Older working stiffs have to settle for second best: teen movies. Make mine goofy/horny comedies from the 1980s. Fast Times at Ridgemont High is too obvious. Released one week before Fast Times in that golden teen comedy year of 1982, The Last American Virgin has it all: horny teens – the stud, the nice guy, and the chubby clown – desperate for sex and drugs (OK, their cocaine is really Sweet'N Low), and a rock & roll soundtrack leaning to the New Wave with Devo, the Cars, and the Waitresses. Every third person is wearing a Pat Benatar headband, as wacky laughs ensue about getting crabs, delivering pizzas to an oversexed older woman, and other (as)sordid Porky's-esque escapades. Then writer/director Boaz Davidson abruptly flips the switch from comedy to heartbreak as shy Gary (Lawrence Monoson) watches the woman of his dreams (Diane Franklin) fall into the arms of his cocky pal (Steve Antin), and the director teaches viewers a wrenching lesson about the seriousness of both precocious sex and young love. The film is Davidson's remake of his own 1978 Israeli film Lemon Popsicle, which is set in the 1950s. Both versions came from Canon Films, which also begat Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2.