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| Images courtesy of MVD Entertainment Group |
While Cannon Films brought about the emergence of a new kind
of independent filmmaking empire spearheaded by Israeli studio heads Menahem
Golan and Yorum Globus which saw a variety of everything from low budget exploitation
actioners to tawdry sexploitation, one of the first projects on the company’s
roster was a remake of their very own 1978 Israeli teen coming-of-age sex
comedy Lemon Popsicle. Mounted
around three teenage boys in late-50s Tel Aviv trying to get laid while the
nice guy of the group develops feelings for the girl the jock brags about
wanting to deflower, the crass and crude but surprisingly touching sex comedy
became a huge success in Europe and even garnered a Golden Globe nomination for
Best Foreign Language Film.
Written and directed by Israeli filmmaker Boaz Davidson and
Eli Tavor, the film is also notable for featuring cinematography by eventual
James Cameron stalwart Adam Greenberg.
Needless to say, upon the Cannon Group’s foray into English language
filmmaking and on the heels of such hot sex comedy fare as National Lampoon’s
Animal House still fresh on everyone’s minds, it was inevitable Lemon
Popsicle was a hot commodity for the remaking. So in 1982, writer-director Boaz Davidson
proceeded to remake his own film with some updates made for the new setting now
called The Last American Virgin.
Transposing the timeframe and setting from 50s Tel Aviv to then-present
1980s Los Angeles, the soundtrack which was also a cacophony of needle drops in
Israel was updated to include tons of modern pop rock acts including but not
limited to Devo, Oingo Boingo, The Police, The Cars and U2.
A straightforward yet curiously heartbreaking and downbeat teen
sex comedy of sorts that feels like just as thorny of a companion piece as Fast
Times at Ridgemont High, the film zeroes in on nice pizza guy Gary
(Lawrence Monoson) whose hangs out with his best friends womanizing Rick (Steve
Antin) and stocky but outgoing David (Joe Rubbo) when the trio notices a new
high school student named Karen (Diane Franklin from Better Off Dead and
Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure).
The trio at Gary’s house tries with messy results to drug and seduce
three young women before the parents return, meanwhile back in school in the
locker room they pass the time measuring each others’ dick sizes (no,
really). Soon however, a loose triangular
romance starts gestating between nice guy Gary, asshole Rick and innocent young
girl Karen who finds herself caught between the two men with vastly different moral
senses of character.
More of an uncompromising coming-of-age dramedy with some
hefty weights dropped on the audience including but not limited to unwanted
teen pregnancies followed by an abortion (infamously intercut with pizza
cutting), the culturally displaced but endearing The Last American Virgin isn’t
always funny but does serve as a welcome antidote to the more popular John
Hughes fare at the time. Featuring a
cast of unknown actors including Twin Peaks favorite Kimmy Robertson,
Steve Antin and Winifred Freedman, despite the cultural differences inherent in
the source the film carries over many of the same central concerns about
teenagers and maturation. As
aforementioned, the film shares the same cinematographer as before and the
results are suitably colorful, notably in the pizzeria scenes and the party
scenes. Mostly though the low budget
film is comprised of needle drops and musical montage, sometimes edited to the
song itself which sort of posits it amid the MTV generation.
Acting wise, for being mostly a cast of newcomers who never
acted before, the performances across the board are quite good with the heaviest
lifting carried by the two leads Lawrence Monoson as good kid Gary and Diane
Franklin as the innocent good girl Karen who knows Gary means well but finds
herself falling for the jerk Rick. Featuring
a supporting cast of characters including the original The Little Shop of
Horrors actor Mel Welles, Julianna McCarthy from Starship Troopers, Better
Call Saul actor Michael Chieffo and The Long Goodbye actress Leslie
Simms, the cast of young and old stars rounds out to a solid ensemble for a
most unique and startlingly realistic dramedy.
Save for some cultural anomalies like the aforementioned
dick measuring contest and another bit where Gary post-abortion brings Karen a
bag of oranges and a Christmas tree, The Last American Virgin warts and
all became a bona fide box office hit and the low budget venture wound up
raking in almost $6 million at the box office.
Critical reception at the time was mixed at best with some decrying it
every bit as tawdry as Porky’s while others were taken in by the film’s
frankness and sincerity. In the years
since and on the cusp of renewed interest in the Golan-Globus library thanks to
a recently restored blu-ray release from MVD Entertainment, The Last
American Virgin while still not always palatable to its intended target
audience still nevertheless works as a cautionary, touching and startlingly
wise dramedy which still resonates with audiences young and old today.
--Andrew Kotwicki
