''Starhops'' is 1978 exploitation film directed by
Barbara Peeters. It was based on a script by
Stephanie Rothman
Stephanie Rothman (born November 9, 1936, in Paterson, New Jersey) 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'' ( ...
, writing under a pseudonym, and was edited by
Steve Zaillian, who later became an Oscar-winning screenwriter.
Premise
Three carhops team up to save their cash-strapped
Venice Beach
Venice is a neighborhood of the city of Los Angeles within the Westside region of Los Angeles County, California.
Venice was founded by Abbot Kinney in 1905 as a seaside resort town. It was an independent city until 1926, when it was annexed b ...
drive-in
A drive-in is a facility (such as a restaurant or movie theater) where one can drive in with an automobile for service. At a drive-in restaurant, for example, customers park their vehicles and are usually served by staff who walk or rollersk ...
restaurant from the clutches of a greedy oil baron who wants the land it sits on.
Cast
*Dorothy Buhrman as Danielle
*Sterling Frazier as Cupcake
*
Jillian Kesner as Angel
*Anthony Mannino as Kong
*Paul Ryan as Norman
*Al Hobson as Carter Axe
*
Dick Miller
Richard Miller (December 25, 1928 – January 30, 2019) was an American character actor who appeared in more than 180 films, including many produced by Roger Corman. He later appeared in the films of directors who began their careers with Cor ...
as Jerry
*Peter Liapis as Ron
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, only to have them hire
Barbara Peeters as the director instead. The movie was retitled due to the fact there was another film released with the same title. Rothman took her name off the movie, using a pseudonym (Dallas Meredith), as she felt "there was not an idea, a scene, a word, or even a comma left from my original script."
The drive-in was located on the northeast corner of Knox St. and N. Maclay Ave. The Masonic Lodge with its distinctive white pillars and square sign is still across the street.
References
External links
*
''Starhops''at
TCMDB
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic