Directed by "Jethro Bodine" and written by Jesse Vint of MACON COUNTY LINE fame, this winner hit the Hudson Valley drive-ins on a double-bill with BUCKSTONE COUNTY PRISON. It's debatable which flick is sillier; at least HOMETOWN USA is goofy on purpose.
The lead character is pudgy, frizz-haired high-school nerd Rodney "The Rodent," who sometimes talks into the camera. The fun begins when he takes his sister's boyfriend's convertible and tries to cruise with the big dudes. He winds up an unwilling chauffeur for TJ Swackhammer, the local James Dean imitator, and tough-guy Recil Calhoun. Calhoun has a giant slingshot in his Chevy pick-up and launches flour-bombs at the local Mean Cop. Other stock characters include stuffy strait-laced parents; a stacked teenaged nympho; bikers; leggy car-hops; doofy derelicts and one under-aged girl who's tougher than the boys. Sally Kirkland plays one of several 26-year-"old" women on the prowl. Pat Delaney is Rodney's Dream Girl who turns into a nightmare. There are lots of insults and zingers; Jesse Vint reprises the "hard man is good to find" line that got so many chuckles in BOBBIE JO AND THE OUTLAW. A lot of the jokes and situations are so dumb you can't help but crack up; others are legitimately funny. The actors portraying the high-schoolers are older than their characters which only adds to the hilarity. All this, with a great oldies soundtrack and more 1957 automobiles than you can shake a stick at.
Or lob a flour-bomb at. That giant slingshot was COOL! I've gotta get me one of them...
The lead character is pudgy, frizz-haired high-school nerd Rodney "The Rodent," who sometimes talks into the camera. The fun begins when he takes his sister's boyfriend's convertible and tries to cruise with the big dudes. He winds up an unwilling chauffeur for TJ Swackhammer, the local James Dean imitator, and tough-guy Recil Calhoun. Calhoun has a giant slingshot in his Chevy pick-up and launches flour-bombs at the local Mean Cop. Other stock characters include stuffy strait-laced parents; a stacked teenaged nympho; bikers; leggy car-hops; doofy derelicts and one under-aged girl who's tougher than the boys. Sally Kirkland plays one of several 26-year-"old" women on the prowl. Pat Delaney is Rodney's Dream Girl who turns into a nightmare. There are lots of insults and zingers; Jesse Vint reprises the "hard man is good to find" line that got so many chuckles in BOBBIE JO AND THE OUTLAW. A lot of the jokes and situations are so dumb you can't help but crack up; others are legitimately funny. The actors portraying the high-schoolers are older than their characters which only adds to the hilarity. All this, with a great oldies soundtrack and more 1957 automobiles than you can shake a stick at.
Or lob a flour-bomb at. That giant slingshot was COOL! I've gotta get me one of them...