User reviews

I grew up in Citrus Heights, California. started driving in 81, and if you're from anywhere near there and you would know about the cruise at the Sunrise mall and then Birdcage walk. The cruise started around 74-75 at the Sunrise mall, they (police and barriers) shut that down and it moved to the birdcage walk, from Sunrise Boulevard to Greenback lane, down Birdcage walk road in front of tower records and down by Toys "R" Us, I remember hearing on the news that an estimated 5000 cars were involved in the slow cruise. But lot of neighbors and stores complainEd and then there was a shooting at Burger King, so the cops shut it down in 1988-89. Most of the attendees just enjoyed the slow cruise, the chatting with friends. making new friends, but there are always those a-holes that ruin it for everybody. Watching this movie sort of brought back memories of that, for the most part, it shows the antics of three couples who met during the cruise on Van Nuys Blvd. it's kind of a time capsule for the people that lived during this time, sadly our kids and their kids will never know what a slow cruise is like. Unless you make it to Reno, Nevada for hot August nights. But even that does not have the same feel. Been there, done that.

I appreciate that having been born in 1946, I don't really have the right to review this film. My period is 1968/69, some ten years before this and boy does it show! Here, the car has already become God once more, the dancing looks more like aerobics and the music! Well, I got through prog rock and even punk but this disco sound was beyond me. Amazing though just how early the 'eighties' began because this really looks absolutely on the button for the eighties and yet was presumably made no later than 1978 if it came out in '79. As others have mentioned no plot to speak of, lots of very cute naked bodies, but, for me, too much motoring, too much fairground riding and too much of that music. For anyone ten years younger, however, probably absolutely essential viewing.

This is a nostalgic movie about cruising your car on a popular strip in the late 1970's. This particular strip is Van Nuys Blvd., north of Los Angeles, California. Cruising Van Nuys Blvd. was a cultural phenomenon that didn't last long - only a couple of years. As cruising takes hold of a local culture, each community creates new laws and police find creative ways to discourage young people from congregating. When people on the streets outnumber the total available police force, local residence get scared - even if there has been no significant rise in crime.

I was a part of a cruising culture in the mid to late 1990's on Lindbergh Blvd. in Saint Louis, Missouri. From Hooters Restaurant to Ronnie's Movie Theater, the 4 mile strip was packed with bumper-to-bumper automobiles, Thursday through Saturday nights. At the peak of the local cruising popularity, heavy traffic could be seen every night, and weekends brought people from all over the country. Vendors would set up in parking lots and sell cool stuff - no permits, but no police available to enforce permit laws. Street lights were useless on weekends after dark - the steady, slow moving traffic would rarely completely stop for a red light. Public fights and public sex were commonplace. Bass speakers blared, low riders with ground effects lights lit up the pavement, and it seemed like a lawless carnival for a teenager. It was an amazing time and place. I took it for granted because I was young; I couldn't appreciate how lucky I was to be a part of it, or how quickly it would all be over.

Most of the reviews of 'Van Nuys Blvd.' (1979) complain that there is no plot. I guess I can understand that complaint, but they don't understand cruising. Sometimes when you go cruising, nothing happens. Sometimes, it seems like a boring night of driving in a circle, until you take one more lap and meet the right girl. Sometimes, you get chased by cops. And, sometimes it just feels like being stuck in traffic.

So, yeah, this movie might leave some people feeling like it was a pointless waste of 90 minutes... like aimlessly driving around with no destination... But, maybe it was supposed to feel that way. As for me, I can dig it.

RealReview Posting Scoring Criteria: Acting - 0.5/1; Casting - 1/1; Directing - 1/1; Story - 0.5/1; Writing/Screenplay - 0.5/1;

Total Base Score = 3.5

Modifiers (+ or -): Authentic Location Shooting: 0.5 (It really isn't anywhere special, but it feels very authentic.);

Music Score/Soundtrack: 0.5 (I downloaded the title track. Seriously, I did.);

Cultural Significance: 0.5 (This film captures a moment in time, that will be relevant to a niche group of cruisers for as long as automobiles are driven by young people.);

Total RealReview Rating: 5

The film footage at the beginning and end of Van Nuys Boulevard accurately portrays the action and excitement of what life was like cruising the boulevard. By the time I cruised there in 1981 there were plenty of college and high school students hanging out, cruising and racing. Car clubs gathered in parking lots. I was 22 attending college and my dad bought me a 1978 Corvette. I cruised there in the summer and I will never forget the adventure. It truly was just like in the movie and better. You made friends easily and there were always street races. In the fall of 1981 the LAPD began barricading off the boulevard and closing off traffic. This killed the adventure and those times are gone forever. Having been there, Van Nuys Boulevard is a nostalgic return to the past and a memorable way of remembering a great time of American youth.

VAN NUYS BLVD. is a near-plot less slice of late '70s exploitation from those guys at Crown International Pictures. This one attempts to gather interest from various sources so it comes across as a mix of road movie, disco flick, and teen sex comedy. There's nudity thrown into the mix, along with scenes of racing and even long, protracted moments of disco dancing that go on for twenty minutes or more.

None of it particularly sticks, and I think it's fair to note that this is a dull and relatively pointless movie. Unless, that is, you're interested in the era, in which case it's a fun snapshot of its time allowing you to checking out the fashions, the cars, and the music scene in the wake of GREASE and Saturday NIGHT FEVER. The young actresses are attractive, but the male performers are pretty hopeless, and the tries-to-be-funny script just doesn't cut it. Writer/director William Sachs also helmed THE INCREDIBLE MELTING MAN, which on the strength of this I would say was his best movie.

This is definitely one of the worst movies ever made. There is really no plot or theme, it's just film footage of kids cruisin' on Van Nuys Blvd in CA. If you didn't actually live thru the 70's and saw this film, you would think that everyone had sex ALL the time, every night and day with multiple partners. In this film, people get naked at the drop of a hat! Not that I'm complaining but this film today really only has nostalgic value in that it does show how life, especially in California was back then. Today, there is no crusin' at all on Van Nuys Blvd or anywhere in CA for that matter and that area is very run down and dangerous. There are some great cars and lots of racing footage in the film but you probably will fast forward thru most of the bad acting scenes. I do know Dana Gladstone's son and he told me that his father hardly was paid anything for his role as Officer Al Zass which explains the low budget and often disconnected feel of the film as if it were spliced together in a hap-hazard manner. But, I am glad this film was made if anything to capture how cruisin' on Van Nuys Blvd really was!

Not content with living in a small town a young man named "Bobby" (Bill Adler) decides to get in his van and drive to Van Nuys Boulevard where he hopes to find plenty of action. Along the way he meets people of a similar mindset which includes regulars on the drag racing circuit by the names of "Chooch" (David Hayward) and "Greg" (Dennis Bowen). He also meets a young woman named "Moon" (Cynthia Wood) who enjoys racing almost as much as he does. Unfortunately, neither of them like to lose and that is where the difficulty begins. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this low-budget comedy-action film started off pretty good but seemed to run out of gas after the first 20 minutes or so. There just wasn't enough comedy or high-quality action to keep things interesting. Likewise, the romantic scenes lacked passion and the drama needed significant improvement as well. That being the case, I have rated this movie accordingly. Slightly below average.

VAN NUYS BLVD is another Crown International teen film that shows what a different place America was in the 1970's. Kids cruise around for sex, drugs and bad disco music. They also get to go to jail and then go to Magic Mountain the next day. Why I live for these movies I'll never know. Lots of drag racing, cool cars and hot chicks round out a film about doing nothing that totally makes a movie-watching SESSION a memorable experience. Recommended for the right people.

This movie has nothing but scenes stitched together BUT it's oddly fun and charming if only because its so aimless. Lots of nudity and clips of amusement parks and disco dancing make this a real treat for late 70's fans.

Forget Sunset Strip you want to go where the action is it's Van Nuys Blvd. Which is where Bill Adler, Country kid is heading for. His van is a chick magnet and he's gotten all the action to be had in his Hooterville of a small town. So it's Van Nuys where he's headed.

No real plot just the romp of a few days of Adler and some other kids he's met. Lots of bare breasts in this as in other films from Crown International. It's their trademark as surely as Leo the Lion is with MGM.

To win a girl Adler does something truly stupid. As vapid as the folks who created Van Nuys Blvd the movie.

I watched VAN NUYS BLVD as part of BCI Eclipse' Drive-in Cult Classics (featuring Crown International Pictures releases) on DVD.

As a teenager growing up in the 70s the only thing I remember about the movie is my friend telling me about the mooning scene during the opening of the film.

I had never seen the film until now, so it seems tame; and, in the director's words "almost innocent." That is certainly true by today's standards; but I am sure it was quite scandalous for the times.

VAN NUYS BLVD is about Wednesday night's cruise scene in Los Angeles, on the boulevard of the same name. It packs in a lot of drag racing, super cool cars, dumb cops; and, hot chicks, with a side trip to Magic Mountain, to boot!

The musical score features a pulsating disco beat; and, the opening song is fun and funky!

VAN NUYS BLVD is very much in the same vein of the more famous (and better movie), "American Graffiti" released two years earlier.

My friend and I ended up in LA in 1986; but by then the cruise scene was gone forever. Nevertheless, for those that have been there, VAN NUYS BLVD is a nice bit of nostalgia for 1970s California living.

The Plot. A small-town kid hears about the wild nights of cruising the boulevard in Van Nuys, California.

He drives out there to check it out, and gets involved with drag racers, topless dancers and bikers.

This is a mindless featureless movie that is directed OK and looks fine but....

There really IS no plot. It's a rambling mess with quick detours to T&A (not complaining) and cars.

The topless women are fine but the movie is so bland you wind up drifting off now and again.

It's not a fun film to watch.

I came across this movie when it was playing on BRAVO, and since they don't show commercials I had no time to get distracted by something else. It's not a particularly good movie, but fun, and something about it kept me watching until 3 in the morning. Probably because I missed the beginning, so I never figured out which guy was the hick, as mentioned on the satelleite summary. That and Cynthia Wood. Wow she looks sweet in this movie. Writer/Director Sachs somehow manages to attach a subplot to no plot. It's an interesting 'slice of life' film that rates high on kitch, low on substance.

Amiable small town dude Bobby (1970s drive-in movie mainstay Bill Adler) is yearning for something more. He gets wind of the cruising / vehicle culture on Van Nuys Blvd., and promptly heads out there. He makes friends with Greg (Dennis Bowen) and "Chooch" (David Hayward) and falls for spunky blonde beauty "Moon" (Playboy playmate Cynthia Wood).

Don't look for much more story in this lightly entertaining artifact of late 1970s California. Writer / director William Sachs ("The Incredible Melting Man") is simply having fun, and gives his movie an episodic quality. Bobby and his newfound buddies do such things as patronize a race track and an amusement park, go disco dancing, etc. Bobby has a tough time accepting Moon as an equal, so the final episode will see them race their vans. Meanwhile, there's a subplot involving the humiliation of party pooper cop Al Zass (Dana Gladstone).

Exploitation fans will appreciate the doses of nudity. The young cast in this thing is certainly attractive. "Van Nuys Blvd." is mostly valuable as a snapshot of the sights and sounds of the time. The disco soundtrack is most amusing if somewhat repetitive. Although the movie is not that long at 94 minutes, you can still see some definite padding; the disco dancing takes up a fair bit of the running time. The actors are all very engaging, including Tara Strohmeier as sexy carhop Wanda, and Di Ann Monaco, Susanne Severeid, Aesop Aquarian, Bella Bruck, Mary Ellen O'Neill, Renee Harmon, and Tiger the dog from the film "A Boy and His Dog" in a cute cameo.

Not particularly memorable but quite easy to watch and impossible to dislike.

Seven out of 10.

A popular Los Angeles drag is the place which draws people from far and wide for good times. A bored young man arrives here on the hope of fun and games.

Van Nuys Blvd. is a film from b-movie producers Crown International Films that seems to be heavily influenced by the earlier American Graffiti (1973). Like that one, it's a pretty episodic affair but is instead set in contemporary times, in this case the disco era. It centres on a group of characters who frequent the boulevard – teens, old-heads and cops. It works pretty well on the whole due to decent characters and fun period feel. Its not especially funny and works better in dramatic terms. A decent bit of 70's west coast Californian nostalgia on the whole.

Only moments into VAN NUYS BLVD did I realize I was in for something special. I sat in my seat expecting another brainless teenager romp, but boy, was I ever wrong! This film celebrates innocence and individualism while commenting on commitment and making sacrifices. Mix in a little sex, nudity and a few liberal profanities and you have a shockingly sweet, amazingly hip teen exploitation picture the whole family could enjoy!

I was only about 8 in 1979, so I never experienced the true 70's feeling, unless you count my afro-style hair I had as a toddler. The days of bell-bottoms, square vans, drive-in restaurants, and disco return in a cheapo production about a young man who comes to L.A. to have some fun. He meets up with the usual stuff you'll see in these films.

There was one funny scene in the film where two of the characters are arguing after one of them was grooving with the other's girlfriend and they start destroying each other's cars. It's hilarious; especially when others get into the fun. Otherwise, this film makes me yearn for the day when Bravo (Canada) will show H.O.T.S., the only movie from the Drive-in era that I'm dying to see.