Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.0

Corvette Summer Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Randy Miller III June 15, 2019

Almost as fun and breezy as its title suggests, Matthew Robbins' Corvette Summer (1978) features Mark Hamill in just his second film role, barely one year after he starred in some movie about spaceships and light-up swords or whatever. In more ways than one, it's a case of perfect timing: released on June 2nd of that year and aiming to ride the success of George Lucas' blockbuster, Corvette Summer is the kind of lightweight and free-wheeling adventure that feels so closely tied to its era in hindsight. It's not a perfect film by any stretch of the imagination, but works well as nostalgic escapist entertainment for anyone who loves muscle cars, wide-open roads, and the bright lights of Las Vegas.

For his ambitious final project in auto shop, high school senior Kenny Dantley (Hamill) helps rebuild and paint a candy-apple red Corvette Stingray after rescuing the car's husk from a local junkyard. His teacher Ed McGrath (Eugene Roche) and fellow students are clearly impressed with Kenny's work and, not surprisingly, they're itching to cruise the streets of Southern California right before graduation. Sadly, the car is stolen one night and Kenny is furious. He's so eager to get it back that, after hearing about the Stingray's appearance in Las Vegas, he'd rather hitch-hike to Sin City than get his diploma. He meets a few colorful characters on the way there, but none as interesting as "Vanessa" (Annie Potts), a liberated young prostitute-in-training who drives a tricked-out passenger van bearing her name.

What started as an impulse turns into a Sisyphean ordeal spanning several weeks; Kenny has no real leads and seems reluctant to get the police involved. Working odd jobs for pocket money and crashing in a U-Haul trailer, his default demeanor is "unwashed and extremely focused". Eventually, his determination pays off: sporadic glimpses of his stolen car keep Kenny's hopes alive, but the support from Vanessa might be his real saving grace. Changing jobs almost as regularly as she changes clothes, she's less a sidekick and more of an emotional complement, years more mature but still carrying a spark of youthful passion. An attraction develops between them, but it takes a lot longer than expected: until Vanessa throws herself at him for what feels like the 50th time, Kenny is only focused on that Stingray.

The film's three strengths are its two stars and the nostalgic, adventurous attitude seemingly hard-wired into road movies from this era. Hamill and Potts are perfectly fit for their parts and, during most of its running time, Corvette Summer feels perfectly content with letting them wander around Las Vegas and its surrounding areas. Not surprisingly, the film is most successful when its atmosphere is allowed to overtake the paper-thin plot, which holds about as much weight as Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. Once Kenny's search narrows and a much deeper conspiracy is uncovered, Corvette Summer figuratively switches gears and the otherwise lightweight tone is temporarily derailed. It's certainly not enough to sink the ship, but these subsequent plot twists feel a lot more obligatory than organic. Aside from the film's dependency on coincidences (which border on absurd at least twice), that's my only real complaint.

Of course, those with no real fondness for road movies -- especially those made long before cell phones and GPS navigation -- may not share as much enthusiasm for Corvette Summer, even those initially attracted by its two leads. Despite a few fundamental flaws, I enjoy the film for its youthful tone and time-capsule appeal, the latter of which is strengthened greatly by Warner Archive Collection's new Blu-ray. This marks the film's third digital release; Warner Bros. first issued it on DVD in 2005, with WAC issuing a similar disc about seven years later. Although there's not much to this Blu-ray beyond its outstanding A/V presentation, die-hard fans will be pleased to take the trip yet again.

Corvette Summer Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Maybe it doesn't always shine from a storytelling perspective, but there's no doubt that Corvette Summer deserves the fantastic visual treatment it's gotten on WAC's new Blu-ray. This 1080p transfer is a thing of beauty: wonderfully film-like with eye-popping colors, fantastic image detail, and an abundance of natural film grain. The "candy-apple red" title car (before it's almost ruined by that tacky gold repaint, at least) is an obvious highlight, as Corvette Summer's primary colors all look exceptionally attractive from start to finish. The sunny desert skies and neon lights of Las Vegas are equally impressive, with both offering a good amount of depth whenever possible. Not surprisingly, night sequences have an entirely different appearance; they're almost hazy and dreamlike with a thicker level of grain that, in most cases, isn't obtrusive but obviously baked in to the original source material. WAC's press release advertises a brand-new restoration, and it's evident every step of the way: Corvette Summer offers an extremely pleasing and consistent image, carefully scrubbed of dirt and debris while thankfully free from excessive noise reduction and other cheap tricks. Although I did notice a handful of mild compression artifacts (mostly evident on flat surfaces, such as the building wall in screenshot #1), they were barely perceptible in motion and too infrequent to be considered a real problem. Overall, this is an outstanding effort...and I even managed to describe it without using any bad car puns.

About the aspect ratio: Unlike most WAC Blu-rays, Corvette Summer maintains the slightly opened-up 1.78:1 aspect ratio of both earlier DVDs. Although I'm a purist at heart, the framing differences are negligible.

Corvette Summer Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Similarly, the DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio keeps it real with a strong and supportive split mono mix from start to finish. This being an almost entirely dialogue-driven production, Corvette Summer isn't always focused on action but offers a few nice contrasts. Conversations are mixed well and given top priority, while the music cues by Craig Safan -- who also wrote "Give Me the Night", performed by Dusty Springfield for the soundtrack -- are surprisingly dynamic and hold a solid amount of weight. Somewhere in-between are the occasional car chases and bustling crowd scenes, which obviously don't employ discrete channel separation but sound anything but flat and unimpressive. As expected, this is respectful treatment of the film's original source material, which should suit purists just fine. Had Corvette Summer been made during the last few decades, it'd sound much different...but it wasn't, and that's just fine by me.

Optional English SDH subtitles have been included during the main feature…but like most recent WAC Blu-rays, are formatted in ALL CAPS. One day, my constant complaining will be seen by the right person.

Corvette Summer Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Theatrical Trailer (2:44) - "A Fiberglass Romance". Despite that ridiculous tagline (which was almost the film's title), this classic trailer serves up the expected mix of action, romance, drama, car spoilers, and plot spoilers. It's in rough shape but makes WAC's new restoration job seem all the more impressive in comparison.

Corvette Summer Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Matthew Robbins' Corvette Summer isn't exactly deep or thought-provoking but still holds up as a fun little journey loaded with nostalgia. The film works best when it doesn't stay in place, keeping things light and exciting as our hero tracks down his beloved car in a new and exciting environment. The introduction of a few darker elements and unwelcome character turns spoil the party somewhat, feeling more like a contractual obligation than a natural part of the story. Corvette Summer is still entertaining while it lasts, though, and it's great to see Mark Hamill and Annie Potts hold their own in a movie that's far removed from Star Wars and Ghostbusters. Warner Archive Collection's Blu-ray offers their usual solid amount of support, focusing on a terrific A/V presentation over bonus features that probably wouldn't have included the cast anyway. Recommended, but more to established fans than newcomers.