6.7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
The friendship of a group of young friends struggling with teen sex, drugs, and work is jeopardized by a romantic interest which may turn pals into bitter rivals. Originally intended to be the first in a series of "Last American..." movies (based on the popular Israeli "Lemon Popsicle" series which began with Lemon Popsicle).
Starring: Steve Antin, Lawrence Monoson, Diane Franklin, Louisa Moritz, Brian Peck (I)Teen | 100% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Romance | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
None
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Certain “life events” (to borrow a phrase from social media) are so universal that they eclipse any specific time or location. Birth, death, falling in love—these are all parts of the human condition and are therefore not dependent on any individual circumstance. Add to that list that rush of hormones that is part and parcel of the teenage years, and the resultant desire (typically by males) to lose one’s virginity. Boaz Davidson offered a sweet if occasionally raunchy coming of age film in 1978’s Eskimo Limon (Lemon Popsicle), a huge hit in its (and Davidson’s) native Israel which was in fact set in that locale and which took place in the 1950s. The theme of a trio of young high school guys on the hunt for available (and willing) girls was universal enough that when Davidson, along with original producers Yoram Globus and Menahem Golan, decided to reimagine the story for American audiences, both the location and also the time period were changed, recasting the tale as a contemporary (meaning 1980s) story taking place in the sunny climes of Los Angeles. Once again Davidson traffics in both sweetness and a fair amount of raunch, and individual responses to the film will probably depend on how these two at times disparate elements tend to resonate both separately and together. The film is notable for not just its testosterone fueled main plot device, but also for at least a couple of unexpected developments which point out the fact that there are often unforeseen consequences not just from becoming sexually active but for the perhaps more mundane condition of simply falling in love.
The Last American Virgin is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. While the aspect ratio here is just slightly wider than the British release reviewed by my colleague Dr. Svet Atanasov, the transfer appears generally similar if not identical to the British release in terms of general color space and clarity. As with a lot of catalog titles culled from the MGM archive, this has the look of having been sourced from an older master, and there are occasional issues with grain resolution, especially in some of the more dimly lit environments. As Svet mentioned in his review, the palette here is just slightly anemic looking at times, and flesh tones tend to skew a bit toward the ruddy pink side of things. Elements have the typical age related issues, including small nicks, scratches and dirt popping up with fair regularity, but not to any huge extent that will be distracting for most.
The Last American Virgin's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track has occasional slight prioritization issues which seem to trace directly to the source mix (they've been extant in all previous home video releases I've personally seen), where at times dialogue can be just slightly obscured by the nonstop use of (often fantastic) 1980s source cues. This release repeats the substitution of Devo's "Whip It" for a Human League song which according to some (including some Human League band members) was not properly licensed at the time of the film's original theatrical exhibition. (There's actually some quite funny data on this situation available online for the perspicacious Googler—bands evidently weren't always "in the loop" when their labels, in this case A&M, struck deals for soundtrack usage.) The music is one of the film's true calling cards, and it sounds vibrant and forceful throughout. Dialogue, when not in "competition" with the music, is cleanly and clearly delivered. There are no age related issues on this track, and fidelity is fine throughout.
Unlike the British Blu-ray released by Arrow, this domestic release sports no supplementary content. The main menu simply offers choices for Play and Chapters.
The Last American Virgin seems to be going in one kind of Porky's inflected direction, only to veer off into a somewhat subtantially more dramatic mode in its closing act. That gives the film a slightly schizophrenic feeling, but it's a laudable approach toward what many probably expected to be just another all out raunchy teen comedy. The film in fact offers a rather unexpectedly deep emotional component, though it's often buried beneath the more titillating aspects of the boys trying to get their groove on. Performances are generally quite winning, and technical merits generally fine on this release. Those with region free players will probably want to opt for the Arrow release, as it evidently has some excellent supplements which this Olive release does not. Otherwise, though, this release of The Last American Virgin comes Recommended.
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