porkys Tagged Articles at Cinematical

At least once every month -- and especially during the recent Apatow craze -- my friend and I briefly discuss the heartbreaking awesomeness that is The Last American Virgin (1982). Not only does this film feature one of the greatest soundtracks in movie history, but also included is this vicious tonal shift that sticks with you (in my case, for years and years ...). The flick came up once again in a conversation the other day, and only two hours later we received an email from a dude who wrote up a solid piece on the history of the Israeli teen sex comedy series Last American Virgin is based on, beginning with the one and only Lemon Popsicle (or Eskimo Limon) as it celebrates its 30th anniversary.

Consisting of nine different films, the Lemon Popsicle series is kinda like the American Pie series here in the states, except the former always focused on the same three guys and whatever horny misadventure they found themselves in at the time. Some suggest Lemon Popsicle inspired Porky's (released the same year as LP's American remake, Last American Virgin) -- which, of course, helped inspire the teen sex comedy genre going forward -- and there's no denying its influence on the future of the teen sex comedy; the pop-centric soundtrack, the awkward set of friends (fat guy, cool guy, nerd formula), the story beats (losing of virginity) and so on.

If you're a fan of the genre (and a lot of us are), definitely check out Oren's article, How To Stuff A Lemon Popsicle, over at Films in Review. What do you think? Without Lemon Popsicle, do you think we'd have films like Superbad?

Early Wednesday morning, versatile filmmaker Bob Clark was killed in a car crash that also killed his 22-year-old son, Ariel. According to investigators, the accident, which occurred on the Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades, California, was caused by the driver of the other vehicle, who was under the influence of alcohol and had no license. That man survived the crash with minor injuries, as did his passenger, and he will be arrested on DUI and vehicular manslaughter charges once he is released from the hospital.

Depending on who you ask, Clark was best known for any one of his varied classic films. Most people probably associate him first with A Christmas Story, though some would remember him more for Porky's, which is apparently being remade by Howard Stern, or Black Christmas, a horror film which was just recently remade. He was twice-nominated for the Razzie for worst director (for Rhinestone and Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2) and his most recent pictures, The Karate Dog for instance, were anything but great, but he was at the time of his death attached to a few pics that might have brought him back into favor, including a remake of his Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things.

Even if he hadn't made any more classics, though, Clark would be forever thought of as a terrific storyteller with a talent for writing and directing in different genres, including horror, teen sex comedy, mystery, holiday and family films. Also, for those of us who like to praise Joe Dante's Homecoming episode of the Masters of Horror series, it seems that Clark may have been the first to come up with the idea with the Vietnam zombie pic Deathdream (a.k.a. Dead of Night).