Saturday, April 13, 2013

Supervan (1977)

New World Pictures
Directed by Lamar Card
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb
(DVD, Saturn Productions)

Yet another iteration of the CB radio/truckers craze of the 70s. Clint leaves his gas station job and hits the road in his custom van. He saves a girl from being raped by bikers but his van is destroyed. Luckily he's got a friend who works as a researcher for a giant car corporation. He takes a job delivering a new solar powered supervan, named "Vandora", to a vanner's gathering called Freak Out "76" in St. Joseph, MO. They have contests like driving their vans up a muddy hill and around pylons, but mostly goof off drinking Falstaff beer and having wet t-shirt contests. Clint's girlfriend's father, who owns the corporation, eventually catches up to them, but with a little help from their vanner friends they get away. This is simply oozing 70s atmosphere: a country-tinged, feel-good soundtrack (the lyrics to the theme song are "riding high in my supervan", played over and over), a manic radio dj with echoed sound effects, shag-carpeted vans, etc; this should be a stoner classic. Oh yeah, the supervan shoots laser beams. Team this up with The Big Bus, and you've got the perfect double feature.

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