Corvette Summer *** (1978, Mark Hamill, Annie Potts, Eugene Roche) – Classic Movie Review 11,115

Co-writer/ director Matthew Robbins’s 1978 Corvette Summer [The Hot One] was what Mark Hamill was doing when the force wasn’t with him in Star Wars. It was his very next film after the blockbuster that ensured he had staying power.

In this fairly lively youth comedy adventure drama, filmed in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, Hamill plays Kenneth ‘Ken’ W Dantley Jr, a car-crazy LA high school graduate equipped with a souped-up Corvette sports car, which is stolen, and a pretty girlfriend in Vanessa (Annie Potts), a teenage aspiring hooker, whom he meets in Vegas while looking for the thief.

Corvette Summer is a diverting and stylish comedy drama of growing up, with fresh performances, attractive Las Vegas backgrounds, and lots of car crashes.

The young stars are pleasing and Corvette Summer [The Hot One] was pretty popular, costing $9,000,000 and grossing $15,514,367 in the US.

Also in the cast are Eugene Roche, Kim Milford, Richard McKenzie, William Bryant, Philip Bruns, Danny Bonaduce and Brion James.

Writers: Hal Barwood, Matthew Robbins.

Hamill was in a car crash in December 1976 and injured his face. He recalled: ‘I had the accident way before Star Wars came out, but what really happened has been terribly distorted. I broke my nose, that’s it! But I’ve read accounts about how my face has been reconstructed with plastic surgery.’

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,115

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