Also naked in the film: Louisa Moritz.
Thoughts on the film:
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The Last American Virgin is a raunchy “coming of age” comedy made in 1982. That was the year of the Big Bang in the youthploitation universe. The Last American Virgin came out at about the same time and shares some plot elements with Fast Times at Ridgemont High. It also came out at about the same time and covers some of the same ground as Porky’s. Those three films were the ground-breakers for the genre of sexy coming-of-age films which would dominate comedy in the 80s and make stars of Tom Cruise, Keanu Reeves, John Cusack, and Matthew Broderick. The original group was soon followed by Risky Business, Ferris Buehler’s Day Off, Better Off Dead, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Revenge of the Nerds, and many lesser efforts.
Although The Last American Virgin seems as American as any of the other titles on that list, it is actually a remake of an Israeli film made just four years earlier. The first version, called Lemon Popsicle, takes place in Tel Aviv in 1960. Despite the geographic and chronological differences between the films, they are extremely similar. Many scenes are nearly identical, and the plots are perfectly parallel, as close as they can be, given the changes necessary to update and relocate the action. Both films were written and directed by Boaz Davidson.
If you read the comments about this movie at IMDb, you would think that Last American Virgin is some kind of lost and forgotten cinema classic, like the first cut of The Magnificent Ambersons. That isn’t true. In many ways it is just another low-budget 1980s youthsploitation movie turned out by the cinema chop-shop of Golan and Globus. The editing is clumsy, some of the scene transitions seem to be missing critical footage, and crucial elements of the storyline seem to be missing.
And yet, in certain ways, it is a very special film, and not just because it was a genre pioneer. Of all the youthsploitation films I have ever seen, this is the one that could most likely have been based on the work of a soulful and cynical genius like Dostoevsky. Yes, it contains all the standard elements of “young guys want to get laid” movies, but the various hijinks revolve around a very realistic romantic triangle, and the evolution of the three-person dynamic reveals some uncomfortable truths about human nature.
Complete Spoilers Follow:
The shy, sincere guy falls in love with a new girl at their school. His confident, scheming, womanizing friend gets to the girl first, takes her virginity, then dumps her callously, although he’s fully aware that she is pregnant. The shy, nice guy then cleans up the situation. He arranges it so that the girl can get an abortion without telling her parents. He pays for the abortion, then nurses her back to health. She’s grateful, and they seem to be falling in love. He’s on cloud nine.
Then, just days later, he sees her making out with the slick guy who dumped her.
The movie ends right there, with our hero in tears.
I’m not saying that such an ending is better or worse than the cheery endings of American Pie or Fast Times. There are plenty of objections that you could raise, like: “Whoa, what a downer for a relaxing summer T&A movie, dude!”; or “The so-called hero of this film is the weepiest-ass, sorriest, most moon-eyed and pathetically lovelorn teenager ever.” I agree with those sentiments but, dammit, you have to admire a filmmaker that could have taken the expedient way out and let the nice guy get the girl, Hollywood style, yet chose instead to reach for … the truth.
The truth. Whoda thunk it from a Golan and Globus film?
Here are some other things I like about the movie:
1. This film’s T&A is gorgeous. Diane Franklin was a beautiful young woman with an angelic face, and this film catches her at her most completely ethereal and heavenly. Louisa Moritz did some crazy sex scenes. (A few others got naked as well.)
2. The sound track is terrific, and is a great time capsule for that era. It is a collection of the greatest, most soulful 70s and early 80s ballads. These filmmakers were smart enough to set aside enough of their meager budget to get the best songs available.
3. The DVD transfer is perfect. There aren’t any extras, but it is a simply luscious 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer. This cheap 80s T&A film looks better on DVD than many acclaimed classics. The colors are vivid, the scenes are uniformly clear and bright, and the entire print looks absolutely pristine. (There is a Blu-Ray, but I haven’t seen it.)