Screwballs
{{short description|1983 film by Rafal Zielinski}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Screwballs
| image = Screwballs.jpg
| caption = DVD cover
| director = Rafal Zielinski
| producer = Maurice Smith
Nicky Fylan
Peter McQuillan
Roger Corman
| writer = Linda Shayne
Jim Wynorski
| based_on =
| starring = {{plainlist|
- Peter Keleghan
- Lynda Speciale
- Linda Shayne
- Kent Deuters
}}
| music = Tim McCauley
| cinematography = Miklós Lente
| editing = Brian Ravok
| distributor = New World Pictures
| released = {{Film date|1983}}
| runtime = 80 minutes
| country = Canada
| language = English
| budget = $800,000Christopher T. Koetting, Mind Warp!: The Fantastic True Story of Roger Corman's New World Pictures, Hemlock Books. 2009 p 224{{cite news|newspaper=The Toronto Star|date=21 September 1982|page=27|title=Corman turns hand to Canadian films}}
| gross = $2,082,215{{Cite news|url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=screwballs.htm|title=Screwballs|publisher=boxofficemojo.com|author=Staff|date=2018-04-28|accessdate=2018-04-28}}{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/americanfilmdist0000dona/page/298/mode/1up|title= American film distribution : the changing marketplace|last=Donahue|first= Suzanne Mary|year=1987 |publisher=UMI Research Press |page=298|isbn= 978-0-8357-1776-2}} Please note figures are for rentals in US and Canada
}}
Screwballs is a 1983 Canadian teen sex comedy film[https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9B02E6D7123BF93AA35754C0A965948260 The New York Times review] that was inspired by the success of Porky's.[http://www.offscreen.com/index.php/pages/essays/screwballs/ "Screwballs", Offscreen, Volume 13 Issue 9] accessed 4 May 2014
Plot
In 1965, five boys at Taft and Adams High School try to see the bare breasts of Purity Bush, the most beautiful girl in school. After being set up, reprimanded and sent to detention by the principal because of Purity, they plot their revenge.
After several failed attempts to strip or seduce her, the boys finally strip Purity by using a powerful electromagnet to rip off her dress while she sings the national anthem at the homecoming assembly, leaving her naked in front of the entire school.
Production
Following the success of Porky's, Roger Corman told Linda Shayne, who had worked for him, that he was interested in a low budget teen sex comedy. Shayne wrote one with Jim Wynorski, who did Corman's advertising and had written scripts for him. Corman liked the script, originally entitled Hide the Salami, and agreed to provide $500,000 of the budget. Shayne arranged for the balance to be found in Canada where the film was shot.{{cite news|newspaper=The Charlotte News|date=20 May 1983|page=39|title=Screwballs follows in Porkys vein}} The rest of the money came from the Canadian Film Development Corporation, a Canadian physician and a Canadian theatre chain. Filming took place in Toronto.{{cite news|newspaper=The Kansas City Star|date=23 May 1983|page=11|title=Playing the dumb blonde}}
The movie was originally called Crazy Times and was set in 1962 but then this was shifted to 1964.
Jim Wynorski designed the poster and said that he was inspired by Mad magazine.Chris Nashawaty, Crab Monsters, Teenage Cavemen and Candy Stripe Nurses - Roger Corman: King of the B Movie, Abrams, 2013 p 193 Linda Shayne posed for the blonde figure on the poster.
Reception
=Critical=
Variety magazine called the film "a poor man's Porky's... full of youthful exuberance and proves utterly painless to watch, but it is so close in premise and tone to its model that negative comparisons can't help but be drawn".[https://variety.com/1982/film/reviews/screwballs-1200425439/ Screwballs review] at Variety At Metacritic, the film has a score of 34 out of 100 based on seven reviews.{{Cite web|url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/screwballs|title = Screwballs| website=Metacritic}}
=Box office=
The film was released in U.S. theaters by New World Pictures in April 1983 and grossed $2,082,215.
=Sequels=
The film led to two sequels, Screwballs II (1985) and Screwball Hotel (1988).{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/30033/Screwballs-II-Loose-Screws/overview|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305091132/https://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/30033/Screwballs-II-Loose-Screws/overview|archivedate=March 5, 2016|url-status=dead|department=Movies & TV Dept.|work=The New York Times|author=Eleanor Mannikka|date=2016|title=Screwballs II}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|0086264}}
- [http://www.canuxploitation.com/review/screwballs.html Review of film] at Canuxploitation
- [http://www.avclub.com/review/screwballs-33504 Review of film] at AV Club
- [http://www.mondo-digital.com/screwballs.html Review of film] at Mondo Digital
- {{Rotten Tomatoes|screwballs}}
Category:Canadian teen comedy films
Category:1980s sex comedy films
Category:1980s teen comedy films
Category:1980s exploitation films
Category:1980s high school films
Category:Teen sex comedy films
Category:Canadian independent films
Category:Canadian sex comedy films
Category:English-language Canadian films
Category:1980s English-language films
Category:Films directed by Rafal Zielinski
Category:English-language sex comedy films
{{erotic-comedy-film-stub}}