Co-directed with Allan Arkush
If you know anything about Joe Dante's career, you know he got his start working for Roger Corman's New World Pictures. Dante would join New World around the same time as “The Movie Orgy” co-creator, Jon Davison. Soon, Dante and Allan Arkush went to work as trailer editors for the company. The two graduated to director status only because Davison made a bet with Corman, that he could make the cheapest New World production ever. In order to come in under the 60,000 dollar budget Corman allowed, the movie would have to utilize a lot of stock footage from other New World productions. So it stands to reason that the company's veteran trailer editors would be scooped up to build a movie largely around pre-existing footage. Now, the question must be asked if “Hollywood Boulevard” is especially interesting outside of this origin story.
Candy Wednesday comes to Hollywood with dreams of being a movie star. The reality, it turns out, is not so glamorous. She soon finds an agent in the form of Walter Paisley. After accidentally assisting in a bank robbery, Paisley gets her a job as a stuntwoman for Miracle Productions. Miracle is a low budget company specializing in exploitation films. Candy is selected as an actress because women on Miracle's shoots keep dying mysteriously. Despite striking up a relationship with screenwriter Patrick, Candy soon becomes tired of starring in sleazy motion pictures. And that's before the killer begins to target her as well.
Roger Corman wanted to call this film “Hollywood Hookers,” which sounds like one of the sexploitation comedies New World was cranking out at the time. (Dante has conceded the movie probably would’ve been more profitable with this title.) “Hollywood Boulevard,” the title Dante and Arkush fought for, hearkens back to a much earlier time in cinema. It’s clear the filmmakers were influenced by films like “What Price Hollywood?” or the original “A Star is Born.” The film tells a similar story, of a small town girl coming to L.A. in hopes of reaching stardom, struggling with the hard facts, but eventually reaching the A-list anyway. “Hollywood Boulevard” is as much parody as homage to these rise-to-fame stories but the connection is clear anyway.
This objective, of gently mocking the studio the filmmakers worked for, produces an atmosphere of goofy comedy. There’s a lot of decent laughs in this film. Dante’s Loony Tunes influence is evident even this early. When a skydiving stunt goes wrong in the opening scene, it leaves a perfectly person-shaped hole in the ground. A last minute decision to turn a gangster picture into a sci-fi movie results in actors in cheap monster costumes, wandering around a western set in confusion. An extra from the blood-splattered finale of a women-in-prison pours some ketchup on his costume to add realism. A random scumbag busts out some king-fu moves. One of the best reoccurring jokes involves the desperate talent Candy’s agent books. Among these is an elephant that, if you listen closely to the radio in one scene, then stars in an exploitation flick of his own.
As much as Dante and Arkush set out to make a goofy comedy, “Hollywood Boulevard” still had to meet the demands of a seventies sleaze-fest. So there’s a lot of T&A in “Hollywood Boulevard.” We are talking long sequences devoted to wet T-shirt contests or the starlets sunbathing while topless. At least one of the actresses is introduced with her shirt off. Miracle’s films naturally feature lots of nudity. This good-natured naughtiness occasionally veers in a more mean-spirited direction. Such as a production manager lying to two comely young ladies, strictly so he can sleep with them. Or a filmed raped scene being allowed to get out of control. When Candy watches that scene at the drive-in, she confronts the projectionist... Who then attempts to rape her. Who is later assisted by another man who enters the scene. This sequence also features a homophobic slur being tossed out of the blue. These nastier moments, though typical of New World at the time, stick out badly in an otherwise goofy film.
As a display for its directors’ talent, “Hollywood Boulevard” is quite successful. For a movie built around stock footage and made for less than 60,000 dollars, it looks pretty good. There’s a definite energy to the scenes of the girls shooting their machine guns or the climatic fight among the Hollywood sign. You can even figure out which director handled which scene. A performance by Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen, captured energetically with lots of fast-paced editing, seems to be a precursor to Arkush’s work on “Rock n’ Roll High School.” That horror-like stalking scene, with its moody shots of billowing fog, can reasonably be deduced to be Joe Dante’s work. Regardless of who directed what, it’s impressive the directors took pretty much nothing and managed to make something.
Both directors made their mark on the film but one particular habit of Dante’s is especially evident. “Hollywood Boulevard” is packed with references to classic sci-fi/horror cinema. Dick Miller reprises his “A Bucket Of Blood” role of Walter Paisley for the first of many times. Robby the Robot also makes his first of several cameos in Dante’s films, though without Marvin Miller’s echoing voice. (Future director William Malone provides the voice, one of several behind-the-scenes cameos that include Forrest Ackerman and Lewis Teague.) The plot was inspired by old Bela Lugosi flick, “The Death Kiss.” The filmmakers lampshade this by featuring Lugosi’s Walk of Fame star during the opening credits. The women-in-prison flick Miracle makes is named “Machete Maidens of Mora Tau,” a nod at “Zombies of Mora Tau.” Among the alien costumes during the sci-if scene are obvious homages to “The Fly,” “Robot Monster,” and Godzilla. It’s clear, even during his first feature, Joe Dante could barely contain his movie nerd enthusiasm.
Roger Corman wanted Roberta Collins, a regular in New World's women-in-prison films, to star as Candy. Dante and Arkush, meanwhile, stumped for Candice Rialson, previously of “Candy Stripe Nurses” and “Summer School Teachers.” The part might have even been written for her, as Rialson was credited as “Candy” in some of her earlier films. Either way, I think the directors made the right choice. Rialson is charming, with the kind of beauty that obviously appealed to New World producers but also a certain girl-next-door charm. She has a solid delivery, getting a few laughs just from the way she speaks. She certainly conveys the character's arc, of going from a naive girl full of dreams to someone hardened by disappointment.
No matter who starred in the film, the supporting cast was always going to steal the show. Dick Miller is hilarious as Walter Paisley. Miller's slightly crabby and sleazy charm is especially on-display here, as Paisley will sign up absolutely regardless of how much or little talent they have. Yet he also has a sweet, as he genuinely cares about Candy. This is also the film that launched Paul Bartel's acting career, which overshadowed his directing career to a degree. Bartel is hilarious as a director who takes himself way too seriously. Yet he's also weirdly dismissive of the well-being of his actors, showing no shock or pain when one dies. Mary Woronov is equally hilarious as the film's antagonist, an especially bitchy actress who only grows more unhinged as things progresses. Their best scenes are improvised interviews they give tot he camera, rattling off hugely pretentious lines.
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