Episode 114 - Cavey Van

Back in the 70's the van became an important way for people to express themselves.  They would modify their "shaggin' wagon" with elaborate murals, shag carpeting, wide wheels and big V8 engines. We look at two less-than-stellar examples of a genre known simply as vansploitation. First off, we look at 1977's Supervan, which basically stars an incredible creation from the wizard George Barris, a "solar powered" van, called Vandora.  This is not a good film, but does feature the notorious writer George Bukowski as a wet t-shirt water boy. The music is bad, the acting is sub-par, and the pacing is glacial, but that van is really, really awesome.  We follow that up with a slightly better movie from 1979 called Van Nuys Blvd. The lead character also drives a van and decides to leave his home and girlfriend to pursue the wild night-life of cruising up and down the titular Van Nuys Blvd in California. You've likely seen this story a thousand times, and chances are that every time was better than it is in this film.  We didn't love either of these movies, but Van Nuys Blvd is, at least, entertaining on a certain basic level. Send us your thoughts on the show and recommendations for future episodes to [email protected] or [email protected]. You can also reach us on Facebook, Instagram, Letterboxd. YouTube.