Spetters
1980
Love and life at the motorcycle track. Read more
| Starring | Hans van Tongeren, Renee Soutendijk, Toon Agterberg, Maarten Spanjer |
|---|---|
| Director | Paul Verhoeven |
| Genres | Drama |
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Spetters
Love and life at the motorcycle track.
| Starring | Hans van Tongeren, Renee Soutendijk, Toon Agterberg, Maarten Spanjer, Marianne Boyer, Peter Tuinman, Rutger Hauer |
|---|---|
| Director | Paul Verhoeven |
| Studio | MGM ENTERTAINMENT |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 57 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Drama |
| Language | DVD: Dutch |
| Dubbed | German, Spanish |
| Hearing-impaired | English, German |
| Subtitles | DVD: English |
| Released | DVD: 20 Jun 2005 Production year: 1980 |
| Format | DVD |
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Critics' reviews (3)
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Fans of Paul Verhoeven's Hollywood output will be amazed by this garish Dutch take on the teen pic. Punctuated with graphic scenes of straight and gay sex, played to the melodramatic hilt and deliriously overstylised, it owes its greatest debt to Rainer Werner Fassbinder as a trio of dirt-bike dreamers strive to emulate their motocross hero, Rutger Hauer. Meanwhile, hot-dog seller Renée Soutendjik seeks to seduce one of them into delivering her from dead-end hell. You name it, Verhoeven nails it, whether it's religious fanaticism, homophobia, small-town ennui, media manipulation, naked ambition or just plain adolescent lust. This is rough and unrepentant.
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The friendships and loyalties of three motorcross riders are tested by the eruption into their lives of Fientje... read more on Time Out
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Most helpful member's review
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6 out of 6 people found this review helpful
[Highly rated reviewer]
Brilliant - a deeply profound thoughtprovoking fairytale
This is a superb film, very important. Passed uncut by the BBFC at last (in spite of quite a few erect willies from time to time), this is not a distasteful film in any way (the fact that in the Netherlands it is just a 12 certificate and on the school curriculum proves that!). It's a very interesting film, fitting perfectly to the 3 Act structure, and highly entertaining. The biggest problem with this movie is trying to like the characters, since early on in the film we have a scene where the film's 'heroes' do a bit of queerbaiting, but it is tantamount to Verhoeven's excellent direction that we do indeed end up liking the characters and feeling for them, from the deeply homophobic Eef and the tragic Rien, to the slutty Fientje and the arrogant Gerrit Witkamp (played sublimely, as ever, by a very young Rutger Hauer). But it is Hans who is our favourite character throughout - and in a way it's his movie. Hans - played by Maarten Spanjer, is probably the oddest-looking character, and at times looks like a David Walliams character from 'Little Britain' - I think it's a mixture of the 'Dennis Waterman' 'write the feemtume sing the feemtune' and one other character. Hans is the clown in the piece but the sweetest character in the film: a wannabe motorcycle champion who simply is not good enough.
This film is more than just a bunch of motorcycle loving guys wreaking havoc in Maassluis and Rotterdam, it's far far deeper than that. It's inspired schools to include it on the curriculum, and it's even inspired Richard S. Ascough to write an article about it in the 'Journal of Religion and Film', www.unomaha.edu/jrf/Vol7No2/spetters.htm although I urge all of you to check this article out only AFTER you have seen the film as there are some spoilers. Funnily enough, one clear moment of religious symbolism, where a lightbulb behind one of the character's heads makes it look as though he has a halo, is not mentioned in said article. I really urge you all to see it; there's one scene that some people may find a little squeamish but other than that I think everyone would enjoy this film, including granny. As long you are happy with a couple of cocks on your gogglebox it really isn't as graphic as some of the reviews make out. And it's an excellent depiction of what life in the Netherlands was like at the end of the 70s. Why oh why did Verhoeven sell out and start making Hollywood pap when he clearly has so much amazing talent to do great movies like 'Spetters' beats me. The characters are so realistic, we recognise them all. The Dutch word 'Spetters' means splashbacks (of which there are a few, namely mud from motorbike tyres but also a few beercans too). It also means 'good looking people' as in 'hunky' and 'sexy'... which is what the guys see in chipvan Fientje (a young looking Renée Soutendijk who was in her early 20s at the time), and of course what she sees in some of the young men... only that their lack of prospects and financial clout makes them seem so much less hunky.
In all, this is a fabulous film which is deeply thought-provoking. It's about trying to better oneself, whether it's by standing up for oneself, becoming a sporting hero, making lots of money, or simply being finding love. It's about greed as well, and the fact that the ending of the film is not candybox sickly sweet - many questions still unanswered, many ambitions still unfulfilled - makes the movie even stronger. It's about power and impotence (and the relationship of power - the leading boys' power over the gay boys, Fientje's power over the boys, money's power over Fienje, and so on). Power is everything: in the case of Rien, the very thing that gives him his power then ends up taking it away (thanks also to the added power of orange peel). It is hardly surprising that Rien's name translates as 'nothingness' in French, I am sure that this is not accidental. It's also brilliantly filmed - check out the scene towards the end where there is a fight, and how Eef and Gerrit's actions mirror those of the previously recorded footage on the TV screen, for example. I am going to check out more of Verhoeven's early work with great anticipation.
You will enjoy this film, I guarantee it! -
Most recent members' review
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[Highly rated reviewer]
F***ing Awesome from Verhoeven!!
Sometimes, the PC-correctness of Hollywood can be so... BORING! It's great, therefore, that you can hire films like this massive little Dutch ditty from Paul 'Showgirls' Verhoeven, made before he crossed the pond to America. It's a fairly straight-forward story of a group of young bikers in 'small town' Netherlands who dream of making it 'big' in the world of motorcycle racing - but what could've been yawnsome under normal circumstance is not in the hands of the maestro of un-PC, Verhoeven, who slam-dunks 'delicate' issues such a homophobia, disability, race and religion into the story and further pulverises the whole lot with a brick. It's awesome to watch all 117 minutes of this film with your jaw firmly rooted to the floor. The Dutch absolutely hated this film and Verhoeven said of it that after the reaction he received from the press and the public to this film, the reaction to his other bete-noire 'Showgirls' paled into insignificance. Rent this film and enjoy!!!
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