Verdict
Summary
It doesn’t really resonate or deserve to be considered any kind of a classic, but it’s a fun reminder of the fact that little under the radar movies like this were made once upon a time and deserve to be rediscovered.
Plot:
A bunch of goofballs who park cars at a Beverly Hills hotel get up to trouble.
Review:
A Beverly Hills hotel employs a bunch of misfit morons and renegades who have big dreams but no means to accomplish them. Their leader, a car park attendant, seems to be handsome Pete (Dirk Benedict) who makes things happen, and he’s a little sweet on Lucy (Melanie Griffith) who doesn’t really give him the time of day. When a billionaire oil sheik (Kario Salem) checks into the hotel with his bodyguard (Sid Haig), a young and beautiful young blonde woman (played by Audrey Landers) also checks in on the same day, and the sheik and the blonde lock eyes and yet have no idea how to interact with each other. He’s not used to intermingling with civilians, and she’s a virginal, sheltered woman who’s not yet had the opportunity to develop social graces to understand her attraction to this foreign and exotic man. Pete and his misfit cohorts do their best to play cupid, while dodging responsibilities at work and stealing / borrowing fancy cars, and maybe they’ll get rich in the meanwhile … because the sheik has money to burn for anyone who can help him romance this young lady.
A silly lark of a comedy that preceded similar movies like Police Academy by a few years, Underground Aces has some fun comedy bits that work, and showcases up and comers like Michael Winslow from the Police Academy flicks, and a slew of other young actors on their way to becoming famous. It pushes its “PG” rating as far as it can go with surprising nudity (all very playful) and garage-style humor, but it’s pretty genteel by today’s standards. It doesn’t really resonate or deserve to be considered any kind of a classic, but it’s a fun reminder of the fact that little under the radar movies like this were made once upon a time and deserve to be rediscovered. From director Robert Butler.
Kino Lorber’s new Blu-ray release of Underground Aces comes in a new HD master, and if I’m not mistaken this is its disc debut. It comes with a new audio commentary by a couple of journalists. There’s a slipcover as well.
