preppy-3 Story about three guys who are 19 or 20--Hans (Maarten Spanjer), Rien (Hans von Tongeren) and Eef (Toon Agterberg). They live in a small industrial town in Holland. They have nothing in common except for their love of motocross. Then sexy Fientje (Renee Soutendijk) moves to town and makes a play for each of them thinking they have (or will have) plenty of money and she can live off them.Great movie. It is vulgar and VERY sexually graphic--there's plenty of sex talk, full frontal shots of women AND men, simulated sex, a gay rape scene and a hardcore gay sex scene. Still they are all needed for the story and to understand the motivations of the guys. It's well-directed by Paul Verhoeven, has a pulsating soundtrack, moves quickly and has good acting--especially by Soutendijk and Agterberg. It has tragic and hopeful endings for all the guys done in a realistic and truthful manner. Also Rutger Hauer has a small role as a conceited motocross champion.Verhoeven (who also wrote the script) was attacked for this film. It was called anti-gay, anti-woman, anti-cripple and way too sexually explicit (I do wonder how he got some of the actors to agree to perform in some of these scenes--especially the gay rape). He only made one more film in Holland ("The 4th Man") before coming to Hollywood and turning out one blockbuster after another. This was barely shown in the US and was put on cable in a horribly cut R rated print with dubbing! This review is based on the subtitled directors cut. This film may be way too graphic for some viewers but I was fascinated through the whole thing. Recommended.

John Primavera This film is no "Saturday Night Fever." For one thing, "Spetters" is more of an art film; while the other reeks of commercialism throughout. The music by the Bee Gees, moreover, makes it look more like a record album vainly attempting to be a film. Second, sexual repression in SNF more impacts the lives of the American kids than it does the Dutch boys. The garage scene in the latter film (where the three young bikers compare erections to see who gets first crack at the carny gal)would be judged too homo-erotic for American audiences to take, for instance. While the American boys go disco dancing for fun; the dutch kids try testing their courage in more dangerous ways, such as bike racing. While the only death in "Spetters" occurs when a biker deliberately crashes into a moving truck (a suicide, rather than living his life as an impotent cripple); the American dies falling off a bridge while stunting! Even the role models for the two groups of young men are different. While John Travolta admires a poster of Al Pacino, an actor, on his bedroom wall and takes pride in his hairdo; the bikers' hero is a national cyclist whom they want to emulate and become someday. Defining manhood, in American terms, becomes just another marketing tool(since Travolta has no aspirations to act); while the three bikers know the way to manhood lies through courage, not false glamor and appearances.The scene where one of the bikers gets paid back for robbing and beating gay men by being gang-raped by tough-looking homosexuals, is excellent. Here the tables are turned in a way we would never see in American films, since gays are supposed to be victims who never fight back against their attackers. This demonstration of courage to defend one's honor and dignity makes "Spetters" a far superior film than SNF. SNF, despite all its trendiness as a barometer of the seventies, treats both its men and women as garden variety, working-class stereotypes. For genuine closeness, heroism and male-bonding, check this one out at the video store (make sure it's the uncut 123 min. DVD Director's version). A better coming-of-age film you will never see.

bas rutten "Spetters" by Paul Verhoeven is sort of a Dutch coming-of-age movie about a number of teenagers that want to get the **** out a small, depressing and boring town. Nothing new here.The problem is that this movie can't decide what it wants to be. There are too many serious topics to consider this a comedy, but the characters are way too one-dimensional and the situations and developments are way too absurd to consider this a drama. Some scenes are dead serious, some scenes are (supposed to be) funny, it all goes back and forth in a very awkward manner. I know it's possible to mix drama and comedy in a successful manner, but it certainly isn't happening in "Spetters". Then, of course, there's an awful lot of sex and nudity. People not from the Netherlands might be shocked how far this movie goes, but then again, I've seen worse in Dutch movies. Suffice it to say that the nudity adds very little and isn't the least bit erotical or tantalizing. It's just there. Finally, since this is an old Dutch movie, the sound is utterly terrible. The characters all seem to be lip-synching (poorly), the sound effects don't sound right, and the background music is terrible. Although Dutch is my native language, subtitles wouldn't hurt. The acting is decent, though, (there are a lot of famous actors in this movie), at least by Dutch standards. Paul Verhoeven is great when directing over-the-top action spectacles (Starship Troopers, Total Recall) or dark thrillers (Basic Instinct), but he should probably stay away from drama, comedy, or any combination thereof. *1/2 out **** stars

xxlyyk I first saw this movie on tv when I was 10 or something. It kind of grossed me out. Now I'm 28 and bought the movie. I guess in a way I'm still a kid, because it still grosses me out. It's a chilling account of how life will twist and turn and sometimes, not for any particular reason crushing peopleThe ending is a strangely happy one. With the looser of the three main characters ending up with the girl.