The Hollywood Knights

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The Hollywood Knights
Hollywood Knights promotional poster
Directed by	Floyd Mutrux
Produced by	William Tennant Richard Lederer
Written by	Floyd Mutrux Richard Lederer William Tennant
Starring	Robert Wuhl Tony Danza Michelle Pfeiffer Stuart Pankin
Cinematography	William A. Fraker
Editing by	Stanford C. Allen Scott Conrad
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	May 18, 1980 (limited) May 30, 1980 (wide)
Running time	91 min.
Country	U.S.A.
Language	English
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

The Hollywood Knights is a 1980 film written and directed by Floyd Mutrux and stars Robert Wuhl as Newbomb Turk, and also features Tony Danza, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Stuart Pankin. Set during Halloween 1965 before the full onset of the Vietnam War, this film centers around the activities of a car club (aptly named 'The Hollywood Knights') that regularly menaces Beverly Hills socialites, the local high school, and two bumbling police officers who try to thwart the car club pranksters.

This comedy's cast also includes a young Fran Drescher who is involved in a scene with Robert Wuhl involving premature ejaculation.

Overall, The Hollywood Knights' comes across as a hybrid of George Lucas' American Grafitti and National Lampoon's Animal House. The best known scene in the film is the "farting 'Volarie'" scene, where Newbomb Turk (Wuhl) sings the song "Volarie" while punctuating the song with bursts of flatulence. ("VOL-lar-ie - pfftt! - whoa-whoa, volarie - pfftt! whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa!")Other gags involve the "spiking" of the Beverly Hills Association's Halloween party's punch with urine and an initiation of new Hollywood Knights by having them run naked (with tires)from Watts to Tubby's Drive-In by midnight.

Although not a smash hit, The Hollywood Knights has become part of popular culture. An alternative rock band (The Newbomb Turks) took its name from Wuhl's character, and (nearly 30 years later), Wulh is still greeted in public by fans calling him "Newbomb" or performing their own version of the "farting 'Volarie'" scene.