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Detroit Rock City
In 1978, a Kiss concert was an epoch-making event. For the four teen fans in Detroit Rock City getting tickets to the sold-out show becomes the focal point of their existence. They'll do anything for tickets -- compete in a strip club's amateur-night contest, take on religious protesters, even rob a convenience store!
1999 · Directed by Adam Rifkin · 95 min · Comedy · Music · Adventure · Screenplay in the scene database · 5 frames
Tagline
Kiss the rules goodbye.
Plot
In October 1978 in Cleveland, Ohio, four rebellious teenage boys – Hawk, Lex, Trip Verudie, and Jeremiah "Jam" Bruce – play in Kiss cover band "Mystery" and prepare to see their idols in concert in Detroit, Michigan the following night. Their hopes are dashed when Jam's religiously conservative mother finds their tickets, humiliates Jam over the school intercom, and burns the tickets before having Jam transferred to a Catholic boarding school.
After Trip skips class and wins tickets and backstage passes from a radio contest in Detroit, the boys ditch school and, with Hawk disguised as pizza deliveryman, rescued Jam from the boarding school by drugging Father Phillip McNulty using a pizza topped with hallucinogenic mushrooms before setting off for Detroit in the Volvo of Lex's mother to collect the tickets. En route, they get into a road rage incident with disco fanatics Kenny and Bobby after Trip throws a slice of pizza on their windshield. When Kenny runs them off the road and destroys their Kiss 8-track, the quartet beat up the duo, tie them and their female colleague to a railguard, give them Kiss face paint, send their Trans Am into the creek, and continue their journey before picking up Kenny's girlfriend, Christine, after she dumped him.
In Detroit, the boys discover that Trip did not stay on the phone long enough to give the radio station his information, resulting in the tickets being given to the next caller. While exiting the building, they find the Volvo missing and assumed Christine stole it. The four split up to find Kiss tickets and the Volvo, planning to regroup in 105 minutes. Hawk sees a scalper who suggests that he enter a male stripping contest to raise money for tickets. He gets drunk and loses the contest after vomiting and falling off stage, but is paid by the company and has sex with Amanda Finch, an older woman. He later locates the scalper, only to discover that his tickets are sold out. Trip goes to a convenience store, hoping to mug a younger child for his ticket, but the boy's older athletic brother, Chongo, and his friends confront and extort him for $200. He then plans to rob the store with a Stretch Armstrong doll he stole from some kids, disguised as a gun, but ends up receiving $150 and a kiss from the female clerk after thwarting a genuine robbery attempt. Trip gives the money to Chongo's gang, who assault him for coming up short and steals his wallet.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Written by: Carl V. Dupré
- Cinematography: John R. Leonetti
- Edited by: Mark Goldblatt, Peter Schink
- Music: J. Peter Robinson
- Production design: Steve Hardie
- Produced by: Kathleen Haase, Gene Simmons, Barry Levine
Cast
- Giuseppe Andrews as Lex
- James DeBello as Trip Hurudie
- Edward Furlong as Hawk
- Sam Huntington as Jeremiah 'Jam' Bruce
- Lin Shaye as Mrs. Bruce
- Melanie Lynskey as Beth Bumsteen
- Natasha Lyonne as Christine
- Shannon Tweed as Amanda Finch
- Emmanuelle Chriqui as Barbara
- Kristin Booth as Cashier
Production
- Country: United States of America, Canada
- Language: English
- Studios: Corrupter Production Service Ltd., New Line Cinema, Takoma Entertainment, Base 12
- Budget: $6,500,000
- Box office: $4,217,115
- Themes: rock 'n' roll, parent child relationship, 1970s, kiss, drugs, detroit, michigan
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