Friday night at the home drive-in: Have a Nice Weekend (1975)

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This is part one of a Home Drive-In On The Road mini-series.

Whenever I travel, I try to keep up with my regular posts / tweets, etc. It’s sometimes difficult, with spotty wifi, and long hours of driving. But at the very least, I try to spent an hour or two at the (away from) home drive-in on Friday nights.

My “summer” vacation started on October 25 this year. It was a Friday, and we hit the road after work. We only drove for about four hours – just enough to take the edge off the longer driving days ahead (and to feel like we were on our way). Wanting to travel light, I did not bring my library of DVDs and Blu-rays with me. Even if I had, the motel room did not have any kind of player. So, I had to resort to streaming something off of YouTube – if the motel wifi was good enough. Fortunately, it was.

I stumbled upon a fairly obscure little movie called Have a Nice Weekend (1975). I had never heard of it, but something about it intrigued me. I gave it a try, and I’ll be damned if it didn’t entertain me greatly. Considering that many of the actors in this movie have never done anything else (or very little), I thought they were quite good. Part slasher film (before the genre had really begun), part man returns from the war a little messed up (suffering from traumatic flashbacks, etc) movie, and part dysfunctional family drama, this movie surprised me more than once with its offbeat storytelling.

I couldn’t find out very much about the film, and it appears to have only been released in obscure (public domain?) VHS editions. I for one would welcome a remastered DVD or Blu-ray into my collection. Partly campy, partly effective, this odd little movie is one that I hope to one day add to my #NotQuiteClassicCinema library.  For now it will be a happy memory of “summer” vacation 2019.

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