Lemon Popsicle

Lemon Popsicle / Hot Bubblegum / Eskimo Limon / Eis am Stiel

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Boaz Davidson
Produced by Yoram Globus
Menahem Golan
Written by Boaz Davidson
Eli Tavor
Starring Yiftach Katzur
Zachi Noy
Jonathan Sagall
Cinematography Adam Greenberg
Edited by Alain Jakubowicz
Production
company
Noah Films,The Cannon Film Group,K.F Kinofilm Production (Israel) SCO (West Germany)
Release dates
  • 11 February 1978 (1978-02-11)
Running time
 95 minutes
Country Israel, West Germany
Language Hebrew, German
Budget I£3,000,000
Box office I£12,500,000 (Israel; 1978)

Lemon Popsicle (Israeli: Eskimo Limon, Hebrew: אסקימו לימון‎‎) is a 1978 West German-Israeli comedy drama film co-written and directed by Boaz Davidson. The success of the film led to a series of sequels.[1] The cult film follows a group of three teenage boys in the late 1950s Tel Aviv.

Synopsis

The era of the 1950s. Nili (Niki in the English language release, played by Anat Atzmon), a beautiful new girl comes to the school of a trio of friends; Benzi (Benjy in the English release), Momo (Bobby in the English release) and Yudale (Huey in the English release). Benzi (played by Yiftach Katzur), the typical "nice guy" of the three immediately falls in love with Nili. However, Nili prefers the more pushy and experienced Momo (played by Jonathan Sagall), who is keen to have sex with Nili, a virgin. Later, it is revealed that Momo had impregnated and dumped Nili. Benzi, hoping to start a relationship with her, helps Nili get an abortion and emotionally consoles her, only to see that she soon returns to the arms of Momo.

The film contains the memorable scene with an older olah named Stella (Ophelia Shtruhl) enticing the three kids into having sex with her in sequence, and then earning the nickname "Stella HaMegameret" ("A-cumming Stella") for she screams "I'm a-cumming! I'm a-cumming!" (instead of "cumming") during sex because of her poor Hebrew.

Release and reception

Budget

The picture was produced at a budget of 3 million Israeli lira, of which a million was paid in royalties to the musicians (mostly American) whose songs were used in the soundtrack.[2](Bill Haley, Frankie Avalon,Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Ritchie Valens, Duane Eddy, Chubby Checker..)

Box office

It became an immediate commercial success; by December 1978, Lemon Popsicle sold 1,268,000 tickets in its native country and grossed 12.5 million lira. It was circulated in 700 prints in Europe, where it earned $650,000 during the same period.[3] In total, it sold 1,350,000 tickets in the state, becoming the highest-grossing Israeli picture in history.[2] In West Germany, it reached the 11th place at the 1978 box office, with 2.7 million tickets sold. [4] Lemon Popsicle also gained considerable popularity in the rest of Europe and in Japan.[5] It was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film in the 36th Golden Globe Awards, losing to the Ingmar Bergman's Autumn Sonata.[6] The film was also selected as the Israeli entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 51st Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.[7]

Legacy

Sequels

The series became a success in Germany under the name Eis am Stiel. Most of the films were also dubbed into English and were released in both the United States and United Kingdom. Since the release of Lemon Popsicle, seven official sequels have been made. These were Going Steady (1979), Hot Bubblegum (1981), Private Popsicle (1982), Baby Love (1984), Up Your Anchor (1985), Young Love (1987), and Summertime Blues (1988). A reboot film, The Party Goes On, followed in 2001.

Remake

In 1982, Davidson wrote and directed an American remake, The Last American Virgin, which was not met with the same success as the original.[8]

See also

References

  1. ↑ New York Times
  2. 1 2 Almog, O'z. Peridah mi-Śeruliḳ: shinui ʻarakhim ba-eliṭah ha-Yiśreʼelit. Zemorah-Bitan (2004). ISBN 9789653110519. p. 1156.
  3. ↑ סרט השנה: אסקימו לימון (Film of the Year: Lemon Popsicle). Maariv, 28 December 1978, p. 47.
  4. ↑ Top 50 Deutschland 1978. insidekino.com.
  5. ↑ Vasudev, Aruna. Being and Becoming: the Cinemas of Asia. MacMillan (2002). ISBN 9780333938201. p. 222.
  6. ↑ 36th Golden Globe Awards. goldenglobes.org.
  7. ↑ Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
  8. ↑ New York Times
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