Synopsis

This story deals with unimportant events in the weekend of August 4 and 5, when the news had come out that Marilyn Monroe had died. One of the guys had moved to another city with his mother a year earlier and returns as a real swaggerer. In actual fact though, he’s searching for the comfort of the cafeteria and of his old friends to drive away his loneliness.

The film was shot in an old neighborhood in Utrecht: het Verdomhoekje, a neighborhood that got completely torn down not long after the shooting.

Background

Memories of his youth were the most important source of inspiration for Jos Stelling to finally leave the adventurous Middle Ages. The second source was the show ‘De Jukebox’ by someone from his hometown, Herman van Veen. While preparing the film, it became apparent that it would be better for Stelling to continue on his own; two artistically inspired individualists together would inevitably lead to clashes. Pretention and naiveté are two keywords in a light-hearted portrait of youths in Utrecht, starring, once again, mainly amateurs. The film was released a year after Paul Verhoeven’s Spetters, which painted a much harsher picture of ‘today’s youngsters’. Verhoeven was heavily criticized, but he did bring in full houses. For Stelling’s cheaper, far more modest and more charming version on the other hand, only small halls were available that, mildly speaking, didn’t exactly pack in the crowds.

From the Dutch Film Encyclopedia: "A teenage drama. A sketch of the atmosphere of the snappy sixties. Young people meet in a neighborhood bar and want to be more than they really are. Sometimes amateurish, sometimes good and at times even touching direction." 

Cast

Greet                                                 Coby Stunnenberg
Evert                                                   Evert Holtzer
Truus                                                 Simone Dresens
Peter                                                   Peter van Laar
Herman                                             Ton van Dort
Bob                                                     Bob Casandra
Bep                                                     Corinna Singeling
Adje                                                    Ad Rietveld
Henk                                                   Henk Faledij

Director                                     Jos Stelling
Script                                         Wil Hildebrand, Fred Hekket, Frans Bosboom, Jos Stelling
Director of Photography           Deen van der Zaken
Production Designer                Gert Brinkers
Sound                                          Hugo de Vries
Music                                           Fred Hekket
Executive Producer                   Niek Koppen