''Aloha, Bobby and Rose'' is a 1975 American

road A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation. There are many types of ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

written and directed by

Floyd Mutrux Floyd Mutrux (born June 21, 1941) is an American stage director, stage and film director, writer, producer, and screenwriter. Career He began his work in Hollywood as an uncredited writer for ''Two-Lane Blacktop'' (1971). His career continue ...

and starring

Paul Le Mat Paul Le Mat (born September 22, 1945) is an American actor. He first came to prominence with his role in ''American Graffiti'' (1973); his performance was met with critical acclaim and earned him the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year ...

Dianne Hull Dianne Hull (born November 24, 1949) is an American actress whose film career spanned from 1969 to the early 1990s. The films she has acted in include ''The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart'', ''Aloha, Bobby and Rose'', '' The Arrangement'', ' ...

and

Robert Carradine Robert Reed Carradine ( ; born March 24, 1954) is an American actor. A member of the Carradine family, he made his first appearances on television Western series such as ''Bonanza'' and his brother David's TV series, ''Kung Fu''. Carradine's fir ...

. The plot concerns a young working-class couple who accidentally cause the death of a store clerk during their first date and go on the run from the law.

Plot

In 1970s

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

, Bobby works as an auto mechanic by day and shoots pool and races his red 1968 Chevrolet Camaro by night. His friend Moxey is excited to be accepted to transmission school and build his skills for a better-paying job. The less responsible Bobby seems to have no such direction in life and is still relying on his uncle Charlie, a used-car salesman, to help him out of jams, such as by lending him money to pay off his poolhall bets to some menacing

Chicano Chicano or Chicana is a chosen identity for many Mexican Americans in the United States. The label ''Chicano'' is sometimes used interchangeably with ''Mexican American'', although the terms have different meanings. While Mexican-American ident ...

s. Rose is the young single mother of a five-year-old son. Rose and her son live with her mother, who minds the boy while Rose works at a car wash. Bobby meets Rose when he returns her

Volkswagen Beetle Cabriolet The Volkswagen Beetle (also sold as the Volkswagen Käfer, Volkswagen Coccinelle, Volkswagen Maggiolino, Volkswagen Fusca in some countries) is a small family car manufactured and marketed by Volkswagen introduced in 2011 for the 2012 model yea ...

after it had been serviced at his garage. Bobby tries to charm Rose into driving him back to the garage, but she refuses and tells him to take the bus. Later, she sees him unsuccessfully trying to

hitchhike Hitchhiking (also known as thumbing, autostop or hitching) is a means of transportation that is gained by asking individuals, usually strangers, for a ride in their car or other vehicle. The ride is usually, but not always, free. Nomads have ...

in the rain and picks him up. When Rose stops at her house to change, Bobby discovers that she has a young son, but he is not bothered by it and spends time talking to the boy. Bobby and Rose go on a date, including

ice skating Ice skating is the self-propulsion and gliding of a person across an ice surface, using metal-bladed ice skates. People skate for various reasons, including recreation (fun), exercise, competitive sports, and commuting. Ice skating may be per ...

, window shopping, a stop at

Pink's Hot Dogs Pink's Hot Dogs is a landmark hot dog restaurant in the Fairfax District of the city of Los Angeles. It is on North La Brea Avenue, across the street from the Hollywood district on the east. History Pink's was founded by Paul and Betty Pin ...

, parking under the

Hollywood Sign The Hollywood Sign is an American landmark and cultural icon overlooking Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. Originally the Hollywoodland Sign, it is situated on Mount Lee, in the Beachwood Canyon area of the Santa Monica Mountains. Spelling ...

and cruising the

Sunset Strip The Sunset Strip is the stretch of Sunset Boulevard that passes through the city of West Hollywood, California. It extends from West Hollywood's eastern border with the city of Los Angeles near Marmont Lane to its western border with Beverly H ...

. They daydream about moving to

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

. During a stop at a convenience store for wine, Bobby pulls a prank on the teenage store clerk by pretending he is a robber with a fake gun. But the joke backfires when the shop owner emerges from the back room with a shotgun pointed at Bobby. To save Bobby, Rose hits the owner over the head with a bottle, and as he falls, the gun fires, accidentally killing the young clerk. Bobby and Rose flee, first in Rose's VW, which they crash, and then in Bobby's red Camaro, heading for Mexico. Rose misses her son and at one point boards a bus to return home, but she cannot leave Bobby and exits the bus. In San Diego, the pair meet flamboyant Texans Buford and Donna Sue, who invite Bobby and Rose to go to Mexico with them. The two couples travel to

Tijuana Tijuana ( ,"Tijuana"
(US) and < ...

where Buford and Bobby bond in the party atmosphere, but Rose still misses her son, so Bobby and Rose leave Mexico and return to Los Angeles to retrieve him. After painting Bobby's car black and picking up Rose's son, Bobby and Rose stop at an ice-cream parlor on the way out of town, where Rose leaves her son alone in the car for a few minutes while going inside. A police officer sees the boy alone in the car. Upon seeing police surrounding their car, Bobby and Rose abandon the car, leaving her son to be taken by the police, and hurry to a nearby cheap motel to hide out. Bobby calls his uncle Charlie to bring him a getaway car, but Rose separately contacts the police, who have her son, and tells them that she wants to talk about the recent "accident," offering the name of the motel where she and Bobby are staying. The police arrive that night in a rainstorm just as Charlie drives up with the getaway car. As Bobby runs toward the car, the police mistakenly think that he has a gun and, despite Rose's screams, shoot Bobby down. Rose cries over Bobby's body.

Cast

as Bobby *

as Rose *

Tim McIntire Timothy John McIntire (July 19, 1944 – April 15, 1986) was an American character actor, probably best known for his starring roles as Alan Freed in the film ''American Hot Wax'' (1978), as singer George Jones in the television movie '' Stan ...

as Buford *

Leigh French Leigh French (born July 14, 1945) is an American actress. Early life French was born in Ashland, Kentucky. Career In her early career as a regular on ''The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour'' of the late-1960s, French portrayed a hippie named Gol ...

as Donna Sue *

Martine Bartlett Martine Bartlett (April 24, 1925 – April 5, 2006) was an American actress. A life member of The Actors Studio, Bartlett is best-remembered, albeit not by name, for her chilling performance as Hattie Dorsett, the seriously disturbed, abusive mot ...

as Rose's Mother *

Noble Willingham Noble Henry Willingham, Jr. (August 31, 1931 – January 17, 2004) was an American television and film actor who appeared in more than thirty films and in many television shows, including a stint opposite Chuck Norris in ''Walker, Texas Ranger ...

as Uncle Charlie *

as Moxey *Erick Hines as Erick *

Mario Gallo Mario Gallo (July 31, 1878 – October 2, 1945) was an Italian-born, Argentine film director of the 1900s and 1910s and one of the early directors in the cinema of Argentina. He directed what is nowadays considered the country's first fiction feat ...

as Benny *Tony Gardenas as Rafael *

Edward James Olmos Edward James Olmos (born February 24, 1947) is an American actor, director, producer, and activist. He is best known for his roles as Lieutenant Martin "Marty" Castillo in ''Miami Vice'' (1984–1989), ''American Me'' (1992) (which he also dir ...

as Chicano #1 (as Eddie Olmos) *Tip Fredell as Chicano #2 *William Dooley as Sam Gold *

Cliff Emmich Clifford Joseph Emmich (December 13, 1936 – November 28, 2022) was an American film, stage and television actor. He appeared in over 90 films and television programs, and is perhaps best known for playing the character of Chicago in the 1973 fi ...

as Bird Brain *David Bond as Grocer *Dorothy Love as Motel Clerk

Release and reception

The film was distributed by

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

. Although production began on October 22, 1973, the release date was April 23, 1975.

Box office

The film was produced on a low budget of $600,000, but it topped the American box office during its opening weekend (April 25–26), earning $5.3 million on 557,000 admissions from 365 screens. As of May 20, 1975, it had grossed ($35 million). The film was the seventh-highest-grossing American film of 1975.According to ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'', the film earned $6 million in theatrical rentals at the North American box office.

Critical response

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who served as the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' wrote a negative review, stating: "The only tragic thing in a film like this is the quality of stupidity the characters are forced to exhibit in order to keep the plot going." Joseph McBride of ''

'' wrote: "Youth-on-the-lam theme, the staple of so many pix in the last 10 years, is getting tired, and the fatigue shows clearly in 'Aloha, Bobby and Rose.'"

Gene Siskel Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the ''Chicago Tribune''. Along with colleague Roger Ebert, he hosted a series of movie review programs on television from 1975 until his d ...

of the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'' awarded the film two stars out of four and dismissed it as "one of those overwrought sob stories about a young couple who are always getting in trouble. The guy's got a slightly brutish outlook on the world; the girl knows how to twist her hair and cry a lot."

Charles Champlin Charles Davenport Champlin (March 23, 1926 – November 16, 2014) was an American film critic and writer. Life and career Champlin was born in Hammondsport, New York. He attended high school in Camden, New York, working as a columnist for the '' ...

of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' wrote that the film "plays like a rehash of several dozen movies that you've sat through before, restlessly. You wince to see the waste of two attractive performers and a fair amount of competent craftsmanship on material so lacking in originality, aptness of thought or simple interest." Gary Arnold of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' called it "an inarticulate film about inarticulate characters." In a retrospective review,

Richard Brody Richard Brody (born 1958) is an American film critic who has written for ''The New Yorker'' since 1999. Education Brody grew up in Roslyn, New York, and attended Princeton University, receiving a B.A. in comparative literature in 1980. He first ...

of the ''

New Yorker New Yorker or ''variant'' primarily refers to: * A resident of the State of New York ** Demographics of New York (state) * A resident of New York City ** List of people from New York City * ''The New Yorker'', a magazine founded in 1925 * ''The New ...

'' described it as a "tough, uncompromising, and inventive independent film that cleaned up at the box office." A review in ''

Time Out Time-out, Time Out, or timeout may refer to: Time * Time-out (sport), in various sports, a break in play, called by a team * Television timeout, a break in sporting action so that a commercial break may be taken * Timeout (computing), an enginee ...

'' compared the film with the critically acclaimed 1973 film ''

American Graffiti ''American Graffiti'' is a 1973 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by George Lucas, produced by Francis Ford Coppola, written by Willard Huyck, Gloria Katz and Lucas, and starring Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard (billed as Ronn ...

'', which also starred Le Mat, but the review goes on to say: " th little characterisation or depth, the plot doesn't finally add up to much more than a coda to ''Graffiti''."

References

External links

* *{{rotten-tomatoes, id=aloha_bobby_and_rose, title=Aloha, Bobby and Rose
Original theatrical trailer
1975 films 1970s chase films 1970s drama road movies American chase films American drama road movies Columbia Pictures films 1970s English-language films Films about automobiles Films directed by Floyd Mutrux Films set in California Films set in Los Angeles Films set in Tijuana Kustom Kulture 1975 drama films Films with screenplays by Floyd Mutrux 1970s American films

Plot

Cast

Release and reception

Box office

Critical response

See also

References

External links