Spetters

Before he brought his sex (Basic Instinct, Showgirls) and violence (Robocop, Starship Troopers) act stateside, Dutch director Paul Verhoeven helmed a number of films in his native land, some of them (such as 1977's Soldier of Orange and 1983's The Fourth Man) quite good. 1980's Spetters is a working-class coming-of-age tale of three young motorbike racing hopefuls who dream of bigger bikes and a girls-money-fame future like that of their hero, motocross champion Gerrit Witkamp (Rutger Hauer). Although the boys have their differences (graphically pointed out in a penis-measuring scene), they share an infatuation for Fientje (Renée Soutendjik), a buxom, sexually agreeable, fish and chips cart operator who hopes to find her own meal ticket with one of these potential high stakes winners. Not surprisingly, Fientje's presence causes strife amongst the trio of best buds and, ultimately, is the unwitting catalyst for both tragedy and major lifestyle changes for each of them. Although Verhoeven defends the graphic sexuality on the disc's commentary track (the DVD's one notable extra), Spetters actually suffers from the addition of the explicit scenes from the director's original cut (and, unfortunately, MGM offers no other version). Although thematically adult in nature, the film has a high-gloss goofy innocent quality to it that's seriously jarred when you see Soutendjik fondling someone's penis or a graphic scene of homosexual fellatio. Unlike films such as In the Realm of the Senses or Last Tango in Paris where the sex is absolutely integral to the plot, here it's intrusive and limits the audience. For libraries, in particular, I'm not convinced that Spetters is ultimately worth going to bat over; still, this is recommended for very adventurous collections. (R. Pitman) [Blu-ray/DVD Review—June 12, 2018—Kino Lorber, 123 min., in Dutch w/English subtitles, not rated, DVD: $19.95, Blu-ray: $29.95—Making its latest appearance on DVD and debut on Blu-ray, 1980’s Spetters features a fine transfer with DTS-HD 2.0 audio. Extras include audio commentary by director Paul Verhoeven and an image gallery. Bottom line: the graphic elements in Spetters still jar, but Verhoeven’s early film has never looked better than it does on Blu-ray.]