| | | | License To Drive
(1988) |
his is one of the classic "Corey and Corey" movies, others being "Lost Boys" and "Dream A Little Dream".
The movie starts with a wonderfully surreal dream sequence on a school bus. Very reminiscent (in style) of the "Nightmare on Elm Street" series, it has the kids chained and manacled inside a dirty, smoky bus with the windows so dirty that they can't even see out. After breaking out of the bus Corey's character wakes up to the reality of yet another missed sombre drivers ed lesson.
The film revolves around a teenagers utter 'need' for their drivers license and the radical difference it makes to their quality of life. When Corey's character 'Les' falls in love with a girl called Mercedes who is clearly out of his league (played by Heather Graham who recently starred in Austin Powers II)...
“ | | It's not just a license to drive.. It's a license to LIVE! | ” |
...and he believes that only a driving license will be the factor that makes the difference between success or failure in this endevour.
-Of course it naturally follows that he fails the drivers theory exam because of his sleeping through all the lessons and is forced to pretend that he had obtained his license.
The bulk of the movie concerns the night that follows where things go from bad to worse followed by positively nightmarish as Les struggles to get himself out of progressively worse situations that he finds himself and his Grandfather precious Caddy up to their necks in.
“ | | God giveth and the DMV taketh away... | ” |
It's reminiscent of "Adventures in Babysitting" and "Mystery Date" -- which has a very similar feel to "License to Drive", starring a young Ethan Hawke.
Full of wonderfully funky characters and situations, "License to drive" is yet another fresh and light movie that defines the era and teaches any of the pitiful 90's 'teen movies' a thing or two about fun and not taking themselves too seriously.
Memorable scenes include his flawlessly executed drivers practical exam with the ball-breaker examiner who wants him to parallel park in a space that seems smaller than the car in a hellishly busy street:-
 Driving Examiner: "Okay Mr Anderson, I want you to parallel park there..."
Les: "There?!!!"
Driving Examiner: "What, am I speaking greek? -yes THERE!"
Richard Masur who also starred in "Risky Business", "My Science Project" and "The Thing" plays Les's (Coreys) father in such classic style that he makes his character one of the most memorable of the movie.
 Don't forget that License To Drive is now available to order on Widescreen DVD using our special 80s Retro Assistant...
|
| | | | 
Absolutely Brilliant. Surely in the top ten 'must see' 80's teen movies?
|
| | | |  | 
Budgeted at eight million dollars and released on 7th June 1988 the movie earned $3,850,934 on the opening weekend at the box office and a total US sales of $22,434,275. 
| |
Corey Haim and Corey Feldman were interviewed on Larry King Live on 20th July, 2007. Both Corey's admitted to being high on drugs whilst filming "License To Drive", Feldman said " If you would like to watch some drug abuse in action, you can, let's see, "License to Drive."..... "I was a mess during that movie, for sure". Corey Haim also commented that the movie was the breaking point for him. -Thanks to Kara Victoria
The movie was originally to be called (and was even publicised under the name) "To Live And Drive In LA"
The film won Feldman the "Youth in Film" Award in '87.
Grant Heslov, who later went on to star as "Faisil" in the 90's Schwarzenegger action flick "True Lies" makes a 'cameo' appearance as Corey's sisters 'political activist' boyfriend.
License to drive was Greg Beeman's directorial debut.
Bizarrely, Heather Graham no longer includes 'License to Drive' on her CV. Heather was seen soon after 'License to Drive' in 'Twin Peaks' as 'Annie', Agent Dale Cooper's strange girlfriend. -Thanks to Becky Parsons
Heather Graham grew up as a good, Catholic girl whose parents were so strict, she wasn't even allowed to watch "The Love Boat." She was also forced to turn down a starring role in "Heathers" because Mom and Dad considered the language too risque.
"License to Drive" was released in Germany as "Daddy's Cadillac". -Thanks to Jason Crowe
Following "License To Drive," Heather Graham played a small-role as a young Mary Ann Benedict in Ivan Reitman's "Twins" [1988]. Then she played lead co-starring of Nadine opposite Matt Dillon, in Gus Van Sant's "Drugstore Cowboy" [1989], followed by a part in the dark-comedy "I Love You To Death" [1990] playing the part of Bridget. Then she starred as Kimberly in forgetable "Guilty As Charged"[1991]. Then came a co-starring role opposite 90210's Jamie Walters & John Travolta in the film "Shout"[1991]. Finally she played the part of Angie Blackburn on both the TV series and the movie of "Twin Peaks"[1990/91]. -Thanks to RE Zuleta
James Avery who plays Les's driving examiner is none other than "Phillip 'uncle Phil' Banks" from the cult TC shoe The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. -Thanks to Aliki Georgiou
When the two Corey's are riding down the hill on a bike, you can see the bike is really a 3 wheeler, to assist the balancing!
« Click
here to add some License To Drive trivia
Find much more great trivia in the filmmaker's commentary on the License To Drive DVD.
Rediscover your favorites! If you like
License To Drive or 80's Comedy classics, then be sure to
check out this list: ..... Tootsie ..... Raising Arizona ..... Good Morning, Vietnam ..... Blues Brothers ..... Heathers ..... Fast Times At Ridgemont High ..... This Is Spinal Tap ..... Naked Gun ..... Adventures In Babysitting ..... Airplane ..... Money Pit ..... Porky's ..... Risky Business ..... Twins ..... Soul Man .....[More]
| | | |
The two Corey's production actually went through nine 1974 Cadillacs during filming. Neither Corey had a driving license at the start of filming! Corey Haim obtained his license during the production to enable him to shoot the driving scenes!
Ben Affleck allegedly tried out for the role of "Les". -Thanks to Kelly
During filming Heather Graham was concerned about kissing Corey Haim as doctors were concerned that he had Mono. -Thanks to Hollis
License to Drive was filmed from October '87 to December of '87. -Thanks to Daniel Zubiate
Heather Graham attended Corey Haim's 16th birthday, which was celebrated during the shoot. -Thanks to Daniel Zubiate
Even though Corey Haim dates her in the movie, Heather Graham briefly dated Corey Feldman in real life. -Thanks to Jade Senger
Corey Feldman originally auditioned for the part of 'Les'. -Thanks to Drew
In the scene when Corey Haim's Les Anderson is driving his mom to the hospital backwards, they actually built a replica of the car with the engine in the trunk and a steering wheel coming out of the backseat. They had a stunt driver (dressed as Les' mom) clothing backward, driving the car forward to appear backwards! -Thanks to Kim Czerwinski
The scene where the car is being towed, Heather Graham runs to watch. In this shot, you can see it was printed backwards (as to have her looking the in the proper direction). This is noticable by the signs on the buildings behind her. -Thanks to Daniel Zubiate
When the Caddy rolls across the lawn, the Audi can be seen in the driveway after Natalie supposedly has driven off in it. -Thanks to David Jones
After the drunk man drives off in the Caddy, Les, Dean, and Charles get in the Volkswagen, Charles says they can't take the car and Les says "Yeah? Well, he took our car. We're gonna take his!", but if you look closely, you'll see that Les's lips are not moving when he says it. -Thanks to David Jones
In the scene when they are at Archie's Atomic. Dean (Corey Feldman) gets in the car and the camera dollies over. In the reflection of the car, you can see the face of one of the crew members. -Thanks to Daniel Zubiate
When Les is inside eating with his family, Dean is outside honking relentlessly. After a while, Les's parents yell "Get out!" and the honking suspiciously stops... How did Dean know that Les's parents had excused Les from the table? -Thanks to Jessica (CoreyLover)
«
Click
here to add a new Behind-the-Scenes item for License To Drive
|  |  |  | | License To Drive
Locations |
|
| | |
The "Anderson House" was filmed in Westwood California, blocks from UCLA college. Address anyone? [Thanks to Greg]
The "El Rey" club was actually a movie theatre located at 5515 Wilshire Blvd in Los Angeles. It is also the movie theater that "Regina" worked in in the "Night of the Comet." [Thanks to Daniel Zubiate]
Part of the movie was filmed at Walter Reed Jr. High, in Studio City, CA.
Downey, CA was also used.
Dean's House was out near LAX Airport. Address anyone?
Archie's was filmed at Johnny's Broiler in Downey,CA. Now a car dealership, even though the city tryed to stop this, and no movies, music videos, or commercials are done there anymore. The other film made there was Tony Danza's "She's out of control", music videos filmed there were Limp Bizkit's song to the MI:2 soundtrack and Kurupt's "It's over" song. [Thanks to Keian]
Johnie's Broiler (In the film "Archie's Atomic Broiler") 7447 Firestone Blvd., Downey, Built 1958, sadly closed 2002. [Thanks to Chris]
Can you help? Do you know any of the Los Angeles, S. California (or any other) filming locations used for License To Drive, particularly Dean's House, The Anderson house exact address? [Please send them in]
|  | | | | ![[16:9 -Widescreen Enhanced]](16_9.gif) | ![[5.1 CH SURROUND]](dd5.gif) | Trailer, Commentary, Featurette, Notes, OutTakes |
| Our
Comments: Excellent Special Edition |
| | |
| | | |
Classic pap 80's movie music is omnipresent throughout the two Corey's adventures but the soundtrack is not particularly memorable.
The soundtrack was once available on MCA Records and was even released on CD, but hasn't been available for some time.
Use our search feature to locate a copy.
Two popular songs used in this movie are "Mercedes Boy" by Pebbles and "Get Outta My Dreams (And Into My Car)" by artist Billy Ocean (ending song).
«
Click here to add new music trivia for License To Drive
Soundtrack Available:
Used On CD
| | | |
 NEW!
Use our radical Retro Assistant to show you the most accurate information for hard-to-find License To Drive products anywhere on the web...
At a glance, you can now see all the Movie
releases, Soundtracks
or Movie
Posters, Scripts and Books ever available with online price comparisons, even if they're
rare, out of print or only available in another country!
Over 3 years in development and covering more than 10,000 of the
best products hand picked by our editors, we think it's the most fun and retro way to celebrate the era --and find what you
want.
It covers License To Drive DVD,
VHS,
Blu-ray,
HD-DVD,
Downloads,
Soundtrack
CDs, Movie
Posters, Scripts, Books and more... Why not give
it a try...
The
80's Movies Rewind is proudly a spam-free
non-commercial site, written by movie fans... for movie fans.
If
you enjoy this site, please help to support us and keep us
POP UP & SPAM FREE by ordering your stuff through our services.
As you probably already know, we
are not a corporation, but just 80's fans like you...
| | |
 | | Recent
Additions |
March 3, 2008: Commando USA / UK Blu-ray Coming Soon.
February 28, 2008: Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Soundtrack Update.
Previous
additions
We're always updating and improving, so please and check back with us regularly...
|
| | |
