Story of movie Eskimo Limon : Lemon Popsicle (Israeli: Eskimo Limon, Hebrew: ?????? ??????) 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. The cult film follows a group of three teenage boys in the late 1950s Tel Aviv.
| 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 | Yftach 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 date |
|
Running time | 95 minutes |
| Country | Israel, West Germany |
| Language | Hebrew, German |
| Budget | I£3,000,000 |
| Box office | I£12,500,000 (Israel; 1978) |
Screenplay
Set in Israel in the 1950s, Nili (Niki in the English language release, played by Anat Atzmon), a beautiful new girl, is the new girl at school. She meets 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 Yftach Katzur), the typical "nice guy" of the group immediately falls in love with Nili. However, Nili prefers the more aggressive and experienced Momo (played by Jonathan Sagall). Learning that Nili is a virgin, Momo brags to his friends that he will seduce, then dump her, much to Benzi's dismay. However, Benzi is too dependent on his friends and too reluctant to ruin their friendship to warn Nili of Momo's intentions, and must watch as Momo and Nili begin dating. Momo finally take Nili's virginity, leaving her pregnant. Benzi rushes in to emotionally console Nili and helps her to get an abortion, hoping that she will grow to love him for his support, only to be crushed when Nili and Momo reconcile and resume dating.
The film contains the memorable scene with an older olah named Stella (Ophelia Shtruhl) enticing the three boys into having sex with her, earning the nickname "Stella HaMegameret" ("A-cumming Stella") after she screams "I'm a-cumming! I'm a-cumming!" (instead of "cumming") during sex because of her poor Hebrew.
Budget
The picture was produced at a budget of 3 million Israeli pound, of which a million was paid in royalties to the musicians (mostly American) whose songs were used in the soundtrack (such as Bill Haley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley, Gene Vincent, Chuck Berry etc).
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. In total, it sold 1,350,000 tickets in the state, becoming the highest-grossing Israeli picture in history. In West Germany, it reached the 11th place at the 1978 box office, with 2.7 million tickets sold. Lemon Popsicle also gained considerable popularity in the rest of Europe and in Japan. 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. 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.
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 (Yotzim Kavua) (1979), Hot Bubblegum (Shifshuf Naim) (1981), Private Popsicle (Sapiches) (1982), Baby Love (Sababa) (1984), Up Your Anchor (Harimu Ogen) (1985), Young Love (Ahava Tzeira) (1987) and Summertime Blues (Blues Ba-Kayitz) (1988). A reboot film, The Party Goes On (Hahagiga Nimshehet), followed in 2001.
Hot Bubblegum
| Shifshuf Naim | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Boaz Davidson |
| Produced by | Yoram Globus Menahem Golan Sam Waynberg Danny Dimbort |
| Written by | Boaz Davidson Ingo Hermes Eli Tavor Sam Waynberg |
| Cinematography | Amnon Salomon |
| Edited by | Jon Koslowsky |
Release date | 1981 |
| Country | Israel |
| Language | Hebrew |
Hot Bubblegum (Hebrew: Shifshuf Naim) is the third film in the Lemon Popsicle trilogy, set in Tel Aviv and released in 1981.
Synopsis
Three high school seniors preparing for final exams in the early 1960s have the normal teenage concerns about girls, sex and relationships. They try to find out if going steady with one girlfriend is better or if changing girlfriends all the time makes for too many complications. By the end of summer, all things get better.
Cast
- Yftach Katzur as Benzi
- Zachi Noy as Yudale
- Jonathan Sagall as Momo
- Dvora Kedar as Sonja
- Orna Dagan
- Ariella Rabinovich
- Sibylle Rauch
- Christiane Schmidtmer
In 1982, Davidson wrote and directed an American remake, The Last American Virgin, which did not meet with the same success as the original.
- List of submissions to the 51st Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
- List of Israeli submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
.jpg)
