Hot Bubblegum שפשוף נעים‎ (1981)

The third of the Lemon Popsicle movies, Hot Bubblegum, went in to production in 1981 and sees the three guys return as they attend the final year of school and continue with their mischievous ways and sexual escapades. The makers of the Popsicle movies were able to capitalise on the growing trend for teenage sex comedies that led to cinema viewers lapping up hit movies like Porky’s (1981). 

Most of the key players behind the films had moved out of Israel, including Cinematographer Adam Greenberg who was scouted by Samuel Fuller, and director Boaz Davidson had also moved to the United States and directed his first American film, Seed of Innocence in 1981. However, he still returned to the directors chair for Hot Bubblegum.

This time around, there was not only one leading Popsicle girl but two. Actress Ariella Miniely was cast as Benji’s girlfriend Doris after the original actress decided against the role days before the production was about to begin. The chance to play a leading role was a dream come true for the young actress, and was an opportunity she couldn’t turn down.

The other leading lady, Orna Dagan, played Nikki and was a contrast to the good girl Doris, but proves to be a temptation Benji can’t resist. Confusion may have been caused for viewers by the fact that Nikki was the name of the character played by Anat Atzmon in Lemon Popsicle. However the similarity ends there and the two Nikki’s are completely different characters.

Financial backing by German investors and the involvement of producer Sam Waynberg meant that the films were now an Israeli-German co-production. Distribution of the films also become a lot easier when the cousins Golan and Globus bought out The Cannon Film Group, a former American owned production company who sold to them after reaching financial difficulties.

With it’s German influence, Playmate of the month Sybille Rauch was cast as nymphomaniac temptress which no doubt boosted the movies popularity. After the legal battle over the nudity of an actress in the previous movie, hiring German models for the films nude scenes went on to become a regular theme in the subsequent movies as it was much easier to cast someone who thought nothing of shedding their clothes for the cameras.

Fast becoming a big star in Germany, Zachi Noy was rumoured to have been disappointed in the changes to the film series and was often at odds with the filmmakers. Despite this, when Columbia Pictures picked up the international distribution rights, they sent Zachi Noy and Sybille Rauch on a PR tour around the world, from Brazil to Hong Kong and Japan.

Larger doses of slapstick comedy replaced the drama from the previous Popsicle films, when asked about this Meneham Golan admits, “Maybe we didn’t pay enough attention to it because in either case we had buyers in Germany and it became a brand-name.”

The resulting film was very much in tone with the popular American teen sex comedies at the time and is perhaps this was why the film was so successful as it moved away from the controversial issues raised in Lemon Popsicle such as sexually transmitted disease, abortion, and made it more appealing to the general market.

The authenticity of the first two films was lost in the winning formula but regardless of this, the film went on to become the most successful of the Popsicle series.