Lemon Popsicle

Synopsis

The era of the 1950s. Nili (Niki in the English language release, played by Anat Atzmon), a beautiful new girl comes to the school of 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 three immediately falls in love with Nili. However, Nili prefers the more pushy and experienced Momo (played by Jonathan Sagall), who is keen to have sex with Nili, a virgin. Later, it is revealed that Momo had impregnated and dumped Nili. Benzi, hoping to start a relationship with her, helps Nili get an abortion and emotionally consoles her, only to see that she soon returns to the arms of Momo.

The film contains the memorable scene with an older olah named Stella (Ophelia Shtruhl) enticing the three kids into having sex with her in sequence, and then earning the nickname "Stella HaMegameret" ("A-cumming Stella") for 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, Little Richard, Paul Anka, Bobby Vinton 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.

Sequels

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

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

Remake

In 1982, Davidson wrote and directed an American remake, The Last American Virgin, which was not met with the same success as the original.