Spetters

1980
R
2h

IMDb RATING

6.6/10

YOUR RATING

A Dutch film which follows the lives of three young men Rien, Eef and Hans who are amateur dirt-bike motorcycle racers which each sees as his ticket out of an industrial town on the outskirts of Rotterdam. They each fall in love with a young woman Fientje who, with her brother, sells French fries and hot dogs at the races. Everyone is looking for a better life. She wants out of the business and away from her brother. The motocross racers want to make their marks as professional racers, like their world champion hero, played by Rutger Hauer. But a deeper passion will soon rule each of their lives, when the sexy, ambitiousblonde comes between them and provokes unforeseen events that will rock their worlds.

Play trailer2:09

1 Video

99+ Photos

Drama Romance Sport

Several Dutch teenagers realize the cruel difference between dreams and reality.Several Dutch teenagers realize the cruel difference between dreams and reality.Several Dutch teenagers realize the cruel difference between dreams and reality.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.6/10

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Videos1

Trailer 2:09

Trailer

Photos105

+ 98

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
Spetters was heavily criticized in the Netherlands. Many critics accused the movie of being anti-women, anti-gay, anti-invalid, and anti-Christian. They also called it devoid of morals and needlessly decadent. This criticism was one of the contributing factors in director Paul Verhoeven's decision to begin making movies in America rather than his native land. In fact, on the movie's commentary track, Verhoeven has stated that the reason he was not fazed by the negative criticism of Showgirls (1995) was because he'd already been through it with Spetters (1980).

Goofs
During the first bike race which Hans (Maarten Spanjer) loses because his bike breaks down, he gets splattered with dirt/mud all over his white jersey. But when he is at the trailer getting food moments later, his jersey is free of mud and dirt.

Alternate versions
Was released uncut in the UK before the video recordings act, on a laserdisc by Embassy Video

Connections
Featured in Allemaal film: De magie van het witte doek (2007)

Soundtracks
Theme from Spetters
(Instrumental)
Written by Ton Scherpenzeel
Performed by Ton Scherpenzeel

User reviews41

Review

Featured review

Excellent movie

Yesterday I saw Spetters again after a long long time, and it still does it for me. It's even become a trip down memory-land back to the good old eighties when I was a teenager myself.

It's a story that could have happened in real life. It shows the conservativeness of the heavily reformed Christians in the Netherlands in an excellent way and it still goes like that nowadays. The Netherlands are well known for it's liberality, but be aware, there is a other side to the Netherlands to that isn't liberal at all and it's shows in this movie. The way Eef's father is raising him and the way Eef is resisting his father is something i've seen a lot in real life.

One slight downfall from the movie is the way Eef found out he was gay. As he didn't actually seem to have any problems with the ladies, it's hard to buy that he suddenly became gay after he was raped. There were not any signals before. As for the homophobic humor, well, we all like to think we have the biggest one and the way it was handled is typical dutch. We are liberal about sex and like to joke about it. You feel for the characters and it's got heart. And that's always a hell of a achievement.

Furthermore i was surprised to see so many high raids by people outside the Netherlands. It's a typical liberal dutch story, so i'm surprised to see that people outside the Netherlands seem to understand the movie better then the people that commented the movie from the Netherlands.