The Van is a 1977 American low-budget teen comedy film directed by Sam Grossman and starring Stuart Getz, Deborah White, Danny DeVito, Harry Moses, Marcie Barkin, Bill Adler, Stephen Oliver, and Connie Lisa Marie. Primarily released to drive-in theaters in 1977, the film was released at the height of the vansploitation genre. It was followed by the 1978 film Malibu Beach, in which Stephen Oliver reprised his role as bully Dugan Hicks. Plot The day he graduates high school, Bobby takes ownership of a tricked-out van that's like a bachelor pad on wheels. He's disappointed, however, to see that his best friend—who has better luck with the ladies—makes more use out of it than he does. He soon meets a shy girl and falls for her, but before he can win her heart, he has to win a drag race against a local bully. Production Production on The Van began on November 8, 1976, with locations in Moorpark, Whittier, Stanton, and Malibu, California. Legendary car customizer George Barris was commissioned to build two Dodge B300 extended-length Tradesman vans, with one being the primary picture car, and a backup that was used for all stunt driving scenes. An additional van, the antagonist's "Van Killer", was built by Barris as well, while the vans in the "van show" sequence were all various local Southern California customs. Soundtrack The music heard on the film's soundtrack is mainly material originally recorded for the small GRC Records label in Atlanta several years previously by Sammy Johns, most prominently his 1975 hit single "Chevy Van". The hit serves as the opening theme song, despite the glaring discrepancy of Bobby's van being a Dodge rather than a Chevrolet. Five of the Johns' recordings that appear ("Chevy Van", "Early Morning Love", "Jenny", "Rag Doll" and "Hang My Head and Moan") were originally recorded in 1973, for the GRC album Sammy Johns and appear in their 1975 remix versions from the second edition of that album. Five more songs ("Country Lady", "You're So Sweet", "Peas in a Pod", "Bless My Soul" and "Hey, Mr. Dreamer"), apparently dating from recording sessions for a follow-up GRC album, were used for both the film and soundtrack album. This follows a pattern Crown International had established in 1976, when the studio used Cotton, Lloyd & Christian, a 1975 album issued by 20th Century Records, as the source for all of the music in