Drive-In ‘76: ‘Gus,’ ‘Squirm,’ ‘J.D.’s Revenge,’ ‘The Student Body’

Each month, from April through September, Drive-In ’76 revisits the drive-in fare of fifty years past, from big Hollywood releases to low-budget exploitation movies that played in the wee hours of the night. Settle in. We’ve got another quadruple feature for June.

Feature One: Gus (released July 7, 1976)

The night kicks off with one for the kids.

Summer of 2026: Disney releases include a new Star Wars movie, a live-action remake of the popular animated hit Moana, and the fifth installment of the beloved Toy Story series. Each costs approximately one billion dollars to make. Flash back fifty years: Disney’s big summer release is a slapstick comedy filled with middle-aged TV stars about a Yugoslavian mule who kicks field goals. Here you go kids. This one’s for you. You’ll watch it and you’ll like it because it’s all you’ve got.

OK, that’s not, strictly speaking, entirely true. Hawmps!, a slapstick comedy inspired by the true story of the U.S. Cavalry’s experiment with using camels instead of horses, had debuted a few weeks earlier. If you were a movie-loving kid who also had a thing for pack animals, this was your moment. Everyone else could just enjoy the mildly amusing, at best, spectacle of a mule playing for the California Atoms, the lowliest team in the NFL. (Even the cheerleaders are old and worn out.)