Spetters

Spetters is a Dutch film released in 1980 and directed by Paul Verhoeven. The film follows the lives of three young men who have little in common but their love for dirt-bike racing. Set on the outskirts of Rotterdam each of the three characters is hoping that their passion will help them escape this dead end working class town.

Each of the boys are seduced by a young woman 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 and is looking for the person who will help her do this. The motocross racers want to make their marks as professional racers, but it doesn't all quite work out to plan.

Spetters led to protests about the manner in which Verhoeven portrayed gays, Christians, the police, and the press. Although Verhoeven made one more film in the Netherlands, the response to Spetters led him to leave for Hollywood. Despite the large amount of controversy surrounding it, the film proved to be popular, with 1,124,162 admissions in the Netherlands alone.