Written and directed by Savage Steve Holland, it stars John Cusack and Demi Moore and is all about the summer shenanigans of some recently graduated friends on Nantucket Island. Like so many 80s teen films, it focuses on a loveable guy from the wrong side of the tracks, the girl he loves, and the evil rich kid with fancy cars/boats/houses, etc. The 80s were obsessed with socio-economic class warfare apparently -- even in films that feature Bobcat Goldthwaite in a Godzilla costume.
Like Holland and Cusack's previous collaboration from the year before, the great Better Off Dead, the movie is a mostly just a series of gags, set-ups, and absurdity. It's like a high school senior with a history in road shows got a budget and some nice cameras, you know? We're not talking about King Lear or even The Breakfast Club. One reviewer referred to Holland's directorial tendencies as "infantile clowning." I saw this movie when I was about 14 so infantile clowning was right up my alley. It's a film I could never apply any real critical thought to. It's like a family member or a lifelong friend -- you just love it even though it may be objectively lame.
Of course, John Cusack is still around and going strong, alternating between popcorn fare like 2012 and arty stuff like Being John Malkovich. Demi Moore's full-time occupation these days is being married to Ashton Kutcher which, frankly, seems like a heck of a lot of work to me. Savage Steve Holland moved to television and works primarily for Disney these days. One interesting fact about him is that he was the guy who animated the Whammies on the old TV game show Press Your Luck. I loved those guys.
Alright, for this coming week, we're setting the wayback machine to about thirty years ago. See if you can name this low-budget gem:
"Hear me, beings of Akir. I am Sador of the Malmori. I have come with my forces to conquer you. If you resist, I will crush you. I possess a stellar converter, the most powerful weapon in the universe. You cannot resist me. I want your planet to be my colony. Your harvest comes in seven risings of your red giant. I shall return then, and you will accept me as your master. If you do not submit, your planet and all life on it will be burned to ash."
8 comments:
seriously- how do you expect people like me to win this thing if you keep doing lines from stuff like this! Throw me somthin' from a romantic comedy or something slightly more mainstream in the last 30 years and I might have a chance!!!! :)
I was forty more than thirty years ago and I have ab.so.lute.ly no idea of Akir, nor its beings thereof !
I do like that catchy little tune :"Elmo on my butt" however ! ;o)
I love any movie with George Peppard.
wow Mark.
Wow. Just wow. I honestly thought I had a total stumper here -- but I need to realize that between the Admiral and Tracy, there is no movie that I have seen that they haven't seen.
Tracy, I'm utterly impressed. I thought no one had seen this except my brother and I when I was 8 and he was 10. Go ahead and name the movie to claim your fabulous prize. You've earned it.
Battle Beyond the Stars!!!
Young George Peppard on a beach, please!
Is that anything like "Dancing w/the Stars" ? Or "Battle w/the Network Stars" ?
(get behind me, Shalee ! We can take these guys !)
What was the name of the movie?
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