Though I’m not a country music fan, I’ve always respected Dolly Parton as a person and artist, so I thought I’d start with her breakout film role, 9 to 5. She joined established actresses Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin as a trio of working women in the 1980’s male dominated business world. They work at a company as secretaries, where they must deal with their chauvinist boss Frank Hart, who doesn’t seem to do any actual work of his own, living off the ideas of Violet (Tomlin) while chasing skirt, his personal secretary Doralee (Parton). Judy (Fonda) is the new girl learning the ropes, but quickly sees the imbalance of power. United, the trio set out to right some wrongs. The movie points out some glaring problems in the work environment, but unfortunately anytime it delves deeply into a glaringly sexist issue, a minute later it turns to comedy (and often, silly comedy at that) which takes the bite out of its social commentary. I think this was done on purpose; supposedly the film was originally a drama but was thought to be too feminist (probably by a man in upper management) and it was rewritten as a comedy instead. I would have liked to see the original version. As it sits, it has great moments but as a whole is very uneven. Still, Parton stars and the film is worth seeing for her energy alone. ★★½
I probably don’t need to say much about Young Guns; outside of myself, I bet most film watchers have seen it. Somehow I missed it though. Released in 1988, it seems like nothing more than a way to take some of the men of the Brat Pack-ers and make a western with them. Loosely based on the Regulators, the posse that made Billy the Kid famous, the movie tells their tale from how they came together up through Battle of Lincoln, basically major events of the Lincoln County War. It stars Emilio Estevez, brother Charlie Sheen, Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips, and a host of others (including established old-timers like Terence Stamp and Jack Palance). In the movie, rancher John Tunstall has a soft spot for young men who society has given up on, and he teaches them how to work hard but also how to read. Tunstall has rung afoul of another rancher though, Lawrence Murphy, who has Tunstall killed. Tunstall’s boys vow revenge, and set out to bring the killers and Murphy to justice, old west style. The movie is ok, nothing spectacular, and unfortunately has an 80s soundtrack that is distracting and takes you out of a real western feel. While the actors are, for the most part, no more than pretty faces, there’s enough there to keep you watching to see how it all ends. The movie was meant to be a one-and-done, and gives a narration at the end to tell you how all the characters lived out their days, but did well enough that a sequel was made a couple years later. ★★★
While director Francis Ford Coppola was adapting SE Hinton’s The Outsiders to film, he was also putting together another, lesser known Hinton film adaptation. Coppola would meat with Hinton on Sundays (when The Outsiders wasn’t filming) to work on Rumble Fish, and would ultimately film it back-to-back once The Outsiders was completed, with some of the same cast and most of the same crew. However, it is a much different movie. Called “an art film for teenagers,” Rumble Fish follows teenager Rusty James. Rusty James is a tough guy in the neighborhood, always getting in fights and always in trouble in school. His girlfriend Patty wishes he would stop fighting, but where Rusty James comes from, that’s all he knows. His father is an alcoholic, and his mother is rumored to have gone insane, having abandoned the family long ago. Rusty James idolizes his brother (never named, and called only The Motorcycle Boy), who may be following their mother’s footsteps, as far as sanity goes. Nothing is good enough for Rusty James’ brother; he carries himself always in a cool, calm, and collected way, above the minutia going on around him. The Motorcycle Boy left the family himself for a time, traveling to California and supposedly running into their mother, but is back now, stirring up trouble through no fault of his own. After all, people like to tear down those that are better than them, and everyone sees it. As much as Rusty James worships his brother though, he himself may be more like this father than his mother. Outstanding, thought-provoking film, with elements of noir and coming-of-age, with an amazing cast of future stars as teens, including Matt Dillon, Mickey Rourke, Diane Lane, Nicolas Cage, Chris Penn, and Lawrence Fishburne, as well as some established actors like Dennis Hopper and even a small role for Tom Waits. ★★★★
I stumbled upon Border Radio and thought it sounded kind of early Jim Jarmusch-y, so thought I’d give it a whirl. After watching it and prepping to write this, I read some reviews, and apparently it’s not very well liked, but I didn’t think it was terrible. Not great, but not terrible. The movie takes place in LA and is portrayed as a quasi-documentary at times, with the story revolving around a local musician (Jeff) who has stolen something from a club owner and is now on the run. We don’t learn what he has taken until later in the movie, but it was important enough that the club sent some goons over to try to rough him up and get the item back. Unfortunately for them, Jeff hit out of town quickly, and went to Mexico, leaving his wife and kid behind. The wife doesn’t know what is going on, so she starts asking around town to unravel the mystery, while also taking the opportunity of Jeff’s absence to sleep with his friend. As the movie winds down, the mystery is solved (and it is a pretty weak mystery after all that), and the film shifts to a tale about the demise of the punk rock scene in LA, as bands are signing record contracts and leaving the city to go tour. Filmed on a super-low budget using actual local musicians as the actors, the movie gives off a Clerks-like vibe (years before Clerks), but with even worse acting and less entertainment. However, I did like the feeling of a bunch of friends just getting together to film a movie, and the soundtrack, put together by local rock bands at the time, is fantastic. Not sure I’d watch it again, but it isn’t as awful as you may read online. ★★½
I’m cheating a bit on The Bodyguard; not 80s obviously, being released in 1992, but with leads who became stars in the 80s. And I’d never seen it, and it’s my blog and I’ll do what I want to. Should have left this one off the list, as it certainly feels like pure 80s cheese. Kevin Costner plays a former secret serviceman named Frank Farmer, who never forgave himself for not being there the day Reagan was shot. He now hires himself out as a personal bodyguard, but usually stays away from celebrities because they are high maintenance and not worth the hassle. He is begged to take the job to protect superstar actress and singer Rachel Marron (Whitney Houston in her film debut) by her manager, after Rachel has received death threats. Unbeknownst to Rachel, someone snuck into her house one day, left a note, and masterbated in a guest room; her handlers haven’t told her in order to not scare her. Not knowing how serious it is, Rachel pushes back against hiring Frank, but eventually acquiesces. As Frank makes the home more secure and implements rules that Rachel and her hangers-on must follow, the two of them begin to grow closer, even as Frank knows that getting into a relationship with her will distract him and hurt his ability to keep her safe. Despite a solid performance by Houston and that big song that was a staple of 90s radio (you know which one), the movie just isn’t very good. Wild twists and turns that could only come from an 80s movie, with flimsy plot points that don’t hold up under scrutiny. If you’ve managed to avoid this movie to this point, don’t bother rectifying that. ★½
- TV series recently watched: Mayor of Kingstown (season 1), Slow Horses (season 3), What If…? (season 2)
- Book currently reading: Lord of Chaos by Robert Jordan
Jons Movie Takes 