Movies

#140RVW

Indifferent spy movie which stars River Phoenix & Sidney Poitier and still isn’t any good. Not bad, just uninspired & poorly thought out…

What’s more:

Usually when you watch old 1980’s movies you see a bunch of people you recognize. This movie is practically unique in how few familiar faces there are. After Phoenix & Poitier, Richard Jenkins is the only person you’re likely to have ever seen before. And that makes sense when you realize how little there is going on here.

It might be stretching it a bit to call any movie with Sidney Poitier & River Phoenix underpowered, but this really does feel kind of thrown together. I’m more than a little surprised that this was a project that either of them wanted to do.

At first glance, it’s very promising: kid thinks he’s leading normal life until he is told that his parents are sleeper agents for the USSR. Not bad, even if in 1988 it was right on the edge of being out of date.

The trouble is that the premise that brings them out of hiding is threadbare (spy is killing sleeper agents until the Russians give him money?) and the Poitier character’s actions seem really unusual. We get that he’s looking for this one Russian spook who killed his partner (20 years ago!) but why is he working alone and what exactly is his job? He’s sorting through Air Force Academy applications and then he’s stalking a teenaged boy and asking him to spy on his parents – to what end? It’s all a bit confusing, but it doesn’t matter because you won’t really care.

If that sounds harsh, it’s not meant to be. True, Little Nikita is not a good spy movie and in fact it’s not a very good movie at all. But it features two amazing actors (even if both are mugging furiously in this one) and was entertaining for an hour and a half and there are worse things to be.

Poster:

Trailer:

Bechdel Test:

Fail

Main Cast	Sidney Poitier Roy Parmenter, River Phoenix Jeff Grant, Richard Jenkins Richard Grant, Caroline Kava Elizabeth Grant
Rating	PG
Release Date	Fri 18 Mar 1988 UTC
Director	Richard Benjamin
Genres	Drama, Thriller
Plot	An FBI agent works to uncover an All-American family as Soviet sleeper agents and gets caught up in friendship with their unaware son.
Poster
Runtime	98
Tagline	He went to bed an all-American kid and woke up the son of Russian spies.
Writers	John Hill (screenplay) and, Bo Goldman (screenplay) …
Year	1988

#140RVW

Dangerfield fails to ruin Harold Ramis’ directorial debut, a loosely strung together collection of classic improv. Unapologetically dumb…

What’s more:

I’m not the world’s biggest Caddyshack fan. I know that’s sacrilege to many. I’m reviewing it today because the ridiculously talented Harold Ramis has just passed away and this was his directorial debut.

It’s hysterically funny and I enjoyed the hell out of it as a kid who was too young to be watching it. (I have no idea where I saw it – someone else’s house, that’s for sure.) It is unquestionably a comedic classic.

But it has a few flaws that are deal breakers for me:

• It is directly responsible for the career of Rodney Dangerfield. Really I could probably stop there. He was an obscure stand-up comic who would have likely never have gotten a break into film without this movie. And would I accept this movie having never existed as a reasonable price for having never been exposed to Rodney Dangerfield? I absolutely would. I’d take that every time.

• Ted Knight is unwatchable. I know he’s doing his thing and it’s his shtick; I don’t care. I hate it. It was funny on the Mary Tyler Moore show. It’s cartoonish and stupid here. 

The biggest thing against the film is also actually it’s best feature: it’s really just a long series of improvised scenes. It’s not that there isn’t a plot, it’s just that no one cares about it. Think about it – who is the star of the movie? It’s Danny Noonan, the dorky caddy played by Michael O’Keefe. You forgot he was even in the movie, didn’t you?

This is exactly the movie you expect from a bunch of sketch comedy professionals. But then you’d expect National Lampoon’s Animal House to have felt even more like that for the same reason – but it didn’t because John Landis was able to rein in the comedians. Ramis let everyone go for it and the bit parts essentially became the film. So you get genius scenes like Bill Murray’s “Cinderella story” but you also end up with Dangerfield becoming a main character.

In the end, the great comedy far outweighs the lack of cohesiveness, leaving us with a classic.

Poster:

Trailer:

Bechdel Test:

Fail

Main Cast	Chevy Chase Ty Webb, Rodney Dangerfield Al Czervik, Bill Murray Carl Spackler, Ted Knight Judge Elihu Smails
Rating	R
Release Date	Fri 25 Jul 1980 UTC
Director	Harold Ramis
Genres	Comedy, Sport
Plot	An exclusive golf course has to deal with a brash new member and a destructive dancing gopher.
Poster
Runtime	98
Tagline	At last, a comedy that bites!
Writers	Brian Doyle-Murray (written by) &, Harold Ramis (written by) …
Year	1980

140 Character Movie Review – #140RVW

Pretty in Pink (1986)

Ringwald turns in her finest work in her last John Hughes Joint. Wish I saw it in the day; not quite as effective now. Duckie got jobbed…

Spoiler-free Movie Review of Pretty in Pink:

Amazingly I never saw this back in the day, so I can’t feel the same way about it that I do about some of the other John Hughes films. Written but not directed by Hughes (like a number of his films), it’s great stuff, but I kind of think you had to be there. I can’t imagine this playing for anyone who wasn’t a teenager in the 80’s.

The original story is based on archetypes so old that its classic structure feels like a Shakespearean comedy. I actually kept trying to remember which play this was based on; that’s a compliment. Romantic triangle enhanced with rich guy poor girl dynamic.

Casting is typically very good, with Molly Ringwald providing her best performance in her final Hughes film. Jon Cryer is annoyingly cute as Duckie, although I’m sure I would have loved it in 1986 – good job. Can’t imagine Anthony Michael Hall or Robert Downey Jr. in this role (both were considered). Annie Potts is funny but over the top, Andrew McCarthy is a featureless glass of milk, and James Spader made me want to climb through the screen and grab something heavy – but that was the point, I guess. I think it’s terribly appropriate that Spader’s name actually contains the name of a tool…

Ending (Spoilers): The original ending saw Andie choosing Duckie over Blane. (They had to reshoot because test audiences weren’t happy; don’t get me started on test screenings.) I don’t know if that would have been the right choice; I think so. Would have been better than going with “a major appliance”. Really I don’t think she should have ended up with either of them. Blane’s a tool and Duckie is cemented in the friend zone. Maybe she should have taken a chance with Gina Gershon’s character. Ah, who am I kidding – no one is good enough for Molly Ringwald – I love you, Molly!

Trailer:

Bechdel Test:

Pass

Main Cast	Molly Ringwald Andie Walsh, Jon Cryer Duckie (Phil Dale), Harry Dean Stanton Jack Walsh, Annie Potts Iona
Rating	PG-13
Release Date	Fri 28 Feb 1986 UTC
Director	Howard Deutch
Genres	Comedy, Drama, Romance
Plot	A poor girl must choose between the affections of her doting childhood sweetheart and a rich but sensitive playboy.
Poster
Runtime	96
Tagline	He’s good. She’s good. He’s just Duckie.
Writers	John Hughes (written by)
Year	1986

#140RVW

A relatively straightforward film, but when Lawrence Kasdan writes, you pay attention. Only semi-serious role in Belushi’s too-short career.

What’s more:

What an incredible talent writer Lawrence Kasdan is. This may be the least ambitious premise for a movie: journalist sent for fish-out-of-water assignment falls in love with naturalist. That’s it. If it sounds familiar it’s because the same basic story has been filmed a dozen times. There should even be a genre: fish out of water. But Kasdan’s dialogue makes it something more. Not a lot more, to be honest, because it really isn’t very substantial, but there are flashes of the genius who before this wrote The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Body Heat.

It helps that the movie was made at the dawn of the 1980’s; that great time when they stopped using the boring drawn-out long shots and grittiness of the 1970’s, but before they abandoned that era’s quiet moments and love of dialogue.

They were going for a Tracy/Hepburn thing with Blair Brown and John Belushi, which was never going to work with Belushi’s extracurricular activities. That’s a shame because Brown is very engaging in this. Not sure why she didn’t become a more significant star.

Finally, Belushi. What can you say? With 1981’s other film Neighbors, this is his last film. While far from one of his signature roles, in Continental Divide he shows some of the emotional vulnerability and depth that was hinted at in his other work but never allowed to surface. Would he have been a dramatic talent and developed another dimension like his colleague Bill Murray? Hard to say. He certainly had the ability, and reportedly seemed interested in the prospect of becoming a more traditional leading man. What an incredible waste.

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Trailer:

Bechdel Test:

Fail

Main Cast	John Belushi Ernie Souchak, Blair Brown Nell Porter, Allen Garfield (as Allen Goorwitz) Howard McDermott, Carlin Glynn Sylvia
Rating	PG
Release Date	Fri 18 Sep 1981 UTC
Director	Michael Apted
Genres	Comedy, Romance
Plot	A hard-nosed Chicago journalist has an unlikely love affair with an eagle researcher.
Poster
Runtime	103
Tagline	When they met they heard bells. And that was just round one.
Writers	Lawrence Kasdan (written by)
Year	1981