Revenge of the Nerds (1984)

Starring: Robert Carradine and Anthony Edwards
http://imdb.com/title/tt0088000/

Although dorky and ridiculous, Revenge Of the Nerds is absolutely hilarious. This movie is about two nerdy best friends, Lewis and Gilbert. They are both the stereotype of a typical nerd. They have geeky laughs, wear pocket protectors and glasses, and have large I.Q.’s in place of big mussels. Lewis and Gilbert are most excited about the “chicks” in college. Throughout the film Lewis and Gilbert are teased and harassed by the Alpha Beta’s. The quarter back of the football team, Stan Gable, is an Alpha Beta who has a person vendetta with Lewis. The two decide to join a fraternity, and become Tri-Lams. Stan Gable, whom is also the president of the greek counsel, does everything in his power to hurt the nerds. The Trilam’s realize the only way for them to escape the wrath of Gable is by winning the homecoming games. By using their brains, the nerds are able to win most of the events. One example of this is during the bicycle race. Each lap each rider has to chug a beer. The Trilam’s come up with a pill that reduces the effects of alcohol and they are able to perform at a much higher level than the rest. Another example is during the Javolyn Toss, Lamar is given a javolyn by one of the nerds that was designed to fly further.The nerds do the best prank I have ever heard of and put hidden camera’s all over the girls sorority. They prove through the rest of the movie that brain power is more important, and win respect from the majority of the campus. It is made clear that the nerds have out-done the Alpha Beta’s when Stan Gable’s long time girlfriend Betty has sex with Lewis on an artificial blow up moon. If you want a good laugh, watch this movie.

The Heathers (1989)

Directed by Michael Lehmann
The Heathers is definitely The Mean Girls and Jaw Breakers of the 80's. It offers a dark, satirical perspective of high school and popularity. What makes the film so comical is that all of the female clique members besides Veronica are named Heather. This adds an almost unreal characteristic to film, but as one watches the film it is clear to see how unrealistic and imaginary the whole film is. While this film depicts the cruelty of high school girls and cliques it does it in a way that makes the audience laugh because the characters in the film do not seem to understand how truly mean they are being and how they are living in a fantasy world.

The Heathers is the story of Veronica Sawyer who is in the popular group called the Heathers. Unlike the other girls in the group, she is not nearly as stuck up and does not understand why they are either. She claims the only reason she hangs out with them is because it is her "job." We often see the clique playing croquet, making fun of people, and using their own slang. While Veronica hates them, she initially does not do anything about it. As the film progresses, we see Veronica hating the Heather's more and more. One night after the "head" Heather embarrasses her at a party she has had enough. We see her at home frantically writing in her diary about how much she hates the three Heathers. When she meets Jason Dean, everything changes for her. He gives her the confidence to disassociate from the Heathers, but at the same time kill the head "Heather" by going over to her house with drain cleaner. At first Veronica is relieved but then she begins to realize that even though one is dead, there are still two others and another assumes the "head" role. As they continue their killing spree murdering two football players, other students start to kill themselves because it is the "cool" thing to do, leaving Veronica feeling guilty. She tells Jason Dean she cannot do this anymore and he freaks out attempting to kill her, but she fakes a suicide. When she learns Jason is going to set a bomb off at a school pep rally, she goes where they get into a fight and she shoots his middle finger off. After he rushes out to the pep rally and detonates a bomb, we see Veronica ashy and bleeding. The last scene that we see is Veronica ripping the red bow out of Heather Duke’s hair that she always wears and putting it in her own hair.

This is one of the best black comedies made, especially for the time since it is one of the first 80's films to depict the true dark side of high school. While John Hughes films may shine some light on the cruelties in high school, it does not compare to this which gives a much colder and harsh view. In addition to this, the cast is brilliant with Winona Ryder playing Veronica as a disturbed but truly enlightening character. Even though this film is old, it still depicts high school cliques in a light that may still be too familiar for some.

Sleepaway Camp (1983)

Sleepaway Camp is a low budget horror film set on a lake at camp Arawak. Angela is a quiet girl that is uninterested in the activities and is constantly picked on by the other campers at the camp. She is the survivor of a motor boat accident that killed her father eight years earlier and is very removed from the rest of the camp. When murders start to happen the owner of the camp tries to keep them quiet because he does not want his camp to be shut down. More dead campers and employees are found, but the killer remains a mystery until the end of the film when we find out that Angela was the killer all alond and the she was in fact a boy and not a girl.
Although it is cheesy and the murders throughout the story aren't very scary, I thought that the ending was great. When i watched the film, i actually had to watch the Texas Chainsaw Massacre to calm down. With that being said, the ending doesn't really make up for the rest of the story which is weakly thrown together and sometimes boring. I can appreciate the fact that the movie was probably a little creepier when it came out in 1983, but it would definately be an overstatement to call Sleepaway Camp a good horror movie. The only way to enjoy this film is to go into it knowing that you'll probably feel like laughing more than anything. And if you read this blog and already know the ending, don't even bother.

The Untouchables (1987)

The untouchables is a classic gangster movie set in the 1930's in Chicago. It's the story of Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner) trying to put the famous crime kingpin Al Capone (Robert DeNiro) behind bars. Ness is a federal agent called upon to stop the illegal flow of alcohol in the city. After an attempted raid fails, he almost gives up hope until he gets help from a veteran cop named James Malone (Sean Connery). After teaming up with Malone, they enlist a rookie cop George Stone (Andy Garcia) to help them take Capone down. After raiding a large brewery Ness and his family become wanted by Capone and he sends his wife and his daughter away to safety. His team of untouchables (called so because of their refusal of bribes) then stops a shipment and finds out Capone's business information after capturing his book keeper and making him confess. Capone is taken to court on the charges of tax evasion and is put in jail because of Ness' efforts.
This true story is told amazingly, and keeps the viewer at the edge of their seat. It is very interesting to see how the famous Al Capone was caught and life of Eliot Ness, the man that caught him. The cast makes the story believable and add to the already great plot. The Untouchables is a classic gangster film that can be enjoyed by people that aren't already interested in the story of downfall of Al Capone.

Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)

Bill and Ted’s excellent adventure might be one of the dumbest yet entertaining movies ever made. It marks the beginning of the age of totally pointless stoner flicks geared toward the teenage burn-out. However, with an open mind even the non-stoners can enjoy the film on a very basic level. Much like Jeff Specoli from Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Ted Logan (aka Theodore Logan) and Bill S. Preston ‘esquire’ are threatened to fail history if they don’t get an A on their presentation. Their troubles are solved when a mysterious man comes to them with a phone-booth time machine that will bring them into the past to gather information for their presentation. It’s almost like reading rainbow for stoners in that it brings together simple historical concepts into a fun and interesting setting. The movie makes an obvious reference to Fast Times at Ridgemont High with the struggle between teen and authority figure. Once the teens realize that history and learning can actually be fun when it is put into terms they can relate to, they are finally able to respect the teacher’s efforts to teach. Some of the interactions between the historical figures are actually very clever, like some of the more subtle jokes with Freud. Whereas some of them are almost painfully stupid, like Lincoln’s speech to the class in which he tells the class to “party on, dude.” Despite all the work they do to gather all the figures, and the lessons they learn, they still can’t properly pronounce the names of some of the historical figures or understand the concepts. Like many films of the 80’s, this film is best if taken for pure entertainment value. There is apparently a Bill and Ted cult following, which can be found online at www.billandted.org.

Dirty Dancing 1987

Dirty Dancing is the Classic tale of love overcoming class.
BabyHouseman is the daughter of Dr. Houseman and she is obviously a "daddy's girl." the beginning of the movie shows Baby in the car with her sister, mom, and father driving to the summer getaway they've been going to for years. Her voiceover explains how she is still naive and doesn't even care yet that people call her baby.
Shortly after arrivng, Baby watches Johnny Castle, the dancer and dance instructor, and is intrigued. Johnny is from the wrong side of the tracks and it would be a major breech of social contract for Baby to be involved with him.
Baby saves his friend and saves his job by covering for his partner while she gets an "abortion." Of course the two fall in love, but they can never be together. When Baby finally reveals to her father that she's been seeing Johnny, he is extremely disappointed. Johnny gets fired for their relationship, but of course comes back for her in the end. Where they have their finally dancing number at the annual talent show. Dr. Houseman sees that he is a good guy.In a corny and completely unrealistic finish, the poor workers and the rich people who attend all merge to dance together all because Baby and Johnny beat the class system!
Opening Voiceover:
"That was the summer of 1963 - when everybody called me Baby, and it didn't occur to me to mind. That was before President Kennedy was shot, before the Beatles came, when I couldn't wait to join the Peace Corps, and I thought I'd never find a guy as great as my dad. That was the summer we went to Kellerman's."- Baby

The Shining 1980

In 1980 Stanley Kubrick's The Shining was released in theatres. The film, of course, was an adaptation of Stephen King's novel. I had read the book previous to viewing the movie and found the book to hold much more suspense. In my opinion, it is interesting that a text would evoke more fear than a movie seeing as a movie is a multi-track medium and is able to directly influence more senses.
Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson), a recovering alcoholic and english teacher, takes the job as the witner caretaker at the Overlook Hotel. The Hotel is completely isolated during the winter and he takes his wife, Wendy (Shelley Duvall), and son, Danny (Danny Lloyd). In the book, it is clear that there is a supernatural power that seems to posess Jack. The reader knows this because of a topiary with moving animals. However, in the film it seems more that Jack has gone mad being isolated with his family. He eventually tries to kill his wife and child, but ends up dieing in the snow himself.
The film utilizes the steady cam during long takes of Danny riding his bicycle through the halls of the hotel. The bicycle runs from wood to carpet and the noise is far louder than it should be, creating suspense.
Famous Quote:
"Here's Johnny!" -Jack Nicholas

The Breakfast Club

I watched The Breakfast Club for my first time over the weekend. I really liked this movie. I tend to like "teen movies" usually, but this movie was more than just a teen movie. Although it had the typical people, the brain, the jock, the outcast, the princess, the bad apple, and the bullying principal adult, the movie was still really different.

The movie follows a group of students, all from different scoail groups in their high school, to detention on a saturday mornning. It is a really strange group of kids to all have, and they more than likely would never have hung out together if it haden;t been for their all getting detention at the same time. The movie shows how they dont get along in the beginning, and they dont really give eachother a chance, but as the movie goes on, and they start to really talk to eachother and get to know eachother, but see through the sterio types they held of eachother, and see that they all have alot of the same problems.

It made fun of othe teen movies in the sense that it was so obnoxious about making a point of who each kid in detention was. They really went out of their way to say stero-type all the kids to fit into a catagory.

Emilio Estevez is really quite handsom in this movie. He is obviously much younger, but this is one of the only movies he has actually looked pretty good in. It is funny to see all those actors in this movie, like Judd Nelson, who looks COMPLETELY different, and Molly Ringwald, who looked very different in her movie before this, Sixteen Candles. They all look much older now, and it is funny to see them from when they were so young.

Overall I think this is a really good film. At times it is a bit cliche, but it still holds a slightly different look and feel than most other teen movies.

The Jerk 1979

"I think next week I'll be able to send some more money as I may have extra work. My friend Patty promised me a blow job." --Navin Johnson in a letter home to his family.

I know what you're thinking: "This isn't an eighties film--it was made in 79!" Please, calm down, take a seat, we can make this work.

Although The Jerk isn't technically a film of the 80's, it does contain subject matter similar to the other eighties films we've studied. Navin Johnson, played by a hilarious and naive Steve Martin, realys his rags-to-riches then back-to-rags but then lifted-up-again-into-riches story. A pasty white man born into a black family, Martin has to venture out of his rural Mississippi household and discover his place among white Americans.

Navin drifts around from job to job, living a simple and happy life and wooing the girl of his dreams. But, once someone takes off with his invention, the "Optigrab," a handle for eye-glasses, and sends him millions of dollars as ten million people buy the product, Navin becomes the exact opposite kind of person he was in Mississippi. He begins to love material things, and the relationship between he and his love Marie falls apart.

Navin hits rock bottom when the product makes people go cross-eyed and he is sued for all of his money. Leaving his wife, he says, "All I need is this ashtray, this paddle game, this remote control, these matches, this lamp, this magazine, and this chair!" as he walks out the door. He has been drivend to ruin by his materialism. But soon, his rural black family comes to his rescue as the father smartly invested the checks Navin sent in a conservative money market account--proving again that the most valuable things in life are not possessions, but things like security, family, love, and contentment.

There is really no reason for you to read the script of The Jerk, but here it is anyway

Steve Martin Homepage

The Toy 1982

"I'm writing a book. That is a job!"

Jack Brown has trouble finding the money to keep his house and support his wife. Because there are no jobs available for black people in the city, especially at the newspaper where Jack dearly wants a job, Jack becomes a cleaning lady.

Throughout The Toy, Richard Pryor's character Jack Brown is a journalist and author struggling to find work and sustain himself in a white-dominated world. Now, that sounds like a pretty grave and serious movie, doesn't it? It's not. The spoiled son of the richest man in the city gets to visit every week and pick out something from the giant toy store. But, the kid is bored with all his toys and, to upset his father, his chooses Jack Brown.

The kid's name is Master Bates.

Richard Pryor displays some of his comedic genius here, but it's not really legendary stuff. However, there are a lot of racial and social issues that play into the plot and understanding of the film. Jack Brown appears to be nothing more than a modern-day slave, as, for one week, he can't go home to his wife and is stuck being a plaything for Master Bates.

In the end, Jack teaches Master Bates how to be a journalist and they print a small newspaper condemning the father and his immoral practices. The father, at final party, is revealed to have ties to the KKK. So, in a moment of kindness, he gives Jack a job at the newspaper.

Oh, did I give away the ending? Sorry--but it's more about the comedy than the racial undertones, anyway.

IMDB

A Funny Richard Pryor Site