Thursday 24 April 2008

Those Movies

My Princess just came and told me she put her baby (aka her doll) in the corner. I couldn't help but reply that 'no one puts Baby in the corner'. My laughter at my own joke was met with mystified silence, but perhaps a few of you out there might recognise the Dirty Dancing reference. Maybe you have to be from my age group, ie you were a teenager in the '80's and you actually went to the cinema to see the movie, and you actually thought it was GOOD.

I'm out of the closet now... I'm a bit of a movie buff. And the cornier a movie is, the more I seem to know about it. This is not a skill that I've developed on purpose and probably not one I should be proud of. But I am who I am, that is a yet-to-be-reformed couch potato. Heaven is a comfy couch and a stack of books sitting right beside an even higher stack of DVD's. So in deference to Johnny and Baby's secret love/dance affair, I have my list, in no particular order, of top five 80's movies that I thought were FANTASTIC, but which on closer inspection... weren't.

1. Dirty Dancing - There was some really great dancing in this movie, but does anyone else think it a tad creepy that Jennifer Gray was playing a sixteen year old girl and Patrick Swayze already looked to be nearing forty?
2. The Breakfast Club - They were the coolest of the cool, all the up and coming young stars that have now disappeared somewhere into the ether. Emilio Estevez, Ally Sheedy, Anthony Michael Hall, Molly Ringwald and Judd Nelson, the bad boy who walked off into the night to the refrain of "Don't You Forget About Me". Still a great song. The movie, not so much. And no, I didn't have to google any of those stars' names. Sad isn't it?
3. Caddyshack - I remember splitting my sides at this movie the first time I saw it. What could be funnier than Bill Murray having a homicidal obssession with a gopher and Chevy Chase playing golf inside the clubhouse in his bathrobe? Actually some of those bits are probably still funny, but everything in between is a badly acted explosion of pastel polo shirts and curly mullets. Seriously unfunny stuff.

4. Flashdance - I loved this movie so much. Being a welder by day and a hot dancer by night seemed like a fantastic goal for a teenage girl. This movie was on TV a while back and talk about laughter. My sides were hurting and I don't think it's supposed to be a comedy. All the reasons I loved it are the same reasons it's laughable. A hot girl who works as a welder during the day and a dancer by night! Ha! I'd put Footloose in this same category. A crazy minister who enforces a no dancing policy on an entire town? But both these movies did have great soundtracks, I have to say.

5. The Karate Kid - Who can forget Mr Miagi's soliquoy on not standing in the middle of the road, lest you be squashed like grape, whatever that meant. It was as meaningful and unforgettable as wax on wax off. Who'd have thought washing cars would make the unpopular kid in town a martial arts superstar? And what about the one legged crane jump thing Ralph Macchio did at the end, with a broken foot and all, to win the tournament (after which his mortal enemy is so imbued with respect he is compelled to become his instant best friend. A very popular '80's plot twist - think Iceman's 'you can be my wing man anytime' in Top Gun. The only reason it's not on the list is because I never liked it the first time).

So there you have it. There are so many more but I won't prattle (ah, anymore). Neither do I want to give away all the bad '80's movies I actually still love (Come on, An Officer and a Gentleman is an enduring classic, right up there with The Man With Two Brains).

Any excuse... He could be my wing man anytime.

Do you have any movies that you'd be embarrassed to admit you used to love?
PS. Thank you Princess for the blog topic. I had nothing until the baby in the corner thing.
Sami

11 comments:

  1. The Man from Snowy River - with Sigrid Thornton and Tom Burlinson. I can still recite it and yes I have the DVD.

    Blush.

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  2. Jeez I had my second child in 1980, no time for too many movies after that. Should I tell you I grow up at the time of Elvis movies, My Fair Lady (still love that one). Yes sad very sad woman here. Feeling very old at the moment.

    Caitlyn my daughter can recite 'Man From Snowy River' as well. (Yes she has both MFSR 1 & 2). I remember going to see that at the movies with DH. Just as Jim was going down that steep incline, the theatre went deathly quiet.

    Jim leans back in the saddle, the old buckskin thunders down the cliff face in a lather so sweat. Jim cracks his whip. The audience is enthraled with the picture. Then my DH lets out a "HeeHaw" at the top of his voice. Could very easily have killed him ATM.

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  3. lol movies. I loved flashdance. And now I love so you think you can dance....
    Movies... that I'm a tad bit embarrased about. lol.lol...
    Okay, I have every Elivis Presleys movie... I just love his songs and his movies... have watched them a trillenth time each.... My favourite, The one with the Hawaiin Wedding in it.. sorry can't think of the name off hand... so beautiful, breathtaking,.. no wonder I'm getting married in Hawaii. lol.

    Anymore... hmmm... Oh not a movie, but do you remember that show on tv... Dr Quinn Medicine woman.. and that hunk that acted with her... geeish... I split at the seams every episode waiting for the damn guy to kiss her... He did after the millionth episode... but that was all.. what a let down... lol...

    As for dirty dancing.... oh well.. I loved it in it's days... and I didn't realise she was so much younger than him...
    I can't stand a movie if the guy is an old .... and the woman is so young, young enough to be his daughter... kack! makes me want to throw up. lol.

    Okay, said enough, outta here. :)

    Suz:)

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  4. OMG! Way to make us feel old! I loved every one of those you've mentioned. And you're right about Flashdance, there's just something about being a welder and an 'exotic' dancer.
    I can't remember if it was the 80's or 90's but Young Guns did it for me. All those hot gorgeous men. Not to mention the music!
    Thanks for the trip down memory lane Sami.

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  5. I was never into the man from snowy river for some reason, although most of my friends were. And I have to admit to a past passion for Elvis movies myself... or perhaps it was just Elvis. That sexy lip curl of his - totally to die for.

    Yes, Young Guns. Thanks for reminding me of that one Rachel. They were all so hot and I have to admit a fondness for the big sound, big hair music of Bon Jovi.

    Don't get me started on TV shows Suz. I was fixated on every PI show that came out, and there was a slew of them in the 80's. Remember Simon and Simon? Jake and the Fatman? (It was Jake who made me drool, not the fatman) Remington Steele? Moonlighting? Ah, those were the days...

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  6. Grease.
    My bestest, bestest movie.
    "Tell me about it, Stud."

    As for TV shows. Battlestar Galactica!

    Jess

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  7. OMG!
    Battlestar Galactica!
    And Grease! Damn how did we forget that one?

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  8. Hi Sami,

    You have given me a trip down memory lane.

    I love Dirty Dancing and the others you have listed.

    Other musts are Gremlins I still remember being soo scared watching this and another Patrick Swayze movie is Road House but not for the faint hearted.

    I often think of flash dance as hubby is a Welder.

    I think Pretty Woman is from the 9's and it is up there with Officer and a Gentleman. He can come and sweep me off my feet anytime.

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  9. Sami!! What a fantastic blog topic!! I LOVED all of those... and the MFSR duo as well..

    There were a couple of others with that "brat pack" - Less than Zero with Jamie Gertz, Andrew McCarthy and Robert Downey Junior and Mannequin with Andrew McCarthy - AND we can't go past St Elmo's Fire... c'mon!!!!!

    The Goonies and Stand By Me - a little younger but still goodies!!!

    Man - what a trip down nostalgia lane... I have to tell you, Dirty Dancing was the first "M" rated movie my parents would let me watch AND I was allowed to go to the movies to see it!!! *LOL* what a hoot!

    Hmmm - now I am on a role... what about Flatliners with Julia Roberts, Keifer and Co... I remember being seriously freaked out by that one!

    Better go before I am here for another hour down nostalgia lane!!!

    GREAT blog Sami!!

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  10. Thanks Amanda, Ro and Jess.

    I must have seen Grease about 20 times, but I thought Rizzo had the best lines. And Flatliners scared the wits out of me! couldn't sleep for days. I also have to admit the movie Roadhouse is a guilty pleasure of mine. It still comes on sometimes late at night and I can never resist watching it through to the end. So cheesy, but sooo good.

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