Great Films Revisited

Hey, since this is my 80th post, I thought I'd take a few paragraphs to tip my hat at some of the greatest films of the 1980s....
As a child of the 80s, several of that decade's films figure heavily into my consciousness. I grew up watching pictures like Gremlins, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and Back to the Future; they helped make me who I am today.

The great thing about many of the 80s' best movies is that they have a kind of universal appeal. As a kid, I could watch Ghostbusters with my parents, and they'd enjoy it almost as much as I did because the film offered something for just about everyone. Sure, it had the fun and more obvious GHOSTBUSTING going on for the kiddies; but underlying all of that was a very well-written and deeply developed comedy. Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd knew what they were doing. They wrote a PG-rated film that they would like themselves, and I believe such craftsmanship is why their film stands the test of time. Same goes for countless other classics of the 80s.

In fact, I've noticed that when I re-watch my childhood favorites as an adult, I like them just as much as I did back then, only for different reasons. At 30, I appreciate things in those pictures that I did not catch as a kid. Let's take a look at four of them.

--Back to the Future (1985)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088763/

Probably my very favorite picture as a youngun, Back to the Future still stirs that spirit of adventure in my black little heart. Back in the day, I liked it for the obvious reasons: A hip teenager TRAVELS THROUGH TIME in an AWESOME CAR and then ROCKS OUT at the high school prom! That's undeniably radical. I thought Marty McFly was the coolest person ever to grace the silver screen, and basically wanted to be just like him. To a boy of eight, Back to the Future was a top-notch adventure with a snazzy DeLorean and neato music provided by Huey Lewis and The News. Lots of fun.


However, I gave the film another viewing some months back, and what really struck me this time around was Christopher Lloyd's brilliant performance as Doctor Emmet Brown. What an eccentric, nuanced, INSPIRED bit of work! As a kid, I sort of dismissed Doc Brown as nothing more than a weird character who helps the cool hero, but now I know better -- Christopher Lloyd blows Michael J Fox out of the water every time they share a scene, and his character really makes the film. He's the perfect picture of a well-intentioned mad scientist. You can almost see the love of acting in Lloyd's eyes with each line he utters.


Same goes for Crispin Glover, who gives an excellent, though under-appreciated, performance as George McFly. The nine year-old Andrew Green wouldn't have been able to value the skill and passion that goes into a role like that, just as I wouldn't have been able to quite grasp the nudge-nudge gags about the 1950s that are dropped throughout the film:

--"Gimme a Tab."
--"I can't give you a tab unless you order something."

Stuff like that.

--Ghostbusters (1984)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087332/

The heavy hitter. The one everyone likes. The ultimate kids movie from the 80s. This is it. This is Ghostbusters. What can be said of this lovely gem? It's a fantastic film that meets all standards of quality. I loved it as a child because the ghosts were cool, I liked their firehouse, Dan Aykroyd was funny, and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man was clearly the greatest movie villain of all-time. I used to draw crayon pictures of Ray, Eagon, Venkman, and Winston blasting the Marshmallow Man from the rooftop of the Gozer building, crossing the streams of their proton beams, and praying for the future of their beloved New York City. Ghostbusters was awesome in every way.

And how about now? OF COURSE it holds up! Watching Ghostbusters a few weeks ago, I liked it for all the same reasons as before; but, as was the case with Back to the Future, I found myself more impressed by the supporting cast than anything else. How about that Rick Moranis? He's absolutely inspired as the ultra-nerdy Louis Tully -- especially once he becomes possessed by Vinz Clortho, the Keymaster of Gozer. I marveled at the scene in which he runs through Central Park, trying to speak with horses and ranting about the apocalypse. It's almost as funny as the part when Eagon interviews Louis/Vinz back at Ghostbusters HQ. I wonder how much of that scene was improvised by Moranis....

"You shall perish in flames!"

This time around, I also found Annie Potts, in the role of the receptionist Jean, to be far more interesting than I ever would have before, and the soundtrack struck me as truly outstanding. Ghostbusters was an expertly-made, perfectly balanced film.

--Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096928/

I'm actually a bit surprised that I enjoyed this one at all as a young boy, as most of the really great humor in Bill and Ted seems to be aimed at viewers who are at least of high school age. I mean, the ten year-old Andrew Green just thought it was funny to watch two idiotic hair metal enthusiasts travel through time. OK, that's still pretty funny; but NOW I know there's so much more to love.

Basically, as a kid, I didn't quite grasp the jokes about history to be found in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. Like how they mispronounce the names of Socrates and Beethoven (hey, I was eleven and I went to public schools, OK?). That's HILARIOUS, and yet it went totally over my head the first two-thousand times I watched the film. Also, the general CONCEPTS behind a lot of what happens here are just so dumb that they have to be funny. Genghis Khan rampaging through a shopping mall? Sigmund Freud being taunted by high school girls at a corndog stand?? Napoleon at a water park??? The very PREMISE that some dumb metal band would unite the Earth and create balance in the universe?!?!?!? The over-the-top stupidity, the IRONY, of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure wasn't quite within the realm of my total comprehension when I watched this picture on VHS at my friend's house oh so many summer nights back in 1989.


Oh, and then there's the unnoticed sexual innuendo, which I guess could be applied to many movies I liked as a kid. Little "grown-up jokes" I didn't get. Like, remember when Bill looks down his stepmother's shirt and practically drools on himself? That was both hot AND funny. Finally, let's not forget the presence of the great George Carlin in the role of Rufus. It wasn't until I was about 19 that I became a devoted Carlin follower and could get excited about his inclusion in any film. It's odd to think that he was in this one.

--Gremlins (1984)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087363/

At the other end of the spectrum from Bill and Ted is Gremlins. I appreciate the former as an adult because I can understand just how FUNNY it really was; whereas I now find the latter more appealing because of how DARK it seems. You know, Gremlins was actually marketed to children upon its release as a sort of adventurous holiday comedy. It featured these adorable, furry little creatures called Mogwai, who turn into wacky green tornadoes of mischief known as Gremlins if exposed to certain conditions. The film seemed funny and cute, and was regarded as such by most viewers at the time...including myself.


NOW, however, Gremlins strikes me as a deeply disturbing motion picture. Take the title monsters, for example -- they're EVIL KILLERS! The Gremlins trash a town, abuse animals, and MURDER PEOPLE!!! What kind of cute family film is that? For Pete' sake, they actually kill an old woman (who, by the way, had previously threatened to torture our hero's dog) at one point. And that's not to mention how the Gremlins are killed by OTHERS: one gets thrown into a microwave; one gets its head chopped off and thrown into a fire; one is crushed in a blender....Pretty graphic stuff, really.

Oh, and then there's Pheobe Cates' little monologue. In one scene, her character, Kate, explains to our hero why she doesn't celebrate Christmas, and the story is a REAL downer. We learn that as a small girl, Kate discovered the mangled CORPSE of her father one Christmas morning. Apparently, the old fellow wanted to surprise his kids by shimmying down the chimney with a sack of presents, Santa-style, and broke his neck. That's horrible!


So, Gremlins, this wild romp of a family film, NOT ONLY features decapitations, animal torture, and old lady killing...but it ALSO has a backstory about a little girl finding the rotten dead body of her father on Christmas morning. Gad-zooks, this is a dark, horrifying movie. And to think I just thought it was funny and cute when I was young.

Anyway....

I think the bottom line here is that a truly great film must have multiple layers of meaning. Like a good Super Mario game, the best motion pictures can appeal to different demographics for a variety of reasons. I wonder what I'll think of the above films if I watch them when I'm 50. Stay tuned to find out!

b.