June 2021 – 80s Nostalgia Central: A Kirkham a Movie A Day Project

Day 27 Cobra (1986)

If you want a solid urban crime thriller, keep looking because this ain’t it. When the titles first start, Stallone is quoting crime statistics at Us. The very next shot are cultists banging axes together. This is a horror film masquerading as a crime story. The random massacre that opens the film is political theater by the nutbags who have some crazy agenda that is closer to serial killer mayhem than anything else. None of this will matter if the story plays it that way, but the tag line of the movie is Crime is a Disease, Meet the Cure. It feels like bait and switch five minutes in.

Sylvester Stallone was at his peak of popularity when this came out. Two Rambos, Three Rockys, and he was hoping to create a third franchise with this. It did not work out. Maybe the leather gloves, satin jacket and mirrored sunglasses were just a little too stylized to make the character sustainable. He is a caricature not a character in his own film. Why the Hell does he keep his gun cleaning kit in the fridge in an egg carton? The constant match in his mouth is also an irritant. The straw man media coverage of his hostage rescue shows this is going to be a lazy film.

The main antagonist is inspired by the real life Night Stalker. This adds a bit to the tasteless nature of the film. It’s also pretty clear that the filmmakers are doing all they can to make this a Dirty Harry descendant, Reni Santori was the lead’s partner in both films, and Andrew Robinson who was so great as Scorpio in Dirty Harry, is the by the book, uptight cop who objects to Stallone’s Cobretti’s tactics. Cobra has the same eating habits as Harry, taking advantage of food when available and being callous about it. The final chase through the factory is similar as well.

The villain makes the mistake of abandoning the usual random attacks of his group and targets witness Bridgette Nielson to take out. In an extensive car attack, there are some fun stunts but no sense of continuity, and things blow up randomly. They are trying to get the most out of Cobras car before they destroy it. The continued denial of the participation of multiple assailants makes no sense. So the plot simply gives way to the tropes of the rogue cop genre. This was a Golem-Globus production so story takes back seat to action. Like Invasion USA with Chuck Norris, this is a one man versus an Army show, and the army is going to lose.

The love story between Cobra and the witness he is protecting is obvious but not very well developed. The motel cabins for the mass attack are a good location, they worked better in L.A. Confidential. The action sequence plays out like an Indian assault on a settlers cabin. It is followed up by a stagecoach chase, and then Rambo tactics in the factory.

I guess my main complaint is the lack of motivations for hundreds of bad guys to join together in an Army. The monologue at the end is laughable, which makes the conclusion weaker instead of more satisfying. In spite of it’s flaws, I enjoyed this more than I remembered. It was made during 85 because there is a shot of Santori drinking what is labeled “Classic Coke”. This was in the period when “New Coke ” had to be distinguished from its sister product. The songs on the soundtrack are actually pretty good and I heard a song from John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band, this was before Eddie and the Cruisers.

We saw this in Pasadena at the Hastings Ranch triplex. Again, our friends Art and Kathy were with us. Both couples had children this Summer so it was probably something we had to coordinate with grandparents Babysitting. I don’t think they liked it very much either, but as I said, my impression of it has gone up with this viewing.

Day 26 The Great Muppet Caper (1981)

Comedy Tuesday

Inspired by a Facebook post from one of my friends online, I selected the second of the Muppet films for today’s project entry. Released 40 years ago on this date, “The Great Muppet Caper” continues the whimsical world of the Muppets, in a story that is self aware and breaks the fourth wall from the minute it starts. Kermit provides exposition in the opening song and the late great Charles Grodin, sneaks in on the production to set up his villainous character.

One of the great pleasures of movies with the Muppets is the cleverness with which Henson’s crew manages to intermingle the Muppet characters with their human guest stars. Jack Warden seems completely at ease acting alongside Kermit and Fozzie. Diana Rigg plays a character that is not dissimilar to the characters in the current Cruella, although mostly snooty rather than evil. She is as dismissive of Miss Piggy as she is with the three models who plan on stealing the Baseball Diamond. Of course the Muppets interacting with each other is also worth mentioning. The location of the Happiness Hotel provides Kermit, Fozzie and Gonzo plenty of opportunities to mingle with their fellow Muppets.

In the “Muppet Movie” Kermit rides a bike, in keeping with the idea that the sequel gets bigger, there is a scene with Piggy and Kermit riding and they are joined by a host of other Muppets. There is always a romantic subplot in these films, and I have to admit, I always root for Kermie and Piggy to end up together. There is a fun fantasy sequence where Piggy is at the center of an aquacade, Ester Williams has nothing on her. This makes two films with such a segment, after Mel Brooks “History of the World Part 1” which I covered two weeks ago.

This is a heist film where the Muppets, in trying to stop the theft of the Baseball Diamond, have to break into the gallery that Charles Grodinand his gang are also breaking into. Watching the Muppets climb to the roof was another one of those moments that will make you smile at the crews cleverness. Inevitably, if there is a Baseball Diamond, there will be a baseball game. This is another opportunity for the cast to engage in the wild antics and mayhem that are a signature of the Muppets.

Two of the writers are Tom Patchett and Jay Tarses, who were writers and producers of some of my favorite sitcoms, including the first Bob Newhart series which I watched religiously in the 1970s. I could frequently pick out bits that came from their sensibilities and I think they meshed really well with the Muppet approach to humor as well.

Promo Glasses from McDonalds in 1981, Dee and I had the whole set but these are the only two left.

I get a little misty watching the Muppet films, they were one of the things my wife and I bonded over and I have fond memories of how often Kermit and Miss Piggy were sitting in our living room watching tv together. We were a match made in felt. Forty years later and I still get warm and fuzzy over the fuzzy and warm characters in these films.

Day 25 Firefox (1982)

I’ve seen a number of Clint Eastwood’s non westerns, and you know what, Clint runs in his movies quite a bit. He doesn’t run in action scenes so much as his character runs for exercise. This movie starts with one of those sequences, and it turns out his character Major Gant, is an Air Force veteran, suffering PTSD, and he is being asked to take on the spy mission of stealing a Soviet fighter plane.

The Russians have developed a new plane with stealth technology, VR interface, and incredibly fast speed. Gant is to infiltrate the military complex and steal the plane. He has been chosen for three reasons, he speaks Russian, he will fit the specialized pressure suit needed to fly the plane, and he resembles a corrupt businessman who is a heroin smuggler and can travel in the country largely under the radar.

This is really a spy movie for the first half with Clint playing cat and mouse with the KGB, and questioning the reliability of his controllers in the agency that has recruited him. A lot of people will think this is slow paced but I felt it was helping to ratchet up the tension. We do get a lot of exposition from the Soviet side as well. There is plenty osts suspicion to go around. Obviously it was not filmed in Russia but the location scouts found convincing substitutes and the art department decorated convincingly. I was not sure why all the skulking around was necessary but there were a couple of twists that I was surprised at. The PTSD from his time as a POW comes into play occasionally to throw a monkey wrench in when the plot needs goosing.

In a interesting side note, the tech development was facilitated by Soviet Jews and that is inserted as a topical reference point. Along with the brutality of the KGB interrogation, there is a lot of drama being built up. The motivations of the conspirators is a political plot line that was right in line with American Foreign policy at the time. There is also a science fiction element to the film in that the VR is controlled by a computer which reads the pilots thoughts, but of course you have to think in Russian. The mock up of the plane seems prescient, it looks quite a bit like a Stealth fighter.

Sometimes Clint is accused of just being the same stoic character in his movies, but I think he does a solid job here. He is frustrated by the things he is forced to do, and at the same time sympathetic to the scientists who are helping him. The flashback episodes of PTSD are effectively demonstrated as well. It’s not until the last 45 minutes that he gets locked in a cockpit. The special effects take over much of the rest of the film. The cinematography and choices of shots is fine, sometimes the visuals are a little outdated. There is a lot of talking exposition from the Soviet brain trust, but that does help break up the time spent staring at Clint in his helmet.

The climax of the film involves a chase and choreographed dogfight that would be worthy of Top Gun or Independence Day if the technology was a little better. Clint directed the film, and it’s pace is deliberate by today’s standards, but I recall liking it just fine when Dee and I went to see it, I want to say at one of those Cinema General Screens at the Santa Anita mall.

Day 24 The Lost Boys (1987)

So if you come to this site for the purpose of 1980s nostalgia, this is a movie for you. It stars the two Corey’s, Jason Patric, who was on the brink of stardom for a decade. Missing children are on the milk carton, and saxophonist rock bands perform on the Boardwalk of a beachside community. Jami Hertz was the it girl of the moment and Joel Schumacher was bringing his brand of style to the movies. There are mullets, comic books and motorcycles. Oh and we get evil Kiefer Sutherland. At the end there is a fun twist and the special effects make up of the era proves once again that the practical is greater than the digital.

The movie is a vampire story that is attempting to update the mythology to modern times, but it wants to have it both way. Sometimes the conventions matter, othertimes we simply will ignore them. It has a lot of fun working in teen vampire hunters with the Goths who really are vampires. The slow dawning of what is happening to Matthew as Patric’s character devolves into nosferatu great.

Of course it is the battle at the end which takes full advantage of the special effects make up as vampires melt, explode and generally die in unusual ways. Holy water, arrows, antlers and the biggest stake you ever saw foreshadowed in a Movie. Although the deaths are brutal, they are not overly graphic, which is odd given that the movie has an R rating with no f-bombs or nudity PG-13 could easily be the rating of the movie.

The Door’s song “People are Strange” is covered by Echo and the Bunnymen, and it bookends the film creating a creepy but funny vibe simultaneously. Barnard Hughes, who plays Grandpa in this movie was in Tron, from earlier in this week’s posts. This opened at the end of July, and my memory is that Dee and I saw it when we were out for our seventh anniversary and right before another wedding that I participated in. Summertime seems to be a pretty romantic season.

#TheLostBoys, Corey Feldman, Corey Haim, Diane Weist, Edward Herrmann, Jason Patric, Joel Schumacher

Day 23 Urban Cowboy (1980)

John Travolta shot to stardom in “Saturday Night Fever”. He followed that up by starring in “Grease”, which was a huge it. Here he goes for the trifecta, and lo and behold he hits again. This film launched another craze of Country dancing, honkey tonks, and domestic abuse as romance. Yea, as solid as the movie is, there are aspects to it that are highly objectionable in today’s climate, and really were problematic in 1980 as well.

Bud, Travolta’s character, is a country boy who comes to the big city to work in the oil fields. Now, it is a pretty good debut in the new surroundings when you end up in a ménage à trois on your first night. Bud wakes up hung over, embarrassed and a bit out of his depth. A couple of nights later, he meets Sissy, a headstrong young woman played by Debra Winger. After slapping each other around for a couple of hours, they decide to get married. The two actors do have some nice chemistry together, but she should have paid attention to his chauvinistic attitude, and he needed to be aware of her shallow attraction to cowboys.

Inevitably, they clash and try to hurt each other by finding other partners and showing off in the Gilley’s Nightclub, for which this movie serves as a two hour commercial. The romantic rivals are Madolyn Smith and Scott Glenn. I think this was the first time I took notice of Glenn who would become a favorite of mine over the next few years. Barry Corbin who plays Bush’s uncle is a familiar face in his first movie, I think I have confused him with character actor Trey Wilson on more than one occasion.

Both of the substitute romantic interests have the same problems as the relationship between Bud and Sissy. Wes, the Scott Glenn character, is an abusive misogynist and Pam, Smith’s character is narcissistic. It takes an act of God to get the two leads to see how much they screwed up. I’m not sure why we would care about these two irritating people but in the long run, we hope things work out.

The film has a song score that provides almost continuous background for every scene. Just as with the prior two films, the soundtrack album was a big seller and was loaded with singles that filled the airwaves. There were plenty of original songs but also, a whole bunch of previous hits were featured. “The Devil went Down to Georgia ” gets a featured spot to set up the climax of the film. Apparently a number of other nightclubs added the mechanical bull as a feature, another reminder of how movies reflect and influence the culture.

The movie opened two months before I got married and a week before my future bride served as best man and maid of honor to our friends Art and Kathy. After seeing this , it’s a wonder any of us went ahead and got Married, but maybe it was the Johnny Lee song, “Looking for Love”.

Day 22 Beverly Hills Cop II (1987)

After exploding on to the screen in “Trading Places” and “48 Hours”, Eddie Murphy was a confirmed star. In 1984 however that status changed when Beverly Hills Cop came out. He became a superstar at that time and anything he wanted to do he was going to be able to do. Of course the studio wanted a sequel and it was inevitable that that would happen. Beverly Hills Cop 2 is a perfectly functional action comedy but it is not very well put together, and the story is not very interesting.

Most of the original cast is back for this episode and Axel Foley is now closer friends with the Beverly Hills cops. Of course there is interference from the new chief of the Beverly Hills Police Department played by Allen Garfield in another of his signature irritated little man rolls. The boss doesn’t want to listen to any of the cops that he didn’t hire. Including Ronny Cox’s Captain. The Catalyst for this story involves him being shot and Axel coming back out to Beverly Hills to investigate.

There is some falter all in Detroit as Axel attempts to avoid getting in trouble with his own boss by allowing one of his partners to drive the Ferrari that he is using in his undercover investigation. Paul Reiser play the inept partner and almost everything he does is designed for comic relief, which makes no sense since Eddie is the one with all the comic lines. Brigitte Nielsen, is the statuesque armed the if who carries out a series of heists that are intended to finance one big score and throw the cops off the trail with a set of coded alphabet clues. It never really makes much sense, but it doesn’t have to. The main attraction of the film is seeing Eddie fast talk his way in and out of trouble. He makes up a lie to get a house to stay in, he intimidates a secretary into giving him access to areas he is not supposed to see, and he even gets her to give him two hundred dollars for an invented child.

Tony Scott was the director, and there are plenty of explosions, car chases, and his signature yellow palate filter in several scenes. He may have been watching some John Woo films, there were even pigeons flying around in the climax. The chase scenes were sloppy with several continuity errors. Heck even in the opening heist, the limo that delivers the thieves has a different license plate from shot to shot. Bog Seger cowrote the theme song “Shakedown” with Harold Faltameyer, who had success with the first film, it is also Bob Server’s only number one hit in a long career.

So I saw this when it came out, enjoyed it for the moment and then forgot about it. The movie was a big summer hit, but mostly on the vapors of the first film. Eddie got away with it because he had other hits coming, but It’s hard to catch Lightning in a bottle twice.

Day 21 Tron (1983)

Science Fiction Thursday

A lot of exposition in the opening of the film. Master Control is explained, we are introduced to his henchman, the nature of programs and users is set up, and a couple of games are illustrated. We meet our hero Flynn, played by a young Jeff Bridges, who seems to be more than an Arcade owner, but everything does feel a bit (ha ha) rushed.

This early attempt at turning computers into characters is awkward. The programs get represented by doppelgangers of their programmers, and that was a little confusing at first. It gets more convoluted when a technique for digitizing is used to turn Flynn into a program. Ultimately, the antagonist turns out to be an A.I. that has decided it is better at running things than the humans. Master Control defends itself by putting the digitized Flynn on his game program.

The black and white photo process used to make the programs into characters also makes it difficult at times to distinguish the characters. However, the games are usually rendered in vibrant colords. The Laser cycle is the most fun, but as I was saying, it was hard to tell which character’s bike we we following at any given moment. Bruce Boxleitner is “Tron” and his user Alan 1. There is a character named Ram, but we never see his user. David Warner, who spent his career playing shady characters, is Dillinger and the advancedvprogram that is the major domo to Master Control. It makes sense that his program is a threat to Master Control since it is a security protocol designed to monitor interactions with other systems, and that is the big threat in the film. There is a secondary goal of establishing Flynnn’s authorship of the very successful video games the company has made its fortune from.

How much you enjoy the film will depend on your willingness to watch the games being played out. I liked it well enough but the awkward dialogue and cardboard characters do help make it any more engaging. The graphics were state of the art in 1983, but they look primitive by today’s standards. Tron Legacy” , a sequel which came out just a few years ago, managed to keep the feel of this world but significantly improve the visuals.

I saw this film with Dee and our friends Art and Kathy. We went down to the Chinese Theater in Hollywood to see it on the biggest screen we could. We enjoyed it but it was not an essential for us. The standout memories I have are actually watching my friend Jon Cassanelli play at the Sherman Oaks Galleria. It may have been one of the last things we did together, he was murdered by his partners in a drug deal in January of 1984. Sorry about the downer, but Jon was pretty good at the arcade game and I want to remember some good stuff.

Day 20 Bull Durham (1988)

The only church that feeds the soul day in and day out is the Church of baseball. I love Annie Savoy, I wish you’d come and teach me something. This is a baseball movie, in fact it may be “the” baseball movie. Not the best film about baseball but the most enjoyable, quotable, and repeatable baseball movie ever made. Since it was released in the summer of 1988, I might have seen it three dozen times. In a world of summer films, Bull Durham has the overwhelming gravitational pull of a black hole, once it has you in it’s grips, it won’t let go.

Between Crash Davis, played by Kevin Costner, and Annie, there are dozens of aphorisms and advice that you can apply to your life. “Don’t think, it can only hurt the ball club.”, “When you know how to make love, you know how to pitch”. “Think classy and you’ll be classy.” “I am within the framework of the baseball season, monogamous.” “You shouldn’t listen to what a woman says when she’s in the throes of passion”. Hell, this movie make be more quotable than The Godfather.

One of the great charms of the film is how it embraces the everyday joys of minor league baseball. The mascots, the electronic scoreboard that you get a free steak for hitting, the music at the ballpark, how they fake the broadcast to the locals for away games, and the groupies. And you also get insight into how to manage a team of young men. Take charge, inspire a little fear, and dispense wisdom every once in a while. Trey Wilson, who passed away just a couple of years after this movie, plays Skip the manager. This was one of his best roles. He plays the frustrated but wizened mentor, but he also listens to Crash for advice as well.

The three leads are terrific. Tim Robbins as “Nuke” , the pitching prospect who needs seasoning is so dim and enthusiastic it’s just silly. His relationship with Annie really comes across as a temporary necessity, we always know that Crash and Annie are destined for each other. Annie is so full of herself and sexy, that it takes her a while to figure out the obvious. I have always had a thing for Susan Sarandon, politics aside. She has won awards and honors for other films but this was the perfect casting. Kevin Costner was an apex sex symbol in this role. His smile and clothes are attractive to both women and men. I wish I could carry off that casual look with the white shirt and chinos.

The song track for the film is filled with 80s favorites like The Blasters, Fabulous Thunderbirds, Los Lobos and John Fogarty. If you want a summer Romance for adults, filled with clever dialogue and sexy stars, Bull Durham is your film. Neither my wife or I were big baseball fans, but we both loved this film. We could watch it multiple times each summer, and usually did.

Just a side note, actor Danny Gans has a minor part in this film. In just a few years, he would be a headliner in Las Vegas. He was never a Nationwide star but in Vegas, his act featuring singing and impressions seemed to be a perfect fit. Sadly he died, I think of a drug overdose, but it was nice to see a working actor make good. Anyway if you haven’t seen this yet, quit lollygagging and get to it.

Day 19 National Lampoon’s Vacation

With most franchises, the first film in the series is the best and everything else is a shadow. The one big exception that always jumps out is “The Empire Strikes Back” but there is another series where the most beloved of the films is not the first, it is the third. Somehow, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation became the Griswold Family film that everyone adores. I suspect much of that comes from the fact that people regularly revisit it at the holiday season. I know that I do.

That said, there is still plenty of juice in the original film in this franchise, and I think it would be a good idea for people to check into it each year, maybe the way we do “Jaws” on the Fourth of July. “Vacation ” is a tonic for the cynical comedies that come out all the time. It is not really family friendly despite being family centered and that is sort of one of it’s charms. Clark Griswold tries to be the perfect family man, but he has a temper that when pushed provokes him into Samuel L. Jackson territory.

One of the reasons I found the film so funny when I first saw it is that I had lived it myself. As a child, my family made several pilgrimages from our home in Southern California to my parents hometown of Battle Creek Michigan. We also twice extended our trips to New York, and all of that was driving in a station wagon. Troubles with the car, roadside attractions that are somewhat creepy, and relatives that you don’t know very well are all part of such a trip. I know that the sequence in St. Louis is politically incorrect and probably racist to a degree, but I also know how it felt to be driving in a shady part of town, at night, and not know where you are going. We spent an hour in Baltimore in 1976, trying to find our way to the main highway, We laughed at it afterwards, but it was awkward before GPS, asking for directions of strangers on the street.

There are plenty of things that are also not very PG about the film, other than the language. I did not remember how much co-star Beverly D’Angelo showed off of her body. Rusty get taught how to masturbate and Audrey how to smoke pot. They also catch their parents in flagrante on multiple occasions. Even though the dog is not very nice, his demise is played for laughs and that might be a little tough for the family audience. Probably the most descriptive adjective for the film is the phrase “National Lampoon’s”, because the sophomoric and slightly deranged character of that magazine is all over the movie.

Chevy Chase does not seem to have a very positive personal reputation, but Clark Griswold does. He loves his family but makes stupid mistakes that make him the butt of the joke most of the time. His wife and kids are never held up to ridicule, it is only he who has to bear the brunt of his foolishness, they simply have to cope with loving their dad and husband, in spite of his flaws. The whole episode with cousin Eddy and Katherine puts the family in contrast, but also reminds us that we can’t escape family, no matter how much we are mortified by them.

I saw this movie with a group of friends, and some of them were a little straight laced so the jokes might have shocked them a bit. I remember enjoying the Lindsey Buckingham title song “Holiday Road” and I also remember that this was one of several films that summer that we saw on a double feature with Superman III. That film tanked and I suspect it was pushed into duty to fill contractual obligations about play dates, rather than a desire to draw audiences in, but that story will come up later.

Day 18 Body Heat 1981

Time has not been especially kind to the looks of the stars of this film. All of us age so there is no shame in that, but most of us remember ourselves at our peak and reminisce about that moment when we were at our best and our sexuality was at it’s apex. William Hurt and Kathleen Turner do not have to search their brains for fragments of those times, they are all right here for everyone to see in this movie.

This was Kathleen Turner’s debut film and only the third feature of William Hurt. It is also the directing debut of Lawrence Kasdan, and it happens to be one of the greatest neo noir films ever made. The parallels with a classic noir like “Double Indemnity” are inescapable. There is a femme fatale, a bright but not too bright sexually addled male lead, and a complicated plot that involves murder, betrayal and enough cynicism to satisfy even a teenager. This film had the advantage of being made in the modern era, so the frank depiction of sensuality adds to the lurid allure of the story, but does so without being exploitive.

Maybe half the success of carrying off the tone of this movie can be attributed to the great composer John Barry, who created a jazz based romance ballad, with the occasional punctuation of staccato style piano. You will hear much the same style years later in Jerry Goldsmith’s score for L.A. Confidential. It feels old fashioned but also sexy in a contemporary way. The mood is enhanced by the languid pace of the tune and the slow reveals of each step in the plot process. Nothing in this film feels rushed, and the music keeps that tempo throughout.

Ned Racine, a lawyer with more libido than smarts, falls under the spell of lonely trophy wife Maddie Walker. The sexual crescendo that signifies their breaking the line is fast, but it is a result of a slow seduction by both parties. Maddie resists just enough, but Ned finally can’t control his desire and she is equally committed to the physical link they share. The move to committing a murder is equally slow, following hints of abuse by her husband, signs of vast wealth, and a slow growth of greed on the part of Maddie. Still it is Ned who first says it out loud, not even realizing how he is being manipulated by sex. One more slow burn in the story is the dawning of a betrayal by one partner in crime. It takes several steps before the victim is completely convinced of the knife placed in their back by their partner.

The supporting cast is also stellar, headed by venal Richard Crenna, a lawyer who has made making money the most important thing in his life. Ted Danson is Ned’s sympathetic friend who also happens to be a deputy district attorney. His dancing lawyer is full of equivocations at the end of the plot, and his moral ambiguity helps keep Ned a more sympathetic character, despite comitting a murder. We also see a police detective, who likes Ned, begin to unravel the story that his friend is telling. Mickey Rourke is only in two scenes but he is electric in both of them.

Every other element would not work as well if the female lead wasn’t perfect, and she is. This movie made Turner a star. Her long legs, husky voice and insouciant manner are all just right for the part. Kasdan, who was also the screenwriter, created a multi layered plot, which combines all of the traditional elements of noir, with a legal twist and a reversal of roles that makes this a terrific film. Of course if you are a health nut, you might want to avoid the film because there is so much smoking in it, you could get lung cancer just from watching. Still, it’s worth the risk.