Movies I Grew Up With: D.C. Cab

Yes, boys and girls, there was a time in my life when I was very easily amused and the presence of Mr. T made something a must-see. Seriously.

One of the shows I used to watch as a kid was something called "Games People Play." This is the program that introduced me and millions of other Americans to the gold-laden man that pities fools. It was during a segment showing a competition for "America's Toughest Bouncer." He won, of course. Or, at least that's the way I remember it. Most notably, he destroyed the opposition during the dwarf tossing event. No, I'm serious. If you saw The Wolf of Wall Street, you probably remember the guys trying to organize just such a thing. Martin Scorcese, or Jordan Belfort didn't make that up. Shit was real.

Ahhh, the 80s.

Anyhoo, one of the other millions of Americans to meet Mr. T through "Games People Play" was The Italian Stallion himself, Sylvester Stallone. Sly was so taken with the dude, he cast him as Clubber Lang in 1982's Rocky III where he pitied more fools than I thought it possible to pity. He prescribed pain and offered to show Adrian a real man. I was hooked.

It should come as no surprise that when, a year later, his next movie hit theaters I clamored to see it. It was a comedy entitled D.C. Cab. It looked hilarious in the commercials...yes, commercials. Us normal people didn't call them trailers, yet. Like any twelve year old enamored with the phenomenon known as Mr. T, I begged Mom to take me to see it. She didn't watch "Games People Play" and didn't care for any of the Rocky movies. It was also rated R and the Raiders of the Lost Ark/Raw Force debacle was still fresh in her mind. So, she said no and stood her ground.

She just didn't get it.

Nearly a year later, a friend of mine convinced his parents to rent it and I finally got to see D.C. Cab in all its glory. I was a bit disappointed Mr. T didn't really have much to do, but I enjoyed it anyway. I thought it was one of the funniest movies of all time. It revolves around country boy Albert (a rather bland Adam Baldwin) arriving in Washington, D.C. to work for the D.C. Cab company, duh, which is owned by Harold (Max Gail of Barney Miller fame), a friend of his dad. Howard's employees are pretty much a joke all by themselves. They are played by a nice mix of people who have went on to bigger and better things and others who were unknowingly near the end of their fifteen minutes of fame.

One of those who has enjoyed a long career is Gary Busey who plays me...I mean, a cabbie named Dell. He had already been around for quite a while, but he wasn't exactly what you would call a star.Still, he gets one of the movie's most memorable lines when he lets his boss know "I don't work January the 8th, 'cause it's Elvis' birthday." He actually has a number of one liners that are among the movies funniest moments.

A few others made their big screen debuts in this movie. One of them was comedienne Marsha Warfield. She plays Ophelia, Max's only competent cab driver. Unfortunately, some guy in a ski mask keeps showing up in her cab with a gun and robbing her. Warfield shows some promise here. She would parlay that into a role on one of my favorite sitcoms of all time, Night Court. Another stand-up, Paul Rodriguez, would also debut here. Inexplicably, he still gets the occasional gig. I've never thought of him as especially funny. The most lasting talent to come out of this crop of comics is yet another making his movie debut, Bill Maher. Well, now that I'm familiar with him, it's easy to see he just plays Bill Maher, but as a cab driver.

We're actually not done with comedians debuting in this movie. Charlie Barnett was another such person. He plays Tyrone, a ball of manic energy that plays up stereotypes and tries to subvert them later in the movie. Barnett gives the movie's best performance, owning every scene in which he appears, turning it into a showcase for himself. He gets the movie's best lines when talking to Albert during a quiet moment. We know that Albert's father has died and the young man is having a tough go of it in the big city. Tyrone sobers him up by saying "...and don't think I feel sorry for you 'cause your daddy died. My father came back from the Korean War with his brains so scrambled, he thought he was Jesus! They put him in a nuthouse for five years, when he came out, he didn't think he was Jesus no more, he thought he was God. Which made me Jesus." Barnett has gained recognition as a street performer in New York City and this was thought to be his big break. Sadly, it didn't work out that way. He did a few more things, but nothing of any note. He eventually became addicted to heroin and contracted HIV. He passed away in 1996.

By the way, I also got a flashback to an even earlier decade while watching this. Of course, there's Max Gail who played in the great cop show Barney Miller. However, I'd forgotten that Whitman Mayo was in this. He plays Mr. Rhythm here, but he's best known for his recurring role as Grady on Sanford & Son.

Ahhh, the 70s.

As a whole, the movie is still light-hearted fun, if goofy and predictable. Along with Albert's fish out of water story, there is a rival cab company, Howard's failing marriage, and eventually, Albert gets kidnapped. The gang of misfits he calls friends has to band together and try to save the day.

How about Mr. T?

Like I said, he doesn't get to do much despite being prominently featured in all of the advertising for the film. He was the biggest name in the cast at the time. Every now and again, he spouts off a line, pities a fool or two, and flexes his muscles by doing something crazy alongside the Barbarian Brothers. Oh, you're truly an 80s baby if you know who the Barbarian Brothers are. They are twin brothers David and Peter Paul who showed up in a few things to do precisely what they do here, be silly while performing feats of amazing strength. Singer Irene Cara also shows up as herself for a cameo. At the time, she was known for starring in and singing the theme song to the movie Fame During the same year D.C. Cab came out, she hit it big by singing the theme for the movie Flashdance. She's in the movie for one brief scene, but like Mr. T, gets used for her name. The movie was promoted as starring Irene Cara. Those ad men, I tell ya. They know all the tricks.

I watched D.C. Cab with my son. He laughed. I laughed. A few times, we laughed hysterically. We both knew it wasn't great, but had a good time taking it all in. Okay, I'll admit it. Occasionally, I'm still easily amused. Sue me. Just not on January the 8th.

Click Below for More Movies I Grew Up With:

Enter the Dragon

Krush Groove

Purple Rain

The Warriors

Teen Wolf

New Jack City

42

Directed by Brian Helgeland.

2013. Rated PG-13, 128 minutes.

Cast:

Chadwick Boseman

Harrison Ford

Nicole Beharie

Christopher Meloni

Andre Holland

Alan Tudyk

Lucas Black

Hamish Linklater

Ryan Merriman

T.R. Knight

John C. McGinley

Max Gail

The story of how Jackie Robinson became the first African-American to play Major League Baseball, as a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, transcended the sports world as it was happening to become part of American history. He’s the most important sports figure of the twentieth century. Even if you think that statement is false, you’d have to agree he’s on the short list of possible candidates. With that in mind, 42 takes on the daunting task of telling a tale where everyone know the outcome.

We meet Jackie (Boseman) in 1945 while he’s playing Negro League Baseball for the Kansas City Monarchs. A quick incident at a gas station with a “whites only” restroom shows him as the type of guy who doesn’t take racism lying down. We also meet Branch Rickey (Ford), owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers. He’s looking for a man worthy of breaking baseball’s color barrier. He settles on Robinson even though those closest to him don’t think Jackie’s the right kind of guy. You should at least have a general idea of the rest. If not, just keep watching the movie.

Taken on its own terms, 42 is a fine movie. It does precisely what it wants to do, in the manner it wants to do it. We get a solid feeling of what our hero went through as he took the field more alone than any man ever had. His ordeal turns our stomach and we can’t help but root for him. Chadwick Boseman is good, if unspectacular, in the lead role. Far more impressive is his supporting cast. Of course, there’s Harrison Ford, just perfect as Branch Rickey. Nearly as good, in less flashier roles, are Nicole Beharie as Jackie’s wife Rachel and Andre Holland as reporter Wendell Smith. Smith is tasked with both chronicling Robinson’s journey and being somewhat of a personal assistant for the ballplayer. Others in the cast all shine when their time comes. Through their work and some adequate storytelling we hit some highs and lows en route to a welcome feel good story. The end. For most people.

For me, this is a very watchable, easily likable, but sorely lacking film. Most of my criticism is for what this movie isn’t. Maybe I’m being entirely unfair, but it’s not the Jackie Robinson story I wanted to see. This is 1947 visualized precisely as I’ve heard it, and read it, hundreds of times throughout the course of my life. The filmmakers play it far safer than Jackie himself ever did. For starters, it falls into the trap that nearly every telling of the story does. It’s not truly about the man. It’s about reactions. Somewhat, the reactions are his to whites, on an off the field, who felt compelled to shout epithets and/or put up obstacles to his success. Mostly, 42 is about white reaction to his presence. The movie also completely ignores the fact that a young black man named Larry Doby started his Major League career shortly after Robinson and dealt with the same garbage during the very same season. Then again, that part of the story almost always gets left out.

My biggest gripe is that the rest of our hero’s life is a story worth telling. This could easily have been a three plus hour epic going at least as far back as his days as a star athlete at UCLA, if not all the way to the beginning and going forward until his death. He did not just fade into oblivion once his playing days were over. In many ways, his baseball career was only the beginning of his public struggle for civil rights. The Jackie we get here is a fine conduit for our empathy, but much of that is due to our own sensibilities. The truth is that, as he is presented, he’s largely uninteresting. Giving us a fuller picture of the man would surely change that. As it stands, a movie focused on Branch Rickey, or Rachel Robinson, or Wendell Smith, could’ve accomplished the same thing with a more intriguing protagonist.

It probably sounds as if I don’t like 42 when that’s not the case. I enjoyed it quite a bit. It’s well put together and hits most of the right notes. I can nitpick the baseball scenes all day, but if you’re not an avid fan of the sport things are probably not bad enough to notice. I don’t even mind the totally fabricated finale. It’s a happy moment that fits so well into the movie that I can easily see why it was done. In the end, I had fun watching. I just want more than it’s willing to give me.