Movies I Grew Up With: the Friday the 13th Franchise

Movies I Grew Up With: House Party

Childhood Films Blogathon

Movies I Grew Up With: The Last Dragon

Movies I Grew Up With: Coming to America

If you've come around here a time of two, you might know that every Thursday I take part in a meme hosted by Wandering Through the Shelves. This past week, the theme was live-action fairy tale adaptations. My last post in the Proof of a Movie God series chronicled the interesting path taken to the big screen by the film Beverly Hills Cop. A couple days ago, news broke that Eddie Murphy is in talks to play the dad of his own boyhood idol, Richard Pryor. I could not ignore all these signs any longer. I just had to write about my absolute favorite live-action fairy tale. Thank you, Movie God.

Movies I Grew Up With: A Christmas Story

First, I must say Merry Christmas to each and all of you...or Merry Xmas...or Happy Hanukkah...or Happy Kwaanza...or Happy whatever it is you celebrate this time of year. Glad you took a minute or two to stop by here and see what I've got going on today. Now let's get down to stretching that two minutes into three or four.

Movies I Grew Up With: A Nightmare on Elm Street

By November of 1984, I was only thirteen years old, but already starting to develop my lust for slasher flicks. I had already seen Halloween, Prom Night, Sleepaway Camp, and the first three Friday the 13th movies. There are probably a few more that I'm forgetting, but you get the picture. Naturally, when I saw the commercial for Wes Craven's latest, A Nightmare on Elm Street, I had to see it as soon as possible. My bestest buddy in the whole wide world also wanted to see it. Here's where Mom came in. I was only thirteen. How else was I going to get there? Sure, my friends' had parents that might be willing to take us to the theater, but they weren't all as liberal as my mom when it came to what types of movies us kids watched. all, she was fully aware I was watching stuff like Porky's, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, The Last American Virgin, and Zapped!, along with the aforementioned fright movies.

Don't judge her.

In this case, I can't recall the amount of begging that actually took place. I do know that Mom isn't much of a horror movie fan. She's not utterly opposed to them, at least back then she wasn't, but she'd rather watch something else most of the time. Still, I, or we, did enough whining to get her to bite the bullet, load up the car, and take a bunch of us to meet Freddy Krueger. By a bunch of us, I mean myself, three siblings, my bestest buddy, and his little brother. My three siblings, by the way, all younger than I. In fact, I was the second oldest of all since my friend was six months my senior. My youngest brother brought up the rear at a whopping four years of age.

Don't you dare judge her.

What we saw was simply, and still, one of the best slasher flicks ever made. Just in case you're somehow unfamiliar with the story, I'll give you a quick rundown. Years ago, Freddy was the janitor at a local school and murdered a bunch of kids. He was arrested, but got off on a technicality. Not willing to take that lying down, the neighborhood parents got together and burned him alive. Now, it seems Freddy is haunting their children from beyond the grave through their dreams. The kicker is that if he kills anyone in their dream, they die in real life. And yeah, he kills up some Elm Street kids in their dreams. One of them actually went to have a fairly successful career. It was the kid who got sucked into his own bed during a dream only to have all of his blood and guts come shooting out of it like a geyser. He was played by some guy making his big screen debut by the name of Johnny Depp. You might have heard of him.

Didn't I tell you not to judge her?

That scene featuring Depp is just one of a number of surreal sequences. Another featured a girl who seemed to be flying about the room as her body was being repeatedly gashed. Still another, showed the heroine being dragged into her own bath water which turns out to be a bottomless pool, waking up just before she meets her end. Often it wasn't immediately clear that the person being shown had fallen asleep. This added to the mystery of things. The entire movie significantly raised the bar on what could be done with dream sequences. Of course, spoiler alert, the good guys figure out a way to stop Freddy. They think they kill him, but that's not really the case as we're set up quite nicely for a sequel. The credits roll. We go home. Then the fun starts.

That four year old brother of mine had watched this entire movie unfold without flinching. At least, I didn't see him flinch. He certainly never crawled into Mom's lap, bury his face in her bosom, or even call her name. He hung in there like a champ. I was proud of the boy. Then, he showed his true colors. Whatever colors a four year old has, of course.

When we got home, he had to use the restroom. He ran to the upstairs bathroom, went in and dropped his pants. I happened to be coming up the stairs right behind him and noticed he left the door open. Being a good big brother, I closed it without even thinking about it. Suddenly, my brother screamed as loud as humanly possible, ran to the door, and yanked it open. My first reaction was to ask what in the world was he doing, since his pants were still down around his ankles. All he could do was point toward the bathtub. I laughed and tried to close the door again, but he was having none of that. So yeah, my brother used the bathroom with the door wide open. I don't know about your house, but that was most certainly not a normal occurrence at mine.

The fun wasn't quite over for my brother. During those days, he and I slept in the attic which had been transformed into a bedroom. We each had a side and were separated only by the staircase leading up to it. Once he made it up there, it was well past his bedtime, so he got his pajamas on and...

didn't get into bed.

Instead, he just stares at the thing. I remind him that it's time for him to hit the sack. Since he was obviously having a flashback to the demise of Johnny Depp, he started feeling all over the mattress, checking for holes to be sucked into. It took quite a while for him to be satisfied that Freddy Krueger was not going to grab him from somewhere beneath the bed and spray his insides all over the ceiling. When he reached that point, he manage to lie down and actually sleep through the night.

You still can't judge her.

1984-a-thon: Beat Street (Movies I Grew Up With)

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

Movies I Grew Up With: New Jack City

Technically, this isn't a movie I grew up with since I was twenty years old the first time I saw it. And since that was more than twenty years ago, I'll just say it qualifies. Besides, calling what I was at that age an adult is a physical description only. I was in the Army, and stationed in Hawaii. During one of those rare moments when I wasn't on duty or in a bar/nightclub (how'd I get into those? hmmm), one of my roommates and a gaggle of our buddies got together and went to see New Jack City. After all, a number of us were from the Big Apple, where the movie was set, and loved the commercials. A couple of us snuck in some beverages they don't sell at movie theaters and away we went.

NJC was a trip inside crack era New York, which I lived through, but had never had a look at on the big screen. Rappers were also new to the cinema. A few had made it in movies specifically about rap and played themselves, or had cameos in other movies. This one was billed as starring Ice-T. Now he's a household name with a reality show and a still popular cop show. Back then, he was just that pimp-lookin', perm wearing brotha from the west coast that did the rapping in the Breakin' movies, made "I'm Your Pusher," and "Six in the Morning," I wasn't a big Ice fan, but I had to see. I'm a hip hop head through and through, so I needed to make sure he didn't embarrass us. He wasn't great, by any stretch. Re-watching it all these years later makes it easier to see how uneven he was, really iffy at some parts, but solid toward the end of the movie.

Another 'hood luminary in the cast was little known comedian Chris Rock. He was actually good all the way through. He brought levity to a serious picture, even though his character has some serious stuff going on. He makes it work. For my money, it's still his best movie performance with the possible exception of CB4 and the underrated I Think I Love My Wife. Rock was joined by urban flick blue blood Mario Van Peebles. Ya know, Melvin's li'l boy. Well, the young buck is all grown up and sat in the director's chair on this one.

Regardless of any of those guys or a wonderfully understated yet still crazy Judd Nelson in the cast, the real star of the show is a guy we hardly knew. Wesley Snipes wasn't a tax evader, Blade, or even Passenger 57, yet. He was a guy who'd shown up in a couple Spike Lee joints, including the lead in Jungle Fever. We liked him well enough but weren't exactly clamoring to see him. Still, from the opening scene he lets us know he's not just playing a role, He really is drug kingpin Nino Brown. He's that good. To me, it's one of the most criminally underrated performances in cinematic history. I'll tolerate lots of criticisms about New Jack City. I will not stand for any knocks on what Wesley accomplishes here.

There are certainly legit issues with he movie. The easiest one to spot is that it is so blatantly of the era during which it was made. Back then, the fashions, the hair cuts, the slang, they were all perfect. I, myself, looked like I had just stepped off the set of a Big Daddy Kane video. And I was far from the only one in that crowded theater looking that way. Now, all that stuff is dated. That's not a problem for me, but a source of laughter for younger viewers. Except that, sadly, the hair cuts have made a comeback over the last year or so. Someone please make it stop. There was a reason we old dudes cut them off. We woke up and realized black dudes' hair should not include angles. If you're a youngster who is guilty going retro with your head, pay attention. As simultaneously skillful and artistic as it is of the barber to hook you up with a fresh one of those cuts, it is ridiculous looking. Now, get off my lawn!

Woah! I'm way off track. Where was I?

That's right. New Jack City.

It's taken me many years, but I can finally admit it's not really one of the all time greats. However, it will always be one of my favorites. It connects with me on a level few movies have. Though I've never been directly involved in the crack game, aside from that one time a couple rocks were sold in the back seat of my car...not by me...long story that I'm not telling, I've been around it and affected by both sides of it more times than I care to admit. Aside from that, it takes place in areas I understood growing up. Plus, it combines two of my favorite things by shooting a Scorcese movie through a hip hop filter. It's been said that everyone loves a gangster. Double that love if he has a cool sound track. Oh yeah, I didn't even mentioned that the soundtrack was the number one album in America for a while before the movie even came out and produced a number of hit singles.

You know something? I could go on forever about New Jack City and feel like I already have. I'll just wrap it up by saying this is a film that belongs to me.

Movies I Grew Up With: Teen Wolf

A couple years ago, MTV decided to make a television series out of the 80s movie Teen Wolf. As a fan of the film, I approached the very first episode with cautious optimism. I had seen a few commercials for it, but couldn't quite grasp which direction they were going to take. Thinking back, it was pretty obvious this wasn't going to be a raucous comedy. I guess I was just clinging to my memories of the movie and hoping against the massive rushing tide of evidence that this show would be woven from similar fabric. After all, it was still called "Teen Wolf," right? If you've ever seen the show, or even know someone who is a fan, you know that it's nothing like the movie at all. During that initial offering, I found the new, TW a dark and gloomy place with all the fun removed. If you've poked around this blog a bit, you might know that I typically like such places. Unfortunately, I didn't find this an appealing location at all. I think the curveball effect was largely responsible for my dissatisfaction. It's like that time when I told my wife we were going to one of the swanky steak houses in town, but wound up at Chili's because the two and a half hour wait was unbearable. Chili's is okay, and a lot cheaper, but disappointing when we were trying to have at least one night of living the high life.

I haven't returned to the TV series since. Just can't bring myself to give it another try. I wanted to start things off with Michael J. Fox at the free throw line. I wanted to see him doing flips on the roof of Stiles' van. I wanted to see him use his glowing red wolf eyes to make the guy at the liquor store sell him a keg, I wanted to see the guy in the wolf suit during the action scenes go Harlem Globetrotters all over the court. I wanted my campy, goofy, 80s cheese-tastic metaphor for puberty. I wanted what the show couldn't give me.

You know what? I might as well just go get what I wanted? I actually own the movie. Inspired by my niece speaking about the TV show, I decided to watch it when I got home. Figuring it to be a fun family experience, I included the wife and kids on my fun. As is normally the case when I pull a movie out of the deep freezer for family consumption, I've seen it a dozen times (but not in a number of years), my wife has seen it a few times and the kiddies have never laid eyes on it.

As soon as it started, there he was: a profusely sweating Michael J. Fox shooting free throws during yet another loss for Beacon High. The thing that pops out at the viewer is that Mr. Fox is obviously not a basketball player. His shooting motion alone is cringe worthy, almost as if he's never stepped foot on a court before. The thing is, no one else on the court seems to be much of a player. This contributes mightily to the movie having some of the worst sports choreography in cinematic history. I even noticed this as a kid way back when since I played nearly every day during my own years as a teen wolf. However, that's part of the movie's charm. It adds into all the campiness and becomes a key ingredient. It makes the leap in skill our hero has when he transforms into the wolf that much more astonishing. He goes from ninety-eight pound weakling to Michael Jordan in a manner of seconds.

Something else for you folks that have hung around here already know is that I've given favorable reviews to some raunchy stuff. I absolutely love the sleaze fest "Killer Joe," for instance. I'm also a dad, though. I wouldn't watch that movie with my kids. I'm not going to equate "Teen Wolf" to "Killer Joe," but there are a few moments that make a man squirm when his little girls are in the room watching. It was that worse kind of "questionable," too. There was nothing so blatant that I had to immediately jump up and shut it off, but it was enough to get the wife and I to give each other that "if this goes 'any' further, movie night is over" look.  I guess a side effect of my advancing age is forgetting about chunks of old movies even though I vividly remember others.

As I suspected, the kids enjoyed it. Truthfully, I always think they'll enjoy the old stuff I dust off for them. It doesn't always work out, but this time it did. It worked out so well that the kids suggested we immediately watch "Teen Wolf Too" to finish off the night. After all, it was on the same DVD. Since my girls threw the puppy dog eyes on me, I said yes and off we went. I was honestly kind of curious since I had never seen it. The sequel stars Jason Bateman and maaannnn, it's just an awful rehash of the first movie. It switches out basketball for boxing and does everything the first movie does with far less charm, skill, and tact. It was painful to sit through. Of course, this is the one my children preferred. I normally have all sorts of faith in my kids, but this inexcusable lack of judgement made me take at least one tiny step toward believing that this generation truly is hopeless.

Movies I Grew Up With: The Warriors

I've been a bit of an insomniac for as long as I can remember. So it's no surprise that my first encounter with many of the movies I grew up with occurred long after sundown on ABC's "The Late Show." It's where I saw such classics as Blacula, The Car, and today's subject, The Warriors. I was probably eleven or twelve years old the first time I saw it and I was hooked right from the start. By the pounding score that opens the film, the trains barreling through the New York City subways (which I was fascinated by since I actually knew some of the men in the neighborhood who worked for New York Transit Authority), hordes of young men in small cliques that all dressed alike boarding these trains headed for something they're not sure about, a sense of mystery was created. I just had to know what was going on. We quickly find out that these cliques are nine representatives of the city's various gangs. When they got to this big meeting, we see them all surrounding a makeshift stage. It's a scene that literally uses a thousand people, most of them extras. It's a pretty striking visual to introduce us to this world.

Then Cyrus (Roger Hill) speaks.

In true 1970s fashion, this was released theatrically in 1979, he asks us all "Can you count, suckas?" He then proceeds to run down how the gangs can take over New York due to the sheer manpower numbers and there is nothing the police can do about it, provided the gangs work together. To get his audience riled up, both in person and those of us watching from the safety of our mother's living rooms, he asks "Can you dig it?" But wait, it's more of an declaration, certainly an exclamation, rather than a question so I'll change the punctuation so you can understand. He says, "Can you dig it! Can you dig it! CAN YOU DIG IIIIIIIIIIITTTTTT!"

The crowd goes wild.

Then Cyrus is shot.

Dead.

We saw the guy who actually did the shooting, but no one else did. He tells everyone it was the Warriors. Cleon (Dorsey Wright), the leader of the Warriors happens to standing in a crowd of guys belonging to the Gramercy Riffs, Cyrus' gang. They put a beat down on Cleon and we never see him again. The remaining eight Warriors get away as the police show up. Now they have to make it back to their home turf of Coney Island. One little problem. Every gang in the city is after them.

From there, the movie is just a huge chunk of teenage boy/juvenile delinquent fantasy. The gangs all dress alike in the most amazing and/or awful outfits to ever grace the silver screen. Our heroes themselves opt for blue jeans and a brown leather vest that most wear without a shirt underneath. The Riffs mostly wear orange gais and all know martial arts. There are also the Turnbull AC's with their all denim look and bald heads. The Boppers are decked out in black dress shirts, purple vests, purple ties, purple fedoras, and white slacks. Nothing says 'gangsta' like white slacks. The Hi-Hats rock red shirts with black stripes down the sleeves, black suspenders and pants, and yes, they wear top hats. Oh, they also have their faces painted like mimes. Speaking of face paint, this brings us to the most famous gang of them all aside from the Warriors themselves, the Baseball Furies. Yes, their faces are all done up as well, but that's not what people remember most about them. Their outfit is a full blown baseball uniform, complete with cleats and a bat. I say 'Wow!' every time I see this movie.

Okay, we just gotta take a break for those of you who haven't seen it to understand the type of outfits I'm talking about...

The Warriors

The Gramercy Riffs

The Boppers

The Hi-Hats

The Baseball Furies

Got it? Good. Let's move on...

I've seen this movie God-knows-how-many times. No matter how often I watch it, I have a blast. Swan (Michael Beck), who takes over leadership of the Warriors after Cleon goes down is the coolest dude in the world. His butting heads with the hotheaded Ajax (James Remar) gives us some juicy tension within the group. The local radio DJ spinning tunes that serve as code for the gangs around the city while also giving them a play-by-play of the pursuit of our heroes is a stroke of cinematic genius. Masai (Edward Sewer), who takes over the Riffs is just as scary as Swan is cool. Of course, there's a girl. Her name is Mercy (Deborah Van Valkenburgh). She's tough and just kinda hangs around until Swan takes a liking to her. Speaking of girls, Mercedes Ruehl, whose credits include Last Action Hero, Big, and Married to the Mob, shows up as an undercover cop. Even a young Debra Winger shows up as an extra. Finally, David Patrick Kelly is just plain nutty as Luther, the leader of the Rogues and the man who shot Cyrus.

Back when I was a kid, I feel old just typing that, there were gangs. They were dangerous, but were not anywhere near the scourge on society the way we currently think of them. In terms of pop culture, we thought more of West Side Story or one of those outfits that had a run-in with The Fonze on Happy Days. Not quite on the same level, is it? The Warriors is a 1979 movie that exists as a midway point between the two extremes. These guys still have a predilection for looking goofy by dressing in matching outfits, but taking a life is sometimes part of the deal. They fall somewhere between West Side Story and Colors. Their attire would have them fit right in with the Sharks and the Jets. However, they aren't nearly so innocuous as to be doing musical numbers. On the other hand, they aren't the outright banes of urban humanity, the way they are in Colors. Or in real life.

That real life part is what makes The Warriors a little bit troublesome for me as a father. It can certainly be seen as a glorification of gangs. However, these gangs are so cartoonish they don't much resemble anything my kids have actually heard of, or possibly encountered. To be honest, it helps that these are a multicultural collection of knuckleheads and there are barely any guns present. A movie glorifying a cast solely consisting of Black and Latino young men would probably seem much more harsh to me. Cast as it is, it has more of a 'we're all knuckleheads' kind of feel. And like I said, it's a bit on the goofy side. So the thought of my son running out and joining a gang after seeing it never entered my mind. He watched and wondered what kind of madness I was showing him. My youngest daughter did the same, out loud, right at the beginning. As we see all of the different gangs assembling for the big meeting where Cyrus would meet his end, she said "If I see one more group all dressed up alike I'm going to scream." No, I hadn't warned her beforehand. She didn't scream, but she did roll her eyes really hard. By the end, they were both into it. And they both wanted to slap me as I sang along with Luther on his now famous deranged taunting of our heroes, "Warriors, come out to play-yay!" I just couldn't help myself. I won't be able to help myself next time, either.

R.I.P. Roger Hill AKA Cyrus

Jul. 31, 1948 - Feb. 25, 2014

Movies I Grew Up With: Purple Rain

I had heard of Prince as early as 1979. I was only eight years old. My mother bought a lot of records back then. One of them was Prince's self-titled second album. I don't remember her playing it much except for the opening track, "I Wanna Be Your Lover." It's a song I still love. In '81, I really liked his hit "Controversy." Since much of his material was on the racy side, that was about all I heard of the album of the same name until I got older and bought it for myself. Like much of the world, I really began to get much more acquainted with this musical genius in late '82, through '83 thanks to his two massive hits "1999" and "Little Red Corvette." Even at twelve years old, I had pretty good grasp on what the former was about. I had no clue on the latter, but damn if it didn't sound good. With these songs, and the help of Vanity 6 and The Time, two acts he practically birthed and nursed, he began to take over the world. Then the big news broke. Prince was going to be starring in a movie. Needless to say, I had to be there when it opened. The only question was how.

Actually, the how was simply a matter of convincing Mom to take us. It opened in July of '84 and we were there opening weekend because I was fairly decent at persistently begging. There is one odd thing about this part of the story, though. By this time, Mom decided she wasn't much of a Prince fan. This little fact is the source of a constant rift in our relationship. Okay, I'm just kidding. There is no rift, but definitely a difference of opinion. Anyhoo, she made the blasphemous decision to not see Purple Rain. She took all of us, her, myself, and my three siblings, to one of what was then a new-fangled thing - the gigantic multiplex. Purple Rain was playing in one of the theaters. Back then, at this theater, you didn't just buy a ticket at one centralized booth and walk in. They actually had a huge interior lobby with a separate ticket booth set up for every movie showing in the theater - all 14 of them. The line for PR took up most of the lobby. She stood with me and the brother nearest me in age until we got to the front, paid for two tickets for us and then went and saw something else. To this day, I have no idea what she saw. For reference though, Ghostbusters, Gremlins, The Karate Kid, Revenge of the Nerds, and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom were all still playing on the big screen at the time. No matter, I was walking into the Prince movie. I was happy.

The theater was so packed, my brother and I wound up sitting practically on top of the screen. I remember watching much of the movie either with my head cocked to the side or with my head leaned back so far my nose was practically vertical trying to take in the whole screen. That said, what I saw blew my mind. And by the end, I almost shed a tear. Almost.

The quick story synopsis goes as such: a semi-autobiographical movie about Prince. Need more? Okay. Prince actually plays The Kid, the lead everything of The Revolution. They headline at the nightclub First Avenue, but seem to be waning in popularity. Another group that performs there, The Time (yes, the same group as in real life), led by Morris Day (playing himself, sort of), wants the top spot and begins a campaign to get The Kid out. The two rivals are also smitten with Appollonia (also sort of playing herself), the new girl in town who wants to be a star, giving us a love triangle. Honestly, by the time I left the theater that evening I was in love with her, too. Finally, The Kid also has some serious problems at home as his father is abusive toward his mother.

It is a very well done rock-n-roll movie that is lots of fun. Prince dominates on stage. His performance of "Darling Nikki" is one of the meanest moments in movie musical history. Off the stage, he's actually not a bad actor. And he rides a cool motorcycle. It helps that he is basically playing himself, but plenty of people have played themselves poorly. Appollonia is not very good, but she is gorgeous. That definitely earned her a pass from me when I was one of those piles of hormones known as a thirteen year old. Hell, the fact she had a couple of topless scenes and another where she performed on stage in some trashy lingerie elevated her to a goddess in my eyes. Still, the true star of the show is Morris Day closely followed by Jerome Benton. Day is the de facto villain, but with Benton forms a terrific comic duo. I still consistently laugh at their exchanges, many of which can only be described as Abbot and Costello like routines. If you've seen this movie, you'll likely remember their "password" scene. Better yet, even their on-stage antics are funny...and funky.

The movie went on become a huge success. It opened #1 at the box office the last week of July, 1984 and stayed in the top 4 every week through September. It was top 10 every week until mid October. For the entire year, it was the 11th highest grossing movie grossing a cool $68 million domestically back when buying tickets didn't require a loan and a co-signer (or about $156 million today). Besides all this stuff about the story, the actors and whatever other movie stuff you want to talk about, the soundtrack is one of the greatest albums of all time. Period. The two combined helped Prince complete his quest for world domination. Everything that year was Prince. I very shortly had a copy of the album...yes, the actual vinyl record...and I can't tell you how fast I had every word of every song committed to memory. I bought any magazine I came across that had him on the cover, including several that devoted entire issues to him. Oddly, I didn't have a poster of him. My walls were reserved for the multitude of women lucky enough to be named Jet Beauty of the Week.

Over the years, I've returned to the movie often. I'm pretty sure I've seen it more than twenty times. However, I hadn't watched it in a couple years until just recently. Again, it was one of my children who was the catalyst for my re-introduction to a movie. Unlike other such occasions, I watched it alone. I'm not quite ready for my girls to see this movie in its full glory. They've seen parts of it on commercial TV airings, but not the actual R-rated version. I'm pretty 'lax in what I let them watch but I'm a bit more strict than my own mother was with me. At 16, my son pretty much has the keys to the movie car. One day, I heard him singing, badly, "When Doves Cry." I didn't think anything of it, figuring he probably heard it on one of the oldies' radio stations I sometime play when we're all in the car together. The next day he was singing "I Would Die 4 U" and The Time's "Jungle Love." Even though I already knew the answer, I still asked if he had watched "Purple Rain." He got a pretty sizable grin and responded that he had. Several times. Glad he liked it. Later that night, I popped it in the DVD player and traveled back to the year in which we were all trying to figure out what George Orwell had right and what he had wrong. Even Prince opened the show on a philosophical and reflective note...

Dearly Beloved,

We r gathered here 2day 2 get through this thing called life.

Electric word life,

It means '4ever' and that's a mighty long time

But I'm here 2 tell u there's something else

The afterworld

A world of never ending happiness

Where u can always see the sun

Day or night...

Preach brother, preach.

Movies I Grew Up With: Krush Groove

The story of the love affair between this particular movie and myself really begins a couple years before it was even released. In 1983, I became enamored with a group called Run-DMC beginning with their song “Here We Go.” Over the next year and a half I learned just about every word of both their debut self-titled album and their sophomore effort, “King of Rock.” I took the title song of the second album as my personal anthem.

Late summer, or early fall of 1985, I began seeing TV ads for a movie starring my heroes called Krush Groove. Yes! Not only was Run-DMC starring, but other hip hop legends such as Kurtis Blow, The Fat Boys, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, and even Prince’s latest ‘it’ girl, Sheila E. There was also this young rapper I’d just started listening to. Perhaps you’ve heard of this guy. He calls himself LL Cool J. Even though they weren't in the commercials, I'd be remiss if I failed to mention that the Beastie Boys and New Edition also appear. Needless to say, seeing this movie the day it hit theaters was priority number one. I started putting the word in with Mom, right away. In the way fourteen year olds often tend to, I let her know I would literally keel over and die if I didn’t see this movie as soon as it came out. Repeatedly.

Lo and behold, when opening night came Mom had to work third shift. She was a corrections officer at Riiker’s Island on rotating shifts in those days. There was no way she was going to take my siblings and I, plus my best friend and his little brother to the movies before having to pull an all-nighter at one of the nation’s most notorious prisons.

Thankfully, she planned ahead.

At the time, a friend of Mom’s was having some trouble getting on her feet so she was staying with us. Mom asked her to drag us all to the theater that night so that I wouldn’t die. At least, I think that’s why. Anyhoo, we arrived at Sunrise Theater, on Sunrise Highway of course, to find a line wrapped around the building for Krush Groove. At this point, our guardian for the evening asked me what I thought was the single dumbest question in the history of mankind. She said “Wow, look at this line. You guys sure you wanna stay?”

“You’re joking, right?” At least, that’s what I was thinking. I can’t remember exactly what I said, but I’m sure it was along the lines of “Hell yeah!” Okay, maybe not. The point is we stayed. We got in to the show we were trying to get into. Shortly after the movie started, so did the rock-rap hybrid “King of Rock.” Life was good.

The actual plot of Krush Groove is loosely based on the early days of Def Jam Recordings, the company founded by Russell Simmons that put him on the path to becoming a multi-media mogul. For the uninformed, he is the real life brother of Joseph Simmons, AKA Run of Run-DMC. He was actually the main character of the movie. Curiously, but wisely, he did not play himself as all the artists did, including his business partner Rick Rubin. Russell was played by Blair Underwood. There’s sibling rivalry, loan sharks, a love triangle, and of course, plenty of hip hop involved.

There was also plenty of comic relief whenever The Fat Boys were on the screen. Their show-stopping music video plopped into the middle of the film for “All You Can Eat” is just hilarious. Actually, just about everything they did had me in stitches. They were such an effective part of the movie, their performance earned them a collective multi-picture deal. Unfortunately, they only made one more movie, the flop Disorderlies where they co-starred alongside Ralph Bellamy.

Recently, during one of those rare times when there was not a “new to us” movie lying around the house, my family and I were trying to decide on a movie to watch. The proverbial light bulb came on over my head as I thought ‘hey, my wife and daughters love movies with lots of music and my son is a rap fan so let’s watch Krush Groove!’ When I said it out loud, I got mixed reactions but they agreed to watch.

Personally, I’ve seen it probably a couple dozen times since that night in 1985. My wife has seen it quite a bit also, but hadn’t watched it in a while. Of course, it was all brand new to our young’uns. As I suspected they had a grand time watching it. Granted, part of their fun was laughing at 80s fashion, but they still enjoyed the movie. They recognized some of the songs from my playing them around the house when I get in a nostalgic mood, so that was a plus.

Looking at it with my now more critical eye, I can much more easily see its flaws. For one, letting all of these artists play themselves was clearly a ploy to capitalize on their success in the musical arena. For the most part, they’re horrible actors. There are also a few plot holes to be found. Additionally, I am a little bit of a hip hop historian and this movie takes serious liberties with the facts even though most of the people involved know them much better than I. That said it is still lively and entertaining. Helping tremendously with this is the fact that the stuff with The Fat Boys still works. I still laugh. My kids also laughed. More importantly, they laughed in the right spots.

This movie also has one of my favorite cameos of all time. One scene shows the guys sitting around the office and auditioning acts. Just as they decide they are done for the day, a young man and his two buddies push their way in the door. It’s that LL guy. He says “Box!” One of his boys turns on the boom-box and he launches into the first verse from “I Can’t Live Without My Radio,” one of his earliest hits. Then he disappears from the movie just as fast as he showed up. To this day, it’s an intense and exciting forty-five seconds or so of film. Of course, he went on to an incredibly long and successful career in rap and later parlayed that into more longevity and success as an actor. Think about this: he starred in In the House, a sitcom that ran for four seasons, almost twenty years ago and has worked steadily as an actor ever since. I’ve always been a big fan of his, but must admit I will always harbor just a bit of hate for him. It’s not really his fault, per se, and she’ll never admit this, but I suspect my wife would seriously consider leaving me for him if presented with the opportunity. Damn you, James Todd Smith. Damn you.

The true testament to the fact that this movie still works is the way my kids reacted when it was over. When I put it in the DVD player, they thought they were doing me a favor by tolerating “one of dad’s old people movies.” By the time it was over, they were humming “All You Can Eat,” and talking about their favorite parts. They asked me to explain much of the 80s slang that permeates the dialogue. The wife and I reminisced on the good ol’ days. And all of us marveled at how much muscle Mr. LL has packed on since then. However, I really got my biggest confirmation that I’d introduced them to the right movie a few months later. I was at the computer banging out a post for this blog while my girls were in the next room trying to figure out what they wanted to watch. Without me saying a word, they picked Krush Groove.

Movies I Grew Up With: Enter the Dragon

As a very young boy, I had three famous idols. The first was none other than Muhammad Ali. Back then, I was just taken in by his charisma. As I grew and learned more about him, he became one of the people I most admire. The second was O.J. Simpson. Okay, that one didn’t work out too well. Still, at the time he was a great football player and had a squeaky clean image. Third was the one and only Bruce Lee. He passed away when I was two years old. Two or three years after that is when I became aware of him. This was largely thanks to his most famous movie, Enter the Dragon. Like with my other heroes I knew nothing of the man, but boy did he make some cool movies. This one is the coolest of them all.

Throughout my life I’ve returned to EtD dozens, if not hundreds of times. I know for certain that I’ve watched it at least once almost every year since I was five. I’d gamble that most of those years I watched it several times. During my military days, I found a group of drinking buddies that enjoyed kung-fu flicks. Once a week for a while we’d gather and watch one. You’d be correct in assuming that I made sure this was the feature attraction a time or two. Each of my children had at least one night during their infancy where they were draped across my chest sleeping while Bruce kicked ass in the background. My nieces and nephews who grew up in a house where their mom practically nursed them with Steven Seagal movies were given their first look at a “real” kung-fu movie when they spent the night at Uncle Dell’s house. All the while, I made sure to tell them that Bruce Lee would beat the ponytail off of Seagal. No one was safe.

This past year has seen my son start to become a cinephile in his own right. Aside from the constant rotation of rented, borrowed and streamed movies in my house, I also have a DVD collection of roughly 700 titles. The boy, now sixteen, has started combing his way through them. About two weeks ago, he announced to me he was going to watch all of the Bruce Lee movies. It then dawned on me that I hadn’t watched EtD in 2013. Yes! My son gave me an excuse to keep the streak alive. I gleefully sat down to watch it with him.

If you’re somehow unaware of what this movie, I’ll give you the short version. Mr. Han (Shih Kien) has a private island off the coast of Hong Kong and is hosting a martial arts tournament. “British Intelligence” suspects that Han is also trafficking drugs and running a prostitution ring there. They recruit “Mr. Lee”, Bruce – duh, to go in undercover and investigate. Before actually going though, Mr. Lee finds out that Han’s main henchman, O’Hara (Robert Wall), is responsible for the death of Mr. Lee’s sister. Two big subplots run alongside this main narrative. One is about Roper (John Saxon), a white fighter and playboy type there in part to escape his gambling debts. The other is about Williams (Jim Kelly), a black fighter just there for the tourney. He had to deal with some racist cops before boarding his flight and just happens to be an old friend of Roper’s.

Right from the start, I remember why I keep coming back to this movie. First of all, everything Bruce Lee does is amazing. The opening sequence of him beating the crap out of a very young Sammo Hung just sets the stage for what’s to come. Hung had a pretty successful career as an actor including a starring role on the American cop series Martial Law, which ran for a few seasons beginning in 1998. He is now one of the most revered figures in the history of Chinese cinema and one of the most sought after fight choreographers in the industry. His work on the Ip Man movies is astounding. Lee’s one-on-one battle, if you can call it that, with O’Hara is an epic display of hand speed. The true highlight for me, though, is his battle with the guards. This is the very pinnacle of movie martial arts, only equaled by Bruce’s showdown with Chuck Norris in The Way of the Dragon. Lee choreographed both, by the way. During this scene one of the guards gets his neck broken. You probably won’t even look at his face, let alone realize who he is, but its some teenager named Jackie Chan. He was actually used in a few of Lee’s movies then he did one or two things you might know.

In addition to Bruce, John Saxon and Jim Kelly also shine. They add a sense of style and certainly an American sheen to the proceedings. While our hero is being elevated to a mythical stature, these other two are the guys we can relate to. They bring humor and they still get it done when it’s time to throw hands…and feet. Saxon went on to a long career. Kelly’s career in movies wouldn’t be nearly as long, but he became a Blaxploitation icon. This movie also introduced me to the great Bolo Yeung. He still scares me a little. Finally, Shih Kien as Mr. Han is one of the coolest villains ever. I say this even though I’ve now noticed some inconsistencies with his false left hand. As the movie progresses he switches it out for something sharper and more heinous several times. However, when we think it is just a hand we see him move the fingers.

In the decades since I’ve first seen it, I’ve come to realize that Enter the Dragon is not only a showcase for Bruce Lee’s amazing physical skills, but touches on the philosophies he’s become famous for as well. He waxes poetic on the ways of Jeet Kun Do, the style of martial arts he actually invented. No, in the movie he never calls it this, but if you’re familiar with Bruce’s ideas on fighting you’ll recognize it when he says things like “the greatest technique is to have no technique.”

My son had seen the movie before. He was much younger, and in recent years I haven't forced him to see it whenever I did. It was long enough ago that I covered his eyes during the several naughty parts. I did no such thing this time and we had a grand time watching. For him, the time since he last saw it made this like a first viewing. He is where I once was in regards to this movie. He knows nothing of Bruce Lee’s depth or incredible worldwide impact on martial arts both in the movies and in real life, aside from my blabbing during the film. He doesn’t care that EtD is such an achievement that in 2004 it was deemed “culturally significant” and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. He just knows that this is one cool ass movie. I hope he’ll sit down with me when I watch it again in six months or so.