On the fun and hilarious
“bad movie” podcast
The Flop House
They have a great way to rate the movies they dissect each episode: Bad-Bad Movie,Good-Bad Movie and Movie You Actually Liked. Today’s post is about the last of these three options–films from the 80s that have a fairly negative reputation, but that you genuinely enjoy without irony and happily watch again and again.
These are films where the seams definitely show and you can understand why some other folks might dismiss them, but you are able to ignore all the obvious flaws and just love them sincerely and unapologetically. I’m bringing this up, because one of my favourites is coming out on Blu-ray today and I’M SO EXCITED!
As you’ve already guessed because the poster is right there at the top of this post, the film in question is The Legend of Billie Jean starring a post-Supergirl Helen Slater as a young woman whose attempt to get the money owed for her brother’s wrecked scooter leads her on a path to becoming a statewide folk legend and fugitive from the law.
It’s a fundamentally silly movie, but it actually addresses serious issues like social class, rape culture and the power of the media in a way that doesn’t actually force you to think about them, but still feel satisfied knowing they are there.
Billie Jean is the girl from the trailer park all of the boys in town are interested in, but she doesn’t return their fascination, which is made evident by the first of the two songs that make the film’s soundtrack one of the all-time best of the 80s–The Divinyls’ classic lamentation of small-town life, “Boys in Town”:
Her beauty brings her to the attention of douchebag named Hubie, but when she fails to reciprocate, he responds by stealing and vandalizing her brother Binx’s (a young Christian Slater) brand new scooter. She responds by going to his father’s store to demand the $618 required for repairs, only to have the older man tell her she can have the money in $50 installments for which he expects “something” (the use of quotation marks means I am referring to sex) in return. This quickly escalates into a situation where the man is accidentally shot and wounded.
Billie Jean and Binx panic and decide to flee town–joined by their friends Putter (who your ears will recognize as the future voice of Lisa Simpson) and Ophelia. Her sex appeal turns the story into a statewide sensation and after an attempt to turn themselves in to the cops is messed up by Hubie and his friend, they hole up in the home of a young rich kid named Lloyd (future director of Mother Night and The Chocolate War, Keith Gordon). There Billie Jean is inspired by a clip of Jean Seberg from Otto Preminger’s Joan of Ark to cut off her long hair and record a video where she tells her side of the story and concludes with what will become the film’s catchphrase–“Fair is fair!”
To say anymore will spoil it, but it’s not giving anything away to say that the in the age of viral videos, this is definitely a film that could be done right with a modern remake. So long as it made sure to include the one element that ties it all together and helps it transcend its many absurdities.
I am, of course, talking about Pat Benatar’s “Invincible”:
I’m not sure if I love this song as much as I do because it’s awesome or because of how it brings back memories of a film I think is awesome or if it’s a tangled skein where both elements come into play, but I do know that–shockingly–Benatar was actually a major reason the film was hard to see for far longer than it had any right to be.
Despite it’s cult popularity, the film was kept off DVD until just a few years ago, largely thanks to Benatar’s refusal to clear the music rights to the song (she’s gone on record that she very vehemently disagrees with my appraisal of the film’s appeal, which she apparently regards as one of the worst she’s ever seen). In the past disputes like this have been resolved by replacing the song in question with other music, but here everyone involved correctly concluded that a The Legend of Billie Jean without “Invincible” simply would not work. It’s such a major reason why the people who love the film love it that to take it out would completely alienate them, making it pointless to release it at all.
But eventually Benatar relented and after being released as a MOD (Made On Demand) specialty disk, it’s now getting the full Blu-ray treatment. And I’m ecstatic and can’t wait until my copy arrives.
Is there a film like this that you love? Is it well-known enough to be easy to find or did you have to get creative to find a copy? Can you think of a film from this period that you remember loving like I do The Legend of Billie Jean, but have no idea how you would respond to it today because you’ve never been able to see it again?
This is a loaded question. There are a ton of great cheesy 80s movies
Peggy Sue Got Married – get ready for some old fashioned Nicolas Cage fun.
Adventures In Babysitting
The Man with Two Brains
Airplane
Mannequin
BeetleJuice
and two movie that make it in my top 10 movies of all time…Ghostbusters and 16 Candles. Long. Duck. Dong.
Weird Science
“Radioactive Dreams,” which is (unfortunately) not available on DVD. Loved this movie, but admittedly, I haven’t seen it since the 80’s. I still remember the plot: Two young boys grow up in a bunker stocked with hardboiled detective novels and 1940’s style clothing. They emerge as adults into a Mad Max-esque world of mutant biker gangs, looking for the fathers who abandoned them (and who may have caused the apocalypse). Weird stuff. It ends with a pretty cool dance number.
I haven’t seen that one, but I recently watched Pyun’s VISCIOUS LIPS, which features a club named “Radioactive Dreams” as a direct reference to his previous film. Like a lot of Pyun’s films it has some cool ideals and effects, but is ultimately undone by his willingness to compromise far more than he should. It’s about a futuristic, space-traveling all-girl rock band who get stranded on a desert planet with an alien serial killer and STILL managed to be a disappointment. The music was really good, though.
There are so many, but I would have to say Megaforce. Rocket firing motorcycles and dune buggies, spandex jumpsuits and Barry Bostwick saying, “The good guys always win! Even in the 80s!” Check out
http://www.megaforcehq.com for more cheesy goodness.
I’m very familiar! Here’s a post from my personal website: http://allan-mott.squarespace.com/megaforce/
I met Barry Bostwick and Michael Beck at the same autograph show, and they were both fun to talk to. Beck said that Persis Khambatta was, “A real lady who wasn’t just beautiful on the outside.” He also said he was a last minute replacement for Jerry Reed who originally got the part. He is retired from acting these days and is writing his memoirs.