VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: Porky’s 1 (1982)

Claire: 4.4/5 stars, 8/10.
Carolyn: 3/5 stars, 7/10.
Native ratings: 3.3/5 stars Netflix, 6.0/10 IMDB.

Claire had seen this when he was a kid, but Carolyn had never seen it. Claire actually rememebered nothing, but he liked the comedic effect of having an actual conflict. It’s an entertaining movie with tons of laugh-out-loud moments.

One thing that is interesting about 1954, when this takes place, is that cops aren’t such fucking assholes. People don’t run and go the other way from a cop. They don’t keep their distance. They’ll talk to them the same as any other. Kids will get drunk and run around making trouble, but if they see that nobody is really getting hurt, the cops don’t give a shit. They’re primarily concerned about *protecting* people.

Fancy that! So idealized. But this is the way it should be. Not how it is in America now. This was a nice glimpse at our police, pre-militarization, back when they were actually peace officers and not intimidators. Sure, the downtrodden races depicted in the various Porky’s movies have more equal rights nowadays, but every single one of has us diminished rights compared to 1954. Looking back at the way it is supposed to be — it looks strange and foreign. It shouldn’t.

Written & directed by Bob Clark (A Christmas Story).

Dan Monahan as Pee Wee.
Mark Herrier (1 ep of M.A.S.H.) as Billy.
Wyatt Knight (1 ep of Star Trek: The Next Generation, 1 ep of Family Ties) as Tommy.
Roger Wilson as Mickey.
Cyril O’Reilly (Airplane!, 1 ep of The X-Files, 1 ep of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, 1 ep of M.A.S.H.) as Tim. (When I saw his name, I kept thinking of Cyril O’Reily from Oz.
Tony Ganios (Die Hard 2) as Meat.
Kaki Hunter (Just The Way You Are) as Wendy.
Kim Cattrall (Dee in Producing Parker, Samantha in Sex And The City, Star Trek 6, Big Trouble In Little China, Police Academy, Mannequin, 2 eps of The Simpsons, 1 ep of Duckman, 1 ep of Rugrats, 1 ep of Dream On,) as Honeywell.
Nancy Parsons (Where the Buffalo Roam, Steel Magnolias, 1 ep of Star Trek: The Next Generation) as Balbricker.
Scott Colomby (Caddyshack, 1 ep of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures Of Superman, 1 ep of The A-Team) as Brian Schwartz.
Boyd Gaines (The Sure Thing, Fame, 1 ep of Frasier, 1 ep of Caroline In The City) as Coach Brackett.
Doug McGrath (The Rocketeer, 1 ep of Puppets Who Kill) as Coach Warren.
Susan Clark (Webster, Maid In America) as Cherry Forever.
Alex Karras (Webster, Maid In America, 1 ep of The Ben Stiller Show, 1 ep of M.A.S.H.) as Sheriff Wallace.
Chuck Mitchell (Better Off Dead) as Porky.

LINK URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084522/combined

 

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: Fast Times At Ridgemont High (1982)

VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: Fast Times At Ridgemont High (1982)

Clio: 4.4/5 stars, 8.4/10.
Carolyn: 3/5 stars, 7/10.
Native ratings: 3.8/5 stars Netflix, 7.2/10 IMDB.

We watched a few flashback movies this week, and this was the one we watched right after Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. I thought it was quite comparable to Ferris Bueller, but for some reason, Carolyn disagreed.

Carolyn’s thinking was more along the lines that this movie was alright, but that not much happened plotwise. “It wasn’t particularly hilarious… It was decent, though.”

Basically, it was about one year in high school.  It follows kids around from the first day of school through the last day of school/graduation dance.  You have the hot senior who struggles with finding a good job, you have his sophomore sister struggling to lose her virginity, you have her friend who is dating an older guy, you have the guy who likes the sophomore but is too shy to make a move, you have his best friend who ends up sleeping with the sophomore, and then you have a stoner surfer dude who is barely related to the rest of the cast but is just thrown in so you can have a stoner surfer dude.  And the hardass teacher who just wants to get his class to learn American History, but thinks everyone is on dope.
There were conflicts (losing virginity, dealing with jerks who don’t call after you put out, other jerks who desert you when you need them, best friends sleeping with the girl you like, abortion, getting the girl, etc).
From the director of Clueless, and the writer of Vanilla Sky & Singles. David Lynch was the studio-chosen director, but he didn’t want to do a comedy.
With Sean Penn (Milk, 21 Grams), Jennifer Jason Leigh (Weeds, Road To Perdition, eXistenZ, The Hudsucker Proxy, Single White Female), Judge Reinhold (Stripes, Gremlins, Swing Vote, Arrested Development, he’the Honorable Judge Reinhold in both Arrested Development and Clerks:TAS), Robert Romanus (hey, he was his character from this movie, “Mike Damone”, in one episode of Family Guy! Other than that, he was in American Pie 7: The Book Of Love). Mr. Hand went on to be the only actor to reprise his role in the short-lived 7-episode “Fast Times” TV series.
AND NIC CAGE! NIC CAGE’S FIRST-EVER MOVIE! He has no speaking lines (except in the TV-only version) and is on-screen for only a few seconds. He is credited as Nicolas Coppola.

3 of the actors won Oscars for Best Actor in later movies.

Bonus points for featuring a copy of Artchur C. Clarke’s Childhood’s End book, 14 clips of old-school videogames, and epilogues for the main characters’ ultimate fate after the movie ended. Unlike Carolyn, I think this was a great stoner high school comedy.

LINK URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083929/combined