MOFO 80's Teen Movie Hall of Fame

When I was younger, I remember 3 instances of bullying towards me. One, some guy on a scooter stopped and threatened to shove my candy up my ass if I didn't give it to him. Two; some guy jumped on me and wanted my comic books, he pinned me down for ten or so minutes and three, a kid in my elementary school class would rub my snacks on his balls so that I would be grossed out and he could eat them. This movie brought those memories back. While I was in high school, I was neither the popular kid, nor the loser. I was one of the many kids caught in the grey area in between. If they made a high school teen movie in my area, I'd be the kid in the background.

My Bodyguard is a coming of age comedy/life lesson about a young kid who is new to a school and immediately pisses off the school bully, played by a young Matt Dillon. In order to get the bully off his back, he tries to hire the giant psychotic loner, played by Adam Baldwin. Everyone is afraid of the big guy, so it works. Yet the new kid wants to know more about this guy and actively tries to be his friend. Soon they hit it off, but the bully has a few more tricks up his sleeve in order to get even.

In the early 80's, films still had the 70's feel. So this film didn't feel like an 80's teen movie to me until maybe halfway through? Still, I was surprised that I liked it as much as I did. I was expecting this to be on the lower end of my ranking, but I don't feel like that will be the case. I wanted to know how this whole ordeal was going to end for everyone involved. The acting from everyone here is pretty bad (especially the ginger kid), with the exception of Matt Dillon, he portrays a convincing bully with an ego. He has that look down pat, it's mainly in the hair style.

I was taken back by the dramatic aspects they present here. The backstory to Baldwin's character is tragic. I applaud them for not spelling it out for people at times and just letting us know throw hints at his depression. The grandmother immediately took notice and tried her best to give him a glimmer of hope for his future. The story about his little brother is sad and even sadder later on when more is revealed. Would something like that be in a movie today? Probably not.

My Bodyguard is a genuine surprise for me and one that I am glad I got to see. Otherwise, I would have never seen it.

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Suspect's Reviews

Crossroads, this was more of an interesting film than one I enjoyed. It's the story of a young man who finds a famous blues guitarist as the hitch-hike to the crossroads where they come across the Devil. I thought this movie was just all over the place in some ways I think it should have been an episode of Amazing Stories and cut down to an hour, or wait a few years and come out in the 1990's with better FX. For me this one just felt like a film out of time. One of the interesting things I found out about this was that they guy who played the Devil was dead when the film came out...thought that was a bit ghoulish.

Wow. I did not know that about the actor. Thanks for posting.

Yeah, that is a bit weird about the actor

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I'm grouping the following comments together. First, my thoughts are short. Second, I feel pretty much the same about both. Neither really excited me. While these two entries never present themselves as horror (maybe some of the final chase in Once Bitten), it is hard for me not to compare it to other movies that ventured a bit deeper into the genre and were more successful as a comedic medium. Lost Boys (at least with the Coreys' interactions), Fright Night, The Monster Squad all come to mind.

Once Bitten
Though it was a novelty to watch a movie knowing full well that I had no idea who the hell Jim Carrey was way back when, I never really got too invested in Once Bitten past that. I can’t place my finger on why exactly I feel the way I do with this movie. The cast seemed fine. I Loved Carrey in In Living Color and later even more so with his Ace Ventura flick. Lauren Hutton should have been every pre-teen boy’s fantasy, especially considering her constant low-cut wardrobe. She definitely was mine, at the time. Vampires are always fun for a movie escape. This one though just never rose above mediocre Police Academy sequel snickers to compete with much of the other entries of the decade, IMO.

Teen Wolf
Again, I struggle finding much attraction to this entry. Like Once Bitten, I feel I should enjoy it more than I do. Apart from the opening scene and the anxiety of standing a free-throw line for the closing seconds of a big game, nothing grabbed me. Sure, Fox was charming. His comedic timing and energy was spot-on (as always). Everything just felt deliberate and staged where the only thing to separate it from the pack was a werewolf gimmick. I suppose that could have been interesting to me if anyone reacted accordingly when seeing a friggin werewolf dribbling a ball down court during a high school basketball game. I know this is comedy and was not meant to be in the horror camp, but I would expect some level of fear from the teams. Or at the very least, families running from the stands! Cats and dogs living together, mast hysteria, kids crying because a naked American stole their balloons! Wait. Wrong movie.

Idunno. Teenage local angst, but as a werewolf. Without the consequences? I had a hard time with this movie when I was young. Nothing has changed.

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"My Dionne Warwick understanding of your dream indicates that you are ambivalent on how you want life to eventually screw you." - Joel

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Just two films left to watch now and I might watch the extra nominations too. I am so glad that I decided to continue on with this. I posted that I was going to quit about a week ago, or slightly longer. I deleted my post straight away though and decided to continue!

Way to go! Glad you hanged in there. You might dig Weird Science.

Great post!

I was trying to hold it together until you got to the part about being jumped for your comic books! (I'm just glad no bullies tried to take my comic books, I'm thinking the outcome may have been different than those of most of my other bullying experiences.)

I've posted this bit of trivia before, but in the movie Drillbit Taylor (2008) - another movie about high school bullying - there's a scene where the group of boys who are victims are conducting interviews for someone to protect them - it's shot montage style as the applicants come and go. At one point one applicant is now fully grown Adam Baldwin who just says, "Kids hiring a bodyguard to take care of a bully? Stupidest thing I ever heard."

That one cameo Easter Egg with a reference to a relatively obscure movie made that flick for me!

Disappointed that so many people thought Teen Wolf was mediocre at best.

Sorry bro, but it was no Amelie

Sorry dude. Its never been a contender but i understand how a movie can hold certain charms for ppl. Some of the stuff i love a lot of ppl just think is eh

lol.
For me, I think it goes direct to my state of mind as a kid. I mean of what I was attracted to then in movies and what I was not. I remember having strong feelings against Teen Wolf (omg I keep typing Teen Worf for some damn reason lol). I just can't remember WHY I had such feelings. Maybe it was the follow-up Saturday cartoon? I don't know, but I'm betting it was just the style of movie. I was not a jock either and actually had a huge bias against sports and athletes. Maybe that's a factor?

I should watch it again though. Soon. It has been a few weeks between viewing and commenting so it's totally possible that my rear view mirror here is foggy from old reflections. I'll go through it again once I'm done with the list.

I've had a couple of absolute favorites hit very low for everyone else. We all have.

Yeah, no one seemed to like Grease 2 but me an Nostro and he's not even in the HoF!

I've got 2 left. Crossroads is one I've been putting off. Hope the movie proves my expectations wrong.

Have you seen it before?