Dr. Death Proof's 80's Flick Extravanganza and Shenanigans

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I mainline Windex and horse tranquilizer
Midnight Madness (1980)






In the early 80's, as cable TV became more popular, pay channels were throwing anything they could find on their channels. Midnight Madness is one of them, having popped up on HBO after an unremarkable theatrical run.



An eccentric grad student invites five groups of college students to participate in an all-night game finding clues all over Los Angeles. The Yellow Team, led by singer/actor David Naughton before he got bitten by a werewolf, also features a young actor named Michael Fox. I wonder whatever happened to him.


The other teams are a feminist sorority, a bunch of lunk-headed jocks, a team of nerds led by Eddie Deezen, and a group of entitled cheaters led by slovenly Stephen Furst. Each driving a signature vehicle and wearing color-coded sweatshirts, the teams race across the city solving clues and trying to get to the finish.








Midnight Madness was written and directed by Michael Nankin. (The Gate, Life Goes On, Chicago Hope, American Gothic)








An unremarkable but amusing comedy. It's fun to see a young Michael J. Fox in his first role and seeing Stephen Furst playing against type as a scheming slob. Perpetual 80's nerd Eddie Deezen helps to provide the laughs and Simpsons regular Maggie Roswell is the leader of the "feminist" team.





3 Red out of Blue.
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Midnight Madness (1980)
also features a young actor named Michael Fox. I wonder whatever happened to him.
Not a great movie, but as far as early Fox performances go, High School USA is pretty fun. Fox plays a kid who lives in a surprisingly nice home despite being a destitute orphan, is friends with Todd Bridges, who brings a robot to the prom, and gets goaded by his principal to enter a death-defying race with rich ******* Anthony Edwards.



I mainline Windex and horse tranquilizer
Not a great movie, but as far as early Fox performances go, High School USA is pretty fun. Fox plays a kid who lives in a surprisingly nice home despite being a destitute orphan, is friends with Todd Bridges, who brings a robot to the prom, and gets goaded by his principal to enter a death-defying race with rich ******* Anthony Edwards.

I remember that one, mainly for Bridges who was channeling a sort of pre-Urkel nerd character. Haven't seen it in decades.



I remember that one, mainly for Bridges who was channeling a sort of pre-Urkel nerd character. Haven't seen it in decades.
It's on Tubi. Not a priority, but I enjoyed it enough when I watched it last year.



I mainline Windex and horse tranquilizer
Used Cars (1980)





Three things made the 80's great for movies: Robert Zemeckis, Kurt Russell, and Lenny & Squiggy. This movie has them all.

Rudy Russo is a used car salesman who has aspirations of running for state senate. His boss, Luke, has a brother, Roy, that owns a rival used car lot right across the street. Roy has information that a freeway will be built through the area and is scheming to acquire Luke's lot. Rudy and his friends engage in a war against Roy which is complicated by Luke's daughter showing up and having sex with Kurt Russell.





This movie has it all: Lenny & Squiggy, strippers, a black guy turning a hose on some nuns, exploding Mercedes, Jack Warden in a dual role, and Jimmy Carter.










Used Cars was Directed by Robert Zemekis and written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale.







It seems like Used Cars has gotten lost over the years but it's a solid comedy. Unfortunately PG-13 movies eventually took over in the 90's and the classic 70's and 80's comedies with foul language and titties faded away for a while. But it's a solid cast - Kurt Russell, Michael McKean, Jack Warden, Gerrit Graham, etc. and a fun watch. Keep an eye for Wendy Jo Sperber (who would pop up in Zemeckis' Back to the Future as Marty's older sister) and actress/director Betty Thomas as one of the strippers.





7 Lincolns out of 10



Victim of The Night
Midnight Madness (1980)






In the early 80's, as cable TV became more popular, pay channels were throwing anything they could find on their channels. Midnight Madness is one of them, having popped up on HBO after an unremarkable theatrical run.



An eccentric grad student invites five groups of college students to participate in an all-night game finding clues all over Los Angeles. The Yellow Team, led by singer/actor David Naughton before he got bitten by a werewolf, also features a young actor named Michael Fox. I wonder whatever happened to him.


The other teams are a feminist sorority, a bunch of lunk-headed jocks, a team of nerds led by Eddie Deezen, and a group of entitled cheaters led by slovenly Stephen Furst. Each driving a signature vehicle and wearing color-coded sweatshirts, the teams race across the city solving clues and trying to get to the finish.








Midnight Madness was written and directed by Michael Nankin. (The Gate, Life Goes On, Chicago Hope, American Gothic)








An unremarkable but amusing comedy. It's fun to see a young Michael J. Fox in his first role and seeing Stephen Furst playing against type as a scheming slob. Perpetual 80's nerd Eddie Deezen helps to provide the laughs and Simpsons regular Maggie Roswell is the leader of the "feminist" team.





3 Red out of Blue.
I was a huge fan of this when I was young and I must have watched it 30 times.
"Hug Me?!"
I loved the guy who dove into the vat at the brewery and drank his way out, singing the Pabst Blue Ribbon song.
Actually a lotta little things I enjoyed in this. It's a fun if slight scavenger-hunt movie for young people.



Victim of The Night
Have not seen, nor heard of "Midnight Madness". Nice dig and noted to look up.


Have I mentioned I like camp?
It's just a little on the juvenile side, meaning that it's perhaps a bit more family-friendly than one might like, a shade more edge might have done the humor in this movie good, but it's fun enough for a Sunday afternoon.



Used Cars (1980)
Keep an eye for Wendy Jo Sperber (who would pop up in Zemeckis' Back to the Future as Marty's older sister)...


Wendie Jo Sperber made her film debut starring in Zemeckis & Gale's debut I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978) and was one of the huge cast in 1941 (1979) which Zemeckis & Gale wrote for Spielberg. Then post-Used Cars it was "Bosom Buddies" and Bachelor Party with Tom Hanks before Back to the Future.
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Hope to see this one pop up in the thread at some point. I watched it recently and quite enjoyed it. Hanks gives a kind of loose, spontaneous performance that he stopped doing in the following decades.



Hope to see this one pop up in the thread at some point. I watched it recently and quite enjoyed it. Hanks gives a kind of loose, spontaneous performance that he stopped doing in the following decades.
One of my favorites.

I got married in 2018 and being way too old for the kind of hijinks in the film I elected to rent out a movie theatre and screen Bachelor Party as my defacto Bachelor Party. It was a lot of fun. I can quote that entire flick by heart.





Victim of The Night
Hope to see this one pop up in the thread at some point. I watched it recently and quite enjoyed it. Hanks gives a kind of loose, spontaneous performance that he stopped doing in the following decades.
I continue to find that one really amusing.



Midnight Madness (1980)






In the early 80's, as cable TV became more popular, pay channels were throwing anything they could find on their channels. Midnight Madness is one of them, having popped up on HBO after an unremarkable theatrical run.



An eccentric grad student invites five groups of college students to participate in an all-night game finding clues all over Los Angeles. The Yellow Team, led by singer/actor David Naughton before he got bitten by a werewolf, also features a young actor named Michael Fox. I wonder whatever happened to him.


The other teams are a feminist sorority, a bunch of lunk-headed jocks, a team of nerds led by Eddie Deezen, and a group of entitled cheaters led by slovenly Stephen Furst. Each driving a signature vehicle and wearing color-coded sweatshirts, the teams race across the city solving clues and trying to get to the finish.








Midnight Madness was written and directed by Michael Nankin. (The Gate, Life Goes On, Chicago Hope, American Gothic)








An unremarkable but amusing comedy. It's fun to see a young Michael J. Fox in his first role and seeing Stephen Furst playing against type as a scheming slob. Perpetual 80's nerd Eddie Deezen helps to provide the laughs and Simpsons regular Maggie Roswell is the leader of the "feminist" team.





3 Red out of Blue.



I loved this as a kid. A couple years ago I saw it was streaming on one of the services and reluctantly decided to give it a go and to my surprise, I still enjoyed it.

High School USA, I haven't thought about in decades. It's another one I watched over and over and probably still have it on vhs somewhere. Weren't Nancy and Mindy from The Facts of Life in it as well?



I mainline Windex and horse tranquilizer
I loved this as a kid. A couple years ago I saw it was streaming on one of the services and reluctantly decided to give it a go and to my surprise, I still enjoyed it.

High School USA, I haven't thought about in decades. It's another one I watched over and over and probably still have it on vhs somewhere. Weren't Nancy and Mindy from The Facts of Life in it as well?

It's been decades since I saw it, but what I didn't realize was how many young actors were in it:



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_School_U.S.A.


Michael J Fox, Nancy McKean, Crispin Glover, Crystal Bernard, Dana Plato, Todd Bridges, Angela Cartwright, Anthony Edwards, Jon Gries...I had no idea they were all in it. I'm gonna need to rewatch it.



It's been decades since I saw it, but what I didn't realize was how many young actors were in it:



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_School_U.S.A.


Michael J Fox, Nancy McKean, Crispin Glover, Crystal Bernard, Dana Plato, Todd Bridges, Angela Cartwright, Anthony Edwards, Jon Gries...I had no idea they were all in it. I'm gonna need to rewatch it.

I've gotta watch this. I think I saw it back when Elrond was exhorting Isildur to throw jewelry into a volcano. It feels familiar, but






I mainline Windex and horse tranquilizer
Bustin' Loose (1981)





For a while in the 80's, it seemed like Richard Pryor was drifting to more "family friendly" movies. Family friendly for Pryor, anyway. The Toy, Superman III, Brewster's Millions... and although it garnered an R rating due to language, Bustin' Loose would fall into that category.

Pryor is Joe Braxton, a convict who violates his parole when he's caught stealing televisions. He's given a second chance at parole by his parole officer in exchange for doing him a big favor: driving eight special needs students across the country in a decrepit school bus along with their teacher (who is also the parole officer's girlfriend).



On the way, Braxton endures the KKK, a pyramid scheme, and the different personalities of the kids.










Bustin' Loose was directed by Oz Scott (Hill Street Blues, The Jeffersons, Alice, 227, The Cosby Show, Chicago Hope, CSI, et al)







Not his best, not his worst, but a passable movie to watch on a Saturday afternoon. Seeing Pryor interact with the kids warms the heart.




4 trapezoids out of 5



Watched that one recently (it was on the Criterion Channel a few months agoago) and enjoyed it. Is it schmaltzy? Sure, but I do think there's something moving in seeing Pryor and the kids discover a sense of dignity.



I mainline Windex and horse tranquilizer
Caveman (1981)









This was the perfect movie for a 10 year old. Barbara Bach in a fur bikini, stop motion dinosaurs, a yeti, and poop jokes. Still, it's a funny movie and has a lot of heart.





Ringo Starr (believe it or not) is Atouk - a scrawny caveman who isn't a physical match for the others in his clan but is the smartest guy in the room. Unfortunately for Atouk, he desires Lana (Barbara Bach) who is the mate of the clan's leader, the monstrous Tonda. (6'8, 280 pound former Oakland Raider John Matuszak, who was also Sloth in The Goonies) After humiliating himself trying to get close to Lana, Atouk is kicked out of the clan and forms his own - discovering fire, the wheel, music and Shelley Long's fanny.



.







Caveman was directed by actor and writer Carl Gottlieb. (Jaws, The Jerk, Doctor Detroit)








Caveman is far from a "smart" comedy but there's a lot worse out there. It's fun, it actually uses stop motion or practical effects for the dinosaurs, and it's got a good cast. Starr is passable as the goofy lead, Matuszak is a beast of a man and Barbara Bach (Starr's wife in real life) is stunning. Shelley Long is adorable. Also featured are a young Dennis Quaid, Jack Gilford, Evan Kim, and Richard Moll as the abominable snowman.






4 dinosaur eggs out of 5



"Bustin' Loose" My least favorite Pryor output. Actually gave it a second viewing and came away with the same feeling.


"Caveman" I so love this trashy little comedy. Matuszak was also very good in "North Dallas Forty".