I hope you don’t mind if I focus on a hometown hero that often gets overlooked. Today Marshall Crenshaw celebrates birthday 72. He was born in Detroit, Michigan and was raised in the suburb of Berkley. A radio buddy of mine went to high school with him.
He had hit songs with “Cynical Girl” and “Whenever You’re On My Mind” in the early 80’s. He has said that Buddy Holly was an influence, and early on he was often said to look like him. Perhaps that is why he was cast as Buddy Holly in the movie La Bamba?
Crenshaw was also co-writer of one of the Gin Blossom’s big hits, “Til I Hear It From You.”
Robert Gordon recorded one of his songs in 1981 – “Someday, Someway.” His version went to number 76 on the chart. Crenshaw recorded the song himself in 1982. He released it and it reached number 36 on the Billboard Top 40 Hit chart. It would be his only Top 40 song. Both versions saw early success on New York radio, though Crenshaw’s rendition saw greater success nationally.
Crenshaw wrote the song while he was in New York where he played John Lennon in the musical Beatlemania. He says, “I wrote ‘Someday, Someway’ and five or six of the other tunes on my first album. I wrote those in my hotel room. That was my next move in life, to be a recording artist. I actually had a sense of artistic direction and off I went.”
Someday, Someway was inspired by Gene Vincent’s song “Lotta Lovin’.” Crenshaw said, “I wanted to take the beat and atmosphere of a 1950s Rock and Roll record that I loved … and build something around that. I came up with the music first for ‘Someday’ and dug that it was kind of hypnotic, very spare and succinct.”
Let’s celebrate his birthday with his biggest song –
Welcome back to The Music of My Life, where I feature ten songs from each year of my life. In most cases, the ten songs I choose will be ones I like personally (unless I explain otherwise). The songs will be selected from Billboard’s Year-end Hot 100 Chart, Acclaimed Music, and will all be released in the featured year.
1988 was a very big year for me. It was the year I graduated from high school. It was also the year that I landed my first radio job. As graduation day grew closer, I began counting all of the “lasts.” The last marching band performance. The last band concert. The last final exam. To say that I was an emotional wreck would be an understatement.
After graduation, I had a full time radio gig (making a whopping $12 an hour) and so I gave up thinking about doing anything else. I was that clueless to think that I’d have this radio gig until I retired. Can you imagine? Typical 18 year-old!
I mentioned last week that 1988’s list would present some songs that may or may not seem out of place. I suppose that those who know me well will not be surprised by the songs I picked, and there certainly is a variety! Well, I suppose I should get right into the tunes …
I have to remind myself that it is not Movie Music Monday, because my list includes not one, but two songs from the soundtrack to Tom Cruise’s film, Cocktail. My buddy Steve and I cruised a lot our senior year. He was always bringing new music for me to listen to. I am almost positive that he was the one who told me about the Georgia Satellites’ version of the Hippy Hippy Shake.
The version I was familiar with was done by the Swinging Blue Jeans, and was a song we played at my first radio station. I had no idea that the song was written and recorded first by Chan Romero in 1959. Anyway, when I hear the Satellites’ version really rocks and it was a great song to cruise to.
Hippy Hippy Shake
In 1987, the song La Bamba was a hit again. This time it was Los Lobos from the soundtrack to the hit movie starring Lou Diamond Phillips. It made for the perfect parody song for Weird Al Yankovic. His version was called, Lasagna. Now, what Italian wouldn’t like this song?!
It is on my list because when my dad booked my graduation party, he also gathered up a few of his band friends. He had the sax guy, keyboard guy, and bass guy come. It was either my cousin or my uncle who brought their drum kit, and my dad brought his guitar. No rehearsal, all they had was some lyric sheets with chords on them and they jammed through the whole party. It was awesome!
My dad played so many great blues songs. Everyone seemed to take turns singing something. My dad called me, and my friends Steve and Joe up to the stage and handed us the lyrics to Weird Al’s Lasagna. I’m guessing it didn’t take much coaxing for us to sing, and it was probably awful. However, it is a great memory of me and my pals.
Lasagna
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, they say. Robert Palmer had great success with his Addicted to Love video. So he brought back the models from the previous music video for this one. Only this time they’ve multiplied! Five of them do choreographed dance moves, but another eight stand behind Palmer looking bored. It worked, though, as Palmer won the 1988 Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male for this song. It was the same award he won two years earlier for “Addicted To Love.”
Songfacts.com says: The big, sexy hook in this song is the pause after Palmer sings, “Now I find her.” After some drumbeats, he comes back with “…simply irresistible.” The song was in the works for three years before Palmer came up with this part, making the song complete. “A little thing like that makes the difference between an idea and the complete song,” he wrote in his Addictions: Volume 1 liner notes, adding, “I like the manic military rhythm and the strong counter melody.”
This was yet another song that made it to our “cruising cassettes.” It was another great sing along song for us.
Simply Irresistible
My next song is one that I always thought was very creative. I Hate Myself for Loving You is such a great line. I relate to in in a few ways. As a young punk, I kinda fell for gals pretty hard. I let many of them treat me bad and I just kept hanging on with them. I always felt that I would just keep on loving them through it all. Yeah, I was an idiot. Today, that title makes me smile and makes me think of young Keith, who just wanted to make someone happy.
Thanks to Songfacts, I learned that that wasn’t originally the title: Joan Jett’s producer Kenny Laguna told us that Joan came up with the guitar riff for this song and wrote it as “I Hate Myself Because I Can’t Get Laid.” She took it to the writer/producer Desmond Child, who thought the title would never fly and convinced Joan to change it to something with “Love” in the title. Child, who got a co-writing credit on the song.
I Hate Myself For Loving You
The next song is the only country song on my list. I am guessing that I never really heard this when it was released, and became familiar with it a year or so after when I had my first stint at a country station.
I was familiar with the Oak Ridge Boys, of course. I mean, who wasn’t? Elvira was all over the radio when it was out. They guys had great harmonies and when I first heard Gonna Take a Lot of River, that is what stood out to me. This would have been sometime in 1991, when my girlfriend had broken up with me.
That being said, the lyrics now really hit home. I spent a lot of time at the beach and on the pier watching the waves during that time. So the lines “Because my baby’s long gone and nothings going my way. I’m gonna let this muddy water just wash away my blues.” resonated with me.
Today, when I hear it I just love listening to the harmonies and fumble every time I try to say, “Monongahela.”
Gonna Take a Lot of River
The variety of songs continues …
1988 brought us the only acapella song to go to number one in the United States. It is the second song from the Cocktail soundtrack. Don’t Worry, Be Happy by Bobby McFerrin was unlike anything on the radio at the time. Bobby recorded it using only his body to make all the sounds. The simple message and unusual sound made it a surprise hit.
The inspiration for the song came from a poster that Bobby saw featuring the Indian guru Meher Baba. It simply said, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.” Bobby says that when he saw it he thought it was “a pretty neat philosophy in four words.” If I had a dollar for every time I heard someone say, Don’t Worry, Be Happy in 1988 alone, I’d be financially set for life.
The video was a silly one and a received lots of airplay on MTV. It featured Robin Williams and the lesser-known comedian Bill Irwin (who plays Mr. Noodle on Sesame Street). It is interesting to note that the video is a bit shorter than the single.
I always think of my best friend, Jeff, when I hear this one. He would always say the line, “I’ll give you my phone number, when you worry, call me, I’ll make you happy.” We found that line hilarious for some reason.
Don’t Worry, Be Happy
The next song was something I heard while cruising with my girlfriend. I’m sure we were listening to that Love Song show (Pillow Talk). It grabbed me from the intro. It was a smooth groove that reminded me of some old Atlantic or Stax soul songs. I was surprised to learn it was Glenn Frey.
Glenn’s Soul Searching album was his third solo album. I picked up the album because of the song True Love. My feelings about the song were justified when I read the liner notes. Frey wrote of the song “For those of you who have my previous albums, I apologize. I just can’t shake my obsession with this Al Green-Memphis thing. Like Wilson Pickett says, ‘Don’t fight it’.” Cash Box magazine even called the song: “a classic R&B tune replete with hornbreaks and soul-tinged arrangement and production.”
My favorite part of the song is the fake ending. After a second or two, the drum kicks back in and the sax wails away at a solo. Love this song. I wish the video would have started with the song instead of the cheesy acting by the actors … LOL
True Love
Who would have thought that Tom Jones would have a career boost in 1988?! Tom enjoyed great success in the mid 60’s and the 1970’s. He never really stopped making records and was always on tour. In the early 1980s, Jones started to record country music. From 1980 to 1986, he had nine songs in the US country top 40, yet failed to crack the top 100 in the UK or the Billboard Hot 100.
Prince had recorded Kiss in 1986. The song was a big hit and continues to be played in a regular rotation on Adult Contemporary stations all over the country. I know that many will not agree with me when I say that Prince’s version sounds weak compared to the Tom Jones/Art of Noise version. Tom commands the song and I cannot love it more!
According to Songfacts, after his country songs, he “made a left-field decision to cover this song, and in doing so revived his career. He told the Observer Music Monthly December 2008 how this came about: “If I hear a song I like I’ll do it in the show, so when I heard this I sang it (Kiss) in an R&B style. Then I was due to go on Jonathan Ross’s program in 1987 to perform the ballad ‘A Boy From Nowhere,’ and he wanted something upbeat too. My philosophy has always been: when in doubt, do ‘Great Balls of Fire.’ But Jonathan asked if I had anything new. Art of Noise were watching and they asked if I’d do a version with them. When they sent me the finished version I thought: ‘If this isn’t a hit, I’ll bloody well pack it all in.’ It was a busting hit.”
Tom tells a great story about Prince. When he met Prince and thanked him for the song, but didn’t ask what his thought of his version, as he wasn’t sure he would like the answer. “I saw a movie once that Bette Midler did called The Rose,” Jones said in a Songfacts interview. “She goes to see Harry Dean Stanton, a country singer, because she’d recorded one of his songs. She says she’s a big fan of his, and just before she walks out the door he says, ‘Could I say one thing to you? Don’t you ever record one of my songs again. ‘That hit home. I thought, s–t, I’m never going to ask a songwriter what he or she thinks of my version. I’ll leave that to them. That always sticks in my mind. So I just thanked him for writing it.”
Fun fact: Prince and Tom Jones were both born on the same day, the 7th of June (Prince in 1958, Jones in 1940)
Kiss
I am sure that I have talked about the next song before. I am also sure that I talked about the album before. It was truly a monumental event!
From Songfacts: Handle With Care was the first single from The Traveling Wilburys, a supergroup created by George Harrison and Jeff Lynne. Initially an informal grouping with Roy Orbison and Tom Petty, they got together at Bob Dylan’s Santa Monica, California, studio to quickly record an additional track as a B-side for the single release of Harrison’s song “This Is Love.” “Handle With Care” was the song they came up with, which Harrison and his record company immediately realized was too good to be released as merely a B-side. The five superstars decided to form a band and make an entire album, recording nine more songs at Dave Stewart’s (of Eurythmics) house in Los Angeles in a 10-day window when they were all available.
This was the only video that included Roy Orbison. A short time after the album was released, he passed away of a heart attack. I was working at the radio station the morning that news of his passing came across the news wire. I will never forget that.
Handle With Care
When I was DJing parties and weddings, I would often find out about new dance songs from people who made requests. Many of the songs were line dances like the Cupid Shuffle or Cha Cha Slide. Over the years, I was introduced to The Biker Shuffle, The Turbo Hustle, The Dougie and many others that way. I was always surprised at how they would fill the dance floor.
I remember someone asking for a song called Da Butt and I laughed. It was from a Spike Lee movie, but I had never heard of it. That week, I stopped by a DJ supply store and there on one of the many compilation CD’s they made was Da Butt by a group called EU. I bought it, took it home and gave it a listen.
It certainly had a funkiness to it and I could see how this might be something that people could dance to. It didn’t take long to find out because I had a wedding the following weekend. Once I started the song, the crowd screamed and got on the dance floor. Before I knew it, everyone was shaking their rear end. I would use this song a lot over the years.
I always think of one of my college instructors when I hear this because I DJ’d a birthday party for one of her kids and SHE was the one who asked me to play it.
I would often get out on the dance floor with these poster board signs I had made for my gigs. I had one that said “Oh-We-Oh. Whoa-Oh” and I would hold it up for audience participation during that part of the song. While it is not the most family friendly song, it did give me a chance to have some fun at a lot of DJ gigs.
Da Butt
I couldn’t let this year pass without touching on one of the big controversies of the year. In June of 1988, Gail Brewer-Giorgio released a book called “Is Elvis Alive?” Along with the book, there was a cassette tape with alleged phone conversations that Elvis had with someone long after he was supposed to have died.
This played right into the rumor in the music industry was that Elvis had faked his death. In the years following his death, there were many sightings of him (including my home state of Michigan – at a Kalamazoo Burger King), and in late 1988 record label LS Records released “Spelling on the Stone” to capitalize on the popularity of the phenomenon. According to LS Records owner Lee Stoller, who produced the song, his daughter Tammy received the recording in August 1988 from an anonymous man who arrived at the label’s offices in a limousine. After obtaining distribution rights, LS Records released the song on radio by the end of 1988, with the single’s release not crediting an artist. The song’s title refers to the fact that Presley’s middle name, Aron, is misspelled as “Aaron” on his tombstone, which was a common argument against his death at the time. The song features an uncredited vocalist with a delivery similar to Presley’s; it tells a first-person narrative, purportedly from his perspective, to suggest that he had faked his death.
Some people claim that the impersonator is actually a guy named Dan Willis, who recorded at LS Records. Others think it really is Elvis. I say Balderdash …
Bonus Song: Spelling On the Stone
1988 had so many great songs. There have been times I wonder if I should pick 15 instead of 10. I know that in future years, I will struggle to pick 10, so I won’t. What one of your favorite 1988 hits did I miss? Mention it in the comments.
Next week we move to 1989. The list isn’t as all over the place like this one and includes some great songs. Join me next week and we’ll give them a listen….
Richard Steven Valenzuela would have been 83 years old today, had he not become part of the story entitled, “The Day the Music Died.” We, of course, know him by his stage name – Richie Valens.
UNSPECIFIED – JANUARY 01: Photo of Ritchie Valens (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
In May of 1958, Bob Keane of Del-Fi Records was told about a high school singer who students called “The Little Richard of San Fernando.” This peaked his interest and he went to see him perform. Keane invited Richard to his home to audition for him. After that first audition, Keane signed him to Del-Fi on May 14, 1958. At this point, the musician took the name “Ritchie” because, as Keane said, “There were a bunch of ‘Richards’ around at that time, and I wanted it to be different.” Similarly, he recommended shortening his surname to “Valens” from Valenzuela to widen his appeal beyond any obvious ethnic group.
The first song that Ritchie recorded at a session shortly after being signed was Come On, Let’s Go. Our song for today. But I am getting ahead of myself.
Ritchie’s story was told in the 1987 biographical film, La Bamba, which starred Lou Diamond Phillips as Valens. Marshall Crenshaw played Buddy Holly, Stephen Lee was the Big Bopper, and Brian Setzer makes a cameo as Eddie Cochran. Some of Ritchie Valens’ family even had roles in the film.
The film was well received and Roger Ebert said that he liked the film and the screenplay and writing: “This is a good small movie, sweet and sentimental, about a kid who never really got a chance to show his stuff. The best things in it are the most unexpected things: the portraits of everyday life, of a loving mother, of a brother who loves and resents him, of a kid growing up and tasting fame and leaving everyone standing around at his funeral shocked that his life ended just as it seemed to be beginning.”
The soundtrack consists of many Ritchie covers done by Los Lobos as well as well as Howard Huntsberry (who played Jackie Wilson in the film), Bo Diddly and Brian Setzer. A second soundtrack was released 1988 with more music from the movie.
Los Lobos did a fantastic job capturing Ritchie Valens’ essence and his songs are fairly true to the originals. While La Bamba will forever be the song Richie is remembered for, Come On, Let’s Go was always my favorite. So for Movie Music Monday, let’s here Los Lobos’ version.
Valens’ story (like that of Buddy Holly and other singers who died young) leaves us wondering “What if ….?” His was a talent taken much too soon.
This blog is a continuation of a series I started earlier this week. Somebody had the idea to post a list was to consist of your favorite films from each year of your life. So, you start with your birth year and move ahead year by year and list all the films from each year. A post from the Avocado site came up in my “Reader” list of blogs that had the same principle, but with one exception – you can only pick one movie from each year. My last blog focused on my favorites from the 1970’s and this one will feature the 1980’s.
I have a feeling that there will be more movies per year for me to pick from in this decade.
1980 was a year for sequels. Burt Reynolds and Jackie Gleason returned for another adventure in Smokey and the Bandit II, Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker faced off in The Empire Strikes Back, and Christopher Reeve was back as Superman in Superman II. We were first introduced to Jason in the first of many installments of the Friday the 13th franchise. Queen provided the theme song for the film Flash Gordon. A few years before he was dealing with a Delorean, Robert Zemeckis directed Kurt Russell and Jack Warden in Used Cars. Jack Nicholson yelled “Here’s Johnny!” in the Shining and Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda, and Lily Tomlin dreamed of knocking off their boss in Nine to Five.
I mentioned in the last blog that I had a feeling it would be more difficult to pick just one movie per year as I headed into the 80’s. That was proven to be true as I looked over the movies for 1980 and saw three of my all-time favorites were released. ANY three of these could easily be my one pick for the year for the following reasons (1) all three of them have an amazing cast (2) all three of them are funny (3) all three of them are all full of great movie lines! I want to break the rules and make this a three way tie! Alas, I have to pick just one.
The first runner up – Caddyshack. Such a funny movie that is quoted every day on golf courses all across the country! Rodney Dangerfield, Ted Knight, Bill Murray, and Chevy Chase all combine their talents to make this such a funny movie! Second runner up – The Blues Brothers. John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd are Jake and Elwood Blues. It is a comedy of epic proportions and has one of the best soundtracks ever. Also, very quotable.
The pick for my favorite, though, has to be THE most quoted movie of the ’80s – Airplane! “I am serious. And don’t call me Shirley!”
Lloyd Bridges, Robert Stack, Peter Graves, Leslie Nielsen, Robert Hayes and SO many more! The Zucker Brothers brought us this comedy, a direct rip-off of a film called Zero Hour (look for the comparison on YouTube), and it is a joke after joke laugh riot. Having serious actor say these comedy lines straight makes the line even more funny! The scenes with “Johnny” are worth the price of admission!
1981 brought us some great films. Some of my favorite action movies from ’81 include Burt Reynolds in Sharky’s Machine, and Sylvester Stalone and Billy Dee Williams in Nighthawks. Adventure films included stop-action creatures from Ray Harryhausen in Clash of the Titans and our introduction to Indiana Jones with Harrison Ford starring in Raiders of the Lost Ark (the face melting scene still creeps me out!).
1981 was full of comedies, some better than others (Remember Ringo Starr’s Caveman?!). Dudley Moore was brilliantly funny in Arthur. The Muppets return for fun in The Great Muppet Caper. Chevy Chase, Dabney Coleman, and Nell Carter appear in the underappreciated Modern Problems. George Hamilton plays dual roles in a film I recently blogged about, Zorro The Gay Blade. Not his best, but I still laugh at Jerry Lewis’ Hardly Working. And Mel Brooks offered up History of the World Part I (and left many of us longing for Part II).
Stripes starring Bill Murray, John Candy, and Harold Ramis comes in as a close second here. It could easily be THE favorite for this year. It is still funny today, and I find myself quoting it often. Just edging it out as my favorite is The Cannonball Run.
Burt Reynolds leads an all star cast in the race across the country! Silly fun and many funny lines. Dom Deluise, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. Farrah Fawcett, Bert Convy, Jamie Farr, Roger Moore, Jack Elam, Adrienne Barbeau, Peter Fonda, Terry Bradshaw, Mel Tillis, and so many more star in this comedy, which will always remain one of my favorites!
In 1982, Sylvester Stallone introduced us to Rambo in First Blood while Harrison Ford starred in Blade Runner (which finally just recently got a sequel). ET phoned home, Sean Penn was stoned out of his mind in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and Scott Baio had super powers in Zapped! Airplane II: The Sequel recycled some old jokes and was not as good as the original. Michael Keaton drove Henry Winkler crazy in Night Shift. Creepshow was creepy (and had a cool cameo from Stephen King). A favorite from this year is Steve Martin’s Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid, which is shot in black and white and Steve interacts with old movie stars.
My top pick for 1982 has got to be Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
I didn’t care for the first Star Trek film, but this one was excellent. Again, we have the original cast back on the Enterprise. This film goes back to the original series for a tie in. Ricardo Montalban played the character on the series and now, years later, he finds Kirk and plans to get his revenge. It is a great story, and the film has a powerful ending. The best of the entire series in my opinion. Montalban is just amazing in this movie!
The scene with William Shatner screaming “Khan!” – how can you not love it?
I can already sense the backlash I am going to get for my pick from this year, please remember this is MY list and not yours!
In the comedy category, 1983 had Michael Keaton stepping in for Teri Garr in Mr. Mom. Gary Busey, Marsha Warfield, and Mr. T are a riot in DC Cab while Bob and Doug McKenzie (Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis) get their first feature film in Strange Brew. Dan Aykroyd takes on “mom” in Doctor Detroit while Rodney Dangerfield takes on his mother-in-law in Easy Money. 1983 also introduced us to the Griswold family as they make their trip to Walley World in National Lampoon’s Vacation.
The Skywalker’s were back for the third part of the original trilogy in Return of the Jedi, while Christopher Walken woke from a coma with psychic powers in The Dead Zone. And who can forget Al Pacino’s thrilling performance in Scarface? My pick for favorite of this year is a holiday classic – A Christmas Story.
So why this film? Because it remains one that I faithfully watch every Christmas. Who can’t relate to the way the Parker boys feel as Christmas approaches? While it is set in the 1940’s, their excitement mirrors what every child feels during the holidays. It’s a classic! I had the chance to see the Christmas Story house this year (and blogged about it) and it was fun to walk through.
As I looked over my list from ’84, I once again see more comedies than other genres. Eddie Murphy went to Detroit to film Beverly Hills Cop, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis took on the spiritual realm in Ghostbusters. Michal Keaton and Joe Piscopo are mobsters is Johnny Dangerously. We meet the first batch of recruits in the first Police Academy movie, while Cannonball Run II fell flat, despite a great cast. Sight gags and puns galore were seen with Val Kilmer in Top Secret, and we first met Sarah Connor in the first Terminator movie.
1984 was the year the Detroit Tigers last won a World Series. I will never forget the excitement of that series or the season that led up to it. Perhaps that is why my favorite flick from 1984 is The Natural.
Robert Redford is Roy Hobbs and he is an amazing ball player. The film is based on a 1952 book by Bernard Malamud. (Spoiler, in case you haven’t seen it) In the book, Hobbs strikes out at the end. However, in the movie, there is an amazing homerun that knocks out the lights and sparks fly all over the place – one of my favorite endings!
“Knock the cover off the ball ….”
My list of favorites from this year is not too long. Not that there weren’t some great films released, because there were, but many of them didn’t make an impact on me. I enjoyed the James Bond film A View to a Kill (Roger Moore as Bond), Harrison Ford in Witness, and Chevy Chase as Fletch. The “Brat Pack” film The Breakfast Club was released with your “stereotypical high school teens”. The Goonies was one I watched once. It was ok, but I didn’t see the hype that everyone else did. As stupid as it was, Transylvania 6-5000 always made me laugh. Jeff Goldblum, Ed Begley Jr., John Byner, Geena Davis, and Michael Richards are all part of the cast, and there are some funny (and some very dumb) scenes.
Who would have thought that a board game could inspire a very funny film? Clue came out in 1985 and had three different endings (it varied on wherever you saw it). Christopher Lloyd, Tim Curry, Martin Mull, Madeline Khan, Michael McKean, Eileen Brennan, and Lesley Ann Warren play the various people from the game and it is just a blast to watch. This easily could be my pick, but there is one film that stands out far above the rest.
As someone who always loved stories about time travel, I was hooked immediately by the trailer for Back to the Future. It remains one that I can watch over and over today.
There is just SO much to love about this film!!! Great story. Great characters (and a great cast). Comedy. Suspense. Good music and a cool car that when it hit 88 miles per hour, you saw some “pretty serious sh*t!”
1986 really doesn’t have a stand out film for me. I enjoyed Top Gun with Tom Cruise (it also has a sequel coming out). Little Shop of Horrors was an ok movie (Steve Martin as the dentist is a high light). Tough Guys had some good scenes, but with big stars like Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas, I expected more. One Crazy Summer had some funny scenes, but wasn’t a laugh out loud riot. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off was good. I loved the premise of this kid skipping school and doing all that he did … and still making it home before his folks found out (what kid didn’t want to do what Ferris did?!).
The only film that stands out to me from 1986 is one that you may question. It gets the my pick as favorite for sentimental reasons. The Three Amigos starring Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, and Martin Short. I don’t care how many times El Guapo yells “It’s a sweater!”, I laugh! But that is not why I picked this one. Back when my oldest son was just diagnosed with autism, we were watching this movie. There is a scene where the Amigos are sitting around a campfire and they begin to sing the song “Blue Shadows”. My son walked to the TV and just stared. He loved that song. At that time, we had no idea if he would ever really speak more than a few words. He would watch this scene over and over! I even have it on my iPod because it makes me think of him.
After the song, we used to have to wait for the turtle to say “Goodnight, Ned” before we had to rewind that scene.
1987 offered up some classics. Who wasn’t freaked out by the rabbit scene in Fatal Attraction? Even though you saw it coming, you cried when Richie Valens died in La Bamba. Louis Armstrong’s What A Wonderful World was given new life on the radio thanks to Robin Williams in Good Morning, Vietnam. “Nobody gets outta here without singing the blues” is one of my favorite lines from Adventures in Babysitting. Dan Aykroyd and Tom Hanks team up for a Dragnet movie that misses the mark. Danny Glover and Mel Gibson first teamed up for Lethal Weapon and Kevin Costner played Elliot Ness in The Untouchables. We also enjoyed the fairy tale The Princess Bride and Mel Brooks parodied Star Wars and space movies with Spaceballs (“We Break for Nobody!”
If you loved Airplane, but have never seen Amazon Women on the Moon, you need to. It’s as silly as Airplane and has some very funny scenes. For years, I’ve joked that I’d like my funeral to be like a roast. I said I would want people to share funny stories about times we shared together. In this film, there is actually a funeral that is a roast – with a dias that includes Steve Allen, Slappy White, and other comedy greats!
My 1987 favorite goes to Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.
This is just one of the best John Hughes films. You get every emotion watching this film. There are times that are laugh out loud funny and there are times where you are wiping tears from your eyes. Steve Martin and John Candy are just great together. This film makes me miss John Candy. He was such a great actor.
In 1988 Dirty Harry returned in The Dead Pool, Tom Hanks wished he was Big, and Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall were Coming to America. Bruce Willis starred in the first Die Hard and Michael Keaton was Beetlejuice. I was impressed by the interaction between humans and cartoons in Who Framed Roger Rabbit and (as a Monty Python fan) loved John Cleese and Michael Palin in A Fish Called Wanda.
With my favorite movie that kicked off this decade (Airplane), it should come as no surprise that my pick from 1988 is The Naked Gun starring Leslie Nielsen.
Shortly after Airplane, the Zucker brothers created Police Squad. It was a short lived TV show starring Leslie Nielsen as Lt. Frank Drebin. It aired just 6 episodes. The show is the premise for the movie. George Kennedy replaced Alan North and OJ Simpson (pre-murder trial) also starred. Ricardo Montalban plays the villain in this and is just great. Not as many lines as Airplane, but just as funny!!
“It’s Enrico Palazzo!!”
As I come to the last year of this decade, I am faced with the same issue I had with the first year. I have many favorites from this year and wonder just how I can pick only one movie as a favorite!
Comedies included Eddie Murphy in Harlem Nights, Weird Al Yankovic starred in his first film UHF, John Candy was Uncle Buck in another John Hughes film, and Charlie Sheen was Wild Thing in Major League (“Just a bit outside!”). Bernie is dead, but he still has quite an adventure in Weekend at Bernie’s. Jack Palance plays a wonderful bad guy in Tango and Cash and the Griswold’s host Christmas in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. And I can’t forget to mention that Doc Brown and Marty McFly return in Back to the Future II (which some people hate because it goes back and forth from time to time – but that’s what I love about it! That, and the fact that they reshot original scenes from Part I and then had the characters interact within that scene.)
Two films that really stand out from 89 are not comedies, but adventure movies. The runner up for my favorite is Tim Burton’s Batman. As a fan of the 1966 Batman, I was excited to see how this film would be portrayed. Michael Keaton played Batman and I thought he did ok. Jack Nicholson as the Joker was amazing! I loved his interpretation of the character (though I still believe Cesar Romero is the best). It was really well done. This brings me to my favorite film of 1989 – Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
In the Indiana Jones series, I always felt this was the strongest of them all. Harrison Ford is again great as Indy, but his father, played by Sean Connery, steals the scenes. I can easily see my dad and I fighting with each other like these two do if we ever were off on an adventure like this. I just love their interactions with each other. They are both just perfect in this film. The final scene is also just a picture perfect ending!
So with that, let’s ride into the sunset. When we return, let’s dive into the 90’s, ok?
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 