My wife and I really enjoyed Moulin Rouge. If was quite fun to see many of the songs we knew re-rendered. Plus my wife had a woman-crush on Nicole Kidman at the time. I bought her the DVD and the CD soundtrack when they were released.
It was November 2001 and her family was visiting for Thanksgiving. My son was 3 months shy of turning two. The Moulin Rouge soundtrack was playing on the stereo and this song came on. He had just gotten out of his bath and needed no encouragement. He dropped towel and went to town, full monty, right in the living room in front of the whole family. I mean he went to town. The best part?
Heavy Metal hit the theaters in my area at the beginning of my junior year. My friends and I wasted no time in high-tailing it up to Landover Mall to see it. Despite it’s “R” rating and our obviously younger than 17 age, we had no problems securing tickets. Afterward we hit the local ice cream place and bailed on the bill. We did leave a tip though!
Heavy Metal definitely spoke to us at the time, especially the Den story, about a geeky kid getting sucked into an alternate world where he looks like a body builder and sleeps with beautiful women.
Little did I know at the time how prophetic Devo’s Working in a Coal Mine would turn out to be…..
Tina and I saw this movie when it hit the theaters in February of 1984. Kevin Bacon’s ‘breakout’ role. How embarrassing is that? Mention Footloose and what immediately comes to mind is Bacon punch dancing out his rage in the abandoned warehouse (not done to the song Footloose, but rather to Never by the Australian band Moving Pictures). The scene has been spoofed too many times to count, including a hilarious version in the movie Hot Rod.
Here’s another uber-nerd teen-and-hot-chick movie I recall with fondness.
It was 1985, I was in my second semester at college, Anthony Edwards had hair, Ronald Reagan was in his second term, Rock Hudson died of aids, and Madonna has just launched her first tour, Like a Virgin.
How’s this for genre: a teen romantic spy thriller. Anthony Edwards and his buddies are fans of a game called Gotcha on their college campus. This game is actually based on a real college game of the same type called Assassins. Although Edwards is the Gotcha champ, when it comes to women he misses the mark. When he and his friend take a trip to Europe, Edwards meets sexy Linda Fiorentino (fresh off of Vision Quest), complete with short, sleek black hair and a husky, Czechoslovakian accent.
There’s this scene where Edwards is fleeing from murderous Russian spies, hiding out in a van driven by a trio of German punk rockers. As the multi-colored van drove along the highway, this song plays.
Once this movie hit video (VHS, not DVD!), my friends and I must have watched it a dozen times.
My social status in high school defied classification. I was a member of the chess, computer (a single TRS-80 with a tape drive), and Dungeons & Dragons clubs, yet I also ran Cross Country and was on the Track and Field team (discus and pole vault). I had a good group of friends, and while were definitely weren’t part of the “in” crowd, were weren’t ostracized either. If I had to classify myself and my friends, nerds would be my descriptor of choice. I was fortunate to appear fairly normal and have some athletic ability, but at my core I was pretty much all nerd.
Upon occasion, our true colors would shine through. The movie “Weird Science” was one such instance. The story-line was a nerd’s nirvana. Two high school nerds bring a hot chick to life, said hot chick Kelly LeBrock (pre-Steven Seagal/Celebrity Fit club) escalates them to the epitome of coolnes. Weird Science has one of the best lines from a movie ever:
“How about a nice, greasy pork sandwich served in a dirty ashtray?”
