An American Werewolf in London

The final movie in my birthday slumber party was An American Werewolf in London, but first things first: what's up with the above trailer? It's pretty obviously a "teaser" trailer, but it manages to give absolutely no indication of what the movie is actually like, which is to say, a horror comedy, and is kind of all around lame. (The full trailer is better, but still kind of sucks.)

I'm drawing a bit of a blank on just where I originally saw American Werewolf. I have memories of seeing either it, or The Howling, or both, at a drive-in in 1981 with my parents, but I also found this flyer, in my "Genre Book," for a sneak preview screening at the Royal Theater.

I really don't remember going to that, so maybe my father went, and saved the flyer, and then took me and my mother to see both at the drive-in at a later point.

I will say, its existence on video in January of 1982 puts the kibosh on my assumption that movies took about a year to make it to home video back then, as Werewolf came out in August of 1981. What we watched that day was most likely a rental from Captain Video, the only place we rented movies from at that time.

Now, I remember liking the movie a lot, enough to warrant watching it for a second time at my birthday party, so my rating it a 3 1/2 in my ledger is a bit perplexing, especially since I gave Ghost Story--a much worse movie--a three. But then again, I probably shouldn't put much faith into any of those ratings; I was twelve!

Still, the movie does have flaws even a twelve-year-old could recognize, the biggest of which is its ending. It's just ludicrous and lame. (Spoiler alert, but: So, he basically freaks out, transforms, causes a ruckus in Piccadilly Circus, and is shot. The ending is really, really abrupt, and just feels like Landis didn't know how to end it. Plus, are we really supposed to believe those cops were able to shoot around Jenny Agutter in that dark alley, killing David instantly?)

The numerous dream sequences in the beginning of the movie don't really work, either, and too often just seem like an excuse for John Landis to do something he thought would be cool, like having Nazi werewolves go on a rampage.

The film is much more successful when it's funny, and it's that combination of laughs and scares that makes it something still worthy of watching.

This is probably my favorite scene in the movie; it's a perfect blend of the disgusting and the comedic:



That moment when Jack says "DAVID!" gets me every time.

I'll end this with another bit from that Genre Book: a brief mention of the movie from an issue of Trashola, and a mini-review from the East Bay Express.

Times Square

Times Square came out in 1980, and I'm pretty sure I saw it then, at the Coronet Theater. (This is another one I'll have to look up on old newspaper microfilm!)

Regardless of when or where I first saw it, it was instant love. I bought the soundtrack, played the hell out of (most) of it, and rewatched the film many, many times growing up. It addressed a kind of rebellion I'd always admired, but was never brave enough to embark on during my youth.

It's worth watching for a slew of reasons, not the least of which, it's a great portrait of a pre-Disneyfied Times Square, New York, and, in fact, the movie is partially about the gentrification of the area, and how this was bad thing. I haven't actually been to either the new or the old Times Square, but viewing this movie and comparing it to images from the new Times Square, well, it really is kind of startling how different they are. I imagine this must have been pretty shocking a change for New Yorkers, because I know how freaking bizarre it would be to see mid-Market in San Francisco suddenly full of neon signs, tourists, and name brand stores, and free of the...colorful characters that currently populate it...

Another reason to watch it is because of how great the two leads are. Trini Alvarado made some things prior to this, and would gain a modest amount of fame in years to follow, but Robin Johnson, who makes her debut in Times Square, never really had a major film role after this, which is such a loss. She's a natural, had a fantastic voice, and I think she would have only gotten better as she got older. (She has a brief role in another great movie, Baby, It's You, and a non-speaking cameo in Martin Scorsese's After Hours, but really, that's it.)

Apparently, the relationship between the two girls was supposed to be more overtly a romantic one in the original version of the movie, but the director didn't get final cut, so that aspect of the movie was toned down in the final release. I can see why this might be bothersome, but I think the relationship between the girls is pretty obviously a romantic one, at least to one of them, and I think that's enough. By keeping that aspect subtle, the story becomes more about the nature of female friendship, especially during the early teen years, and is therefore a bit more universal.

Director Allan Moyle talks about this, (along with Robin Johnson, who has totally lost her accent and raspy voice!), on the DVD release of the movie, but, alas, that DVD is now out of print. Luckily I bought a copy back in 2000, and that's what I rewatched. The whole movie still holds up, for the most part. I'd always had a bit of a problem with Tim Curry's character, and that hasn't really changed. I don't know if it's Curry, or the character, but he kind of grates. Also, the girls' weird venture into a kind of performance art that involves tossing TVs off of rooftops doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but maybe it's not supposed to. Also, the girls are wearing some really, really bad wigs during the first few scenes of the movie, and I imagine a scene of them changing their hair must have been cut...

But other than that, I still love Times Square to death. I mentioned the soundtrack earlier, and that's the final reason it's worth watching. Allan Moyle eventually had a big problem with some of the songs that ended up in the movie, and I'll agree, there's some crap in there. But what's not crap is pretty remarkable, including songs by The Pretenders, Gary Neuman, The Cars, XTC, Talking Heads, Lou Reed, Roxy Music, Patti Smith, Suzi Quatro, Joe Jackson, AND The Ramones. Whoa.

Like I said, the DVD is out of print, and not available on Netflix, but it is available on YouTube. So why don't you just watch the whole movie right here, right now! Come on, we can all watch it together and have a virtual slumber party. Pass the Jiffy Pop!

Halloween & Carrie

Continuing on with movies viewed during that birthday party on January 23rd, 1982, I am delegating Carrie and Halloween to one post, mainly because they are two movies that I think I've only ever seen on video, laserdisc, and DVD. (I neglected to mention, in my previous post about The Wanderers, that I had originally seen that movie in a theater in 1979, when it opened, and I believe it was at the Cinema 21 on Union Street. This birthday party viewing was at least my 13th viewing, as it was something I watched over and over again on VHS.)

It pains me to think that all those early viewings of Halloween were on crappy pan-and-scanned video copies, and I probably didn't actually get to see the movie in all its widescreen glory until some time in the 90s, when it was released on laserdisc.



It still managed to capture me, though, and I think that had a lot to do with the three main girls. Of course, it was scary, and gripping, and all that, but that wouldn't mean much if I didn't give a crap about the three teens being stalked. It's kind of hard to look at its influence in hindsight, but it really did set up the cliches of the genre--nice, virginal girl lives; sexually active girls die--but you have to remember that at that time, those weren't cliches. It was just that film's story.

So, I cared about the fates of all three of them: sarcastic, knee-sock wearing Annie; totally cute Lynda; and shy, smart Laurie.

Speaking of shy and smart, that leads us to Carrie, although, I'm not sure she'd really be classified as "smart" after that whole period-in-the-school-shower thing.



Carrie is kind of an odd film in my viewing history. While it came out in 1976, I didn't see it until it was out on video--and while it was officially a six-year-old movie at that point in 1982, it seemed so much older, and hopelessly dated to me and my friends. All those ridiculous bell bottom pants; giant platform shoes; William Katt's enormous hair. We might as well have been watching a movie made 20 years earlier, not six.

Still, Carrie became a movie I would revisit regularly, usually right before a new school year was starting, because as bad as I knew school could be, I was pretty sure it would never be quite as bad as Carrie's senior year at Bates High.

Coincidentally, P.J. Soles has a role in both of these movies, both times playing wisecracking teens, (Lynda in Halloween; Norma in Carrie), which is what she also played in Rock and Roll High School, another movie I watched again and again growing up, (and which I'll talk about come August).

The Wanderers

I think I can thank The Wanderers for instilling in me a life-long love of all things 1950s and early 60s: clothes, music, cars--it's all in The Wanderers, with the added bonus of a totally swoon-worthy Ken Wahl.

Once again, we're talking about a movie that pre-teens probably shouldn't be watching, but aside from the language, and its opening sex scene, it's not nearly as dirty as the book it was based on, (which, yes, I also read way before I probably should have).

I think the success of Grease lead to a lot of 1950s nostalgia in the 1980s. We saw the rise of 50's-style diners, 80s-does-50s fashions,  and, yes, movies like The Wanderers.

Personally, I was never a big fan of Grease. While I liked the era it was set in, the whole thing just felt inauthentic--the music was all wrong; Olivia Newton John's ending outfit was more disco than rock and roll. That, and John Travolta never really did anything for me.

But The Wanderers felt real, and gritty; authentic. Plus, it's really funny.

Now, the movie does have a few problems. The introduction of Bob Dylan at the end is a little heavy-handed (and not era appropriate). Most of the criticism aimed at the movie seemed to focus on the scenes involving the Ducky Boys, the Irish gang. And it's true, most of those scenes seem like they've been lifted out of director Phillip Kaufman's Invasion of the Body Snatchers. But those scenes have kind of grown on me. Yeah, they feel otherworldly, and like a horror movie. But I imagine that's what it would feel like if you were a Wanderer who suddenly found yourself in the realm of scary, switchblade-wielding Irish gang members who seem to magically multiply.

I recently went to a sing-along showing of West Side Story, and I'd never really put the two together, but The Wanderers owes a lot to it. Take out the singing and dancing, and you've got a really similar movie: New York gangs preparing for a rumble. Gang member falls in love with a girl outside his realm. The gangs even have similar gang whistles.

That said, The Wanderers is a much better movie that everyone should see. Except, you probably can't. The DVD is out of print, and not available on Netflix. Can't watch it via Amazon either. You CAN watch a crappy version on YouTube, in 10 or 15 minute increments, which is how I rewatched it, (the only version I have is a crappy VHS copy), and I guess that's better than nothing. In the meantime, I'll keep my fingers crossed for some kind of special edition or Criterion release to happen one day

We Went and Had a TV Party That Night (All Right!)

Growing up, movies seemed to be part of my birthday celebrations a lot. I have fond memories of going with a bunch of friends to see Superman on one birthday, and Star Wars on another.

As I got older, these parties moved out of the theater, and in to my living room, and January 23rd, 1982 was one of those birthdays where I gathered a bunch of friends for a sleepover and forced them over the course of two days to watch The Wanderers, Halloween, Times Square, Carrie, and An American Werewolf in London. And all of those movies, save Times Square, (kind of), were really not what you'd typically be showing a room full of 11 and 12-year-olds.

But, as far as I know, none of those friends was permanently scarred or altered by watching those movies, (but if you're an old friend reading this, and were, please lay in to me about it!), so I'm going to deem the evening a perfectly acceptable slumber party.

Since there are so many movies involved on that date, and since it is, once again, my birthday week--and I'm not having a movie party this time, but am, instead, at Disneyland, which is, kind of amusingly, something I actually never did as a kid to celebrate my birthday, but have done several times as an adult--I'm going to spread out discussion of those films over several days.

In the meantime, here's a moment from The Wanderers, a movie I must have watched at least 20 times in my lifetime. (At least!) Don't fuck with the Wongs!