The '80s Comedy "Airplane!" Was a Remake of the '50s Film "Zero Hour!"

Here is an interesting discovery. The classic '80s slapstick comedy, Airplane! was not only a spoof of airport disaster movies like Airport, but the creators Jim Abrahams and David Zucker literally lifted scenes from the '50s drama Zero Hour! and turned them into jokes. Have a look:



Still pretty hilarious.

(via Neatorama)

VHS Cover of the Day: Never Too Young to Die (1986)

STAMOS: The New Breed of Forgotten Star

Mazes and Monsters (1982)

I was never into Dungeons & Dragons as a kid, for no reason really. It alway seemed cool, you know, dragons are kick ass, and I had never been in a dungeon but they also seemed pretty sweet. None of this matters really, but I think my ignorance about the game pales in comparison to Rona Jaffe's, the author responsible for the book on which this made-for-tv movie is based.

This movie is ridiculous and very superficial. Couple that with the fact nearly every time I see Tom Hanks on screen, I can only hear him yelling "Hooch!!" with tears in his eyes, and you can kind of understand my experience with this movie. The basic premise is that playing Dungeons & Dragons (here called Mazes & Monsters) makes you crazy. The book is based on shoddy newspaper reports about the disappearance of a D&D player which was then later followed by a book by a private investigator on the case that clears up the inaccuracies Jaffe peddled. The player, James Dallas Egbert, has a pretty tragic story actually; it really sucks that Jaffe shitted on his situation for personal gain.

All this being said, I actually did enjoy this in a weirdo, nostalgic way. There's some completely idiotic dialogue about D&D and the people who play it that's really hilarious. But I think I mostly miss the made-for-tv movie events of the '80s that this fell into. Also, seeing a super baby-faced Tom Hanks is pretty entertaining.

Grab a copy of Mazes and Monsters on DVD.

Rooftops (1989) - Soundtrack

I have taken forever to put this up, and have even given it out other places before putting it on our own blog (for shame, I know!) but in the recent lull of reviews, now seems as good a time as any to share this amazing (for me) find...

The way out of print soundtrack to Rooftops! I found this for $1 at a record shop in Philadelphia last summer, brand new, and didn't have a way to get it to mp3 until this past January. I have been jamming to it since, no doubt. In that same trip I found the soundtrack, not score, to Scrooged and if there's interest even though holiday season is quite nearly an eternity away, I suppose I can get that up also.

Anyways, this album is produced by Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics and features a track he did with Etta James! It's the album opener and a pretty raucous jam. Enjoy at will.

Rooftops 1989

VHS Cover of the Day: Roller Boogie (1979)

MJRM2009: Ratboy (1986)

I have no idea where I originally saw this movie, but deep in the recesses of my memory, I thought I loved this...

And I think I still do, but, Ratboy is bad, I mean a real stinker. Starring and directed by Sondra Locke, it’s hard to tell what we’re watching. It’s not really funny, it’s hard to establish any real drama here, like in ET or something similar, and it’s kind of slow as hell. Locke starts by trying to pimp out the rat/human hybrid kidnapped from his sewer dwelling but he just wants to left alone. Even Mr. Belvedere makes an appearance to help Ratboy assimilate into his new non-sewer life. Ratboy just wants to crush on Locke and not be out in the public, though I will say he deals with people reasonably well considering his circumstances. So anyways, he eventually freaks out and runs away, people chase him, Locke realizes he should be left alone, the end.

And actually Ratboy is really Ratgirl, Eugene is played by former Mousketeer Sharon Baird (funny how that worked out) with help from make up maestro Rick Baker and big puffy shirt to hide her boobs.




Ratboy has a number of comedian appearances and cameos including Louie Anderson, Bill Maher, Robert Townsend, Gerrit Graham and Larry Hankin. I have no idea why in the hell Locke would want to make this movie, and wouldn’t be surprised if she and Clint ended up destroying all the prints. Maybe this is why they broke up even, I mean, I hate to spread rumors, but the connection would seem obvious after you’ve watched this all the way through. And now that I think about it, Locke was no stranger to rat movies. She also starred in the original Willard, which was followed by Ben, whose title song was performed MJ, which is why we’re even talking about Ratboy right now. Amazing how that worked out, if not for her and Clint.



To date, Ratboy doesn’t have a DVD release (not surprising), but you can find used VHS copies around the web.

EDIT: Ah, well, Blogger took down our previous post because of the MJ song, and any explanation of why we’re talking rats. Basically, MJ sang them theme to Ben, so we’re honoring his memory with a week’s worth of rat posts. Reasonable, no?

Rooftops (1989)

Without any sort of lingering doubt, it’s easy to recognize the impact of Robert Wise’s career in Hollywood. The guy practically invented/reinvigorated genres in the golden days of cinema, with films like The Sound of Music , Star Trek: The Motion Picture, The Andromeda Strain, West Side Story, The Day the Earth Stood Still and even lesser known classics like I Want to Live!, The Set Up and Odds Against Tomorrow. Wise even edited Citizen Kane!

So what the hell happened here? In 1989, after a 10 year hiatus from directing, Wise emerged with Rooftops, his final film. And comparatively, his worst. It’s no Uwe Boll piece, but based on his credits, this is waaaaay out of place.

Here's what goes down: homeless New York kids live on rooftops and engage in “combat,” a fighting/dance/thing. T, the main dude, is the best in combat, and his buddy Squeak crosses some drug dealers. Squeak gets killed, T and his buds struggle to regain their neighborhood. The plot pretty formulaic. In all reality, the movie is almost insulting with what homeless kids actually go through. But cinematically, it's great, cheesy ‘80s and it gets better with multiple viewings! Jason Gedrick from Iron Eagle, Troy Beyer and DAYYYUUUMMMM GINA! aka Tisha Campbell all star in this epic skyline melodrama. It’s totally ridiculous, totally awesome and even endearing in how naive it is.



So far this is unavailable on DVD, and it’s probably better that way. I firmly believe that the only reason it’s watchable is because it remains on VHS. It has potential to become a bargain bin DVD hit, I’m sure, but that would spoil it.

Tiptoes (2003)

How the hell did this movie got straight to DVD and not straight to Oscar victory? As the trailer puts it, Matthew McConaughey and Kate Beckinsale give "command performances," and it features Gary Oldman "in the role of a lifetime"—a midget!

Here's the basic plot: Kate Beckinsale and Matthew McConaughey are a couple. They're in love and she's pregnant. Everything's great until McConaughey drops a bomb—everyone in his family is a midget. Now Kate Beckinsale is scared shitless that her kid's gonna be born a midget. Gary Oldman plays McConaughey's brother and teaches Beckinsale that there's more to dwarves than funny voices and tiny shoes—there's a heart, too.

The Peanut Butter Solution (1985)

First, I want to take this moment and admit to the Internetz that I love all things peanut butter. I especially love crunchy peanut butter, a lot. It’s just one of things most people snub, like pulp in your OJ, which I also really love. Ok, personal confessions aside, let’s move on...

I think the first time I saw The Peanut Butter Solution was on the Disney Channel as a kid, and it actually kind of disturbed and inspired me simultaneously. The poster bills it as a comedy adventure, and it does have some funny parts, but mostly it’s creepy. Even after watching it on tape a few years ago, I was struck by how dreamy and weird it is. The trailer completely leaves out the maniac artist who abducts kids to help him cut Michael’s hair to make magic paint brushes. Wild, no? Let me back up...Michael Baskin (no relation to Josh) gets so scared he loses his hair, and to regrow it, some ghosts give him the secret formula for Rogaine. Can you guess the main ingredient? It’s peanut butter, dummy. Anyways, he’s supposed to spread it over his bald head and poof, hair regeneration. Only problem is, he uses too much PB! Then we get into the whole crazy artist-man-kidnaps-him-to-make-trippy-magic-paintings-that-you-can-actually-get-into part of the story.



As far as I can tell, there’s no official DVD release, but VHS and bootlegs are available, or Google Video offers an iPod/PSP download.


FUN FACT: Celine Dion’s first english language music video came from The Peanut Butter Solution’s soundtrack. We could probably do a whole post just on this video, now that I think about it...English and French versions of “Listen to the Magic Man” and “Michael’s Song” after the video.

Celine Dion - Listen to the Magic Man

Celine Dion - Dans La Main D'un Magicien

Celine Dion - Michael’s Song

Celine Dion - La Ballade de Michel

Breakin' (1984)

Breakin' is one of THE most educational movies ever made. Watch the trailer, then we'll talk.

See what I mean? Pretty incredible right? For me, this was my introduction to hip hop culture and Ice-T wearing spiked bracelets. It also taught me that, despite the fact that I'm white, I too can have a street dancing nickname like Special K and fall in love with a guy named Ozone. It even taught me magic:

But I must say, the most important lesson that this film teaches is that dancing truly can bring people together and the lack of breakdancing leads to violence. Case in point: this scene featuring Jean Claude Van Damme and his lazy-eyed future kickboxing enemy Michel Qissi (Tong Po):


Netflix it

Buy it

R.I.P. Ron Silver

Ron Silver died of esophageal cancer yesterday. He was 62.

Back in the day, I used to play a game called "The Movie Game" with friends. Basically, Person A names a movie, Person B then has to name an actor in that movie, then Person A has to name a different movie that actor was in. It goes on and on like that until one person stumps the other. It's kinda like 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon.

The reason I mention this is because I would often use Ron Silver to stump my friends. I got to know many of his movies by studying his filmography on IMDB.

To celebrate his career, here are 5 essential Ron Silver movies:

The Arrival (1996)
Charlie Sheen, Ron Silver, aliens...what more could you want in a movie?


The Entity (1981)
A woman is constantly raped by a ghost and it's up to Ron Silver to figure out how to make it stop.


Eat and Run (1986)
A fat alien is going around eating earthlings and it's up to Ron Silver to figure out how to make it stop.


Silent Rage (1982)
The movie's tagline: Science created him. Now Chuck Norris must destroy him.
All that and it's got Ron Silver!


Timecop (1994)
Van Damme, Silver, time traveling...this movie's got it all.


Ron Silver, you will be missed.

Below the Belt (1980)

The virtues of Comcast’s free movies on demand service has finally begun to outweigh their faults when it comes to their horrid customer service. There are so many gems buried in the repository, that without the service, we here at the camp may never have become privy to. For example, take this golden oldie that the sweet gravity-boob screencap above is from. Below the Belt follows the struggles of a female wrestler from New York as she fights her way all the way to the top of the circuit, in Birmingham, Alabama. I’m not quite sure what the title actually has to do with female wrestling per se, but there are quite a number of amazing sequences in this film, and the one unifying piece that (sleeper)holds this drama together...THE MONTAGES.

There are honest-to-god no less than TEN montages featured in the movie, beginning almost immediately and continuing every few minutes or so, right to the end. The montages do more to drive the story than the dialogue does, which is pretty telling. Entire characters and subplots are awkwardly dropped in between montages (“I need to get warm”). I almost think the movie could have been stripped down into one epic wrestling music video, and I would be okay with that.

The little info available on Below the Belt reveals it was filmed in 1974, but unreleased until 1980 (and reviewed in 1983 by The New York Times), probably to cash in on the rags-to-scabs Rocky bandwagon. It doesn’t seem to be available on DVD or youtube, but if you have Impact VOD through your cable provider, which is maybe only available from Comcast, you can find it now! For free!

Or you can pay buttloads for a VHS on amazon.

Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains (1981)

Starring a super-young and super-hot Diane Lane, Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains is a tale of teen angst and conformity. It's a punk rock movie in more ways than one. Not only does it feature members of the Sex Pistols but it is also considered to have been a major influence in the Riot Grrl movement of the 80s and 90s. It never actually made it to theaters but it did have a good run on USA's Night Flight and other late-night programs. Yes it is really bad, especially with dialogue and pacing, but fun nonetheless. Until recently it wasn't available on DVD, but thanks to the hard work of two, the support of thousands and this thing called the internet, it finally became available in September.Check out the story behind the movie, as told by two folks who helped to get it released:

Part 1:

Part 2:


Buy it here.

Knightriders (1981)

In 1981 George A. Romero took a break from directing awesome zombie movies and decided to add some "magic" to his resume with this excellent turd of a film about Renaissance Fair actors jousting on motorcycles. It's a stellar debut from a young Ed Harris who spends most of the film whining and moaning like a little bitch.

Buy it here.