Earth Girls Are Easy

Earth Girls Are Easy
May 12, 1989
Vestron Pictures
Comedy, Sci-Fi, Romance, Musical
VHS
B+

This last of my movies from the '80s was actually made in '87 and released to indifference two years later, but it holds up as one of the gems of the decade.  It is funny, sweet, romantic, sexy, giddy, colorful, and yes, very '80s in the best sense.  When three furry but attractive-when-shaven aliens land in the San Fernando Valley, it's hard to say which side has more of a culture shock.  They specifically land in the pool of the house that Valerie (Geena Davis) shares with her philandering fiance Ted (Charles Rocket).  The aliens are played by Davis's then-husband Jeff Goldblum (as Mac), Jim Carrey (as Wiploc), and Damon Wayans (as Zeebo).  Note, this is even before Carrey was "the white guy" on Wayans's In Living Color.  It's so long ago that Carrey and Wayans are described as "stand-up comics" on the videobox I have!

And of course this movie "introduces" Julie Brown (despite her MTV appearances and indeed earlier movie roles).  Her song inspired this movie's title and concept, and she cowrote this movie.  There are even scenes, notably "Because I'm a Blond," that are basically just music videos.  (The soundtrack also contains a couple B-52s songs.)  But mostly Brown's contribution is as the best friend/boss you wish you had, Candy Pink.  The other cast member of note is the versatile Michael McKean as Woody the pool guy.

I said of Foul Play that I couldn't think of a cuter onscreen couple than Chevy Chase and Goldie Hawn, but Goldblum and Davis come close.  They both are gorgeous here, and often underdressed, so they're certainly attractive separately, but together?  Hubba-hubba!  While Wiploc and Zeebo are mostly interested in partying, leader Mac is mostly interested in Valerie, and he's kind and sympathetic to her, even when she's confused about her fickle fiance.  The aliens have a "love touch," which in some scenes leads to questionable humor (including two ostensibly straight cops that fall for each other much less naturally than the pair in Who's That Girl), but also leads to a lovely love scene between Mac and Valerie.  You'll wonder why she's hung up on Ted so long, but it gives the plot what little conflict it has.  I almost went with an A- on this movie, because it is such fun in so many ways, but it is a bit too meandering.  But what a journey!

This is pretty obscure, but Larri Thomas is a Curl Up and Dye Dancer and was Woman in Carriage in Mary Poppins.  Another couple of CUaD Dancers, twins Karen and Sharon Owens, danced in Girls Just Want to Have Fun.  Cowriter Terrence McNally plays the Soap Opera Doctor here and was the Policeman in Nine to Five.  And there are a few TV faces, from Larry Linville to Nedra Volz to one of the Head of the Class kids.

One-Trick Pony

One-Trick Pony
October 3, 1980
Warner Bros.
Drama, Musical
VHS
B-

Although this is a melancholy, relatively realistic movie, it is no more the biography of Paul Simon than Can't Stop the Music is the biography of the Village People.  Yes, Simon wrote the script; yes, his nine- or ten-year-old son Harper plays his character in the opening flashback; and, yes, members of his real band play the movie band.  But 39-year-old Simon wasn't 34-year-old Jonah Levin; he wasn't a one-trick pony, a one-hit wonder who'd done nothing popular since the '60s.  This is more like a parallel-universe Simon, if he were unsuccessful but still needed to perform, in this case mostly on the road, despite the strain on his family life.  (The scenes with son Matty are all good.)  The negative view of the music-business world may be Simon's though.  Certainly he was at a crossroads then, although his songs, the title track and others, are under-rated in his portfolio.  There's a moment when we see the new wave of New Wave sweeping away Simon's relatively simple sound, when his band gets a tepid response and then the crowd goes wild for the B-52s performing "Rock Lobster."  (Their "Dance This Mess Around" was in Roadie.)

It's hard to make an entertaining movie about a protagonist who's depressed, and it doesn't help that the dialogue wasn't recorded with the same care and attention as the music.  It was a relief when always articulate 36-year-old Harry Shearer made a welcome return to my movie collection (27 years after Abbott & Costello Go to Mars), as Bernie Wepner.  Simon wasn't this subdued in Annie Hall, he was mellow but he wasn't mumbling.  I couldn't even hear Blair Brown half the time, except when she yelled at him.

This is obviously one of the 1980 movies where the '60s are reassessed, and there's a scene whose dark humor has only increased with time: Jonah and the band listing dead rock & rollers. When Jonah says there must be someone English on the list, it's like CStM not knowing about AIDS; OTP doesn't know who'd be shot a couple months later.  (Simon's "The Late Great Johnny Ace" would pay tribute to John Lennon, leading to a strange moment in the reunion concert with Art Garfunkel, which I'll discuss when we get there.)

Besides the B-52s, other musicians appear as themselves.  And Merv Griffin is one of the a cappella singers.

Roadie

Roadie
June 13, 1980
United Artists
Comedy, Romance, Musical
VHS
C-

The general idea for this movie isn't bad: Meat Loaf (as Travis W. Redfish) has inherited his father Art Carney's mechanical aptitude (the Redfish house is full of all kinds of gizmos, like a moving phone booth) and thus becomes, despite his reluctance, the greatest roadie in the world.  Unfortunately, the movie is too meandering and there's a very annoying leading lady, Kaki Hunter as Lola Bouillabase.  Also, the various musicians aren't given much to do other than show up, although Deborah Harry has a moment when she's eating with Mr. Loaf that shows what the movie would've been like if she'd been the love interest.  (She'd have a more interesting role in Hairspray, much later in the decade.)  Another performer who makes a slight impression is Soul Train's Don Cornelius, as concert-promoter Mohammed Johnson, who late in the movie decides to try to become the first black President.  It's a throw-away line, without follow-up, like much of the movie, except for Lola's tedious plans to lose her virginity to a seemingly indifferent Alice Cooper.  The only musicians who redeem themselves are Cheap Trick, twice singing the song with the Redfish motto, "Everything Works If You Let It."

Alice Cooper's wife Sheryl appears as herself, and she was in Sgt. Pepper as a dancer.  Hank Williams, Jr. also appeared in that movie.  Lenore Woodward would play a little old lady again, in Hamburger-- The Motion Picture.  Richard Portnow, who's First New York Wino, would be Sy in Radio Days.  This time Hamilton Camp plays Grady.