THE CAFE AT THE END OF THE WORLD
A HISTORY OF WRITING AND PERFORMING IN THE 21ST CENTURY
This is a blog about imagination. It is about the trials and successes of being an author, a performer and an actor. It is about the struggle for attention, it is about the magic of theatre and film. It is about me and my daily life. It is an insight into my head.
The 1980’s were an important decade for me during which I was a sponge soaking in every cultural reference I chanced upon. This was the decade where my eyes opened and memories of a lifetime were formed.
It started for me in 1982, at the ripe old age of 10, when I bought the 7” single for John Williams theme to E.T. It was my first single, the my first memory of a record store. A very dark and mysterious place from what I remember, with smelly old people browsing obscure bands which I had never heard of. I preferred the safety and magic of the cinema.
Then, in 1983 a minor movie called Return of the Jedi dominated my consciousness; it began early in the year, when my dear uncle managed to get hold of a catalogue detailing all the new toy products for that year and my cousin and I had a glimpse of Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight and Boushh the bounty hunter. Our imaginations went into overdrive as to how these new interpretations would fit from the cliff-hanger ending of Empire.
1984 was the year of Ghostbusters, Ray Parker Jr and Temple of Doom. While I loved the sequel to Raiders, my allegiance fell to Gremlins that Christmas, and the 15 certificate created especially for its release in the UK was enough for my dad to drag his 12 yr old son to the cinema in disgust; we did not get in and had to wait for the VHS a year later.
1985 saw the release of Back to the Future and The Goonies at the same time. I was in heaven. It also marked my last year as an official kid for my tastes began to alter. The BttF soundtrack had Huey Lewis, a band who drew my attention away from the comparative geekiness of movie soundtracks. I was still not cool, but perhaps a little cooler. (In 1989 I became a huge fan of Prince based solely on his Batman soundtrack) Also, the success of the VHS market opened my teen eyes to Police Academy, The Terminator, Blade Runner and a choc-box of straight-to-video anomalies. More grown-up fair than the likes of Goonies. My eyes were now opened, and VHS was the way forward...
One such VHS rental was a little known TV series from the makers of Airplane called Police Squad! In Color. My close mates and I hired this 3 episode tape from the local Video Inn and rushed home one summer holiday to have an afternoon of cop show. What we saw almost made us wet ourselves with laughter.
In 1988, prayers from a collection of youths were answered when The Naked Gun (!) was released. Here was a full-movie remake of the series that was just as silly. Leslie Nielsen was perfect as Lt Frank Drebin, and Priscilla Presley was given a new audience as the love interest to his hapless cop.
The series, which was first aired in the States in 1982, did not have such a success, to its slumber in the corner of our local video shop. However, by finding the little gem it gave further depth and excitement to the release of the movie. Our small gang collectively attended and it’s success, raking in $78m at the US box office, meant a sequel was inevitable. ‘88 was a good year in movie terms, Rain Man, Roger Rabbit, Cocktail, Die Hard, Big, Twins; all considered to be minor modern classics. The Naked Gun did not outperform these heavyweights, but sits a creditable 8th in the league for the year. Not bad going for a little seen or known television flop remake.
The decade of my youth fills my head with memories, images and actors names which seem to trip off the tongue. One such is Dick Miller, the stalwart of Joe Dante movies and from what I understand via Twitter a very dear friend to the great director. He has sadly died today at the age of 90, but is well remembered by nerds like me for his turns in Gremlins and Innerspace et al. He was a wonderful presence in movies, humorous and with great character, and is it is because Dante used to use him which solidified my love of movies. Having grown up with theatre I have always loved the idea of a group trying different genres. Orson Welles used to use this practice in his productions, while Scorsese also adopted it. Spielberg lately has used it with his Tom movies (Hanks and Cruise). It warmed my little heart when Dick Miller would appear in a small but memorable role during a Joe Dante film. He will be remembered.
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