Witness (1985)

This week's 80's film is Witness. It stars Harrison Ford, Kelly McGillis and Danny Glover in this dramatic film.

Harrison Ford is John Book, a Philadelphia police detective. He gets involved investigating a murder at a train station of a fellow police officer that was undercover. There is one witness to the crime, Samuel, a young Amish boy, who is like a fish out of water in the big city. He was traveling with his mother Rachel (Kelly McGillis) to visit a family member in Baltimore. As John looks into the murder, and delves deeper, it becomes clear that the crime is bigger than originally suspected, and now his, Samuel's and Rachel's live are all in danger. Faster than we can say "plain people of Lancaster County," the trio is off to the Amish Experience make themselves scarce and stay among Rachel's kind. Along the way, we get a firsthand look into Amish life, and even a barn raising (after all Harrison Ford had worked as a carpenter before he hit stardom so it wasn't much of a stretch). It all ends in a climax that has John Book taking out the baddies singlehandedly, and the Amish folks doing their best to stay out of the way.

I think this may be the third time I'm seeing Witness. It's one of those classic films that everyone should see at least once, and stands up to repeated viewing. I remain a Harrison Ford fan, and while his Han Solo and Indiana Jones roles get all the attention, this film shows his flexibility, and what he can do with a more serious role. In fact, I think this may be one of his best performances, but he has had so many, it would be hard to narrow it down to one best. On top of that, in Witness the care taken to show the Amish in a realistic fashion was well done.

Witness is a very strong film. If you haven't seen it yet, it's worth seeking out, and if you've seen it before it's a treat to watch it again.

Overall Grade: A

Reviewed by Jonas

Top Gun (1986)

I hadn't looked back at a 1980's film in a while, but as I recall Top Gun was one of those films that everyone saw back when we were in high school. It was the film that jump started so many careers with an A list that includes Tom Cruise, Anthony Edwards, Val Kilmer, Meg Ryan, Kelly McGillis, all coproduced by blockbuster creator Jerry Bruckheimer.

The story behind the making of Top Gun has to be kept in mind to understand the film. Reportedly, the script was done, and it called for numerous shots of naval aircraft on an aircraft carrier. These days, you'd just do it in CGI, and no one would be the wiser. However, Top Gun is perhaps the last great blockbuster action film that didn't use any CGI, and everything is real. Instead, they got in touch with the Navy, who agreed to provide an aircraft carrier and whatever else they needed for the project. The Navy was being so helpful because in the early 80's the military, still with the memories of Vietnam fresh in most Americans minds, had a serious PR problem. So, the Navy would cooperate, but they wanted to be able to rewrite the script to cast themselves in a more favorable light. Given that background, we can see how we ended up with a two hour recruiting session for a film.

Tom Cruise is the prototypical Navy flier, whose code name is Maverick. He pushes the plane to the limits, and is the guy you want on your side, but his commanding officer thinks he's a bit of a screwup. His Radar Intercept Officer (the guy in the back seat who does the electronics in the F-14), played by Anthony Edwards, goes by the call sign Goose. Together, after they chase off some Russian Migs they become the team to get sent to Top Gun, the popular name for the Navy Fighter Weapons School at Miramar Naval Air Station where the Navy's best 1% of fliers hone their skills in air to air combat, and compete for the crown of being the best of the best (of note, the school is now in Nevada; sounds funny to have a Naval Air Station so far from water, but that's budget cuts). Along the way Maverick has a romantic interest with one of the professors, Charlie (McGillis) a lay consultant to the military with a doctorate in astrophysics (probably would have made more sense for her to be an aviation engineer).

The real stars of the show, besides the actors, are the military hardware. The aircraft carrier featured is the USS Enterprise. The jets featured include the F-14 which was the Navy's fighter jet until it got replaced by the F/A-18 in the late 80's, although the last ones were only decommissioned two years ago. The "enemy" at the school is the F-5, which is a light fighter that was sold by the US and saw service in other countries, but was limited to being a trainer for the US military. Interestingly, the enemy they fight, a MiG-28, which seems to me to be presumed to be Soviet (although it may have originally been North Korean in the script but in the rewrite it became some generic communist country) is not really any real plane at all, and was played by more F-5 fighters that were painted black to look like the bad guys.

Overall, despite the film being so pro military, it still works. The acting is well done, and the action is top notch summer blockbuster fare. It gets a little dated for some segments, but all in all, Top Gun has fared well during the last two decades. Even if you saw it in theaters, it's still worth a second watching of this classic on DVD.

Overall Grade: A-

Reviewed by Jonas

The Manhattan Project (1986)

So with the Academy Awards this week, I was supposed to go out and watch all the films that won, right? Well, it takes a lot of work to swim upstream sometimes, and I looked at a film from 1986 instead. Specifically, I don't remember hearing anything about this film called The Manhattan Project, so I decided to take a look as the title intrigued me.

No, this is not the documentary of the top secret WW II project that resulted in the making of the first atomic bomb. While that would make a compelling film, this one focuses on a scientist in the mid 80's that comes up with a method of making ultra pure plutonium for use in atomic bombs. The government decides to fast track it, and they setup a new lab in Ithaca, NY, not far from Cornell University. The scientist, played by John Lithgow, takes an attraction in his realtor, Elizabeth Stephens (Jill Eikenberry). He decides to befriend Elizabeth's son, Paul (Christopher Collett) who is scientifically precocious. Next thing we know we have Paul getting the grand tour of a top secret governmental facility. Kind of implausible so far, no? Well, it gets worse when Paul decides to head back there, and sneak out some plutonium with the assistance of his new girlfriend. Uh, huh. Then to bring attention to the nuclear issue, what better way than to build a nuclear bomb for the regional science fair. Yeah, like any of this is going to happen.

Despite that The Manhattan Project is completely implausible, it was entertaining on some zany level. Perhaps it was just nostalgia on my part, but it did remind of the high school science fairs, although no one showed up with a nuclear bomb (I did try to replicate the Mendel genetics experiment, but I couldn't even get one seed to grow! I also did one on wind energy, but I was probably too far ahead of my time, but then again, it's still too far ahead for most folks). Anyway, getting back to the film, while it's not well acted, and you have to suspend some belief to help the plot along, it's not the worst film ever. It does have a certain element of suspense and kind of a "thriller lite" as we never really think the world is about to detonate. After all, when else but the 1980's could one make a film about a teenager making a nuclear bomb in their bedroom? These days, Homeland Security would probably censor it.

Overall Grade: B-

Reviewed by Jonas

The Chocolate War (1988)

When I think about films and chocolate, the ones that immediately come to mind are “Like Water For Chocolate,” and “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.” I had not previously heard of The Chocolate War, but when I read the back of the DVD box, it definitely gelled with me: Catholic boy’s school, overbearing Brothers, nonconformist student swimming upstream. Hmmm. Well, it came out in 1988, a momentous time in my high school career, so I simply had to see this film.

The premise is that Brother Leon needs to raise some extra dough for the school that year. In a traditional Catholic capitalistic manner, he buys twice as many boxes of chocolate to sell compared to last year (leftover from last Mother’s Day, no less), and doubles the price per box. He then gives each student a quota of fifty boxes to sell, and uses more than gentle persuasion (he fails one student pending his improvement of sagging sales) to keep the lackluster sales going. He even turns to a secret society of the Vigils, some underground fraternity, to exert pressure on the other students to move the Godiva goods. The only thing is that one student takes a stand, and refuses to sell the boxes of confection- no matter how hard everyone pushes him.

Well, at my Catholic high school we didn’t sell chocolate, but we definitely sold yearbook ads, and collected canned goods. While we didn’t have an exact quota, I recall a poster up in the homeroom with all of our names on it, and they were clearly counting up the tally, so I can definitely relate to this. Thankfully, we didn’t have such a secret society as the Vigils. However, in one scene of the film, every time a Brother says a certain word, the class jumps up and makes noise. While we never did that in high school, there was one occasion where the class decided that every time the Brother turned around we would move our desks up by an inch. Slowly, but surely, like in a game of Space Invaders, by the end of the period the guys in the front row could touch the blackboard. Thankfully, the Brother thought this junior English prank had some merit, and got a laugh out of it too. It was kind of funny as it developed to see the Brother realize that something was going on, but not able to put his finger on it. Nowadays, this would probably end up on YouTube, but back then it was just a story to tell in the lunchroom.

Anyway, back to the film. The Chocolate Wars is an interesting look back at Catholic high school, and the peer pressure that can be exerted both by fellow students, as well as the teachers. The characters although stereotypical at times, do have enough development to feel like real folks. Supporting the drama is a now vintage 80’s soundtrack that brought back plenty of memories as well. If you wax nostalgically for the days of Pac Man, then The Chocolate Wars is for you.

Overall Grade: B+

--Jonas

Summer Rental (1985)

It is often interesting to go back and watch an older film. I had never seen Summer Rental before, but when I saw that it featured John Candy, and directed by Carl Reiner (who directed the Ocean's films, among other things), I decided to check it out.

This film features Candy as Jack Chester, an overworked, and burnt out air traffic controller. After he mistakes a fly on his radar console for a lost private jet, he agrees that he is due for a break- big time. He then packs up his family, drives from Atlanta to the Florida Keys, and pulls into his paradise by the sea summer rental. While it is less than relaxing, now the fun seriously starts. From being in the wrong rental, to the restaurant's lobster tank emptying out, to a suntan that could only be described as "well done," this is hardly the R & R he signed up for!

While Summer Rental is not quite timeless, I found the technology more nostalgic then dated. For those of us that grew up with music from Sony Walkmans (yes, there was music before iPods for the youngsters), and when a family car involved a station wagon with an overly generous helping of fake plastic wood, we'll get a kick out of seeing this and more in the film. Then again, I like my GPS unit a little too much to go back to those simpler times.

If you're looking for some light humor, with a peak 80's twist, than Summer Rental is a comedy rental worth seeking out.

Overall Grade: B

--Jonas