There are a few decades in film history that have been as scrutinized as the 1980s, but to really understand the decade and its movies, it's going to take a couple of someone's who were there for it the first time around.

Drew McLean and Scott Weinberg are ready to review every major film of the decade, one month at a time. The look at what worked then, what endoers now, and how it felt to be there when it all went down. Turn back the calendar with us. It's the 80s all over. I'm gonna have to go back to the hotel.

I'm gonna have to go back to the hotel.

I'm gonna have to go back to the hotel. It's the 80s all over. New York City decided to pick an official anthem and to absolutely no one's surprise, it was GGL in New York tonight. Oh no, no, wait, it was New York. Also Coca-Cola changed the course of Western civilization and waged war on my teeth by introducing cherry-coaked consumers, both canned and bottled. EastEnders aired its first episode on the BBC. Mickey Mouse made his first official trip to China and no, I don't know how that worked either and I was alive when it happened. And music belonged to the ladies. What's love got to do with it and Cindy Lopper slated the Grammy's radio was dizzy in love with Madonna who's album like a virgin set on top of the charts all month, even as a debut album by young Whitney Houston hit shelves. That is indeed the sweet sound of February 1985 that you hear, my friends. I am your host Drew McQueenie and as always, I'm joined by my co-host, the ubiquitous Scott Weinberg What's up buddy? What is up my name is Scott and I'm here to say we're here to talk about 85 February, area 8. Wow! See you want to start the podcast by sitting on your balls like that. Oh my god. Last month was a veritable train wreck. There were a few small nuggets of goodness. What you and I have known throughout our entire lives is something that many, many movie fans know. And it's something that never really seems to change that much with very few exceptions. January and February are cinematic wastelands. I would argue that this month is the exception to that. Because while it's not a month with a lot of titles, this one gets so good and it just gets better and better as we go.

Alright, well, Drew one thing that never seems to change and no matter what the decade, no matter what the hairstyle, no matter what the music, you will always have movies like Fast forward.

They've got the talent.

They've got the guts.

But now they've got to hit the... forward. Kids just got a dance man. It's just a dance movie. And you know what? 10 years ago, it was step up and to save the last dance. Those were big hits, but there are a few that just go nowhere. And this is one of those obscurities that is, I hate to say it, despite the fact that it's directed by the brilliant Sidney Portiae, who has directed some very good films, this feels like something that he just used to feel like a summer to make a getting a paycheck. I think you and I have different opinions of Sydney Portier as a director. I think he's a terrific actor. I think he is an icon and I think he is absolutely a civil rights titan. I think he's a terrible director. And I think this is right in his wheelhouse. It is generic. It is forgettable. A bunch of kids from Sandusky, Ohio come to New York too early for an audition that they kind of bully and trick their way into. And then have to wait for like eight weeks and somehow stay alive in New York. What cracks me up most about it is this notion that these kids, what they're doing is so revolutionary that they're going to come into New York and conquer it. And there is something fundamentally insulting about picking that city, because if there's any one city in America where dancing has it covered, it's New York. And these kids come in in like 10 minutes after they've been there, they're like on dance floors beating the crap out of people and showing everybody what their moves are and everybody's blown away. It is fantasy land and it's fantasy land that is not helped by the fact that none of the choreography is terribly interesting or memorable. The dancers aren't that good and none of these dancers are very interesting actors. This feels like nothing more than a 1940 screenplay that someone blew the dust off. It's very forties in formula and it's very forties in how it thinks about dance. I don't think he had a particularly modern take on dance. So the movie feels dated and stuck to that moment at the same time. It's no fun. It's not very good at all and it's dull. Just as a footnote, he did the three films in the 70s with Bill Cosby uptown Saturday night. Let's do it again piece of the action. Then he had a mega mega smash hit with stir crazy. Then he did Hankyanky which you and Wilder and Guilter Adner not very good Then he did this in 85 and then in 90 he did ghost ad and after that he promptly retired from directing I like the three in the 70s a little bit But even then I he's not a great director So hey, we have covered so far a whole lot of stuff from this next family and it really wasn't until

watching this next film that I finally figured out who every one of them is and how are

they are related to each other and I now have a handle on the Petri family thanks to the

Bayboy. This is a slightly starchy but earnest and engaging tale. It takes place in 1936, Nova Scotia, Canada, keep her settlement coming of age story and it deals with many of the things that the coming of age story will deal with and avoiding licentious priests and fumbling your way around with a willing young lady. Oh, also, the cop down the street murdered a family for their house. Yeah, that's pretty wild. What I like about it is that Daniel Petri's previous two films before this were Six Pack and Four to Patch You the Bronx. Like, and this guy goes way back, he directed Raised in the Sun, he's a great director. But just that trio in a row, Four to pat you the Bronx six pack in the Bayboy just seems incongruous. He is the journeyman when we talk about those those guys and he's from Canadian TV first, one of the hardest things is being able to direct anything, not just the things that you particularly have on your mind and look they're totally different kinds of filmmaking. I think Petri is a guy who, you know, when he made Raisin in the Sun, Raisin in the Sun

was a job nobody wanted because of the subject matter at the time. I love that he has always had a slightly progressive attitude and it's never like heavy handed in his movies, but he definitely is a guy who over time, I think only really personally appeared in a few of his movies. And this is one of them.

This one is largely based on memories of his from childhood. And yeah, if you told me that this film was 98% autobiographical from the writer director Daniel P.J., I'd be like, yeah, it feels like it. I think it is, it's well observed. Kiefer Settelon, this is his introductory movie. And he's on screen for pretty much the whole film. He's still a little green, in my opinion.

He has moments where he's legitimately moving

and convincing, and then a couple of moments where he's got scenes where he's got to work against Liv Olman and Peter Donat, who are amazing actors. Occasionally, he feels a little bit unsure of himself, but overall, he's really good. You asked a question on Twitter recently, and it's funny because you asked it like a day before I watch this movie as there ever been a sex scene that is necessary to the plot of a film. And I think there's two of them in this movie. Both sequences that involve sex in this movie are handled with a real delicacy and a maturity. The first is probably the most important, which is him losing his virginity. It's a very touching scene. I don't often think that these scenes are essential.

I think they're often played for sex

or they're often played for like TNA or laughs. Well, a big part of it is that there's no nudity here. There's no emphasis on that. And so that's not what the scene's about. The scene is about the details of behavior. And that's everything. That is his character in that moment. It's him realizing how much he doesn't know.

It's him admitting that he's a little scared

and a little bit unsure.

And all of that plays out in that moment. It's him realizing how much he doesn't know. It's him admitting that he's a little scared

and a little bit unsure.

And all of that plays out in that sequence. It's really terrifically played. And then the other, so there's that scene in the movie where he goes away with the priest and there's there on a trip. And something happens when he comes back, he no longer wants to be a priest. and he can't really talk to his parents about it,

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