Yes, that's absolutely a dollar sign in the title of How to Beat the High Co$t of Living (1980). Dollar dollar bill y'all. This movie is one of the first I saw (along with Private School and Slaughter High) after I decided to tackle every single movie in the whole damned decade.
This movie is very fun and also interesting in one specific and unexpected way. First, as everyone knows, the first couple years of any decade "feel" a lot like the previous decade... and the last couple tend to predict the upcoming one. So movies from 1980 should, in theory, seem a lot like movies from 1979. It's not like the whole industry passes around a memo saying "New decade, new rules!" and everyone forgets that Alien and Apocalypse Now and The Muppet Movie ever happened and starts anew.
Except this movie DOES feel like that. This is the earliest movie I've seen for the blog that feels concretely in the 1980s. I don't know how to describe it beyond saying that it looks exactly like I remember my small hometown looking in the early '80s. It was a real nostalgia trip.
The movie is about several women who are having relationship problems - divorced, abandoned, or in one case sued (!) by her husband. They find single life is no peach, and have a tough time making ends meet... until they gather their talents and wits and decide to rob a mall on Christmas during the drawing for a huge cash prize. Brilliant!! I wish I had thought of it. The modern equivalent might be tunneling into McDonalds headquarters to steal the fabled Boardwalk Monopoly piece. In ten years that sentence is going to seem really dated.
The women are all played by good actresses: Susan Saint James, Jane Curtin (film debut!), and Jessica Lange. The men are also pretty well known - Fred Willard, Eddie Albert, Dabney Coleman (who is great as a lonely cop). I enjoyed each and every one of them - they all seem like genuine people, good hearts and big problems and making the best of things using what they got.
They are also funny - this movie has a few legitimate laugh-out-loud moments, like when one couple attempts to have sex in their car on a date, like teenagers might, and the woman's foot gets stuck in the glovebox... and they have to petition loudly for help from the other residents parked on Lover's Lane... with some unexpected consequences.
They women all become enormously empowered by their new scheme. It's a lot of fun to watch these ladies get the upper hand on all the jerks and deadbeats who have aggrieved them. Of course, the plan goes awry in hilarious (and breast-baring!) fashion, but they roll with the punches and make the best of it.
Meanwhile, Private Benjamin (1980) is another tale of female empowerment. This is another very common motif in '80s movies - See Tootsie, 9 to 5, Shirley Valentine, She Works Hard for the Money, The Legend of Billie Jean, hell, even Haley in The Wizard. There are a lot, and most are good.
This one I reviewed mostly as a tribute to the memory of Eileen Brennan, who just passed away. She plays the wonderful Captain Doreen Lewis, who is more or less in charge of of shaping our heroine Judy (my second favorite role for Goldie Hawn, after Overboard in '87) into a lean, mean Army machine.
Judy is a pampered, spoiled trophy wife whose husband dies in the marital bed, leaving Judy purposeless and adrift. She hears an ad for the Army on the radio, likes the message of self-sufficiency and structure and discipline, and joins.
At first, of course, she is a wimp and almost washes out. The scene where they have to cut her loose from the razor wire atop the camp fence is very funny. When her parents come to claim her and insult her independence and dignity, she draws a line and commits to become an Army of One. And damned if she doesn't do it. I particularly liked when overcomes her fear of jumping from the plane ... with some funny encouragement from the paratrooper officer.
The movie is obviously not overly real (readers? anyone? Please tell me this isn't how basic is conducted...) but is a lot of fun. As a comedy, it works. The bit actors really sell their roles, and the pacing is fast and quick - just as a light comedy should be. Worth watching!
Private Benjamin was directed by Howard Zieff, who is most notable for the two My Girl movies. He also made the underrated Slither (1973), a great James Caan / Peter Boyle vehicle about an unconventional group of two-bit crooks searching for a small fortune.
Final note: I chose that poster for the movie because of that great title: La Bidasse. Someone please tell me that means The Bad-Ass!!
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