"Valley Girl": classic or totally tripendicular?

*between this movie and real genius (and la hc/punk) my fate was somewhat sealed as a youngster

y'all can come over any time and watch it

Chaki go watch Kids then.

It's more like a high school cod-punk thing. He's really no more "real" than the Valley Girl as the pivotal conversation in the club establishes.

Also, if Cage's character is such a punk, why does he say "I love this song" when Pat Travers' "I La La La Love You" comes on his car radio. He even turns it UP! Not punk at all.

NOT PUNK!
http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/pic200_web/drp000/p087/p08709b5jfv.jpg

Anyway, is punk some sort of secret society whose would-be members need to be closely monitored for ideological deviation?

Nice noticing the Circle Jerks poster. That scene felt a little out of step with the rest of the film, didn't it?

No, but an appreciation for middle-of-the-road crap like Pat Travers seems incongruous for Cage's character. That said, notice the Tangerine Dream shirt he wears in the food court date scene later? Not entirely Punks either, them.

I mean, objecting to this film on the grounds that Nick Cage's character is Not Punk is like hating How Green Was My Valley because the drinking song in the wedding party scene is Irish, not Welsh.

You're assuming that I'm objecting to the film. I'm not. It remains a classic. Am I not, however, allowed to make observations of its flaws?

Nice noticing the Circle Jerks poster. That scene felt a little out of step with the rest of the film, didn't it?

Thanks, and yes, it did.

yes, i've seen this movie too much.

You guys are incredible.

(Huh?)

When you're young and in love... it feels like eternity... Sigh...

Actually, that's Jordan in Real Genius

i heart this movie so much. my major "huh?" complaint about it is when he takes her from the party and stuff he's all "i hate your lifestyle and your friends and your music all sucks and you're all fake and stupid and that techno rock you guys listen to is GUTLESS and i despise everything about you...so when can i see you again?" and she's all "i just feel, i dunno, a connection with you."

and it has the greatest party scene ever. "i am a fanatic/ i like movies and a-rock shows..."

That's Elizabeth Daily, who was also the lead singer of the high school dance band in "Better Off Dead" and so many other amazing things. She's like the 1980s new wave Zelig or something.

okay. i'm done. go about your business.

She still looks really good.

In another life!

"Yeah, I didn't either. I was just taking a poll."

"she's dead!"

I mean, why have I never seen this flick, and why should I do so, if ever presented the opportunity? Write me back, B.

http://www.funtrivia.com/quizdetails.cfm?quiz=119932

i got 14/15 on both. on the first i got the tagline question wrong and i should've known better. on the second i had to guess at the julie's button question and straight up guessed wrong.

anyone else (lauren)?

First time I watched this since it came out--much better than I remembered. Back then, my friends and I thought it was a rather tepid Fast Times knock-off (I think we even liked The Wild Life better, which was stupid-funny and had Chris Penn); Fast Times still stands alone for me, but Valley Girl's good. The two leads carry the film; Nicholas Cage isn't Nicholas Cage yet, so he can still be quietly effective, and Deborah Foreman's really sweet. I recognized Michael Bowen right away, but had to look him up--Keaton's partner in Jackie Brown, the dad in Magnolia. "I Melt with You" great, of course. (If you love those scenes, see Perks of Being a Wallflower.) Cage seems to be wearing a Tangerine Dream T-shirt underneath his new-wave regalia in one scene--were they secret heroes of L.A. power-pop, or did Cage just forget to change beforehand?

Foreman's hippie parents could have been awful, but Forrest and Camp underplay nicely, and even though the conception of their characters is long a cliche by now, I don't think that would have been true in 1983. Anachronistic counter-culture types were treated with a measure of respect by American directors through most of the '70s--give or take Pink Flamingos' "Fucking hippies," or SNL on TV--and you're only three years into the new decade. (Some of those directors, like Hal Ashby, were anachronistic counter-culture types themselves.) So my guess is--I'm trying to reconstruct a timeline from memory--the treatment of Forrest and Camp was still relatively novel for movies.

Saw this on the big screen today. It’s good! Even though it had me constantly wincing at the recognition that they were basically putting the whole aesthetic of my high school years on screen. Like, it was too real (totally).

Josie Cotton, now there’s someone who enjoyed one fleeting moment in pop culture. She looked like a little new wave Liz Taylor.

You need to fly your freak flag--check that, Modern English flag--high.

Criterion had an early Martha Coolidge film on a month or two ago--not sure if it's still there.

Didn’t realize Valley Girl was her first major commercial effort… and after ten years or so of filmmaking

If you're brave and have Netflix, Coolidge's followup Joy of Sex is up until the end of the month as part of their 1984 Collection.

The movie's producer Frank Konigsberg has said in an interview: "Paramount was running out on their option on Alex Comfort's book. They had four months to start principle photography. They came to me and asked me to do it. They knew that in television you do things quickly. We threw together a script. They wanted me to use director Martha Coolidge, who'd just made 'Valley Girls' [Valley Girl (1983)]. It was a job. We just had to get it done. I didn't think it was a successful movie at all. It was awful. Martha hated it. I hated it."

The film's director, Martha Coolidge, said of this movie in an interview with 'Rediscover the 80s' - ''Paramount insisted on topless girls running down the hall because they thought the formula demanded it and it was totally gratuitous. I hated putting them in for no reason and argued against it. But when the film was previewed the audience, particularly young women and girls, hated the nudity so Paramount then asked me to cut as much of it out as I could!. They had thought they were going to get a Porky's (1981) but the script was more from a girl's point of view (as was Valley Girl (1983)). It was actually a romance and certainly the women writers and I weren't the people to get a Porky's (1981) from. The movie wasn't what the execs thought it would be, they freaked, took me off the movie, cut it down and tried to make the humor broader which made it more disjointed. The entire budget was minuscule and the music was given only [US] $20,000! For comparison, the Valley Girl (1983) soundtrack (not including score) cost [US] $150,000. The whole 'Joy of Sex' experience was pretty miserable. We were under constant pressure and scrutiny to do the impossible, we had eight days of prep, twenty days to shoot and my A.D. [assistant director] quit because he was so angry. I learned that I can't always save the day or be a hero and you have to protect yourself at all times. I did find some very talented actors though!''.

The film she made just before Valley Girl, the Canadian production City Girl (1982), is hugely underrated. Executive produced by Peter Bogdanovich

I love Valley Girl. Loved it as a high school student when it came out, but still loved it when I rewatched it a few years ago. Nicolas Cage is charming and Deborah Foreman is totally lovable. I love her hippie parents too. Plus the best pop soundtrack of the decade imo, even though it took years before it was properly released.

I also like Josie Cotton. The album all those songs are on is good.

was her dad the Chef in Apocalypse Now?

Frederic Forrest, yes--died last year. Also in The Conversation and lots else.