MAY 22, 2009
The Evolution of the 80s Teen Movie - How Bob Clark, Gen X, and
Home Video Changed the Landscape of American Cinema
Part I
There was a time when Hollywood
wasn’t producing very many movies about or starring young people. From the mid50s (when Hollywood first began depicting the lives of young people onscreen in
films like Rebel Without a Cause and The Blackboard Jungle) all the way through
the 1970s, only a small handful of pictures were being made featuring teenagers
(or early twentysomethings) in starring roles. Typically, rather than offering an
examination of young people’s lives (in either a real or imagined way) these films
were quick, lightweight attempts to cash in on a young star’s presumably limited
fame and box office appeal. This was most apparent during the 1970s when Jodie
Foster, for example, after her strong performance as a 12-year old prostitute in
Martin Scorsese’s film Taxi Driver, followed up with the saccharine Disney familycomedy Freaky Friday, and the gimmicky Bugsy Malone, a gangster movie spoof
featuring an all children’s cast. In other instances, teen films were merely vehicles
for a handful of recognizable child actors to perform opposite established adult
box office stars. Tatum O’Neal, for example, gained fame after her Academy
Award-winning performance in Peter Bogdonavich’s 1970 feature, Paper Moon. But
through the remainder of the decade, O’Neal’s best roles were in The Bad News
Bears with Walter Matthau, International Velvet, opposite heavyweights
Christopher Plummer and Anthony Hopkins, and the disappointing Nickelodeon
(1976), starring Tatum’s father Ryan O’Neal and the country’s number one leading
man at the time, Burt Reynolds.
Furthermore, most of the aforementioned films
from Foster, O’Neal and the handful of other young actors judged capable of
carrying a picture, such as Kristy McNichol (Little Darlings, The Night the Lights
Went Out in Georgia), Scott Baio (Bugsy Malone, Skatetown, USA), and Brooke
Shields (Tilt, Just You and Me Kid), were box office and/or critical failures. As a
result, Hollywood remained hesitant to script and produce films that explored the
world of teenagers in a meaningful way. In an era where most of the top
production executives were holdovers from the Hollywood’s old studio system,
“star power” was still something of a prerequisite for getting pictures greenlighted and “kid actors” didn’t have enough of it to become anything more than
novel, short-term box office draws. Case in point, even when casting the (what
would prove to be wildly successful) frat comedy Animal House, the filmmakers
turned to 30-year olds Tim Matheson and Peter Riegert, and the established 29year old star of Saturday Night Live, John Belushi, to portray the college-age
protagonists.
But as the eighties rolled in, Hollywood’s attitude towards writing, producing and
casting films about young people and their willingness to examine their lives and
experiences was about to change. The film that would initiate this change was a
most unlikely entry.
Porky’s was a low-budget high school comedy written and directed by Bob Clark, a
40 year old Hollywood veteran whose best known work had been as a writer for
The Dukes of Hazzard TV series. Porky’s was produced for a meager $4 million
dollars, but would prove to be groundbreaking in a number of ways, including its
subject matter. Unabashedly raunchy, even by today’s standards, Porky’s follows a
group of high school boys as they play practical jokes on each other, spy on the
cheerleaders in the shower, and torment the girls phys ed teacher, Miss
Ballbricker. The story centers on the boys’ attempts to gain entry to a local strip
bar and their subsequent confrontation with the bar’s owner (the one and only
Porky himself.) Some of the film’s more hilarious scenes involve the guys enlisting
the services of a prostitute, two gym teachers having loud sex in a laundry room,
and one of the boys teasing the girls with his penis and having it nearly yanked
clean off by Ballbricker. Interestingly, even amidst all this highly-charged sexual
humor, Clark manages to work in a redeeming social message, as one of the boys
learns a lesson about racial tolerance. Make no mistake however, Porky’s is first
and foremost a riotous, rude and gross comedy about a bunch of guys trying to…
well… get laid—a plot that would be repeated ad nauseum in teen films throughout
the 80s, 90s, and into the next millineum. Porky’s though, was the first to tread
this ground, and in doing so, became a huge hit.
Another significant aspect about Porky’s was the fact that it featured a cast of
unknowns. The film’s box office success flew in the face of conventional wisdom
and proved that when it came to the teen movie genre, star power was of little
importance. On the strength of the teen and twentysomething dollar, Porky’s
grossed nearly $60 million at the box office. Hollywood took notice and a
fundamental philosophical shift occurred, as “coming of age” stories like Breaking
Away (1979),
Foxes (1980), and Endless Love (1981),
which sought to honestly explore all sides of the teen experience, both serious and
comedic, were passed over (by both producers and consumers) in favor of bawdy
teen sex romps. Indeed, the success of Porky’s triggered a frenzied race among
production companies and major studios to cash in on the film’s success by
duplicating its formula. As a result, the next two years brought a slew of Porky’s
clones, most of which featured similar casts of unknowns and offered little more
plotwise than a group of pubescent boys out for sex. The Last American Virgin
(1982), Goin’ All the Way (1982), My Tutor (1983), Private School (1983), Spring
Fever (1983), Spring Break (1983) and Losin’ It (1983) are prime examples. All of
these, however, failed to match the success of Bob Clark's film. Despite this,
though, the new genre
of the teen movie would not be
short-lived, as the film industry pleasantly realized it had two additional sources of
revenue for their movies—cable television and home video. These two new outlets
would prove pivotal to the success of teen movies, and would fuel Hollywood’s
continued exploration, expansion, and diversification of the genre through the
remainder of the decade.
Part II
In the 1970s, cable television was largely relegated to rural or mountainous areas where
large terrestrial antennas were scarce, making home reception of broadcast television
signals difficult if not impossible. However, the 1980’s saw an explosion of American
households in urban areas gaining access to cable television. During the decade, the
number of cable TV households in the US more than tripled, from 17% in 1978 to 57% by
1989.
The growth of cable television was greatly fueled by the development of premium movie
channels like HBO, Showtime, Cinemax and The Movie Channel, and the continuous slate
of popular films they offered. Prior to cable television, once a film completed its
theatrical run, it was usually years before it made its way to network television where, if
the film was exceedingly popular, it might be broadcast twice a year.
At the same time that cable television was beginning to boom, sales of home
videocassette
recorders were spiking, thanks in large part to
the American consumers’ resolution of the VHS vs Betamax issue as well as the Supreme
Court’s ruling that home video recording was legal and not a violation of copyright, as
alleged by plaintiffs, Universal City Studios, et. al. (You can read the Court’s ruling here.)
In 1982, only 4% of American households owned a VCR. By 1988, the figure had reached
60%. No doubt, Americans were enamored with the “VCR” for the way it allowed them to
record a show and watch it later. But in addition to being able to “timeshift” their TV
watching, VCR owners were also excited that they could now enjoy feature movies in the
comfort of their homes, whenever they wanted. As a result, the Hollywood studios began
scrambling to form home video distribution divisions for the huge catalogs of movie titles
which they owned. Concurrently, as these studios implemented the technologies, and
sales, marketing, and delivery methods needed to ready their pictures for public
consumption as videocassettes, large video rental chains (Blockbuster, West Coast Video,
and others) were founded and fiercely competed with each other, as well as with the
small mom and pop dealers that were springing up on every corner..
Thus, between cable and home video,
Americans now had the ability to see complete and unedited recent hits (Chariots of Fire,
Taps, Kramer vs Kramer, Foul Play, War Games, Close Encounters, Poltergeist) that were
long gone from cinemas but hadn’t made it to network TV yet. Fine films that were
overlooked during their initial theatrical release (Nighthawks, Blade Runner) were
rediscovered, as were cult and foreign films like Harold and Maude and Cat People. And of
course, popular comedies like Arthur, Smokey and the Bandit, 9 to 5, Cannonball Run, and
10 were watched repeatedly and their laughs enjoyed over and over again. Studio
executives quickly realized that a film’s success at the box office was no longer the sole
factor on whether or not these releases could be impactful and profitable. Films could
now be remarketed (or in some cases, bundled as a group) and sold for broadcast on basic
and premium cable TV channels. As this was taking place, market research began to show
that that a large part of the audience for cable TV movies (particularly repeat viewings of
these movies) were high school and college youth, who had ample amounts of free time on
their hands to sit around watching their
favorite films. (On a side note, it’s clear
that the American pop culture phenomenon of quoting movie lines began with these teens
of the 1980s who would watch (and rewatch ad nauseum), memorize and repeat dialog
from cable TV classics like Blazing Saddles, Caddyshack, Animal House, Stripes, and
Airplane.) When studio brass saw their film’s viewer ratings and the corresponding
audience demographics, a concerted effort was made to unearth, unshelve, acquire rights
to, script, shoot and release content that appealed to this key “Generation X”
demographic, and that content consisted largely of teen movies.
America, and particularly Hollywood, was soon completely enamored with the teen movie
genre. The profit margin (box office receipts now combined with cable TV revenues) of
movies like Porky’s, Private Lessons, Homework, and The Last American Virgin proved
very attractive to film production companies and their investors. Particularly intriguing
were the low-budgets these films offered, typically less than $10 million and often less
than half that. Actors almost always worked cheaply, as most were happy just to have a
role in a Hollywood feature. Principal photography took place locally, props were simple
and inexpensive, and shooting schedules tight. Screenplays could be written quickly, as
writers could tap into their own teenage experience (real or imagined) for material.
But eventually, filmmakers exploring the
teen movie genre became more creative. Writers and directors began to acknowledge
there was more to teenage life than the neverending quest to get laid and began to make
films that explored other aspects of contemporary youth. Amy Heckerling’s Fast Times at
Ridgemont High, though it failed to do much business upon its release in late summer of
1982, was nonetheless praised for it’s dead on depiction of contemporary teenage culture,
customs, and mores. Much has been written about how screenwriter Cameron Crowe, in
his attempts to make his script more authentic, went undercover at a southern California
high school. But what’s important is that it resulted in a teen movie rife with identifiable
characters that, in between laughs, are dealing with real issues, problems, and scenarios.
Let’s face it, as high schoolers, very few of us were seduced by our friend’s mom, roadtripped to a Mexican whorehouse… or wore dresses and makeup to sneak into an all-girls
school. So what was great about Fast Times was that the characters were placed in
situations, some comical (Brad fantasizing about Linda while he watches her poolside) and
some serious (Stacy’s pregnancy and subsequent abortion) that most of us, as teenagers,
either went through ourselves, or knew someone who had. In short, Fast Times resonated
as the first authentic teen movie. Yes, there are secondary storylines involving Brad’s job
woes and the antics of the now famous Jeff Spicoli. But while most teens films up until
this time relied on an anecdotal series of gross humor and sexual gags to sustain their
momentum, Fast Times, at its core, gave us a lovable, empathetic central character
(Stacy) and a more meaningful and realistic series of events involving her search for a
boyfriend and her relationships with her brother, and her friends Linda, Damone, and Rat.
The legitimization of the teen movie
continued in 1983 with Martha Coolidge’s sentimental Valley Girl, and Paul Brickman’s
Risky Business, which broke the teen movie mold with its Revolutionary Road/The
Graduate-like themes of rebellion against the supposed American dream of life in the
suburbs, attending an Ivy League college and landing a high paying corporate job. Risky
Business also set itself apart from other teen movies with its artful cinematography
(Lana’s first appearance; the train sequence), and an ethereal original score by new age
artist Tangerine Dream that proved a big departure from the typical teen movie
soundtrack full of contemporary pop and new wave hits. But while the well-received Risky
Business and a handful of other films did much to establish credibility for teen movies, the
unequivocal validation of the genre came with the release of Francis Ford Coppola’s The
Outsiders.
Oklahoma-born S.E. Hinton’s first novel The Outsiders,
chronicles the experiences of Pony Boy Curtis, a teenage “greaser” growing up in
Oklahoma, struggling with the death of his parents and searching for meaning in his life. In
a period where juvenile comedies like Joysticks were in abundance, The Outsiders offered
a serious and genuine examination of teen angst (similar to Rebel Without a Cause) as it
explored themes such as loyalty, friendship, jealousy, class warfare, and parental neglect.
Interestingly, one of Hinton’s later novels, Tex, had previously been made into a feature
film directed by Tim Hunter and starring Matt Dillon. Tex, though, was barely noticed
upon its release in the summer of 1982. Not the case when production began on The
Outsiders. Director Francis Ford Coppola had won two Best Director Oscars for The
Godfather and The Godfather Part II, and had also helmed the critically acclaimed
Apocalypse Now. As a result, Coppola had ascended to the pantheon of America’s greatest
living filmmakers, so when he signed on to shoot The Outsiders, Hollywood took notice.
With a respected director like Coppola now working in the genre, the modern teen film
now had Hollywood’s official seal of approval
The Outsiders firmly established that teen movies could successfully extend beyond
comedy. As a result, Hollywood soon began cranking out more teen dramas (Racing with
the Moon, All the Right Moves, Rumble Fish), and expanding teen movies into other
genres, such as thrillers (The Boys Next Door, Out of Control) and horror movies (A
Nightmare On Elm Street, Fright Night.)
But of course, what most of us remember The
Outsiders for is that incredible cast of young actors, all completely unknown at the time,
and each of whom would go on to become a bonafide star in their own right. Credit
Coppola and also casting director Janet Hirshenson (who incidentally, is still at the top of
her profession -- she cast this summer's Angels and Demons, Transformers: Revenge of the
Fallen and G.I. Joe) with recognizing the talent and charisma of Dillon, Ralph Macchio,
Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, Tom Cruise, C. Thomas Howell, and Diane
Lane. Within two years of The Outsiders release, each would be a lead actor with above
the title billing. This group would go on to star in some of the most popular and signature
films of the decade, including The Karate Kid, The Breakfast Club, Top Gun, Dirty
Dancing, and Rain Man. Like American Graffiti, which ten years earier had kickstarted the
careers of Richard Dreyfuss, Harrison Ford, Suzanne Somers and others, The Outsiders
served as a launching pad for some of the coming decades' biggest stars. On their way to
becoming Hollywood’s A-listers, though, The Outsiders cast members would each star in
their fair share of 80s teen movies.