Vintage Image of the Day: My Bodyguard
Filed under: Comedy, Vintage Image of the Day
After I posted an image from Breaking Away recently, someone mentioned a similar sleeper film, the 1980 movie My Bodyguard. I had plain forgotten about that movie, although it was another one that I taped from TV and watched quite a few times in my junior high days.
My Bodyguard is an odd little film. Chris Makepeace -- whose name I haven't heard in years and years -- starred as Clifford, the new kid in a high school who decides he doesn't want to pay off the school bullies like everyone else. He decides to hire his own bodyguard, another teen who can intimidate the bullies. The cast includes Joan Cusack and Adam Baldwin in their (nearly) first film roles, and Matt Dillon as the lead bully. Jennifer Beals appears for a fleeting moment as one of the high-school kids.
The comic subplots in this movie are generally acknowledged to be rather weak and unmemorable, despite the supporting cast of excellent character actors: Ruth Gordon, Martin Mull, John Houseman, Tim Kazurinsky, George Wendt and Richard Cusack (Joan and John's dad). The part of the movie worth watching is the story of Baldwin's character Linderman, the big quiet kid, and how he interacts with Clifford and the other teens. I haven't seen My Bodyguard since high school, but now I'm feeling an urge to rent it and see if I like it as much as I did then. Besides, I last saw Baldwin as Jayne in Serenity and I'd love to contrast that with his role in this film.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-25-2006 @ 10:41AM
Scott Weinberg said...
Ah, My Bodyguard. I remember seeing it in the movies with my sister. We loved it. :)
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4-25-2006 @ 1:02PM
Veruka said...
God, this film brings back memories! I think I must have seen it for the first time on TV, though, because I don't recall going to the cinema.
Chris Makepeace also appeared in a very odd movie based on the unfinished Twain story, "The Mysterious Stranger."
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4-25-2006 @ 2:51PM
Greg Day said...
and he was Rudy in the greatest "teen" comedy ever - Meatballs
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4-25-2006 @ 3:03PM
The Jeremy said...
I want to see *My Tutor* remade, but with better characterization and theme song.
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4-25-2006 @ 5:30PM
Hattori Hansolo said...
I seem to remember the main character's grandmother stealing most of the scenes she was in. It was kind of funny how Martin Mull played the boy's father who owned a hotel and years later he was last seen in Red Roof Inn commercials. Coincidence????????...........I think not!
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4-25-2006 @ 6:28PM
Thomas Shao said...
The one thing I remember about this movie is the viciousness of the Matt Dillon character. I mean, I know there are bullies in every school, but he seemed to be truly evil. I mean, most bullies will tease you, humiliate you or push you around a bit. With Dillon's character, I got the impression that, if he could get away with it, he'd kill you outright. And not with a gun or a knife, just with his fists. That's the only thing I didn't like about this movie. It was a made for teenagers movies, but I felt that Dillon's characters behavior went way over the line. Perhaps there are bullies like that in real life, but I didn't like seeing it in the movie.
I don't know, maybe it's because I've never met any New York bullies.
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