25 Years of Porky's

Bob Clark was the alternate icon of the eighties. While John Hughes brought out a number of red-headed features, the Florida-bred Clark was releasing alterna-classics from Toronto . Although he started his Canadian days in the seventies with horror specials like Black Christmas, the eighties lost the blood as he released two border-crossing classics -- Porky's and A Christmas Story.

Porky's existed in a time before pie sex and films that made profanity a passing phrase. The cast was a group of unknowns whose names never transcended the film, that is, except for Honeywell -aka- Kim Cattrall, who went on to play a mannequin and a sex fiend. Although the movie was panned for its misogynistic portrayals, the film quickly became a cult classic. Raging profanity and peeping kids, what could be more real? "It's outrageous, because we were outrageous." Clark notes.

In October, a not-at-all "special" edition of the film was released in the US. Now, Playback Magazine reveals that Maple Pictures will be handling a Canadian version -- hopefully one with more features -- to be released on the 21st. The anniversary comes at an interesting time, since Porky's was just partially de-throned from its spot as the highest-grossing Canadian film EVER. Yes, in the last twenty-five years, only one Canadian release has come close -- this year's Bon Cop, Bad Cop, which has gone farther in revenue, but not inflation-adjusted numbers. Now, Howard Stern has picked up the re-make rights to Porky's. Over two decades later, do we still care? Or will we all try to re-capture our youth with a DVD and remake?