Last month I took Somara to this revered film at Alamo Ritz for the theater’s monthly celebration of Girlie Night. (Yeah, I know, this story is not very timely in light of when we went and how recent John Hughes’ death was, but I’ve been swamped.) First thing out of many people’s mouths is “Somara has never seen this?” All she can say in her defense is it came out during a busy time her life and she somehow always kept missing it on cable ever since.
The good news is that Somara did like it and I’m glad Alamo Ritz continued to prove why it’s worth spending a tad more to see a flick in their theater while Cinemark, Landmark and Regal make it a chore so you’d rather save the cash to watch it on DVD. At first I was a bit concerned if I would be allowed in. I feared Girlie Night was a literal thing because I was the only dude in queue. Then a couple more guys appeared to my relief yet we were outnumbered at least 20 to one. While we sat waiting for the main attraction, the screen showed shorts of cute things: a puppy rocking on its back trying to stand up, a kitten trapped in a tissue box; women have a region waxed (ugh!); and scenes from the TLC show about the kid beauty pageant circuit (just plain sad and a form of evil with a little e).
Then the hostess from Bird’s Barbershop started the festivities with a contest of three audience members telling their best high school humiliation stories: the first is the daughter of professional party clown Doodlebug (we’ve seen her at our credit union!), the second beat up a homophobe in front of college recruiters and the third got her underpants pulled down by a friend in front her gym class. Pretty rough, especially the first one, her mother’s profession went on for years which isn’t an isolated incident. After the contestants received their prizes, the hostess led everyone in a toast to John Hughes, thanking him for making his more honest movies about life in high school. She announced next month’s choice of Dirty Dancing to only be a coincidence as Patrick Swayze had died a few days earlier but it might be wise to pray for Shelly Long’s health because Troop Beverly Hills would be November’s Girlie Night. Finally, the MC pointed the audience to the extra touches of the evening: a special cocktail named after Long Duk Dong and there were sex quizzes with the menus with the same questions you see in the movie…right down to the misspelling of confidential, the i and a were juxtaposed at the end.
How is this movie after 25 years? It remains my favorite realistic John Hughes flick. (Weird Science is my personal favorite but that one is more of a teenage boy’s fantasy since the reality bending was crucial to the plot.) When you strip away the comical fashions of 1983 (when it was shot), the technological limitations we no longer live with (10 floppy disks being expensive, non-mobile phones and cameras using film) and the dated slang, the heart of the story remains timeless, universal and transcends gender even though a younger boy getting the time of day from an older girl is a longshot. Sixteen‘s jokes are still hilarious and now my wife understands my Duk quotes from Wantanabe like “Oh sexy girlfriend!”
Finally, Alamo outdid themselves too. They managed to get the film version which contains the original music I remembered from watching it a dozen times in the Eighties from a copy taped off HBO/Showtime. Due to the constant battle over money, copyright, etc.; the DVD version and what is shown on TV have different songs in certain scenes which is a damned shame. At least Somara got to experience it the way I remembered it in high school.