1987 in Film: WWF takes a trip to the movies
June 12, 1987
Predator (Film)
From *Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
Predator is a 1987 American science fiction action film. It was directed by John McTiernan, and was distributed by 20th Century Fox. The film stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Bill Duke, Jesse Ventura, and Kevin Peter Hall as “The Predator”. The plot follows an elite Special Forces team on a mission to rescue hostages from guerilla territory in Central America. Unbeknownst to the group, they are being stalked and hunted by a technologically advanced form of extraterrestrial life.
Predator was written by Jim and John Thomas in 1985, under the working title of
Hunter. Filming began in April 1986, and special effects were devised by Stan Winston.
The film's budget was around $15 million. Released in the United States on June 12, 1987, the film grossed $99,058,229, approximately $36 million which was from overseas. [1] Initial critical reaction to
Predator was mixed, with criticism focusing on the thin plot. In subsequent years, however, the film’s criticism has waned slightly, with some people [
who?] considering it a cult action film classic. A sequel,
Predator 2, was released in 1990. [2]
Review from Internet Film Database (IFDb) [3]
Author:
80s Film Freak from None of Your Business
15 June 2006
“Predator” is probably one of the best (and best-known) ‘80s action extravaganzas—it has a great concept to it, the scenery is incredible, and it has aged pretty well compared to most of the overly-macho cheese that came out in the same decade. Director John McTiernan definitely knew what he was doing when he made this the “ultimate ‘80s movie”.
The plot is surprisingly strong, for an ‘80s action flick—army commando Dutch (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger) parachutes into the jungle along with his buddies, in what they think will be a political mission to rescue some hostages, but they end up fighting a strange, homicidal creature from another planet that kills for sport and likes to leave its victim’s skins behind.
While I’ll admit this movie can be kind of tough to watch at times due to several factors, it’s still a guilty pleasure of mine: mainly because of the excitement, the fight scenes, and the acting. I can hear some of you out there groaning at that last comment, but hear me out…
While they’re usually mostly played as cardboard-cutout action film fodder, some of the characters can be surprisingly deep and multi-dimensional at times. Schwarzenegger is, of course, bursting with his over-the-top machismo, but he also shows surprising heart in playing Dutch, coming off as a—well, a semi-likeable guy. “I don’t do this kind of work”, he says when he finds out his team has been tricked into attacking a rebel base under the guise of rescuing some hostages. He’s rightly annoyed, because he and his guys are in the business of saving lives, not taking them. It’s not shoved in our face, but it’s there, and it makes Dutch’s struggle against the Predator even better, as he has to pull a total 180 from his philosophy early on in the movie—adapting (and eventually killing) in order to survive.
The rest of the cast adds welcome flavor to the film as well. The two standouts (for me, at least) are Bill Duke as the fiery Mac and Jesse Ventura as the brash, blaringly-overconfident Blaine. Most of Ventura’s lines in the film are unapologetic and politically incorrect by today’s standards (you could NEVER get away with talking about chewing tobacco making you a “sexual tyrannosaurus” today), but in the ‘80s, you could get away with it, and in essence, it’s what makes Blaine so badass.
As the men are offed one-by-one by the creature, you’re hanging on the edge of your seat. And of course, the Predator itself is a vital part of the film—foreboding and mysterious as it sneaks through the jungle, and both breathtaking and horrifying when it actually reveals itself to you. Along with the aliens in “Alien”, it’s one of the most incredible movie monsters ever made. It’s kind of a shame nobody ever came up with a crossover between the two films—that would have been something to see. [4]
This is a go-to movie for many people of my generation, especially guys. I remember watching and re-watching it when I was like 10 (too young, I know!), fascinated by the incredible scenery, macho characters, and suspense that any one of them could be killed by the Predator at any second. Watching it today, that magic is still there. I highly recommend seeing this movie if you love action-packed, macho “man’s man” movies. If that’s not your cup of tea, by all means, skip it. But for people like me, who thrive on ‘80s over-the-topness and extreme action, it’s a definite must-see.
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November 1, 1987
The Princess Bride (Film)
From *Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
The Princess Bride is a 1987 American romantic comedy/fantasy/adventure film, directed and co-produced by Rob Reiner. The film stars Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, Chris Sarandon, Mandy Patinkin, Andre the Giant, Christopher Guest, and Wallace Shawn. It was adapted by William Goldman from his 1973 novel of the same name. The story is presented in the film as a book being read by a grandfather (Peter Falk) to his sick grandson (Fred Savage), thus effectively preserving the novel's narrative style.
Released on November 1, 1987, the film was a box office hit, grossing $50,293,859 on a $16 million budget. [5] The film received high praise from critics, and continues to remain popular, with The American Film Institute ranking it as the 95th Greatest Film of All Time in 2007. [6]
Review from Internet Film Database (IFDb)
Author:
Melissa from Pennsylvania
10 July 2007
Recently, I watched the 10-year, slightly-updated anniversary of the AFI’s countdown of the “100 Greatest Films”, where “The Princess Bride” ranked at #95. I only remembered parts of the movie from my childhood (I could only remember bits and pieces of the fight scenes, some comedic lines, and of course, ‘My name is Inigo Montoya’), and I got to thinking: was it REALLY as good as AFI thinks it is? So I bought a copy online and re-watched it. And after doing so, I have to say that it truly is a great movie.
The film’s plot is as follows: a farm girl, Buttercup (played by Robin Wright) and a stable boy (played by the vastly underrated Cary Elwes) fall in love. When the boy, Wesley, goes out to make his fortune, he is supposedly killed by pirates. Later, an egotistical Prince (good God, this guy is full of himself) decides to make Buttercup his wife. Buttercup is later kidnapped by a group of three ne’er-do-wells: Vizzini the con man, Fezzik the Giant (played by pro wrestler Andre the Giant), and swordmaster Inigo Montoya (played by the great Mandy Patinkin), who are helping the Prince start a war with another country. They are followed by a “Man in Black”, presumably the same pirate that killed Wesley, except that he looks an awful lot like him (you do the math). Fezzik and Inigo later have a change of heart after being bested by Wes—oops—the “Man in Black”, and join him to later attempt to rescue the lady from marrying the crooked Prince, all while getting revenge on the man who killed Inigo’s father in a pretty interesting side-plot.
The entire film is very well-made, but if I could nitpick for just a few seconds: the whole thing about the grandpa reading the story as a book to the little boy doesn’t really contribute anything to the film for me. It’s kind of sophomoric and cheesy. Also, I know the film is supposed to be a fairy tale, but the suspension of disbelief is kind of forced on me at times. I mean…giant, flesh-eating rats? Man-eating screaming eels? What kind of sadistic world is this?
On the other hand, the humor is positively gut-busting. Some of the better gems include lots of the conversations between Inigo and Fezzik, and the “to the pain” soliloquy by Wesley. Also, this film contains several hilarious cameos, like Peter Cook as the lisping priest, and of COURSE, Billy Crystal and Carol Kane as “Miracle Max” the healer and his wife. If these two don’t get you laughing, you need to check your pulse.
The set design, cinematography, and music are also very nicely done (and this is coming from someone who doesn’t really care for Dire Straits) [7]. The swordfights were also very entertaining, especially the one between Inigo and Wesley (screw it, you all knew he was the Man in Black anyway). Pretty much every actor in this film plays their part very, very well, and everyone just meshes with one another so fluidly—even Andre, who at times, you can’t really understand due to that accent of his. What is it, French? Polish? German? I’m not a wrestling fan, so I have no idea…
Final conclusion: this film is very, very good. While it’s nowhere near the legendary status of “The Wizard of Oz” or “Casablanca” (both of which were high on AFI’s list, obviously), it’s a great movie that I recommend to anyone. Love, action, comedy, fantasy—there really is something in “The Princess Bride” for everyone. This is one film that really and truly holds up.
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November 13, 1987
The Running Man (1987 Film)
From *Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
This article is about the 1987 film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. For the 1963 film of the same name starring Laurence Harvey, see The Running Man (1963 film).
For other uses, see Running Man.
The Running Man is a 1987 American science fiction action film loosely based on the 1982 novel
The Running Man, written by Stephen King (published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman). Directed by Paul Michael Glaser, the film stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Maria Conchita Alonso, Jesse Ventura, Jim Brown, and Richard Dawson (in his final film). Director Andrew Davis was fired one week into filming and replaced by Glaser. [8] Schwarzenegger has been quoted as saying he believes this hurt the movie. Paula Abdul is credited with the choreography of the Running Man dance troupe. [9] The film, set in a dystopian America between 2017 and 2019, is about a television show called
The Running Man, where convicted criminal “runners” must escape death at the hands of professional killers.
Although many critics praised Dawson’s performance, the film met with mixed reviews upon release. Nonetheless, the film grossed just over $46 million on a $27 million budget, making it a box office success. [10]
Review from Internet Film Database (IFDb)
Author:
GeorgieBoy6 from
Georgia
30 March 2006
From the mind of author Stephen King and director Paul Michael Glaser (“Miami Vice”), “The Running Man” is 1980s to the core. Several people have criticized this movie for being cheesy, over-the-top, uninspired crap, calling it one of Schwarzenegger’s worser films. But 16 years later, I can honestly say that the film is actually not that bad. Rather than just being a brainless action film, it works well as a parody of what the future could potentially become.
Ben Richards (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a police officer working in a dystopian United States. The entire country is ruled by a totalitarian government, where food is scarce, the economy is crappy, and most music, literature and film is censored. (How and why the country got in such sorry shape is never mentioned, but I would indeed like to know just why the Home of the Brave has fallen, wouldn’t you?) The government keeps the public appeased by broadcasting sadistic game shows for them to watch, and the most popular one is “The Running Man”, hosted by the devilish Damien (
sic) Killian (played by “Family Feud” host Richard Dawson). On the show, criminals and those who oppose the government are given a chance at freedom if they can outrun or outsmart the “stalkers”—professional killers armed with everything from flamethrowers to chainsaws to electrical suits.
When Richards refuses to shoot a group of innocent people, he is arrested, framed for the eventual murder of the crowd, and sentenced to prison. He and his buddies, which include Laughlin (Yaphet Kotto) and Weiss (Marvin McIntyre), escape and go on the run. Richards ends up kidnapping government employee Amber Mendez (Maria Conchita Alonso) and tries to flee to Hawaii (which should technically still be in the United States, but if you’re seriously trying to make sense of some of the stuff in this film, I pity you), but he is captured and taken prisoner again. This time, though, he’s forced to go on “The Running Man”. From here, it’s all “Ahnuld”, as he blasts through the “stalkers”, who are played by an array of muscle-bound hulks and pro wrestlers (no, seriously, two were actually former wrestlers!), attempting to win freedom along with Laughlin and Weiss, who are placed into the mix with Arnold just for the hell of it. Amber is also thrown in when she discovers a government cover-up about Richards, but the less said about Arnold and Maria’s onscreen chemistry, the better.
The rest of the movie is basically just kick-ass, loud, classic 80’s Schwarzenegger fun. There are a lot of really exciting fight scenes, really cheesy one-liners (like “Here is Sub-Zero, now PLAIN Zero”…ugh), and of course, the final face-off with Killian that makes everything Richards did worthwhile. Pretty much everything Richard Dawson does in this movie is pure gold—he plays everything with a virtual wink to the camera, and it’s safe to say this is my favorite thing he’s ever done in his career, “Family Feud” be damned. As a longtime sports fan, I also enjoyed all the cameos by former wrestlers and athletes, especially Jesse Ventura, who positively creams Schwarzenegger in one of the fights (OK, it’s actually a computer-animated simulation, but it’s STILL awesome to see The Body own The Terminator!) Also, watch for the cussing little old lady—she’s freaking hilarious.
If you watch “The Running Man” expecting to find the next “Citizen Kane” or “Star Wars”, you’ll be sadly disappointed. But if you want a great cheesy 80’s movie, then look no further.
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Top Grossing Films of 1987 (U.S.)
Rank, Title (Studio),
Actors, Gross
1.
Fatal Attraction (Paramount),
Michael Douglas, Glenn Close, $155,014,021
2.
Beverly Hills Cop II (Paramount),
Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold, $154,693,034
3.
Three Men and a Baby (Buena Vista),
Tom Selleck, Steve Guttenberg, Ted Danson, $147,224,080 [11]
4.
Good Morning, Vietnam (Buena Vista),
Robin Williams, Forest Whitaker, $133,939,714
5.
Broadcast News (20th Century Fox),
Jack Nicholson, Holly Hunter, John Cusack, $113,050,372 [12]
6.
Moonstruck (MGM),
Cher, Nicolas Cage, Olympia Dukakis, $80,443,235
7.
The Untouchables (Paramount),
Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Robert DeNiro, $76,443,207
8.
The Secret of My Success (Universal),
Michael J. Fox, Helen Slater, $67,329,102
9.
Lethal Weapon (Warner Bros.),
Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Gary Busey, $66,398,117
10.
The Witches of Eastwick (Warner Bros.),
Jack Nicholson, Cher, Michelle Pfeiffer, $64,011,597
11.
Predator (20th Century Fox),
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Jesse Ventura, $63,107,948
12.
Stakeout (Buena Vista),
Richard Dreyfuss, Emilio Estevez, Forest Whitaker, $63,099,475
13.
Throw Momma From the Train (Orion),
Danny DeVito, Billy Crystal, $56,703,446
14.
Robocop (Orion),
Peter Weller, Nancy Allan, $55,293,469
15.
La Bamba (Columbia),
Lou Diamond Phillips, Esai Morales, Rosanna De Soto, $53,993,782
16.
Dragnet (Universal),
Dan Aykroyd, Tom Hanks, Harry Morgan, $53,558,602
17.
Outrageous Fortune (Buena Vista),
Bette Midler, Shelley Long, $53,007,644
18.
Dirty Dancing (Vestron),
Patrick Swayze, Jennifer Grey, $52,998,297 [13]
19.
The Living Daylights (United Artists),
Timothy Dalton, John Rhys-Davies, $51,193,479
20.
The Princess Bride (20th Century Fox),
Cary Elwes, Mandy Patinkin, Robin Wright, $50,293,859 [14]
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[1]
Predator grossed about $60 million in the U.S. IOTL, along with an extra $38 million from overseas. ITTL, its revenues are roughly the same.
[2] Note that the article says nothing about the 2010 sequel
Predators, or the two crossover films with
Alien (
Alien vs. Predator and
Alien vs. Predator: Requiem).
[3] TTL’s version of the Internet
Movie Database, obviously.
[4] Yep, the
Alien vs. Predator films are butterflied away ITTL, for several reasons that we may or may not get into.
[5] IOTL,
The Princess Bride only grossed about $30.9 million, good for 41st place overall for the year—not exactly terrible; it just had the misfortunate of running into the brick wall of
Fatal Attraction in its massive 25-week run in theaters. ITTL,
The Princess Bride’s debut is delayed for a couple weeks, which makes a big difference: its biggest competitions as far as opening films go are the thriller
The Hidden, and the ill-fated Whoopi Goldberg vehicle
Fatal Beauty. Needless to say, it wins out easily, and gradually picks up steam for a strong ten-week run in theaters.
[6] This TL’s version of the AFI’s “100 Years…100 Movies” list, for which
The Princess Bride wasn’t even nominated IOTL. It did, however, make #88 on AFI’s “Top 100 Passions” list a few years later.
[7] As OTL, Mark Knopfler sings “Storybook Love”, the main theme from the soundtrack, and also as OTL, the song is nominated for an Academy Award.
[8] As OTL.
[9] OTL.
[10] IOTL,
The Running Man only raked in about $38 million, making it a more modest success. ITTL, it does quite a bit better.
[11] IOTL,
Three Men and a Baby was the highest-grossing film of 1987, making a cool $167.8 million. Here, it just falls a bit short due to being in theaters for a little bit less time.
[12] Another product of butterflies: IOTL,
Broadcast News only grossed about $51.2 million, finishing at 18th place overall for the year. But if you look down lower on the gross list, you’ll see
The Last Emperor, a superb movie which won the Academy Award for Best Picture of 1987, not long after it was pulled from theaters after a less-than-stellar performance. After winning the award, theaters picked the film back up, and after a whopping 31 weeks at the box office, the film made a fairly impressive $43 million, good for 25th place for the year. ITTL, due to the “Asian” fad, the Academy figures it would be “too obvious” to choose
The Last Emperor: they instead give
Broadcast News Best Picture. The publicity pushes the movie into the Top 5 for the year, and
The Last Emperor sadly becomes a forgotten (yet superb) classic.
[13] Slightly less than the $63.4 million for
Dirty Dancing IOTL, due to a fair bit of competition from
The Princess Bride.
[14] In case you’re wondering:
The Running Man finishes in 24th place for the year ITTL, with a box office total of just over $46 million, and outranked by
Planes, Trains and Automobiles (#21, $49 million),
Eddie Murphy Raw (#22, $48 million), and
Full Metal Jacket (#23, $47 million).
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I hope you enjoyed this little side-trip to the cinema! It amazes me how many films—good, bad, and in-between—have featured current or former WWF wrestlers, and my timeline is no different. But as we diverge even further from OTL, the wrestlers in the films will almost certainly become more and more…well, divergent!
Coming up, it’s back to wrestling, where the seeds of a new pay-per-view are planted, and the Dragon comes to McMahon with a question that prompts some long-term changes.
)
