Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Cream Calendar Tonight @ The Wildhorse: Pat Benatar
Posted by Tracy Moore on Tue, Jul 15, 2008 at 4:07 PM
Pop-rock arena queen Pat Benatar plays The Wildhorse tonight, and she's so in the water you hardly need reminding of the sort of scorching classic-rock hits she's responsible for ("Love is a Battlefield," "We Belong," "Treat Me Right"). I, however, cannot think of Pat Benatar withouth thinking of the movie The Legend of Billie Jean, in which Benatar's song "Invincible" is basically a character. It's a fist-pumper of an anthem, and it more or less becomes an accomplice in the movie, aiding the viewer in abetting the working class Texan kids on the lam from a few cops and a dirty old shopkeeper—all over a broken scooter. And the underground network of teens who transport these outlaws by night is deeply satisfying to watch. The movie is so totally 1985, right down to the new-wave hair and neon, which is how I guess I'll always think of Benatar. Whether you see her or not tonight, Netflix that shit pronto.
Local note: I believe the Protomen cover this song live.
Comments (10)
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I love The Legend of Billie Jean. It's like some weird high-concept cross between The Sugarland Express and The Passion of Joan of Arc, only for circa-1985 mallrats.
Another awesome forgotten movie from the same time period: The Manhattan Project, about a kid who builds an A-bomb for his science fair. I like this movie a lot more than WarGames, even if it doesn't have Ally Sheedy.
Your NetFlix assignment for the future, Tracy: Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains. We're talking riot grrl a decade before the fact, while first-wave LA punk was still breathing (although on a respirator). You will so not believe your eyes.
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The Criterion print of The Passion of Joan of Arc is shit. I have a 16mm print of it that has a few scenes left out of the restored version, mainly transition scenes though.
I've never seen that movie, but I do know that "Shadows Of The Night" is one of the most awesome videos ever made. I mean, Judge Reinhold AND Bill Paxton? Most rap videos don't have that kind of star power.
the legend of billie jean is pretty much constantly on TV now, especially the movie channels. it's almost like a bunch of executives were all sitting around watching TBS in their living rooms one sunday and went, "oh, shit! this is awesome!"
i might be wrong, but it doesn't seem like movies aimed at the teen/tween market go near stuff like this anymore--poor kids being sexually harassed, abused by alcoholic parents, and shot at? and filmed on location in a crummy coastal town in south texas, no less! (any movie actually filmed where it purports to take place earns big points with me).
oh, and if you close your eyes whenever peter coyote is talking, you can almost believe that the billie jean gang is being pursued by andy griffith.
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