Before we set off on our magical mystery tour film flashback this week let's go get some food from Mazzio's Pizza which happened to be where I was working in 1985. They not only had awesome pizza, but delicious nachos, a salad bar, and hot sandwiches at this time. We'd get pasta sometime in 1986 and I would get burned on spaghetti water which earned me the short term nickname of nub hand while my left hand was bandaged for several weeks. It was a great restaurant and I had some good times working there and some not so good times. I basically quit so I wouldn't miss seeing Mojo Nixon in concert in 1987.
What was playing on December 10, 1985 in Murfreesboro? The Martin Four has a pretty good slate of comedy films. I guess The Jewel of the Nile is an action/romance, but there's lots of funny moments too in the sequel to Romancing the Stone. Jack Colton (Michael Douglas) and Joan Wilder (Kathleen Turner) along with Ralph (Danny DeVito) are out to find the jewel of the title. The tagline was "They're romancing a brand new stone." Back to the Future had been playing at the Martin Four since July. There may have been movies that played more straight weeks after this film, but at the time it had to have been the longest running theatrical release to have played in Murfreesboro. I had seen it by myself at a matinee early in its run before it blew up into the pop culture colossus it remains to this day. Chevy Chase and Dan Ackroyd's days as major movie stars was coming to a close, but Spies Like Us is mildly amusing and a pretty substantial hit. The Savage Steve Holland directed cult classic Better Off Dead... rounds off the selections at the Martin Four. This movie was not a hit when released, but became a must view on VHS. John Cusack is great as lovable loser Lane who fails at suicide, but conquers the K12. Curtis Armstrong steals the show for me as Lane's friend Charles De Mar. The movie features a maniacal paper boy and an animated hamburger sequence using Van Halen's "Everybody Wants Some" which I am pretty sure everyone under the age of 55 knows by heart.
Jewel of the Nile trailer
Back to the Future teaser trailer
Spies Like Us trailer
Better Off Dead... trailer
Animated burger from Better Off Dead...
Rocky IV and Witness are playing at the Cinema_Twin. Sylvester Stallone is pretty awesome as Rocky Balboa especially with the training scenes in the snow. Talia Shire's Adrian is her usual non-confident self. Dolph Lundgren is sort of terrifying as the Russian boxer Ivan Drago. Spoiler alert: he kills Apollo Creed in the ring which sets up Rocky avenging his former competitor/best friend. I didn't see this until many years later, but it is entertaining. Witness is a romantic/crime/thriller about an Amish kid who witnesses a murder. Harrison Ford plays policeman John Book who hides out in Amish country to protect the kid and romance blossoms with Kelly McGillis's character Rachel. The Peter Weir directed film was a big hit.
Rocky IV trailer
Witness trailer
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