As I write this, it is 2008. I have just realized something quite shocking and depressing.
MEGAFORCE is not on DVD!
Yes, MEGAFORCE, Hal Needham's 1982 film starring Barry Bostwick about a sort of futuristic army that goes out to save the world.
The film was essentially a big toy commercial. Although, I don't know if tie-in toys were released (and I don't remember if G.I. Joe had yet to be relaunched). As a ten year old when it came out, I saw nothing wrong with it being a toy commercial. Motorcycles with gun mounts? Lasers on vans? How cool was that?
I remember seeing it in a drive-in with my parents. I can't remember what it was playing with. And, at the time, I loved it.
Here is a clip of some of the best moments posted on Youtube.
My favorite moment from that montage, Bostwick's line "Remember, the good guys always win. Even in the 80's." I quoted that too much on the playground back then.
Only in later years, actually when I saw it again on video in the mid 80's, did I realize, well, it was a pretty bad movie. It seems to be made for 10 year olds. So, any one older than that will probably hate it.
Needham was of course best known for his Burt Reynold's films in the 70's and 80's. From SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT, HOOPER (a personal favorite), and CANNONBALL RUN, he wasn't a favorite with critics, but the films were popular with audiences.
With MEGAFORCE, he didn't have Reynolds around (although he might have had fun with the Bostwick role). And other than Bostwick, Michael Beck (THE WARRIORS) and Edward Mulhare (KNIGHT RIDER) he had a pretty much (still) unknown cast to work with.
Still, for nostalgia reasons, the film deserves a DVD release. To think an entire generation has been deprived of seeing Bostwick, the bandanna wearing hero, ride his motorcycle around?
That is very sad.
Here is a Youtube clip of the Atari tie-in video game.
C'mon Fox, release this on DVD!
NOTE: If you are reading this post in a reader or other outside site, this post contains Youtube clips. Click through to the site to view.
Monday, April 07, 2008
FORGOTTEN FILM: MEGAFORCE (1982)
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6 comments:
I think I used to have this game. And I remember this movie. I wish it were on DVD because I would love watching it again with my son.
Oh, how bizarre (and you & I are around the same age so we have the same exact frame of reference), I haven't thought of this film for years!
And, you know, I honestly don't remember SEEING this film, but I TOTALLY remember the movie poster & ads & wanting to see this movie at the time...
Test, Test, Test...
This is pretty funny, reading all
this, after all this time...
I was the screenwriter of this huge
piece of crap. Or, at least I was
the original screenwriter, before
it was rewritten by no less than
five guys. Including the producer,
Al Ruddy, and the director, Hal
Needham.
The movie I wrote bears no resemblence whatsoever to the film
that was released. I think I may
have recognized one or two lines of
dialogue.
Not one of the guys who rewrote the
script could write a suicide note
with an unabridged dictionary. But
they all thought they were creating
the next Star Wars. HA!
I did exactly what any screenwriter
who's been around the dancefloor in
Hollywood should do: I took the money and ran. It got me a great house in Nichols Canyon with a stream running through the back yard. Then moved right onto the
next job.
I snuck out of the screening at
20th before the lights even came
up, and have yet to this day to
ever watch the film.
It started out as a not-so-bad idea
when me and Needham were sitting at
the Palomino Club bar in North
Hollywood, and I said, "Needham, let's do Smokey and the Bandit Kill
Commies."
Six weeks later I delivered my First Draft, got paid, and it all
pretty much went to shit from there.
I did visit the location over in
Vegas, where they were shooting
outside of town. And thought to
myself, "This is going to rank right up there with Plan 9 From
Outer Space."
I used to carry a big roll of $5
bills around, and whenever anybody
told me they'd actually paid good
money to go to the movie, I'd give
'em their money back right there on
the spot.
I've given away a LOT of $5 bills!
And THAT'S how movies are made in
Hollywood...
And THAT'S why most of 'em are pure
crap...
William Goldman, in his wonderful,
seminal book about Hollywood,
"Adventures in the Screen Trade,"
wrote, "None of us wants to go home
to our families and say, 'Well, today I wrote Megaforce.'"
Tell me about it...
Jim Whittaker
Hemet, CA
I was in high school when this film was released, and had a friend who's Dad owned a one screen movie theater in town.... at the time I was collecting the movie posters of different films of that era and lo & behold "MEGAFORCE" is one of the posters in my collection!
I saw this movie when I was 12. I don't remember much, lots of guys in "futuristic" vans and ATVs shooting lasers in what look like alkali flats. But I still use the tag line "Deeds, not words" to this day. I love that line. And to the screenwriter who posted above. Don't be embarrassed, I've seen way worse movies.
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