38 replies to this topic

[Syntaxerror999]

It was one of those cheesy 80's movies oozing with college level sexual references...at the end was a face off with Super Pac man on a big screen using 4 ft joysticks (with the buttons on the ball)

[AirRaider]

Never saw it, Sounds like a laugh, might check it out.

[Jinks]

Ever see Rock and roll nightmare the ending reminds me of the boss battle.. A must watch for all 80's metal spinal tap typa fans!!
http://m.youtube.com...bzOKF55xE&gl=CA

Edited by Jinks, Fri Jul 20, 2012 7:28 PM.

[sqoon]

Can I get a copy on DVD?

[Gabriel]

I remember catching it once on USA Up All Night.

Hey.  It's on YouTube.  It starts off with footage of classic arcade games and a blonde shaking her butt.  Difficult to say which is turning me on more.

[frankodragon]

I have Joysticks on BetaMax.  It's mainly funny with the sex and fart jokes but the court scene is boring.

[R.Cade]

It's classic late 70's/early 80's T&A cheeze, with video games.  What's not to like?

[Syntaxerror999]

Gabriel, on Fri Jul 20, 2012 8:42 PM, said:

I remember catching it once on USA Up All Night.

Hey.  It's on YouTube.  It starts off with footage of classic arcade games and a blonde shaking her butt.  Difficult to say which is turning me on more.

LOL... Thats where I saw it!

[Retro Rogue]

Its pretty well known in the retro scene for years now, simply because of the awesome arcade that's really reflective of the time period.

You can actually get a widescreen edition copy on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.co...s2&tag=atariage

[Nathan Strum]

Interesting that they're releasing a new DVD of it. Guess I'll have to pick that up.

It's a pretty terrible movie. The only saving grace in it besides the arcade is Jon Gries' over-the-top performance as King Vidiot. I also first saw it on USA's "Up All Night" back in the day - the girls at the beginning were driving the same kind of car I used to own, so that's what caught my attention. Greydon Clark (director) has been to a few game expos, selling copies of it. I reviewed it years ago for my now-defunct MacMAME website, long before it saw any re-release. A local video store used to have it on VHS, so that's where I got the review copy.

It's seen a few different releases since the original VHS and laserdisc (which is ultra rare), including a 2002 VHS re-issue (which was badly dubbed from an old VHS) and the current DVD release which is an awful transfer, probably from either the laserdisc or a broadcast video tape (it has bad gamma, distorted audio, and really bad interlacing). Hopefully the new one will be a better transfer. It's a curious artifact from its time, but an almost unwatchably bad movie. Even the camp value of it doesn't merit watching it more than once.

[Nathan Strum]

Incidentally, if you look closely at the cover/poster art for it, you can clearly see the word "Sucks" on the monitor under "Joysticks". It's meant to look like a reflection of "Sticks", but I think it's too obvious to be an accident.

[devwebcl]

Nathan Strum, on Sat Jul 21, 2012 5:40 AM, said:

Incidentally, if you look closely at the cover/poster art for it, you can clearly see the word "Sucks" on the monitor under "Joysticks". It's meant to look like a reflection of "Sticks", but I think it's too obvious to be an accident.

haha, never I saw that word int he poster, even I have seens couple times this movie and saw several time that poster.

[Gabriel]

I watched the whole thing last night. It's even worse than I remember. No wonder I didn't like it when I saw it on USA Up All Night. Anything that would have made it worth viewing to my teenage mind (read: titties) would have been cut for broadcast. Anyway, some random thoughts:

Is the lead guy "Mr. Adventure" from Star Trek III? ::checks IMDB:: Wow, it is.

The storyline superficially reminds me of The Last Dragon. Vidiot serves the same general role as Sho Nuff. The arcade owner has the same non-martial-arts/no-videogames thing going as Bruce Leroy. The dad is in a similar role to Eddie Arcadian. Huh. Must have been a common plot. I'd hate to think that Last Dragon ripped it's story from this stinker.

Another similarity to another movie are the henchmen. Was it normal in these movies to have one normal looking henchman and one schlubly looking one, both kinda stupid? The characters (not the actors) seem like the same exact two from Elvira: Mistress of the Dark. I know the same thing was kind of a running gag in Knight Rider.

Ah, it's the eighties. Vidiot falls in love with a guy in drag. The arcade owner seems consipicuously disinterested in all the girls but gets unbelievably excited to see a picture of Eugene with his pants down.

What isn't revealed is the arcade went out of business directly after this movie. They never made any money because all the tokens were given away for free. No wonder the place was so popular.

The scene where the fat guy babbles outside the dad's house is pretty fun. Beyond that, the whole movie sucks except for the video games. Literally the only reason to watch it is to see the game footage and those old game cabinets. Well, and Vidiot in the last act. Vidiot is pretty awesome towards the end. If you get a kick out of horrible acting, the news reporter lady is pretty funny too.

Otherwise, it's pretty easy to tell why this genre of movies has been rendered obsolete by the internet.

[Godzilla]

i loved it for the games i think i own it on vhs or ld cant remember. really a terrible movie tho. do love those 80s porn shorts tho.

[Rybags]

I remember seeing it and being disappointed.  Par for the course with most video game/movie crossovers.

The only thing missing is Steve Guttenberg.

[Torr]

I never heard of this movie till this thread.
Hate to say it, but yes I downloaded it to watch it, because I didn't want to hunt ebay and pay however much for a movie I might hate, but man, this is a movie I MUST buy.
It was awesome.
It reminded of EVERYTHING about the 80's I loved. Even the cinema-ness of it. It had everything. The less than beautiful people. The Punkers. The 'establishment against the common joe'. Boobs. The arcade atmosphere. Valley Girl speak. The cliched acting/situational comedy. I can't find a thing wrong with it.
It reminds me of why I don't watch any new movies.

Just awesome, thank you Syntax for starting this thread and showing me a movie I had never heard of.
Much better than when I ask a fella these days, 'Hey, have you seen any good movies lately?' and they respond 'have you seen The Expendables, or Inception?, they were awesome!'
Not saying that those movies aren't 'good', but just not my taste. This is what I wish someone would have recommended to me.

EDIT:
Anyone else think that the nerdy guy Groeber-whatever remind you of if Sam from the LotR movies tried to act/look like AVGN?
And, am I the only one who finds it funny this movie surely got an R rating, but only because of the boobs? this movie had VERY little swearing, and most of the 'swearing' was words that are perfectly cool on 'Late-Nite' TV these days.

Edited by Torr, Sun Jul 22, 2012 7:28 AM.

[S1500]

Believe it or not, I have this on DVD. Sadly, it is a bad VHS transfer of it. Still, it is a very nostalgic teen sex comedy with video games. What more could you ask for? Uncle Rico from Napoleon Dynamite is in it. Video games are featured.

[Rex Dart]

Bought it on VHS for the JDB, but never could bring myself to watch it.

[Syntaxerror999]

I started this post and didnt have time to type the reason...which was the giant joysticks at the (middle and) end... I want to build one! Doesnt look too hard except for the fabrucation of the plastic parts.

[Retro Rogue]

Syntaxerror999, on Wed Jul 25, 2012 12:18 AM, said:

I started this post and didnt have time to type the reason...which was the giant joysticks at the (middle and) end... I want to build one! Doesnt look too hard except for the fabrucation of the plastic parts.

http://frimpongexg2....y-flanagan.html

[JacobZu7zu7]

I saw this at the video store on VHS, back in 1992... I think I almost rented it. I do remember that box art!

I had no idea what the movie plot was, so I read this at Amazon...

Product Description
When a top local businessman (Joe Don Baker, WALKING TALL, THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS, CONGO), along with his two bumbling nephews (John Diehl of MIAMI VICE, John Voldstad of NEWHART), find out his daughter Patsy is hanging out at the video arcade run by Jefferson Bailey (Scott McGinnis, MAKING THE GRADE), they team up with Jefferson's arch enemy King Vidiot (Jonathan Gries, NAPOLEON DYNAMITE) to try and shut down the arcade. The arcade employees and patrons fight back, climaxing in an exciting video game showdown between Jefferson and King Vidiot! Now see this 80's teen comedy classic in widescreen!

People would green light any kinda movie back then, circa 1983?

That's how movie life should be!

[SlowCoder]

Thanks guys, for putting this movie on my radar.  Unfortunately, I haven't found it on Netflix stream or Comcast On Demand yet.

[BydoEmpire]

I remember knowing about it as a kid and wanting to see it, but I never saw it until a few years ago I decided to order it on DVD ($8-ish on eBay).  Pretty fun for all the great game footage.

Edited by BydoEmpire, Fri Aug 3, 2012 2:51 PM.

[Rik]

Yeah, saw the movie.Movies from the 80's were "THE BEST" AFAIC.I am going to watch "Fastimes At Ridgemont High" tonight.I wish they still made movies in this style.Most seem cheesy by todays standards, but 80's movies were fun as heck to watch, unlike todays lame movies.

[PFL]

^
Isn't that what the American Pie et al movies are all about?  Really bad cheesy films that date badly as soon as they're released!?