This feel-good garage-band underdog story, directed by Ron Howard, is so rare, I myself haven't seen it. It's not available on tape or DVD. You can probably download it from a bootlegger, if you must. And perhaps we should. Howard is an efficient child-of-Hollywood storyteller who consistently taps into human emotions, hopes and desires. He's not going to louse this up too much, in general.
This small-town musical adventure of a teenage misfit forming a pop band named Cotton Candy could definitely have been pure crapola. But I'm guessing (since I can't watch it as a whole) that at heart, it touches on some basic truths about forming a band in high school and dealing with the aftermath, as a pleasant under-taste to balance out the hyper-conflicted minutiae of TV teen drama. In other words: bearable terrible television. Plus it was filmed near Dallas and features a girl drummer who has a scholarship to M.I.T. through her dad's company. What more could you want?
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| Town East Mall in Mesquite, TX - site of the Cotton Candy cultural revolution |
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| Guitar solo |
Charles Martin Smith (the nerd in American Graffiti) is every-man George Smalley—great underdog name. George can't cut it in varsity football and he'll be damned if he's going to be an equipment manager, so he forms a Todd Rundgren-like bubble-gum band, Cotton Candy, hoping to land some chicks. Ubiquitous 70s presence and Howard sibling, Clint Howard, is Corky Macpherson, ardent band manager. Mark Wheeler is Torbin Bequette (heh—every time someone yells "Torbin!," it's funny), lead singer of Cotton Candy's rival band, Rapid Fire. Every band needs a rival band to spur them on to greatness (see Purple Rain). Rapid Fire has the distinction of being a terrible rival band, only playing one song—a cover of I Shot the Sheriff, which they proceed to butcher during every performance. Pathetic.
The fans don't seem to mind though. They can't get enough of warblin' Torbin. It's just like the time when everyone went crazy for Bow Wow Wow. No one can explain how this happened. I saw Bow Wow Wow open for The English Beat and they played a nearly two-hour set with only one hit under their belt. The crowd went wild for their filler material anyway, which all sounded just like I Want Candy. My cries of "GET OFF THE STAGE!" were unheeded because majority ruled. That's my best explanation for the success of Rapid Fire within this Howard brothers' co-written world.
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| Cotton Candy rules |
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| Rapid Fire drools |
Will Cotton Candy win the local mall's Battle of the Bands, stay together, and get through high school without too much bloodshed or heartbreak? It's a Ron Howard production. What do you think? And luckily, YouTube uploaders have got this covered.
First, let's have a listen to Cotton Candy sing their soon-to-be hit, She Rolls. *nodding my head* Not bad. Not bad at all.
Rawbtube composed the fantastic Hot Rash!, consisting of dialogue and clips from the film. This is my new jam. I'm being serious here.
Schlockmeisters considerately runs through a VHS edit, giving you the overall story arc of Cotton Candy, without having to watch it in its entirely.
If you you're ready to be inspired by 70s-era mall-culture TV-rock-band realness, you might be able to find some Cotton Candy on the Internet—repository of all that is sacred to Generation Y culture. I will say this (SPOILER) - any movie that ends with a climactic prom-off between dueling bands, is aces in my book.
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| Prom off! |
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| Note: Leslie King rocks as Brenda Matthews |
I just thought of this movie in a 'brain fart', googled it and found your post. I remember seeing this when I was in grade 9 (1978-79) as a 14 year old contemplating become a high-school rock musician. The interplay with rival band(s) and swooning fans amongst fellow students was a part of that whole sub-culture then. Sadly, that era was the tail-end of the high-school rock/dance band circut.
ReplyDeleteI can't say it's a great movie, but it has a special charm....Okay, Leslie King looks absolutely appealing and I think the overall casting is right on the money! And somehow, George Smalley and Brenda Matthews had a special chemistry....From a related comment that I read on YouTube:" I'd like to think that George and Brenda got married and are living happily ever after." Boy, I really agree!
ReplyDeleteI remember this movie in the 70s. It was one of those things that you love to hate. There were a lot of really bad cliches. Like when a " girl" came to tryouts. They were like " a girl drummer????!!!? even in 1978 that was cliche and really weird.
ReplyDeletethis move was pretty much entirely white which wasn't really a big deal back then but watching it on YouTube now seems really weird. I mean I remember black people in the 70s they had to be somewhere, but I guess they only appeared in disco movies.
The most important thing to know about this movie is that Dsney totally ripped off this movie with Lemonade Mouth which is essentially the exact same move just updated and a few facts and scenarios switched around. They say it is based on a novel called " Lemonade mouth" maybe the author ripped it off. either way, when you see one of these movies, they you immediately notice you have seen it already when watching the other. I found no credit or tipping of the hat to the Ron Howard movie. How can I be the only one who noticed this?
It like saying I dream of Jeannie was not a rip off of bewitched. Both shows about men who repress their women's magical power and both shows had identical good and bad versions played by the same actor.
COME ON JUST ADMIT IT.