Down and Out in 80s Movie Cliches

Recent garage sale jaunts have led to the bulking up of the Russ Movie Collection. One new addition is Down and Out in Beverly Hills, which we watched the other night. This is the movie in which Nick Nolte plays a drink-addled homeless man (a role he has since seemingly aspired to in real life) who winds up living with - and, in classic mainstream Hollywood fashion, touching the lives of - an obnoxious, dysfunctional, wealthy, and terribly, terribly Jewish Beverly Hills family. I think it was a pretty big hit when it came out in 1986. It still has some inherent entertainment value, but the majority of the extensive chuckles emanating from our smoky living room on Saturday night where mainly due to the cavalcade of 80's movies stereotypes. A few of the richer chestnuts:

1. The Muy Caliente Latina Maid - In this case, her name is Carmen, she's sleeping with the boss (Richard Dreyfuss), and she's played by Elizabeth Pena. No wonder Elizabeth looked so happy to be in that John Sayles movie). My favorite example of this cliche is Concepcion from The Incredible Shrinking Woman. I'm all for the empowered Latina domestic, but I'll take Concepcion over the lady in Babel wandering the desert any day (see below for more uncorked Babelrage).

2. The Rich Arab - In this case, the Rich Arab is the next door neighbor of Richard Dreyfuss and Bette Midler (did I mention they are a terribly Jewish family?). He is supposedly Iranian but I smell serious Saudi. In one scene he gets into his limo with 5 burka-wearing wives. I know they wear these in Iran, but I think the perverse wealth and the harem are pure Holland Park (the hood in London where all the Saudis live) and hence pure Saud. My favorite other example of this is the guy Goldie Hawn almost marries in Protocol.

3. The Swami - No rich 80's movie lady is complete without an army of new age-y charlatans. The favorite among these was, of course, the swami/yogi. Without a swami/yogi, said rich lady would have no impetus to suddenly burst into meditation in a room so full of noise as to render meditation completely useless. Other than that, I know he's a charlatan because Bette Midler meditates in the lotus position, chanting OM, in front of a statue of Buddha. My favorite other example of The Swami is the guy in All of Me.

4. The Wacky Kid - In Down and Out, the wacky kid is played by a guy who I could have sworn was Patrick Dempsey, but turns out I was wrong. Wacky Kid is an aspiring filmmaker who communicates with his dysfunctional family via video mash-ups of apocalyptic imagery with home movies depicting the aforementioned dysfunction. The Wakcy Kid is semi-glam rock and all weird 80's 'tude. If anyone reading this can't guess who the penultimate 80's Wacky Kid is, shame on you. It's Robert Downey, Jr. in Back to School with Rodney Dangerfield. One of the greatest movies ever made, may I add. It's Kurt Vonnegut's single celluloid contribution, which is a testament to the genius that is Rodney Dangerfield.

What does it mean that Lily Tomlin is in two of the four movies referenced above??? It means she is awesome!

Some other things that make Down and Out a keeper: Little Richard is in it. He plays a very angry black man and has a musical number. I think he still might have had the use of his facial muscles back then. The girl who Jerry Seinfeld dates becaue she looks like him plays the anorexic daughter (shocking to see how not anorexic she looks. They would have been able to cast that part much more easily nowadays). And the film ends with perhaps the greatest 80's movie cliche of all : Everybody jumps in the pool with their clothes on!!!!! Wooo!