Front Cover Illustration Pink Flamingos, 1972 Genre Comedy Director John Waters Writer John waters Plot Notorious Baltimore criminal and underground figure Divine goes up against Connie & Raymond Marble, a sleazy married couple who make a passionate attempt to humiliate her and seize her tabloid-given title as “The Filthiest Person Alive�.
CONTENTS
Tank Girl pg. 5
Dazed and Confused pg. 23
They Live pg. 7
Barbarella pg. 25
American Graffiti pg. 9
The Warriors pg. 27
Near Dark pg. 11
True Romance pg. 29
Wet Hot American Summer pg. 13
Heathers pg. 31
Ghost World pg. 15
Blade Runner pg. 33
The Big Lebowski pg. 17
Fast Times at Ridgemont High pg. 35
But I’m A Cheerleader pg. 19
This is Spinal Tap! pg. 37
Rushmore pg. 21
Harold and Maude pg. 39
CAST Lori Petty as Tank Girl
Reg E. Cathey as Deetee
Ice-T as T-Saint
Scott Coffey as Donner
Naomi Watts as Jet Girl
Malcolm McDowell as Kesslee
Don Harvey as Sergeant Small
Stacy Linn Ramsower as Sam
Jeff Kober as Booga
Ann Cusack as Sub Girl
tank girl 1995
Genre sci fi, comedy Director rachel talalay Writer alan martin, jamie hewlitt Tank Girl and her friends are the only remaining citizens living in the wasteland that is Earth, where all the remaining water is controlled by Water and Power, the mega corporation/government that runs the territory. While incarcerated at Water and Power, Tank Girl and her new friend Jet Girl break out and steal, surprisingly, a tank and a jet. After meeting some mutant kangaroo/humans, and rescuing her little girl (adopted by her friends), the kangaroos and the girls kick Water and Powers’ butt.
Tagline ‘In 2033, justice rides a tank and wears lip gloss.’ Run Time 104 min Quote ‘Look, it’s been swell, but the swelling’s gone down.’ Trivia Emma Bunton, Victoria Beckham and Geri Halliwell from the Spice Girls all auditioned for the role of Tank Girl.
they live 1988
Genre sci fi, horror Director john carpenter Writer ray nelson, john carpenter Nada, a down-on-his-luck construction worker, discovers a pair of special sunglasses. Wearing them, he is able to see the world as it really is: people being bombarded by media and government with messages like ‘Stay Asleep’, ‘No Imagination’ and ‘Submit to Authority’. Even scarier is that he is able to see that some usually normal-looking people are in fact ugly aliens in charge of the massive campaign to keep humans subdued.
CAST Roddy Piper as John Nada
Peter Jason as Gilbert
Keith David as Frank Armitage
Sy Richardson as Black Revolutionary
Meg Foster as Holly Thompson
Susan Blanchard as Ingenue
George ‘Buck’ Flower as The Drifter
Norman Alden as Foreman
Tagline ‘Who are they? And what do they want?’ Run Time 93 min Quote ‘I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass, and I’m all out of bubblegum.’ Trivia Graffiti artist Shepard Fairey got his OBEY name from this film.
CAST Richard Dreyfuss as Curt Henderson
Mackenzie Phillips as Carol Morrison
Ron Howard as Steve Bolander
Harrison Ford as Bob Falfa
Paul Le Mat as John Milner
Bo Hopkins as Joe Young
Charles Martin Smith as Terry “The Toad” Fields
Wolfman Jack as himself
Cindy Williams as Laurie Henderson
Kathleen Quinlan as Peg
Candy Clark as Debbie Dunham
Suzanne Somers as Blonde in T-Bird
american graffiti 1973
Genre comedy Director george lucas Writer george lucas It’s the last night of summer 1962, and the teenagers of Modesto, California, want to have some fun before adult responsibilities close in. Among them are Steve and Curt , college-bound with mixed feelings about leaving home; nerdy Terry ‘The Toad’, who scores a dream date with blonde Debbie; and John, a 22-year-old drag racer who wonders how much longer he can stay champion and how he got stuck with 13-year-old Carol in his deuce coupe. As D. J. Wolfman Jack spins 41 vintage tunes on the radio throughout the night, Steve ponders a future with girlfriend Laurie, Curt chases a mystery blonde and Terry tries to act cool, but nothing can stop the next day from coming.
Tagline ‘Where were you in ‘62?’ Run Time 110 min Quote ‘You’re the most beautiful, exciting thing I’ve ever seen in my life and I don’t know anything about you.’ Trivia When Charles Martin Smith pulls up on the Vespa in the beginning, his crash into the building wasn’t scripted. He genuinely lost control of the bike, and Lucas kept the cameras rolling.
near dark 1987
Genre vampire, horror Director kathryn bigelow Writer kathryn bigelow A mid-western farm boy reluctantly becomes a member of the undead when a girl he meets turns out to be part of a band of southern vampires who roam the highways in stolen cars. Part of his initiation includes a bloody assault on a hick bar.
CAST Adrian Pasdar as Caleb Colton
Jenette Goldstein as Diamondback
Jenny Wright as Mae
Joshua John Miller as Homer
Lance Henriksen as Jesse Hooker
Marcie Leeds as Sarah Colton
Bill Paxton as Severen
Tim Thomerson as Loy Colton
Tagline ‘Pray for Daylight.’ Run Time 94 min Quote ‘The night has its price.’ Trivia The writer and director were intent on making a Western but realized that the interest in the Western genre at the time was almost non-existent, so it was recommended that they mix genres. Since the horror genre was in vogue at the time, the two decided to make a Horror Western.
CAST Janeane Garofalo as Beth
Michael Ian Black as McKinley
David Hyde Pierce as Henry Newman
Elizabeth Banks as Lindsay
Molly Shannon as Gail von Kleinenstein
Ken Marino as Victor
Paul Rudd as Andy
Joe Lo Truglio as Neil
Christopher Meloni as Gene
Amy Poehler as Susie
Michael Showalter as Coop
Bradley Cooper as Ben
wet hot american summer 2001
Genre comedy Director David wain Writer michael showalter The setting is Camp Firewood, the year 1981. It’s the last day before everyone goes back to the real world, but there’s still a summer’s worth of unfinished business to resolve. At the center of the action is camp director Beth, who struggles to keep order while she falls in love with the local astrophysics professor. He is busy trying to save the camp from a deadly piece of NASA’s Skylab which is hurtling toward earth. All that, plus: a dangerous waterfall rescue, love triangles, misfits, cool kids, and talking vegetable cans. The questions will all be resolved, of course, at the big talent show at the end of the day.
Tagline ‘High Times. Hard Bodies. Soft Rock.’ Run Time 97 min Quote ‘I hope it’s not jumbo shrimp, because I’m allergic to oxymorons!’ Trivia The owners of Camp Towanda (where the movie was filmed) were told that this was going to be a family comedy. They were mortified when they saw the final cut of the film.
GHOST WORLD 2001
Genre comedy Director terry zwigoff Writer daniel clowes Enid and Rebecca are two close friends who’ve just graduated from high school, and are trying to decide what to do with their lives. Enid is a dark-haired cynic who is tired of living at home with her ineffectual dad and his annoyingly perky girlfriend Maxine, while Rebecca is prettier and a bit cheerier, but no more certain about her future. While the two girls have vague plans of getting an apartment together, they seem content to while away their summer. Enid discovers that in order to get her diploma, she’ll have to take an additional class over the summer, where she winds up studying art. Enid also meets Seymour, a geeky record collector more than twice her age, and while they would seem to have little in common, Enid discovers a kindred spirit in Seymour, who shares her disgust with the world around them.
CAST Thora Birch as Enid Coleslaw
Illeana Douglas as Roberta Allsworth
Scarlett Johansson as Rebecca
Bob Balaban as Enid’s father
Steve Buscemi as Seymour
Stacey Travis as Dana
Brad Renfro as Josh
Teri Garr as Maxine
Pat Healy as John Ellis
Dave Sheridan as Doug
Tagline ‘Accentuate the negative.’ Run Time 111 min Quote ‘This is so bad it’s gone past good and back to bad again.’ Trivia Enid Coleslaw, the main character’s name, is an anagram of the film and comic book’s author, Daniel Clowes.
CAST Jeff Bridges as The Dude
Tara Reid as Bunny Lebowski
John Goodman as Walter
Philip Seymour Hoffman as Brandt
Steve Buscemi as Donny
Sam Elliott as The Stranger
David Huddleston as Jeffrey Lebowski
Ben Gazzara as Jackie Treehorn
Julianne Moore as Maude Lebowski
John Turturro as Jesus Quintana
THE BIG LEBOWSKI 1998
Genre comedy Director Joel coen Writer joel & Ethan coen When “The Dude� Lebowski is mistaken for a millionaire Lebowski, two thugs urinate on his rug to coerce him into paying a debt he knows nothing about. While attempting to gain recompense for the ruined rug from his wealthy counterpart, he accepts a one-time job with high pay-off. He enlists the help of his bowling buddy, Walter, a gun-toting Jewish-convert with anger issues. Deception leads to more trouble, and it soon seems that everyone from porn empire tycoons to nihilists want something from The Dude.
Tagline ‘They figured he was a lazy time wasting slacker. They were right.’ Run Time 117 min Quote ‘The Dude Abides’ Trivia The reason Steve Buscemi’s character, Donny, is constantly being told to ‘Shut the fuck up!’ by John Goodman’s ‘Walter’, is because Buscemi’s character in Fargo would not shut up.
but i’m a cheerleader 1999
Genre romantic Comedy Director jamie babbit Writer brian wayne peterson Megan is an all-American girl. She’s a cheerleader and she has a boyfriend. But she doesn’t like kissing her boyfriend very much. And she’s pretty touchy with her cheerleader friends. And she only has pictures of girls up in her locker. Her parents and friends conclude that she must be gay and send her off to “sexual redirection” school, full of admittedly homosexual misfits, where she can learn to how to be straight. Will Megan be turned around to successful heterosexuality, or will she succumb to her love for the beautiful Graham?
CAST Natasha Lyonne as Megan
RuPaul as Mike
Michelle Williams as Kimberly
Cathy Moriarty as Mary Brown
Brandt Wille as Jared
Eddie Cibrian as Rock
Bud Cort as Peter
Melanie Lynskey as Hilary
Mink Stole as Nancy
Clea DuVall as Graham
Tagline ‘A Comedy of Sexual Disorientation.’ Run Time 85 min Quote ‘Two, Four, Six, Eight. God is good. God is straight!’ Trivia Cathy Moriarty asks a character if she wants to be a ‘raging bulldyke’. Moriarty received an Oscar nomination for her role in Raging Bull.
CAST Jason Schwartzman as Max Fischer
Mason Gamble as Dirk Calloway
Bill Murray as Herman Blume
Sara Tanaka as Margaret Yang
Olivia Williams as Rosemary Cross
Connie Nielsen as Mrs. Calloway
Seymour Cassel as Bert Fischer
Luke Wilson as Dr. Peter Flynn
Brian Cox as Dr. Nelson Guggenheim
Stephen McCole as Magnus Buchan
RUSHMORE 1998
Genre comedy Director wes anderson Writer wes anderson Max Fischer is a precocious 15-year-old whose reason for living is his attendance at Rushmore, a private school where he’s not doing well in any of his classes, but where he’s the king of extracurricular activities - from being in the beekeeping society to writing and producing plays, there’s very little after school he doesn’t do. His life begins to change, however, when he finds out he’s on academic probation, and when he stumbles into love with Miss Cross, a pretty teacher of the elementary school at Rushmore. Added to the mix is his friendship with Herman Blume, wealthy industrialist and father to boys who attend the school, and who also finds himself attracted to Miss Cross.
Tagline ‘Love. Expulsion. Revolution.’ Run Time 93 min Quote ‘I saved Latin. What did you ever do? ’ Trivia When Bill Murray first read the script, he thought it was so fantastic that he said he wanted to do it so badly he would do it for free.
DAZED AND CONFUSED 1993
Genre Comedy Director Richard Linklater Writer Richard Linklater Like George Lucas’ American Graffiti, Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused is an affectionate look at the youth culture of a bygone era. While Lucas took aim at the conservative 1950’s, Linklater jumps ahead a generation to the bicentennial year of 1976 to celebrate the joys of beer blasts, pot smoking and Frampton Comes Alive. Set on the last day of the academic year, the film follows the random activities of a sprawling group of Texas high schoolers as they celebrate the arrival of summer, their paths variously intersecting at a freshmen hazing, a local pool parlor and finally at a keg party.
CAST Jason London as Randall “Pink” Floyd
Matthew McConaughey as David Wooderson
Wiley Wiggins as Mitch Kramer
Cole Hauser as Benny O’Donnell
Rory Cochrane as Ron Slater
Milla Jovovich as Michelle Burroughs
Michelle Burke as Jodi Kramer
Joey Lauren Adams as Simone Kerr
Adam Goldberg as Mike Newhouse
Ben Affleck as Fred O’Bannion
Anthony Rapp as Tony Olson
Parker Posey as Darla Marks
Tagline ‘It was the last day of school in 1976, a time they’d never forget... if only they could remember.’ Run Time 102 min Quote ‘You just gotta keep on livin’, man.’ Trivia The word ‘man’ is said 203 times total in the movie. The word ‘fuck’ is mentioned 59 times throughout the movie.
CAST Jane Fonda as Barbarella
Marcel Marceau as Professor Ping
John Phillip Law as Pygar
David Hemmings as Dildano
Anita Pallenberg as The Great Tyrant, Black Queen of Sogo
Claude Dauphin as President Dianthus of Earth
Milo O’Shea as Durand Durand
Ugo Tognazzi as Mark Hand
BARBARELLA 1968
Genre ACTION comedy Director roger vadim Writer jean claude forest After an in-flight anti-gravity striptease, Barbarella, a 41st century astronaut, lands on the planet Lythion and sets out to find the evil Durand Durand in the city of Sogo, where a new sin is invented every hour. There, she encounters such objects as the Exessive Machine, a genuine sex organ on which an accomplished artist of the keyboard, in this case, Durand Durand himself, can drive a victim to death by pleasure, a lesbian queen who, in her dream chamber, can make her fantasies take form, and a group of ladies smoking a giant hookah which, via a poor victim struggling in its glass globe, dispenses Essance of Man.
Tagline ‘See Barbarella do her thing!’ Run Time 98 min Quote ‘What’s that screaming? A good many dramatic situations begin with screaming.’ Trivia The original author Jean-Claude Forest based the character of Barbarella on Brigitte Bardot - who ironically was director Roger Vadim’s previous wife.
THE WARRIORS 1979
Genre ACTION Director WALTER HILL Writer SOL YURICK Cyrus, the leader of the most powerful gang in New York City, the Gramercy Riffs, calls a midnight summit for all the area gangs, with all asked to send nine unarmed representatives for the conclave. A gang called The Warriors are blamed for causing gang violence at theaters, but now it looks as highly stylized and pulpy as Hill intended. The plot finds a New York gang having to cross the territory of rivals in order to get to their own ‘hood. And so The Warriors begin their long journey from the Bronx back to Coney Island. The second-in-command, Swan, takes charge, though the hot-headed Ajax openly voices his desire to be acting gang warlord. The Warriors slowly cross the dangerous Bronx and Manhattan territories, narrowly escaping police and other gangs every step of the way.
CAST James Remar as Ajax
David Patrick Kelly as Luther
Dorsey Wright as Cleon
Marcelino Sanchez as Rembrandt
David Harris as Cochise
Brian Tyler as Snow
Tom McKitterick as Cowboy
Michael Beck as Swan
Thomas G. Waites as Fox
Terry Michos as Vermin
Deborah Van Valkenburgh as Mercy
Roger Hill as Cyrus
Tagline ‘These are the Armies of The Night’ Run Time 92 min Quote ‘Can you dig it?’ Trivia Loosely based on Xenophon’s “Anabasis”, the account of an army of Greek mercenaries who, after aligning themselves with Cyrus the Younger in the battle of Cunaxa (401 BC) in his attempt to seize the Persian throne, found themselves isolated behind Persian enemy lines.
CAST Christian Slater as Clarence Worley
James Gandolfini as Virgil
Patricia Arquette as Alabama Whitman
Gary Oldman as Drexl Spivey
Michael Rapaport as Dick Ritchie
Christopher Walken as Vincenzo Coccotti
Bronson Pinchot as Elliot Blitzer
Chris Penn as Nicky Dimes
Saul Rubinek as Lee Donowitz
Brad Pitt as Floyd
Dennis Hopper as Clifford Worley
Val Kilmer as Elvis
TRUE ROMANCE 1993
Genre ACTION romance Director tony scott Writer Quentin tarantino Clarence Worley is a well-meaning but socially unskilled comic-shop clerk. He meets a girl named Alabama, and it’s love at first sight for both. Clarence’s enthusiasm isn’t dampened when he discovers Alabama is actually a call girl who was paid to bump into him. She’s only been in the business for a few days, and is more than eager to give it up. Clarence offers to break the news to her pimp Drexl, but while he’s there he grabs a suitcase that holds five million dollars’ worth of cocaine. The couple hits the road for California, planning to sell the dope and enjoy the good life in South America, but soon a group of underworld characters are after them, as well as the police.
Tagline ‘Not since Bonnie and Clyde have two people been so good at being bad.’ Run Time 120 min Quote ‘You’re so cool.’ Trivia Writer Quentin Tarantino sold the script for roughly $10,000. With the money he purchased the red Chevy convertible that Vincent Vega drives in Pulp Fiction.
Heathers 1988
Genre sci fi, horror Director john carpenter Writer ray nelson, john carpenter Nada, a down-on-his-luck construction worker, discovers a pair of special sunglasses. Wearing them, he is able to see the world as it really is: people being bombarded by media and government with messages like ‘Stay Asleep’, ‘No Imagination’ and ‘Submit to Authority’. Even scarier is that he is able to see that some usually normal-looking people are in fact ugly aliens in charge of the massive campaign to keep humans subdued.
CAST Roddy Piper as John Nada
Peter Jason as Gilbert
Keith David as Frank Armitage
Sy Richardson as Black Revolutionary
Meg Foster as Holly Thompson
Susan Blanchard as Ingenue
George ‘Buck’ Flower as The Drifter
Norman Alden as Foreman
Tagline ‘Who are they? And what do they want?’ Run Time 93 min Quote ‘I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass, and I’m all out of bubblegum.’ Trivia Graffiti artist Shepard Fairey got his OBEY name from this film.
CAST Harrison Ford as Rick Deckard
Joanna Cassidy as Zhora
Rutger Hauer as Roy Batty
Joe Turkel as Dr. Eldon Tyrell
Sean Young as Rachael
William Sanderson as J.F. Sebastian
Brion James as Leon Kowalski
James Hong as Hannibal Chew
Daryl Hannah as Pris
M. Emmet Walsh as Bryant
blade runner 1982
Genre sci fi, thriller Director ridley scott Writer hampton fancher In a cyberpunk vision of the future, man has developed the technology to create replicants, human clones used to serve in the colonies outside Earth but with fixed lifespans. In Los Angeles, 2019, Deckard is a Blade Runner, a cop who specialises in terminating replicants. Originally in retirement, he is forced to re-enter the force when six replicants escape from an offworld colony to Earth
Tagline ‘Man Has Made His Match... Now It’s His Problem.’ Run Time 117 min Quote ‘All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.’ Trivia Although Philip K. Dick saw only the opening 20 minutes of footage prior to his death on March 2, 1982, he was extremely impressed, and has been quoted by Paul Sammon as saying, “It was my own interior world. They caught it perfectly.”
fast times at ridgemont high 1982
Genre comedy Director amy heckerling Writer cameron crowe The film follows a group of high school students growing up in southern California, based on the real-life adventures chronicled by Cameron Crowe. Stacy Hamilton and Mark Ratner are looking for a love interest, and are helped along by their older classmates, Linda Barrett and Mike Damone, respectively. The center of the film is held by Jeff Spicoli, a perpetually stoned surfer dude who faces off with the resolute Mr. Hand, who is convinced that everyone is on dope.
CAST Sean Penn as Jeff Spicoli
Ray Walston as Mr. Hand
Jennifer Jason Leigh as Stacy Hamilton
Vincent Schiavelli as Mr. Vargas
Judge Reinhold as Brad Hamilton
Lana Clarkson as Mrs. Vargas
Robert Romanus as Mike Damone
Forest Whitaker as Charles Jefferson
Brian Backer as Mark “Rat” Ratner
Eric Stoltz as Stoner Bud
Phoebe Cates as Linda Barrett
Nicolas Cage as Brad’s Bud
Tagline ‘It’s Awesome! Totally Awesome!’ Run Time 90 min Quote ‘All I need are some tasty waves, a cool buzz, and I’m fine.’ Trivia David Lynch was originally offered the chance to direct before Amy Heckerling was chosen. He turned it down saying it was a funny script, but not really his thing.
CAST Michael McKean as David St. Hubbins
R.J. Parnell as Mick Shrimpton
Christopher Guest as Nigel Tufnel
June Chadwick as Jeanine Pettibone
Harry Shearer as Derek Smalls
Ed Begley, Jr. as John “Stumpy” Pepys
Rob Reiner as Marty DiBergi
Danny Kortchmar as Ronnie Pudding
Tony Hendra as Ian Faith
Fran Drescher as Bobbi Flekman
David Kaff as Viv Savage
Billy Crystal as Morty the Mime
this is spinal tap! 1984
Genre comedy Director rob reiner Writer christopher guest In 1982 legendary British heavy metal band Spinal Tap attempt an American comeback tour accompanied by a fan who is also a film-maker. The resulting documentary, interspersed with powerful performances of Tap’s pivotal music and profound lyrics, candidly follows a rock group heading towards crisis, culminating in the infamous affair of the eighteen-inch-high Stonehenge stage prop.
Tagline ‘Does for rock and roll what ‘The Sound of Music’ did for hills’ Run Time 82 min Quote ‘These go to eleven’ Trivia After the film opened, several people approached director Rob Reiner telling him that they loved the film, but he should have chosen a more well known band to do a documentary on.
HAROLD AND MAUDE 1971
Genre BLACK Comedy Director HAL ASHBY Writer COLIN HIGGINS The self-destructive and needy wealthy teenager Harold is obsessed by death and spends his leisure time attending funerals, watching the demolishing of buildings, visiting junkyards, simulating suicides trying to get attention from his indifferent, snobbish and egocentric mother, and having sessions with his psychologist. When Harold meets the anarchist seventy-nine-year-old Maude at a funeral, they become friends and the old lady discloses other perspectives of the cycle of life for him. Meanwhile, his mother enlists him in a dating service and tries to force Harold to join the army. On the day of Maude’s eightieth birthday, Harold proposes to her but he finds the truth about life at the end of hers.
CAST Ruth Gordon as Maude Chardin
Eric Christmas as Priest
Bud Cort as Harold Chasen
G. Wood as Psychiatrist
Vivian Pickles as Mrs. Chasen
Judy Engles as Candy Gulf
Cyril Cusack as Glaucus
Shari Summers as Edith Phern
Charles Tyner as General Victor Ball
Ellen Geer as Sunshine DorĂŠ
Tagline ‘They were meant to be. But exactly what they were meant to be is not quite clear.’ Run Time 91 min Quote ‘I should like to change into a sunflower most of all.’ Trivia In all shots of Ruth Gordon (Maude) driving the hearse it is being towed because she never learned how to drive a car