What's your favorite movie? I love that question. It's a great getting to know someone kind of question. Sometimes when I ask a person that question they have the answer out of their mouth before I can even finish. Other folks won't answer. I guess with the grand catalog of films from the last century, it's simply too much to choose just one favorite. Those folks will usually proceed to give me five or six different picks. I'm fine with that. I myself have a couple favorites that I just can't choose between.
For me, Scent of a Woman and Pulp Fiction, are my go to flicks. Scent of a Woman for many reasons. Most importantly because somewhere in the middle of seeing it for the first time when I was in high school, I knew I wanted to become an actor. Pulp Fiction because...I just think it's the coolest fucking movie of all time. It drips more cool than an air conditioner. From start to finish, even when Quentin himself awkwardly makes his way through the third act, it's all still pretty incredible.
There is a third though. It's a movie I must have seen well over a hundred times when I was a kid. A movie I rediscovered about five years ago. A movie that I believe shines a light on the truths about man's very nature on the earth. That movie is Teen Wolf.
Teen Wolf was released on August, 23 1985. It came out the same summer as Back to the Future. Atlantic Releasing Corporation, the studio that distributed Teen Wolf, did all they could to capitalize on Back to the Future's success, but the two weren't even close. Teen Wolf grossed less than a tenth of what Back to the Future did that year. I don't think anyone was shocked and the flick was more or less overlooked at the time and headed to be a "cult classic." I was just a little more than three and a half years old at the time. Given my toddler status in 1983, I obviously wasn't able to make it over to the Gateway Cinema to catch the opening weekend of this masterpiece. I know for a fact however that Teen Wolf and I found each other shortly afterward. The reason I know this is because in first grade I insisted that I be Teen Wolf for Halloween. My mom signed off on it and purchased the necessary make up and such. I won costume contests that year both at school and at St. Leo's Church. You're probably saying, "How do you remember that, Mergs?" Trust me, I remember every time in my life I ever won candy.
My Teen Wolf VHS and I were besties for quite awhile. I would watch it on the reg along with the Teen Wolf Cartoon Series that came out on Saturday mornings. (A slightly bastardized version of the film but with the same central story.) I don't know why I dug the movie so much back then. One reason may have been that my cousin Mike and I thought the character Stiles, played brilliantly by Jerry Levine, was the funniest thing in the history of comedy. With lines like, "I heard Mr. Murphy, you know, the shop teacher? Got his dick caught in a vacuum cleaner." and the famous, "What are you looking at Dicknose?" tee shirt he sported, Stiles may very have well been the funniest thing either of us had seen up to that point in our lives.
Althought I moved on to other movies as I got older TW was a staple of my collection throughout my preteen years. Sadly though, I ended up doing something I think everyone does at least once in their life. Maybe not in the same way, but we all do it. I gave away a piece of my childhood, for a glimpse at being an adult. I was thirteen, maybe fourteen. I wished I'd chosen another movie to do it to. I'm not sitting here writing about Independence Day friends. Nope, I chose my beloved TW...to record over with porn. I'm not proud of it, but boys will be boys and ya can't put shit back in the donkey, right? (Let me be clear that the last line was simply a figure of speech and that shit nor donkeys were in the porn flick I recorded over my copy of TW with. Moving on.) So, I kinda forgot about the movie all together for years. Until I moved to New York.
My first few years in New York were great for many reasons, but kinda shitty for one. My apartment. I lived in a tiny, dirty, dark basement apartment in Astoria, Queens. There were a few things that made it bearable. The neighborhood was nice, lots of friends close by and good Chinese food. Oh, and I had a neighborhood weed delivery service. A really, really good one.
One evening while sitting in my recliner with a J waiting for the pizza dude, I came across Teen Wolf on HBO. I quickly turned it on but only caught the last half hour, but it was enough though to kick up some serious nostalgia .The next day I asked my roommate to track it down somewhere online and by the time I got home from work that night, there was a freshly burned DVD waiting for me. I quickly popped it in the player, sparked one up, and felt like I was a kid again. My life's troubles paled in comparison to Scott Howard's. I was swept up in the furry teen angst of this film like never before. Something was different and I don't mean just my bloodshot eyes. I was watching this movie after years of education. Years of acting classes and script analysis, Shakespeare to Tony Kushner. Film classes covering everything Citizen Kane to Bill and Ted. It was more than that though. For the first time in my life, I was watching this movie as an adult.
The following day I couldn't stop thinking about the it. I went to work and when I was finished my friends and I went for beers and eats at the Vietnamese spot next to our restaurant. My workmates and I got to chatting over drinks and I brought up the movie to the group. Some people never heard of it. Other dismissed it quickly as, "80's garbage." Bastards! However, a couple of my friends knew the movie well enough to enter into heated conversation/debate about it. I presented the group with the sames ideas I'm about to present to you here. The reasons I think this movie is much, much more than just a cult classic.
The Boof-Pam Conundrum - Scott Howard has two love interests in the movie. Pamela Wells and Lisa "Boof" Marconi. Pamela is blonde, beautiful, and popular. At the start of the film, she doesn't even know Scott is alive. It's not until he turns into the wolf during a basketball game in front of the entire school and leads the team to victory due to mad wolf ups, that she decides he's worth her time.
Boof is Scott's best friend from childhood. She's cute, but not Pamela. At least not to Scott. Boof's loved Scott since they were young, but Scott's not having it. He's got tunnel vision for Pamela,who he doesn't even really know. I feel like guys go through this shit all the time. I guess girls do too. We all go after and look to date people who we don't even know, but who we have some grand idea of. Those people often encapsulate our idea of being physically beautiful, and yet may have no idea that we're even alive. It's the "challenge" of it all that makes it so appealing, and that's silly. We pass up and overlook people who genuinely have something to offer in a relationship because it's human nature to step over our own happiness in order to simply pursue something "better". And it's too bad. This is why I feel like most guys, girls too I guess, can be broken down into "Boofs" or Pams". Being a Boof means that you're mature enough to look for something more in your significant other than just the surface qualities. Being a Pam means you're someone who continues to chase awful people simply because of looks or status. Although I have a history of liking awful women, I hope to be as lucky as Scott Howard, and find my Boof someday.
Coach Bobby Finstock - When we're young we're told that our teachers know everything. They're the people that guide us, inspire us, and help us along on our journey to adulthood; And some of them are as full of shit and worthless as anyone else out there. Don't get me wrong, good teachers are an amazing thing and they're more necessary today than ever before. Some of them though are just giant kids that never grew up, made high school the best days of their lives, and still just want summers off and to bullshit in the halls. That kind of mentor is Coach Bobby Finstock. To really get a sense of this character please follow the link below. Finstock is a sad, yet hilarious, guy. He's an incredible representation of those special teachers out there who's own life is such a tragic mess that they couldn't possibly teach anyone anything, yet they take a salary year after year and waste minds of tomorrows leaders, one period at a time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEHfirKjBzo
Confronting Your Furry Demons - We're all victims of our genetics and none of us can ever choose who our families are. During high school those inborn elements that we might not like can cause embarrassment and stress. When you're in high school everything seems so important even though none of it really is.
Kids today who get bullied or teased for one reason or another that they can't help. Sadly it's been the same way since Moses wore short pants and it will be that way for a long time to come. Scott Howard should be a poster boy for getting over the unnecessary stressful bullshit that is teen angst. Throughout the movie he learns that a big part of life is taking the things we don't like about ourselves, confronting them, embracing them, accepting them, and most importantly not letting those things define who we are. Which brings me to the next awesome thing about the movie.
Michael J. Fox - I can't imagine what I would have thought if someone gave me this script and I'd never seen the film. Just read the words on paper. I might think, "This is fucking ridiculous." The reason for that is because the premise of this movie, is fucking ridiculous; But it works. I really does. There's a few reasons for that. There is some fine dialogue in the script along with a really well put together cast. The main reason though...Michael J. Fox ACTS THE FUCK OUT OF THIS MOVIE. Plain and simple. There's not a second when he's on that screen that he's not completely committed to the truth of the moment. This movie was made before Back to the Future came out. Before Michael J. Fox ruled the last half of the eighties. It's a really brilliant performance from a fine young actor who will go on to be a truly inspirational human being.
I can go on friends. I won't, but I could. (My posts are already too long and I thank you if you stuck with this one.) Unfortunately most kids will know Teen Wolf as a poor man's version of Twilight that plays today on MTV. Except for some of the character names the MTV version is NOTHING like the 1985 film and is just another example of Hollywood being out of ideas so they mash together two stories that are kind of similar, but not really. It makes me sad all day.
So, I guess my point is for ya'all to go watch or re-watch Teen Wolf. If you've never seen this movie it's really worth your time. An under appreciated classic that is more than meets the eye. If you have seen it I hope you enjoy rediscovering it and if you can get your hands on a bong rip before hand, it wouldn't be the worst idea. Remember to keep moving forward no matter how hairy life may get and when it won't hand over that proverbial keg of beer, think of Stiles and, "Never Say Die."
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