![]() Meanwhile, the musical numbers Tim dreams about (inspired by the music video age) are laughable in their campiness, and will surely elicit good-natured laughs from everyone, whether they were around in the ’80s or not. It seems as if everyone involved with the conception of the film wanted to remind audiences at the time of the decade they were living in since there are ’80s references galore here, including a little girl wearing a Barry Manilow t-shirt and a number of shameless plugs for the then still-new MTV network. The film, directed by Grease helmer Randal Kleiser, tries to give off that feeling of good-ole Americana that the director’s most famous film did and bring it to the ’80s. Grandview, USA is as cheesy as its plot makes it sound and even cheesier to watch play out in ways that extend far beyond just the casting of former teen idol Troy Donahue as the neighborhood casanova. ![]() ![]() Armed with Tim and local driver Slam (Patrick Swayze), Mike fights to keep from letting the city take over the derby. However, there’s trouble in the form of the local city council, who want the land Mike’s fledgling business is on for development purposes. After a disastrous prom date leads him to the local roller derby run by the tough-as-nails, yet incredibly alluring Mike (Curtis), Tim finds himself quickly intrigued. Thomas Howell) has just graduated from high school and is wondering what he is going to do with his life. I simply had to investigate the cause of Curtis’s attitude towards it and see just how right she was. But the actress’s strong feelings towards the film made me highly curious to watch it when Kino Lorber released Grandview, USA on Blu-ray recently. There’s no doubt the project must have appealed to Curtis initially as it was an early leading role for her that wasn’t tied to the horror/thriller genre. Chief among them is 1999’s Virus, an easily forgettable space thriller which the actress reportedly accepted when another project fell through, and 1984’s Grandview, USA, a coming-of-age piece of Americana that I’m fairly certain she, along with everyone associated with it, believed would simply vanish forever. Years ago, when Jamie Lee Curtis was being interviewed about her career, she mentioned that despite starring in a number of bona fide classics, there were one or two cinematic skeletons lingering in her closet.
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