Movies That Changed My Life: February 2011

February 5, 2011 by Editor
Filed under Movies That Changed My Life

Movies That Changed My Life: February 2011

Private School (1983)

Written By: Ken Knight
Mondo Film & Video Guide Feature Contributor

An unforgettable (if you’ve seen it) early-80’s “sex comedy” starring that time period’s raven-haired sex kitten Phoebe Cates and the 80’s best-shaped bombshell Betsy Russell along with beak-nosed Matthew Modine. Okay sports-fans, the low down is that there are two Private Schools near one another, one all male and the other all hot females. Yes, a private school full of smoking-hot young women, not a fatty or fugly troll amongst them!

Linda (Phoebe Cates) has a deal with her boyfriend Jim (Modine) about when and where their “first time” will be consummated and she strings him along despite his fat and obnoxious buddy “Bubba” trying to get Jim and himself into the panties of the other shapely femmes in the Private School for smokin’ hot babes (all in their 20’s of course).

Then there is Jordan (Betsy Russell) who croons to her female roommates about whether width or length is best (regarding the size of a man’s schlong) and how she wants Jim for herself! The antics that go on between sexy Jordan and snickering Jim is funny and I found myself noting that I personally would have taken Jordan (Russell) over the waifish and skinny Linda (Cates) any day of the week and twice on Sunday but the Jim character is “in love” despite being caught inside the ladies’ dormitory dressed as a woman thanks to his friend Bubba and Linda getting pissed off and ignoring him. There is an awesome shower/locker room scene showing a phalanx of well-formed naked female “students” showering as Bubba (in drag) sneaks a peek at them.

One of the women in this gratuitous naked shower scene was July 1982’s Playboy® Playmate Lynda Wiesmeier whose booty-licious physique gets full-mast attention, the camera worshipping her even as she leaves the shower and gets dressed. *Movie scenes such as this one were what coined the term “gratuitous nudity” back in those days!

Then there is the scene this movie was known for back in the 80’s, the “horseback” scene where Jordan (Actress Betsy Russell) tries to impress Jim by loosening her shirt to reveal her healthy boobs as she rides by him and Linda during Horseback riding class, only to have another chick rip the shirt off her completely and the topless Jordan goes galloping off with boobs jiggling as she rides to the tune of the soundtrack and the remark by an old lady Alumnus witnessing the event: “That’s the best example of bare-back riding I’ve ever seen!” Betsy Russell’s topless ride on that horse was kind of a salute to Lady Godiva and makes this movie all the better.

Speaking of soundtracks, any fan of 80’s rocker Rick Springfield will like the fact his music features prominently in this film, particularly in the outdoor Phys-Ed scene where the ladies do aerobics to his hit “The American Girl” song.

The film ends predictably with Jim and Linda (finally) joining in the flesh during their planned coitus and we get to see a naked Phoebe Cates on the beach, though some fans of the film have speculated that a “body double” was used in place of Cates, I tend to think it was really her. Funny seeing veteran Actor Ray Walston in a cameo appearance at the Chauffeur for Jordan’s father and trying to get into the pants of the old lady who runs the Private School for Girls in the back of a Rolls Royce which ends up in the swimming pool, and well…I won’t write too many spoilers about the ending of this funny film.

This film made me seek out other films like it, and gain a healthy affection for what I consider to be “Guy-Flicks of the 80’s” (which I wrote about more extensively in my 2008 book THE MIDNIGHT SHOW~Late Night Cable TV “Guy-Flicks” of the 80’s).

I now regret not reviewing this titular movie in my book, but I brought my feelings about it here to Mondo! When I first saw PRIVATE SCHOOL I was not quite of the age that was appropriate for viewing R-rated films, but it just so happened during the Summer of 1984 while on a High School-funded Trip to Montreal Canada, myself and two fellow (Freshman) buddies of mine Jack and Marr along with the rest of the Foreign Language Class were quartered at a hotel for the week-long tour of the City.

Far be it for yours truly to behave like a monk, me and my buddies Jack and Marr took the liberty of ordering the movie PRIVATE SCHOOL to our room’s TV and along with our very cool ex-Green Beret Bus Driver we watched the movie a total of 8 times while our School Teacher chaperones were none-the-wiser….that is until we all left the Hotel two mornings later and the Clerk brought up the fact that our room ordered PRIVATE SCHOOL a total of eight times in less than 24 hours and it cost a total of $50 which our young minds did not process at the time we ordered those showings of the movie to our room, hahaha.

Be that as it may….Jack, Marr, and myself had to cough up $50 to pay for the movie showings and our School Principal Mr. Price (who helped chaperone our trip to Canada) was not happy with us guys watching a Rated-R movie eight friggin’ times in a row while on a school-sponsored trip! It was a good time spent with high school chums and an Ex-Green Beret who wasn’t afraid to tell gritty war stories, talk about women he’d had, and even share beers with a couple teenagers while watching PRIVATE SCHOOL which we all thought was “free” on the Hotel TV system.

I don’t remember a damn thing about touring Montreal and Quebec that summer school trip, but I vividly remember the absolute blast I had with my buddies Jack, Marr, and Larry drinking beer and watching the movie

PRIVATE SCHOOL late at night in that Canadian Hotel! I remember thinking of Actress Betsy Russell as the ultimate female of the species back then (and still do!) because she embodied beauty, bod, and the capability of being “sinister” at the same time which in this Film Critic’s opinion is gold for an Actress in that film genre.

Though “Porky’s” and “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” were around at the same time as this film, I daresay it was PRIVATE SCHOOL which kicked me into the guy-flick mode which brought about my earnest appreciation of this particular “sex comedy” film genre of the 1980’s decade. It also made me realize how movies become fantasy-escapism in the sense how one watches them and wishes he or she were right in there with the characters and situations as opposed to the hum-drum reality of modern life outside of the movie theater and glowing TV screens in darkened living rooms the world over.

This particular movie “changed my life” in that it helped me realize my calling as a film aficionado and movie-critic, not to mention the “memory lane” this film takes me down every time I watch it because of where I was when I first saw it, the fun time involved, and the age I was during one of the best years (of the best decade) of this man’s life. Movies can be a “walk down memory lane” for any of us if we look at them that way, and for fans of certain actors and actresses, a particular movie can be like “time travel”! Phoebe Cates retired from acting in the 1990’s and now runs a Boutique in NYC, married to actor Kevin Kline.

Betsy Russell can be seen in the latter SAW horror film series as the wife of the “Jigsaw” Killer and she looks so damn good in the years following her unforgettable role in 1983’s PRIVATE SCHOOL, a testament to how truly beautiful women are….ageless! So can a movie really “change” your life? Hell yeah, because odds are you’ve seen at least one motion picture you vividly remember, enjoy, perhaps even been “influenced” by in some manner…a movie that struck a chord and later became a fond memory not to be forgotten (not even in latter years of senility!).

PRIVATE SCHOOL rang my bell back in 1984. I raise my glass in a toast, and salute any gorgeous dame who rides bare-chested on horseback….