Goin' All the Way!

"Goin' All The Way" is a largely unknown film today and most of the people who worked on it (with the most notable exception being Eileen Davidson) never did much else in their cinematic careers. And yet it is a painless little film (the short running time helps) that is not nearly as bad as you might have expected. Of course the outcome is predictable right from the opening scene, and after a while the lack of any strong story becomes noticeable. However, the film benefits from the winning, natural performances of its cast - their characters may be stereotypes but they are played with enough sincerity to become likable (they do look a bit too old to be high school seniors, though). If you're looking for laughs, you're most likely to get them during the classroom scenes. **1/2 out of 4.

I actually sometimes kind of like these 80's teen sex comedies provided they're completely ridiculous and don't at all remind me of actually BEING a teenager in the 80's. No problem with this one there, but it really doesn't have much going for it otherwise.

The protagonist "Arnie" like many, many cinematic teenagers is trying to "lose it" (and it's about damn time since the actor playing "Arnie" looks to be at least 25). Unfortunately, his girlfriend "Monica" won't put out. His annoying smart-ass best friend "Keith" is more fortunate because he has a very stupid girlfriend who thinks she'll get migraines if she DOESN'T have sex. "Arnie" also has another tantalizing possibility with a girl named "Candy" (Sherrie Miller), but she has a big dumb jock boyfriend (of course, "Arnie" also looks like a big dumb jock, so I'm not sure what the problem is there). Eileen Davidson plays a girl named "B.J.", but don't get too excited because it's short for "Betty Jean". Also, strangely for a school that seems to have maybe twenty (very overaged) "students" and one teacher (and where the only subject taught seems to be sex ed.), there is an entire clique of butch female weightlifters who take terrible revenge when any of their number is screwed over by a guy (they hold him down and shave his head--oh, the horror!). It all comes to a head at a very pathetic (even by high school standards) Sadie Hawkins dance where "Arnie" shows up with "Candy" and "Monica" shows up with an older smooth-talking record producer.

This movie never comes close to being funny and god knows it's not at all realistic. Eileen Davidson (who later played the bitch in "The House on Sorority Row" where she was far more believable as college graduate than a high school senior) and the never-to-be-seen-again Sherrie Miller are both very cute and sexy. They both provide some "T", but the only "A", unfortunately, comes courtesy of the big fat male jock. Miller does dance around at the Sadie Hawkins in a pair of cut-offs short enough to get any actual high school girl expelled (and unbelievably "Arnie" considers this a reason to break up with her!). But even that isn't enough to overcome the horrid music, which somehow manages to be even worse than the usual 80's music (although somehow this very low-rent movie got the rights to a terrible muzak version of the terrible Michael McDonald/Dooble Brother's song "Bit by Bit"). You do get to see roller boogie rinks, female mud wrestling, smoking in diners, and the flagrant flouting of underage drinking and open containers laws. I guess I do kind of miss a few things about the 80's, but movies like this aren't one of them.

A guy tries to pressure his virginal girlfriend into goin' all the way with him. A really bad movie, even by the standards the teen comedy genre of the 80's set. Featuring some of the worse acting, and direction to grace the screen in a long time, this is best described as avoid at all cost. And it looks like most people did. My rating: 1 out of 10.

Don James who played the nerd became legendary editor "Adam Lightplay" who did critically acclaimed editing on the Richard Rossi feature "Aimee Semple McPherson." Don/Adam hasn't made any movies as an actor since, but he is still searching for the "meaning of life." Watch for him to reappear soon as a stand-up healer. This film was a lot of fun. Don's portrayal of Howard is a great cult film moment. Eileen Davidson became a regular on "Young and the Restless." Her scene is very sexy when she is fondling and talking about trying positive thinking. A bad movie can be good, look at "Ed Wood," and this makes "Porky's" look like a Merchant Ivory film.

Like an old VHS tape that's been eaten by the vcr.