Underground Aces

"Underground Aces" was released to movie theaters...I saw it as a youngster. Remember, this was back in the day, as cfc_can mentioned, of movies like "Car Wash"...which were a dime a dozen. Comedy ruled the day. I agree, though, that this film can be a guilty pleasure, just like "The Gumball Rally." (Another obscure 1976 film.) I went to see "Underground Aces" because I loved "Battlestar Galactica." Worth noting is "Underground Aces" director Robert Butler, who cut his teeth on many a Disney film and television show. Another star of note (and a staple of television) in an early film role (after her appearance in "1941") is Audrey Landers.

I like to think of myself as a bit of an 80's expert. I spent most of my teenage years in the 80s. I watched a lot of TV, hung out at my favorite VHS rental store and even today I destroy people at any game that involves 80s trivia and yet... I had never even heard of this 1981 classic before this week.

It's never on an 80s movie list. It was never trashed by my favorite movie channels on YouTube. It never gets referenced on Family Guy and the people who went on to actually have a career never brought it up on talk shows.

Yet there it sits, free to stream on Prime, invisible to 80s historians, and still craving your attention.

Set in the early 80s, and quite possibly filmed in the late 70s, this time-capsule of actors, tropes and jokes reminds me of what life was like the day after the last episode of That 70s Show.

This movie has it all... car chases, a 5 minute Rube Goldberg scene, a little bit of unnecessary nudity, the prince and the pauper, roller skates, comedy racism, slapstick, Melanie Griffith...

Yes. That Melanie Griffith along with Dirk Benedict (before he went on to be Face on A-Team) and Robert Hegyes fresh from Mr. Kotters classroom. Sid Haig shows up in a comedy role, Frank Gorshin does his best George Murdock impersonation, Jerry Orbach with the same haircut he had in Law and Order and my personal favorite is a pre-Police Academy, Michael Winslow, who was not allowed to speak a single word, but was still a main character.

The actors are reallty great but, the characters in Underground Aces are really the biggest flaw in this whole movie. There are no less than twelve characters struggling to develop who they are in a 95 minute film, and it takes 45 minutes for the lead story to even emerge. It's not about Melanie Griffith and Dirk Benedict developing a relationship. It's not about Michael Winslow overcoming a traumatic past that forced him to speak with sound effects instead of works... it's about Robert Hegyes finding true love for the first time in his life and using a Sheik to make it all happen.

Most sites compare this movie to the cult classic Car Wash, and while that is a fair comparison, this movie reminded me more of the movie D. C. Cab, that was released 2 years later, featuring Mr. T. Unliked Car Wash, it features a college educated lead who wants to quit the real world and live the exciting life of a job that depends on tips. Car Wash was about people who hated their jobs and pulled pranks to deal with a substandard life and not people who thought they were hip and cool because of their service industry jobs.

Still, if it were up to me, all three of these movies would be sold as a the "Hollywood Has No Idea What Jobs Are Trilogy." Maybe throw in a, "AKA, Actors Hungry For Work," secondly title.

This movie is worth watching. You will laugh. You will tell your friends about it. It may take 10 years, but you will even watch it again!

I missed the plot basis for years until I rewatched it.

This is Much Ado About Nothing set in a snazzy hotel.

The Sheik is the Prince.

Frank Gorshin as the House Detective is the Sheriff.

We have the woman the Sheik is trying to woo as his bride. Dirk Benedict as his coach. Bunches of misunderstanding. Assorted recreation including Auto Soccer.

I'm not sure who the Commodores owed a favor to, but the ending theme is catchy and pop for the era.

Entertaining fluff, with decent actors. Worth an occasional watch.

Dirk Benedict was two years between, before and after BATTLESTAR GALACTICA and THE A-TEAM when he starred in this CAR WASH clone where a group of misfits are supposed to park rich people's vehicles in the parking lot beneath a plush hotel - only to race them around, now and again...

The rest of the picture involves the gang of mostly minorities including Robert Hegyes as a Latin lover; cool black dudes Randy Brooks; the always optimistic T.K. Carter; the otherwise non-speaking, barking/howling human voice-box Michael Winslow; handsome Italian Rick Podell as a selfish mechanic boyfriend of ingenue Melanie Griffith, whose high-pitched voice is squeakier than ever as she predictably edges toward Benedict, the new guy/resilient con man and soon enough, leader of the pack...

One of those comedies where the cast is having more fun than the audience, the worst story involves a shy young Sheik who the cast spends so much time helping romance engaged blonde bombshell Audrey Landers, there's barely time for other random hijinks: all while dodging a security chief named Fred Kruger...

Meanwhile, miscast ladies' man Hegyes finds his "perfect girl" before acquiring a distinct persona to fit within the overall eclectic ensemble. In fact, pretty much everyone on board goes through cliché motions in a limited space with hardly any comedic breathing room, unlike its classic (and even more contained) mentor, CAR WASH...

And if the awesome-titled UNDERGROUND ACES had the decency to call itself ONE SHEIK FOR ONE BRIDE, fans of exploitation drive-in flicks wouldn't have been taken for such a ride.

"Underground Aces" had some good moments but there were some scenes that went on too long and some of the acting in the movie was second rate, fortunately the good moments outweigh the scenes that dragged and there were some good performances by Dirk Benedict, Melanie Griffith (before she became a household name), Robert Hegyes, Jerry Orbach and Frank Gorshin, some of my favorite moments of this movie includes them driving erratically in the hotel parking lot, bowling balls falling out of the back of a car, them reassembling a car at a fast pace, the Blitz night scene and the finale scene (won't give that away), this movie is similar to the better known "Car Wash" but they have parking lot attendants instead of car washing attendants, overall I give this movie a 6/10