Cherry 2000

Okay, "Cherry 2000" has finally achieved "cult film" status. But unlike many other cult movies, it actually deserves the title.

There are many things to like about this flick. The nuanced, likeable Ben Johnson has a good role that even delivers some tragedy (how often do you get that in a b-movie?). The charismatic Griffith is alternately contemplative and kick-ass. Of course, Tim Thomerson as Lester nearly steals the show, providing a truly strange, ruthless villain.

The effects are cheesy, sure, but they never look fake, unlike a lot of the CGI films coming out today. When you see E. Johnson's Ford being dangled over the Hoover Dam, that is an ACTUAL car, not some stupid digital effect.

The movie does lay its message on thick, but considering the obvious budget constraints they were working with, that's a perfectly excuseable flaw. The satire is at times hilarious (watch for Larry Fishburne's turn as a lawyer with Morpheus-esque reflecting sunglasses, and the final exit of the villain is truly visually ironic). I bought this on DVD (having never seen it on TV) and really liked it...maybe you will, too.

I can't fathom it.

I don't like either lead actor. The effects are cheesy and below "The A Team." The film doesn't paint in broad strokes; its message is slopped on with push brooms.

But doggone, I get a kick out of this thing everytime it airs.

Maybe it's the handful of stars and almost stars and the games of "Holy Cow! That's where they were then." Marshall Bell, Pamela Gidley, Griffith herself.

Maybe it's the camp, as if the producers knew that a Bruckheimeran picture was beyond them, so they reveled in their low budget and milked everything to the point that teenage boys (my age when I first saw it) can't quite be sure if this is straight or tongue-in-cheek. (The Self-Actualized Nazis of Zone 7, with their proto-New Age totalitarianism are a hoot. Give them more lines!)

It defies explanation, and I suppose it's the mystery that keeps me tuning in.

When I first saw this movie I was hooked. I watched it many times and I still find new things. It grows on you. Really good cast and storyline. Watch it! Pamely Gidley is just superduper and the settings are like the Wild Wild West!

Sure it's all too obviously influenced by "Mad Max" and "The Road Warrior", but it's still consistently engaging entertainment for cult film enthusiasts. Credit has to go to production designer John Jay Moore and cinematographer Jacques Haitkin for giving it just the right slightly futuristic look, and it's got some gorgeous rural vistas to take in. It's a little episodic, but it's also got some energy, and some nifty moments.

Melanie Griffith offers a delightful performance as female "tracker" E. Johnson (the E stands for Edith), hired by lonely man Sam Treadwell (a fairly stiff David Andrews) to take him to a dangerous area where he can find a replacement for his robot wife Cherry (Pamela Gidley). On their journey they run into colourful characters played by such wonderful acting veterans as Ben Johnson, who's endearing as Six Fingered Jake, and Harry Carey Jr., as Snappy Tom.

You know you'll be in for a good time when you look over that supporting cast: Marshall Bell, Laurence Fishburne, Michael C. Gwynne, Brion James, Jack Thibeau, and Robert Z'Dar. The always welcome Tim Thomerson has a particularly amusing role as an unconventional desert dwelling despot, whose followers have it in for people such as Edith. Overall the movie isn't overly flashy, but it's pretty exciting at times, especially the entire sequence with the crane and the water pipe. The soaring score composed by Basil Poledouris ("Conan the Barbarian", "RoboCop", etc.) is fine accompaniment.

Although Thomerson as Lester shows himself to be a serious psycho, this never gets too, too unpleasant, with director Steve De Jarnatt keeping the action moving and having fun with the offbeat little details provided by screenwriter Michael Almereyda (story credit goes to executive producer Lloyd Fonvielle). "Cherry 2000" does know how to send you away with a smile on your face. It may have gotten a limited release in theatres in the 1980s, but 26 years later it proves enjoyable enough to deserve a rediscovery.

Seven out of 10.

I will not attempt to describe this movie. It would be fruitless. You may at first be frustrated by the seemingly inept invocation of all the tried and true cliches of the "genre" - from Mad Max to its weirder post-apocalyptic cousins. But this is not Circuitry Man in reverse - it is much, much stranger. By the time the polka-dotted bikini-wearing ex-girlfriend of the hero is playing hostess at the disney-esque bubble-dome camp of the desert-dwelling homicidal outlaw gang... oh, never mind. By the way, Melanie Griffith was much better looking before lip surgery. Almost hot, in fact. But rest assured, this is a work of genius, exposing a deep understanding of the rift between genders during the height of the supposedly post-sexual-liberation 1980's, an almost sublime sense of humor about sexual alienation and most of all, the erotic link between women and cars in American culture is finally completely laid bare.

In fact, this movie is so profoundly subversive that it could only be made under cover of shlock. Do not be fooled by what seems like coke-addled acting and tourette-syndrome editing. This film is high art. Especially the part where the robot says "is that your hand?" Stay up late and watch it on TBS tonight! And take notes!