Weekend Pass

Four sailors just out of boot camp head out to Los Angeles on a free weekend. They all end up meeting various women with differing results.

Weekend Pass was made in an era when the sex comedy was at its commercial peak. There seemed to be loads of them back in the 80's or so it seemed anyway. To be honest, the majority of these films have been very much forgotten and don't even command a minor cult following now. I would say that this one does qualify as a sex comedy, as it has some nudity sprinkled throughout and its central characters and their motivations certainly fit the genre. But it's a very restrained example of this kind of film it has to be said. And while it's not exactly funny, most of its peers aren't either. I have to say, however, that while this is hardly a very good film I found it to be somewhat likable. I think this was primarily down to its quite decent cast who put in engaging performances, while on the other hand its episodic structure meant it never got too boring either and ensured that there was a reasonable amount of variety to its events. There are encounters in various places such as a strip joint, a comedy club and an aerobics disco. I thought the various couplings towards the end were handled fairly well also, with even some worthwhile dramatic acting in places. By the end of the flick you would never say it's a lost classic but, at the same time, I thought it did a number of things reasonably well and wasn't as knuckle-headed as this type of fayre normally is.

"Weekend Pass" did pretty well at the box office for a low budget youth comedy with no big stars in its cast. However, it's all but forgotten today. Watching it, it's pretty easy to figure out why it hasn't built even a minor cult. There's no real story here - it's just a bunch of vignettes that have little to no relationship with each other. There are a number of attempts at humor, but they all fall completely flat. The musical score is pretty bad - I'm sure even audiences in 1984 thought the music was sub par. And while there is some T & A, none of the characters actually gets lucky, at least on screen.

Still, I have to admit that the movie is not COMPLETELY terrible. The production values are pretty good for a low budget movie, taking us to a number of places that include some L.A. locations you don't usually see in a B movie. The four main characters come across as pretty likable guys, supporting each other and having warm personalities. And the final sequence has a surprising amount of emotion. I'm not saying this stuff saves the movie, but it helps to make the viewing experience less painful than you may be expecting.

The plot of WEEKEND PASS reminded me of those old musical comedies starring Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra in which a trio of up-for-it sailors come on shore leave for the weekend and engage in all kind of escapades. Unfortunately this is the lame '80s comedy version of the story, put out by trash purveyors Crown International, and it's as dumb and stereotypical as you'd expect.

The problems are tenfold. For starters, the main characters are all jerks, and I mean real scumbags. When you see the way they treat women and find out the kind of humour they enjoy then you'll end up hating them too. Secondly, the adventures they embark on are dumb and designed to titillate than anything else. They end up at a sleazy strip club, allowing for ample nudity from the female extras, and also head to a comedy club and listen to various racist and offensive jokes.

To pad out the running time there are a few sub-plots here and there and some slapstick moments, although surprisingly for a Crown International film, no scene of a dog tearing off a woman's bikini top. Oh well - you can't have everything...

Three navy guys - a nerd (they have those in the navy?) a handsome jock type, and a black guy, have a "weekend pass" in the city.

Surprise surprise, they visit a strip club first, so that the movie can get some bare breasts in. Then it quickly loses its momentum and we stop feeling like we're along for the ride.

There is a scene where the nerd has a massage from an Asian lady, who takes her top off.

Then there is no more nudity.

The black guy turns out to be an ex-gang member, who has to fight with the now-gang leader.

There is an endless scene where they go to another club and see comedians on stage, none of whom are funny, but nor are they supposed to be. Poor, ill-fated Phil Hartman makes a cameo appearance. We get it: these comedians aren't funny. Why do they have to go on for so long? Why do there have to be so many of them?

One of the handsome jock navy guys (I thought there was only one?) goes back to a hotel room with some lady, who takes her top off in the movie's third scene of nudity, after 30-40 minutes of fully clothed people.

The movie has titles announcing the day and time of each series of scenes. I wonder if they added that after realising the movie has no sense of the passage of time, despite supposedly taking place over one weekend.

"Weekend Pass" may not be funny or sexy, but it's not as bad as most of these '80s boob comedies. The characters may be mostly out to get laid, but at least they end up finding women they connect with on a deeper level. I could have done without the black guy fighting with the gang leader, though. That was like a throwback to '70s exploitation flicks... but not in a good way.

There is a scene in "Citizen Kane" where Joseph Cottens character Jedediah Leland is attending an opera. On the stage singing, or at least trying to sing is Kanes mistress Susan Alexander. Leland is so bored with her talentless performance he begins making paperdolls out of his program . If you watch this movie you may also find yourself becoming a master in the art of paperdoll making. A bunch of Navy recruits fresh out of bootcamp on the town for 72 hours. Their weekend comes to an end sooner for them than this picture does for the viewer. Recommendation: The second part of the title "PASS"