The Personals

I was living in the Twin Cities when this film premiered, and it was just a pleasant, humorous, and sometimes poignant adventure of one man's journey through the world of the personal ads. There's some great scenery showing off the Minneapolis parks & lakes system, and I seem to recall some great music throughout the film (anyone remember Nicolette Larson?). I found a used VHS copy of this film some years later and snatched it up. Unfortunately, I've managed to misplace it over time. I was lucky enough to run into Bill Schoppert, the lead actor in the film, at a local health club shortly before I left Minneapolis, and we got to chat about the film briefly. Talking about it put a smile on both of our faces. It'd be wonderful to catch this film on some late night channel so I could reminisce.

"The Personals" - 1982 - Andy Mickel, 2001-10-03.

A groundbreaking romantic comedy from Heartland, North America.

Made entirely in Minnesota for a total cost of $435,000, _The Personals_ is actually a breakthrough movie in many respects. It was the first romantic comedy film to portray in an ordinary setting (Heartland North America), liberated women, men in couples therapy, and a realistic look at relationship failure among baby boomers.

It is not a Hollywood movie!

Before the days of "yuppie" (young urban professional), there was "yumpie": Young, Upwardly Mobile Professional (white, middle class, etc.). What would happen to a 30-something yumpie whose wife has an affair and leaves him after therapy because he's a workaholic magazine editor? He gets continuing good advice and emotional support from his best male friend!

In 1982, Twin Cities newsweekly movie reviewers Brian Lambert of the _Twin Cities Reader_ and Phil Anderson of _City Pages_ had

these various descriptions of the film:

• "a homage to rollerskating and romance on the rebound." - "solid, attractive, camera work." - "too many good jobs to name in many of the supporting roles." - "Minnesotans read the _New Yorker_, too!" - "Bill's _Reader_ ad mentions his interest in: 'Picasso, Prokofiev, The Crusaders, rollerskating and Chicken Kiev' making him an unlikely candidate for a houseboat orgy on the St. Croix." - "Bill and Adrienne's affair is full of cuddling, pillow talk and rollerskating." - "The film delivers on its promise to give you two people you care about in a situation you can believe with enough big studio-style gloss to make this Minnesota product stand a good head over 3/4 of Hollywood's annual output."

The U of M _Minnesota Daily_ reviewer, Roger B. Larson wrote: "Straight, White Town Seeks Warm, Sexy Image"

_The Personals_ showcases local bands Will Sumner's TropicZone (Jazz Fusion) and Shangoya (Reggae), the Minneapolis Lakes District, the New French Cafe, the Gem Cafe, and the Institute of Arts. In a country of bi-coastal cultural bigotry (the coasts pretend to drive all culture in country), this movie is a shining counterexample that the Heartland is actually the origin of many, many cultural initiatives.

Acting is great all around, not hard to imagine because the local Twin Cities professional theatre acting talent pool provided that (over 30 theatres making it the largest between the coasts). Examples: Bill Schoppert, actor at Brave New Workshop, Guthrie, Cricket, Mixed Blood. Karen Landry (Adrienne), actor at the Guthrie. Peggy Knapp, actor at Brave New Workshop, PBS's Newton's Apple.

The writing is lacking but the film exudes technical polish from creative venues, editing (Steve Rivkin) and camera angles evident in: the racketball scene, the car scenes, and of course the

10cm-above-the-sidewalk roller skating scenes.

Director, cameraman and writer, Peter Markle and Producer Pat Wells, expanded a 30-minute mini-drama film

project into a feature-length movie in 1981. It took them

about a year to shop the movie for a Hollywood distributor. Robert Bogue (who guided John Sayles' first film _The Return of the Secaucus 7_ to distributorship) helped them. They landed Roger Corman of New World Pictures, who first gave Coppola and Scorsese their starts.

The film won Best First Feature at the Houston Film Festival. It has been available in the comedy sections of many older video stores, but is sadly disappearing and out of print.

It played to large audiences in Twin Cities movie houses for several months, and the local media all joked about us watching "home movies" because of the positive way "the cities" are portrayed (95 and sunny).

A pretty good indie film from the early '80s with virtually unknown, yet good talent, from Minneapolis. I've noted that the headliner, Bill Schoppert, often appeared in productions which had themselves set in Minneapolis. Apparently, he's a fair, seasoned actor who prefers to stay planted in Minneapolis.

I remember being on vacation in a nice hotel on the beach in Corpus Christi. That then was a bad time for me, and this was on the cable TV. It fit the bill quite nicely for me at that time.

Bill Schoppert plays a guy who is blindsided by his spouse and an unexpected divorce. he's puzzled (as I was at that time)--figuratively, his character bites his lip and bravely hits dating again after many years of satisfactory marriage (in his mind, anyway). He's struck by a pretty girl who gracefully skates by--so, he gives up mere jogging and takes up rollerskating, becoming quite skilled.

After the predictable missteps in dating--including a disastrous date with a buoyant, noisy Jewish woman (a well-noted role from the late OKC-native actress, Vicki Dakil), he meets a more compatible woman (played by actress Karen Landry). The problem is that she keeps her marriage secret, and Schoppert's character endures an unfortunate incident with the angry husband--the relationship ends, sadly and unfortunately--but Schoppert's character wistfully shrugs it off and trudges ever-onward towards love in his future.

The music in the film is quite good--the shining (expensive) gem is the late Nicollette Larson's quite beautiful rendition of Neil Young's "Lotta Love." Her version of the tune (predictably) became a great hit from that era.

I'm puzzled, too, at why this never shows up on TV. Unfortunately, indie films such as this often disappear without a trace--given low budgets, non-existent marketing, and sloppy, careless inattention. I suppose that big media just doesn't want to fool with works such as this (even given that the rights are ridiculously inexpensive). Really, someone in programming should understand that many people are tired of dumb, talentless media and endless repeats of the same things with expensive talent and production--even given that some such latter works are quite good.

Perhaps, the film will pop up in the $1 "thin" DVD racks at "Wally World!"--Who knows? Often, I look through such racks (sometimes successfully)--searching for "lost" minor gems from the past....

I saw this with my sister at the movies back in 1982. We were probably two of a total of seven people in the entire theater. This is not a bad picture. The problem with this movie is that it lacks any star power, charisma or actor recognition. All the players are unknowns. Seriously, does anybody remember a balding, flat cheeked, chubby guy named Bill Shoppert, besides his mom? The movie is dull and plays on old-hackneyed clichés such as the obnoxious Jewish date, the supercilious and cuckolded husband and the nerdy journalist on the rebound. Please, Spare us the ennui. This Indie film is pretentious. However, if you are interested in how people sought relationships back in the 80's, this was the method. Unlike today's slick and online electronic technology, the unexpected anxiety of blind dates was a reality of that era.

This movie was so sweet and way underrated. If you can find it's definitely worth a look.