Category Archives: 1980s
Cher – I Found Someone
Cher’s single, I Found Someone would be yet another time that Virginia Madsen found herself in a Music Video. This time she plays Cher’s Love Rival for the “someone” in her life.
There were two versions of the video made, one taken from concert footage and the other a full on production. The video was noted at the time as it was the debut of her then boyfriend (and funnily enough, want to be actor), Rob Camilletti who was eighteen years younger.
Rob would go on to “star” in a few more of Chers videos after this one but his career would never properly take off aside from a few films here and there.
Then again, Virginia Madsen herself only appears for brief moments, not exactly a starring role for her either.
But, I always say “A little bit of Virginia Madsen is better than no Virginia Madsen”.
Well, no I don’t say that – ever. I just made it up.
ANYWAYS…
Availability:
YouTube is your friend, as always with this kind of thing.
If, like me, you *have* to own it then it can be found on the Cher’s Greatest HIts DVD.
YouTube:
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Heart of Dixie
Heart of Dixie, well. Isn’t a film for me. If you’ve read any of the other pages about Virginia Madsens work in period pieces then you know this. If not, then get ready for a reoccurring them on the other ones.
Heart of Dixie is a film from 1989 that’s set in 1957. It’s an adaption of a 1976 novel, Heartbreak Hotel by Anne Rivers Siddons.
The story of the film follows three Sorority Sisters on their journey through college as racial segregation in Alabama is coming to an end. Maggie DeLoach (Ally Sheedy) is one of these sisters, she’s enjoyed the good life while growing up and slowly comes to realise just how badly African-Americans have been treated in their community which leads her on a bit of a mission about educating everyone around her.
Which of course is good, and it’s good to remember and point to this kind of thing in history and scream about how bad it was.
The other two, Aiken Reed (Phoebe Cates) and Delia June Curry (our heroine) are basically noise for Maggie to be around and bounce off of. Delia is very well realised noise, she does have a few stand out moments within the whole narrative, but noise all the same. AIken, well, I’m not really sure what the point if her is.
I honestly tried to watch this one, and ended up failing. It’s uhm – Well, I don’t know. I get what the film is, and what it’s trying to say and do. But, it does it well, badly. To me at least. Perhaps it’s the fact I’m watching it over 30 years later and times have (allegedly) changed. For want of a better way if putting it, it all seems kind of stereotypical to me. Or, maybe it’s because of films like this I see it as stereotypical.
There are a few scenes towards the end, that are kind of hard to watch, as they should be, but again, it seems out of place here even though it’s exactly where it should be. I don’t know, it’s hard to explain how much I want this film to be better than it is at telling the story that should be told. Again though, I think it’s down to the age of the film and the time it was made more than anything else.
Heck, maybe I just feel bad because I don’t like the film and feel like I should, such as is the world we live in today.
The reviews online for this one place it in the middle ground. iMDB reviews are mostly favourable in the recent ones but those reviews seem a little more in favour of the message behind the movie more than the movie itself. Which I get, whole heatedly, but there are better movies than this that get that point across.
Obviously this is a hard one for me to recommend. I’d recommend anyone educate them on this kind of nonsense the best they can, if this is the kind of film you need to watch to do that, then good. Go watch it.
Anyways. Yeah.
In bonus news for this one – Treat Williams also stars in this one alongside Virginia, they can’t gave filmed that far apart from making Third Degree Burn together earlier. While Virginia isn’t playing a part a million miles away from Anna in that, Treat’s Hoyt Cunningham is worlds apart from Scott in that movie. Love to see this.
Availability:
Not hard to find on Region 1 DVD reasonably priced.
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Third Degree Burn
Third Degree Burn is a TV Movie from 1989 made for HBO Television. And, another of my early awakenings for Virginia. I can’t remember how or where I first came across this one but it’s always been one of my favourites. I think I used to get this one mixed up with Linda for a while. No particular reason, just sticks in my head from around the same time.
Anyways, it’s another Thriller movie. With another Private Eye. And, well. Yeah, such was the time I suppose.
This time we see Private Eye Scott Weston (Treat Williams) hired by Clay Reynolds (Richard Masur) who suspects his wife, Anne (Mrs Madsen), has been cheating on him. He wants Scott to follow her and report back on any shenanigans she might be getting up to.
Scott ends up introducing himself to Anne when he rescues her from a breakdown on the side of the road. The two hit it off and before you know it he finds out that Anne is indeed getting up to shenanigans behind her husband’s back, with him.
BUT – In a twist, it’s not long before Clay is killed and Scott finds himself squarely in the frame for his murder even though he’s innocent.
And what follows is a cat and mouse between various players as Scott tries to prove his innocence with everything working against him.
And as I wrote that I realised just why it reminds me of Linda.
Third Degree Burn isn’t ever going to win any awards for, well, anything – BUT – It is a fun thriller that keeps you on your toes. It’s well acted for the most part, Treat Williams keep up his end of the bargain against Virginia well.
Virginia is in fine form here doing her thing as the mysterious femme fatale, there aren’t many that do this kind of role as well as her and I imagine anyone that is up for this kind of role these days would study her performance in films like this.
There seems to be a lot of negative reviews about this film online – But, as I’ve said a few times now on this site – The film is what it is, switch your brain off and go along for the ride on this one. It’s just trying to entertain, and it does.
Availability:
Not that easy. It’s never had an official release on DVD, it can be found on VHS but then you need a VHS player. There are copies on YouTube but they tend to be fairly low in quality. I own the VHS and I did manage to find a copy on DVD as a backup which is probably better than the VHS. Don’t expect it to come with a case, sleeve or properly printed disc though if you do find one.
Gallery:
Trailer:
#Nope
Pseudo DVD Cover:
I’m not a graphic designer, I don’t claim to be a graphic designer and I never actually want to be a graphic designer.
However, I don’t like gaps in my DVD collection and so I made this from a scan of the VHS cover to print out and slot in there.
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Gotham / The Dead Can’t Lie
Gotham, also known as The Dead Can’t Lie, is a product of 1988 and was first shown as a TV Movie first show on Showtime. Don’t worry though, it’s not an “Eighties” movie in the way her other films where at the time.
If there was one film that would forever make me a Virginia Madsen fan, it would be this one. A firm favourite and one I watch on a semi regular basis. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that whenever I read or hear her name the chances are the image I get in my head of her is one from this film.
We first meet Charles (Colin Bruce) in a bar telling his tale of woe to a bartender. The mood set by jazz saxophones aplenty. He tells the tale of how he’s being stalked by a woman who is following him at night, he tries to hide from her but she knows he’s there and taunts him as he hides in the shadows.
He ends up sleeping on the streets only to be woken by the Police the next day. Charles calls on the help of a Private Eye, Eddie Martel Mallard (Tommy Lee Jones). He’s the Private Eye you think of when you think of the classic film noir Private Eye, a gruff grumpy chancer.
Charles explains his problem to Eddie. It’s his ex wife, Rachel (Virginia) that is stalking him and he wants rid of her from his life. Eddie suggests he divorce her but Charles insists that he can’t. Why? It turns out his wife died 10 years ago in a boating accident…
Eddie is of course sceptical about all of this and an amused look crosses his face as tries to determine how much of a nut job Charles is but once he’s shown the colour of Charles’ money he sees an easy score, “Call me Eddie” he insists as he takes the job.
Eddie feels bad for taking his money, but he needs it and he figures he’s doing Charles a favour one way or another.
A few days later Eddie and Charles are in town and they spot Rachel. Eddie doing his thing crosses the road to speak to her. She denies knowing Charles and thinks the whole thing is a pick up line by Eddie. They end up going for a drink together (somewhere expensive, she insists), much to Charles’ dismay.
Eddie and Rachel talk in the bar, well, Rachel talks as Eddie gets flustered around such a beautiful woman. He knows she’s out of his league and she knows she’s out of his league but seems to offer some encouragement to what she likes in a man. She leaves him at the bar to mull over what she’s said.
Eddie returns to his office where Charles catches up to him. Charles wants to know what Rachel wants, when Eddie doesn’t know he offers up that she probably wants some jewels that she thinks she is owed. Jumping on the chance to potentially get hold of some money so that he can impress Rachel goes along with the idea and they come up with a plan to get rid of Rachel by giving her these jewels.
Of course, things don’t quite go according to plan as Eddie schemes his way through the rest of the situation hoping to get a payday, and to get to know Rachel better…
Gotham is a noir film dripped in noir and sprinkled with a touch of noir. Then served with a healthy side of good old fashioned noir. And it’s fantastic for it.
Tommy Lee Jones is brilliant as Eddie, I don’t think he’s even acting, I think he’s just turned up to be him and is generally amused by what he finds. Virginia, is of course peak Virginia in this. Sexy, alluring, mysterious and a little bit dangerous. I feel a bit sorry for Colin Bruce, he plays his part to perfection but he’s not given the meat on the bones of the other two, still a great turn from him.
I obviously recommend this one. You’ll need to take it for what it is, it’s supposed to be that way and it’s brilliantly realised.
Availability:
Not too hard to find on Region 1 DVD, there are some inflated prices for it as it’s not readily available but patience will be your friend here. Seems to pop up on VHS quite a lot as well if that’s your thing. Also seen Laser Disc copies kicking around but that’s something I’ve not really bothered with.
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Mr. North
Not one for me this one – I had every intention of rewatching this but after about 20 minutes I found myself distracted and playing with my phone more than I should have been.
Mr. North is a comedy film from 1988, it follows Theophilus North (Anthony Edwards) as he makes his way through life with a special ability, the power of, well making feel better. A literal special touch along with an uncanny ability to be where he is needed at that moment in time. He plays down these gifts and even denies them beyond an ability to transfer electricity which he puts down to nothing more than a mundane quirk.
The film is based off a book, Theophilus North by Thornton Wilder. The book would later be renamed Mr. North so it would match the film and hopefully increase its audience.
One summer he comes across the Bosworth family, through them he meets many more people who are intrigued by Mr. North.
He gets a job working for James McHenry Bosworth (Robert Mitchum), James is housebound thanks to his over cautious daughter, Sarah (Tammy Grimes). Mr North reads to him but becomes more than that and helps James get out of the situation he’s found himself in by giving him back the courage that has been lost from him.
While there he comes across Sally (Mrs Madsen), a maid for the family. She’s ln love with a man from a wealthy family but fears her lowly status stops her from being able to pursue such a man. Mr. North encourages her that she’s better than that and gives her the courage to chase after what she really wants.
Eventually all of his good works catch up to him and he finds himself on trial for being a charlatan, he doesn’t claim to be anything special but that doesn’t stop people accusing him of being. The people he helps come to his defence.
Etc.
I actually can’t put my finger on why I’m not hugely into this film, I think it’s the setting. I tend not to be bothered about rich folk and their problems. It’s a very polite film with well spoken people and good manners and it’s not a world I can really understand.
It scores relatively highly on most sites, think we can put this down to my personal preferences.
Virginia is excellent as always, for her I paid attention while watching. It’s not a role that gives her plenty of screen time, this is very much an Anthony Edwards centric tale, but she does get her fair share to do even if she’s just one of many Mr. North helps along the way.
Mr. North is directed by Danny Huston who would later on in life become Mr. Madsen, the lucky so and so. Also notable (by me at least) of being the first film Virginia would make with Harry Dean Stanton also in the cast list)
Availability:
Not bad, but not great either. You can find copies but they tend to be for more money than you want to pay for a film this old – Though that might be just because I’m not a huge fan of the film. VHS copies are also kicking around with some regularity.
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Hot to Trot
This is definitely one for the “Why?” section. And, one I didn’t actually rewatch for this project. It’s not that it’s a horrendous film, it’s just one that you only need to see once in my opinion.
Hot to Trot was released in 1988, as pretty much a Bobcat Goldthwait vehicle. He was all the rage at the time. Unfortunately, and, no – I’m not a fan.
It stars Bobcat Goldthwait as Bob Goldthwait, uhm, Fred Chaney, who is Bobcat Goldthwait, I mean, challenged… Whose Mother dies and leaves to him a horse and half of her stock broker business. Oh, the horse can talk. Called Don.
Yes. Talking Horse. I know. It hurts me too.
Annnnnnnnnyway. His Mothers Stepfather, Walter (Dabney Coleman), wants the business for himself, in typical comic book cheese ball family friendly villain of the era. He offers to buy the business from Fred to take it off his hands but Fred isn’t having any of it.
Fred takes Don back to his Horse family, who can all talk, and then returns back to the office to take up a job in the family business. Not long in the job Don gets a hot stock tip and phones (!) Fred to clue him in. He takes the chance, does his stock thing and makes a shed load of money.
Don and Fred team up to make even more money, which enrages Walter who can’t work it out. He sends in his secretary Allison (where out Mrs Madsen comes in) to find out Fred’s secrets.
Oieeee – You know the rest, don’t make me type it.
Anyways. It’s pretty much a family friendly affair and harmless enough, one to watch with the kids. I dare say some of them might even find it funny.
While I was getting the captures for this page I couldn’t help but notice that Virginia did indeed seem to be dialling it in on this one. It’s crossed my mind before that she did this one because it might have offered more comedy roles going forward. But the look on her face might betray her in some scenes…
Particularly when she’s in the background of a scene. I don’t know, just a feeling I got when I was skipping around looking for her. I could be and am probably wrong, but if you do own a copy, or get a copy, then just watch.
Hot to Trot tanked, badly – And, it deserved to do.
It’s not often I’m this down on a film, I can normally see the good in it somewhere. I’ve said that kids might enjoy this one, and while I did mean it, I wouldn’t put my kids in front of it. It’s one of the rare films, out of all films ever that has a 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Virginia herself always knew that it wasn’t a particularly good movie for her, speaking with Will Harris from The AV Club she’d outline her reasons for doing the movie;
“That was a real low point in my career. But I’ll tell you why I did that movie: Because my sister had three little kids, and they knew that Auntie Gina was a movie star, but they could never see Auntie Gina’s movies because they were too grown-up. I really wanted to make a kids movie for them, and I purposely sought one out that they would love. This was with a talking horse and animals and Bobcat [Goldthwait]… I mean, it couldn’t have been more tailor-made for them. Although it could’ve had a better script. [Laughs.]
But, I mean, Steve Tisch was producing it, it was a studio film, and Tim Kazurinsky and all these wonderful comedians were in it. And they loved it! That movie actually came out in movie theaters, so they got to go to the movie theater and see Auntie Gina with big ’80s hair with a talking horse, and they just thought it was the coolest thing ever. I got big points at their school for being in that movie. So, yeah, that was specifically for them. It was not a career movie. It was a family movie.”
So, I mean – At least from her point of view the movie hit it’s intended audience…
ANYWAY – That’s enough of that.
Availability:
Pretty good. but expensive for the trash that it is – AND – Word to the wise, the movie is part of the Warner Bros Archive Collection, This means if you order the DVD then it’ll have a “DVD-R” sticker on the sleeve. This is legit, the DVD’s are made to order and this is how they’ve been producing them.
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Slam Dance
I think I’d credit Slam Dance as being the first time we see Virginia Madsen do her Femme Fatale thing. It was a bit of a break in stride for her at this point in her career. It’s just a shame we didn’t get to see more of her do her thing in the movie, despite her being on the poster.
When I originally watched this movie back in the day, I thought it was “OK” – I didn’t feel the urge to watch it again. Hell, even when it came time to watch it again on this project I can’t say it was top of my list.
The internet seems divided on this film, reading the reviews on iMDB.com there are quite a few split opinions on it.
Unfortunately, after the rewatch I’m falling down on the “what a mess this is” side of things. There is a lot that can be said about how the film looks, how it’s shot and the other technical stuff – It’s a very well made film. But, the plot and the story don’t do it justice. Mutton dressed as Lamb in film form.
I didn’t enjoy it, I contemplated turning it off a few times in all honesty but I got distracted with how little Virginia is actually in this one. Which is probably the opposite of what normally distracts me in one of her movies.
Slam Dance is a neo-noir thriller. CC Drood (Tom Hulce) is a cartoonist, he’s married to Helen (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) but he’s been involved with a call girl, Yolanda Caldwell (Mrs Madsen). The cad.
Yolanda is found murdered near the start of the movie and Drood’s name is firmly on the lips and minds of the investigating Police officers, Detective Benjamin Smiley (Harry Dean Stanton) and Detective John Gilbert (John Doe).
Drood knows he is innocent but can see for himself how bad it is and so he sets about proving his own innocence.
And, that’s about all I can manage to describe without going down a rabbit hole with plots and other totally unnecessary things about the film. Probably doesn’t help that I only had one eye on it to be honest.
BUT – I’m not on my own, Googling the film while I was watching and checking out what others had to say about it, they pretty much say the same. I was thinking I might be missing something, but seems not – Style over substance seems to be the overall consensus about this one.
It’s hard to give any real guidance on Virginia’s performance in this one, I mean for sure it’s a sign of things to come but she’s basically wasted here.
Probably worth a mention that this is the first film which she’d share credits with both Harry Dean Stanton and Robert Beltran, both of whom she’d work with again. Harry on Blue Tiger and Ballad of the Nightingale (Los Angeles Cannes (Solo Andata), Robert on Star Trek: Voyager.
It’s also hard to recommend you watch it as a Virginia fan for the same reason, obviously as a collector you’re going to want to show up for this one, but other than that…
It does actually say something when the DVD cover actually manages to spell one of the lead actors names wrong… 🙄 
Availability:
Good. Not hard to find on DVD at all.
Gallery:
Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoT0iXDWWCA
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Depeche Mode – But Not Tonight
Bit of a cheat this one. Virginia Madsen does feature in the Depeche Mode video for But Not Tonight, but only just. I guess.
The single, not featuring on any album would be released along with Stripped, in the UK Stripped would be the A side and But Not Tonight on the B side, in the US it would be reversed.
But also. it’s not really a proper Virginia Madsen thing, hence the cheat part.
But Not Tonight was released as one of the main songs for the film Modern Girls, as such she appears in snippets from the film and in the background while Dave Gahan does his stuff.
The double single would release number 15 in the UK Charts and I actually couldn’t find anything for the US so I’m guessing it didn’t make the Top 100?
Availability:
Good, so long as YouTube exists…
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Modern Girls
Ahhhh. I rewatched this not long after Fire With Fire. I said when I wrote about that it was such an 80s movie you would have had to have been there to understand.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Modern Girls ups that ante to a whole other level.
Released in 1986 Modern Girls is very much an 80s film. It’s so 80s it would be hard to make the film today without it feeling like a parody. It is of course not a parody but instead a true product of its time.
Moden Girls takes three women, or, girls, all in their early twenties, all working mundane jobsand all living life to their full in the Los Angeles nightlight. Kelly (our Virginia) works in a Pet Store and has a knack for being able to sell them, Margo (Daphne Zuniga) works in telemarketing and we meet Cece (Cynthia Gibb) just as she’s getting fired from her job in a Department Store.
All looking for love in the wrong places, they’ve got the stereotypical 80s males all preening around them and out for what they can get. That’s not to say these ladies aren’t out for what they can get either, there is a game to be played and they are all in.
The main part of the film kicks in when Margo and Cece are getting ready to go out for the night, they’re almost ready but discover Kelly has gone without them, and taken Margo’s car to boot. Kellys date for the night, Clifford (Clayton Rohner) arrives to pick her up, she’s not there obviously, and the two girls convince him to drive them into town to find her.
What follows is a crazy, and probably impossibly implausibly long night as the girls (and Clifford) get dragged on a roller coaster of ups and downs invoiving mistaken identities, drug spiking, detective work, music video direction, car problems and various near sexual assaults.
Honestly, I thought I’d had some pretty funky nights myself till I started watching 80s films about nights on the town. There is enough here crammed into one night then most people will have in a month’s worth of nights out. Well, that or I’ve led a very sheltered life.
On a side note, I got about half way through this before I started wondering if a film like this would be made today. It deals with some pretty messy themes at times, especially when it comes to Kelly with the drugs and potential assaults. It was only a PG-13 in the US and has a 15 rating in the UK. I’m no prude when it comes to this kind of thing but the thought of watching it with my school going teenage kids doesn’t fill me with happy thoughts.
Virginia shines in this film though, her depiction of Kelly is spot on and I can’t think of anyone else who I’d rather have seen in the role. I think I was particularly impressed with her for Kely being so far apart from Lisa in Fire with Fire. I didn’t hate her performance in that, but it was a very different type or role and character, considering the two were released in the same year it’s all the more impressive. And then when you get to thinking about her other roles before in Mussolini, The Hearst and Davies Affair and A Matter of Principle, even more mind blowing.
Kind of interesting and a bit of accidental foreshadowing that one of the first times we see Virginia past the opening blurb stuff she’s lying on a bed reading about Bruce Willis, funny that in just a couple of years she’d be cosing up to him in Moonlighting, i had a little “ha” moment when I clocked it.
It’s a weird one to try and recommend. The eightiesness of it all kind of dates it, but not in a bad way. Modern Girls wasn’t really a success when it was released, but it’s done OK for itself in the home market and became a bit of a cult thing. There are many a webpage / blog post that think this film is one of the best things to come out of the eighties.
I’m sure if you were there and lived it then you’ll have an easier time enjoying it. It really is like a time capsule of a different time, different place and a different way of filmmaking. Even if you weren’t there at the time Modern Girls does have something to offer that way.
I’ve said it before and will no doubt say it again, sometimes you’ve just got to find out these things for yourself.
If nothing else you should watch Virginia in one of her more serious roles before you watch this to realise just how talented she is.
Availability:
It can be found on VHS if that’s your thing, it has had both a DVD and Blu-Ray release in recent years but they can be hard to find, and expensive.
I bought a copy on DVD from eBay, and paid well for it – I actually thought it might be fake because it had a “DVD-R” label on the back and the disc was blue. Turns out that it’s real. The DVD’s are made to order so they are legit – Just a heads up if you weren’t aware like I wasn’t.
Gallery:
Trailer:
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