Tuesday, June 20, 2006

back in the saddle

Aaaaaannnd, we're back.


When we performed the Geek Council, I always regretted that we never really discussed Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins.

From the minds of novelists Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir, screenwriter Christopher Wood, and director Guy Hamilton.

Fred Ward as a thought-to-be-dead-NYC-cop-turned-super-secret-assassin-
tough-guy-martial-arts-bad-ass! Joel Grey as his Asian-Yoda-like-mentor! Wilford Brimley as the head of a shadow-ring of assassins! Wilford Quakin' Brimley, people!!

It even has future-Trekkie Kate Mulgrew...

...and Marv Albert's voice, before we found out he likes to bite chicks. YES!


Oh, the heights of geekdom we could have climbed, picking apart this geektacular spectacle of 80's brilliance.

I mean, when sketchy-black-dude-working-for-Wilford-Brimley Conn MacCleary dubs him "Remo Williams," he takes his inspiration from a bed pan. "A lot of thought went into it," he whispers smoothly, like a refreshing gulp of Colt 45.

Magnificent.

Remember when the Statue of Liberty was undergoing reconstruction and was encased in scaffolding? Forget David Copperfield making it disappear, this movie truly immortalizes that moment in history with a battle royale on Liberty Island...

Seriously, it's weird that Remo Williams never really achieved the cult status of 1984's The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension...I'm sure it was seen as some sort of knock-off flick. But the two are beautifully deranged in far different ways, each revelling in the awesome absurdity of geekiness.

"You're going to be the Eleventh Commandment: 'Thou shalt not get away with it.'"
-Conn MacCleary
(J. A. Preston)