Street Trash

I'm always thrilled to learn about really trashy movies from the eighties. To me, dirty filthy disgusting movies really hit their time in the eighties. They don't quite have that slickness of the ninties, when the Tarantinos started making junk art films and today, there are very few trashy movies that get distribution in the theaters ("Postal" being a rare exception I suppose, but barely, considering Regal's not even showing it.)

So the movie is Street Trash and here's the poster:


Now, with the magic of You Tube, I was able to see the best scenes, and the final hilarious bit with the mobsters. It was like a history lesson, it somehow clearly is associated with a different time. The New York Times is really hard on it (I'm curious as to what they would say about it today, though it would still be panned) - I think the critics for NY Times have a pretty good sense of humor. I really enjoyed their review on Bad Santa, and went to see it when it came out because of it. They convinced me that it was a decent flick, even though comedies with midgets usually give me a fucking headache.

I probably won't rent Street Trash, just because seeing it as a film might be a little too much to be fun. But hey, the quote on the cover does namedrop Eraserhead. Still, the clip show off of You Tube is a blast and will hold me over if I get really curious; I also did this with Howard the Duck the other day, another terrible film to watch, but one with enough good, or at least memorable moments, like seeing your favorite eighties stars or watching the music video with that terrible song and a long opening sequence to tie in with the film. George Lucas gave us Willow and Howard the Duck, two series that probably never will get a sequel (though Willow was always a favorite around my house when I was kid. I never really associated Val Kilmer with it till I was much older and hadn't seen it in a few years. He's actually pretty charismatic considering he was such a douche in Top Gun.

But here's a final theory: that really bad movies get better when they get smaller. Really mediocre films like The Principal and Dick Tracy get better in tinier formats, and even commercials help. I love a tape from 1989 with the commercials still on it. It's a total trip back in time, to see what the masses were eating up. It's even more reflective of that time because the television was really the only constant stream of info: look at how punk bands utilized Access Television (check out a you tube clip of Flipper, or the Melvins from freakin' 1984 when they still had the bassist from Mudhoney.)