Flick Nation Presents … a selection of curated classic movie trailers.
And when we say “classic,” that doesn’t mean the movie was necessarily good, but has endured the test of time. Sure, maybe it’s one of the greatest flicks ever … or maybe it’s a movie that’s so awesome that it should have endured. Either way, consider the next two minutes of your life as homework for your streaming queue.
Valley Girl is a beloved 1983 teen comedy that accidentally became … well, a good movie.
It was intended to cash in on the sex teen comedy wave, and thus, was only budgeted at $350,000. Actors wore their own clothes. Most of the crew worked for free. There were almost no retakes.
Furthermore, it was mandated that the movie had to have a minimum of four scenes with bare-breasted women (thanks, Porky’s), but director Martha Coolidge had something else in mind.
Nicolas Cage starred with Deborah Foreman, Michelle Meyrink, Elizabeth Daily, Cameron Dye and Michael Bowen, and is largely remembered for it’s killer soundtrack; which featured a host of new wave recording artists including the Plimsouls and Josie Cotton, both of whom appeared in the film. Songs by Bonnie Hayes, Modern English, and the Payolas were also featured prominently.
The song “I Melt with You” occurred twice in the movie, in the ending credits and in the love scene montage. The director, Martha Coolidge, heard it on the radio and decided it caught the spirit of the movie. She had to call up the station and sing it to them to find out what it was called, because they didn’t announce what songs were after they were played.
Oddly, the end credits list songs by the Clash, Culture Club, Bananarama, and the Jam, but those songs are not heard in the film. After the film was completed, problems arose in acquiring the music rights and substitute songs had to be swapped out. Or more accurately, the rights to the music cost almost as much as the film did. Hence, the planned release of a soundtrack album on Epic Records was cancelled due to the clearance problems with some of the songs.
In 1994, Rhino Records released a compilation of songs from the film’s soundtrack on compact disc which peaked at #155 on the Billboard 200. This was followed by a second volume titled More Music from the Valley Girl Soundtrack in 1995.
