Valley Girl (1983) Lookback/Review
Valley Girl turns 30 this year. Based on the Frank Zappa novelty hit that appears nowhere in the film, it lampoons the shallow consumerism of superficial teen love movies.
Valley Girl marked the end of the era of movies based on novelty songs. It followed the tradition of Sam Peckinpah’s 1978 adaptation of the C.W. McCall song, “Convoy.” Peckinpah abandoned development on the Ray Stevens 1974 hit “The Streak,” because Stevens was a major novelty hit-maker. The studio bought McCall a microphone for his CB. “I Dream of Jeannie” star Barbara Eden took parents to task in the movie made from the Jeannie C. Riley song “Harper Valley PTA” and Robbie Benson jumped off the Tallahatchee Bridge in the movie version of the Bobbie Gentry song “Ode to Billie Joe.” “Torn Between Two Lovers” by Mary MacGregor was made into a novelty film. I’d make the same case for The Gambler, but I can’t tell which is the novelty. “Yellow Submarine” became an animated classic. Frank Zappa turned “Baby Snakes” into a filmed version of his 1977 NYC Halloween show at the Palladium. Zappa also made 200 Motels with Ringo Starr starring as Frank Zappa. “Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow” might have worked as a feature. I could see Nanook rubbing it.
Zappa thought it cute to put his daughter Moon Unit, all 14 years of her, onto disc doing her best impression of the “valley girls,” like, ya know? Gag me with a spoon. Fer sher. Totally tubular. And other pimply hyperboles. He put “Valley Girl” out as a single and on his 1982 LP “Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch.” Frank was amused that the song became a minor hit. Valspeak captured the imagination of a generation and was quickly made into a film that didn’t have a note of the song. When Nicolas Cage made Peggy Sue Got Married, they included the Buddy Holly original. Not Frank Zappa.
Valley Girl was made fairly early in Nicolas Cage’s career. He wasn’t yet known as the whisper or scream actor, but if ever Cage had a whisper or scream role, shouldn’t it be as a social-status-conscious punk in LA’s netherworld? This is Cage’s first starring role after getting supporting roles from his uncle, Francis Ford Coppola. As Randy, Cage gives a subtly nuanced performance that says fuck you to the sadomasochistic punk world of the early eighties. He throws out a bunch of “fuck you”s but he is a nice guy under those highlights. Fred, his partner in grime, Cameron Dye, is positively cuddly.
Valley Girl starts in the commercial universe of malls and credit cards and the film explores product placement throughout. Coke, Lay’s Potato Chips and A&M Records all get screen time. Julie’s health food hippy dad anticipates the solution to his daughter’s woes. “Take it back and get a more expensive one. The expensive ones always fit better,” but I can’t tell if he’s being ironic. This is the social battle between those who buy in malls and those who proclaim their individuality by buying in outlet stores. The two are only equal on the sand. Randy looks good enough on the beach in his shorts, it’s when he dresses up that he miraculously appears gnarly to the girls between the hills. The valley guys all look like they came out of a Loverboy video and that they liked it. Randy and Fred are supposed to stick out like sore thumbs in their matching red and black tops at the party they crash, but really, I couldn’t tell the difference in the fashion wars. Cage becomes the copy guy from SNL when he hits the streets of LA. He’s not particularly self-destructive, but everyone says he has a death wish. The posing comes on thick as Fred, who has run out of tired pickup lines, declares “this is called living on the edge.” The edge of what? The punk-light geeks get their revenge in the end with a prom night food fight, while Tommy does his best “Kung Fu Fighting” (which would have made a good kung fu Blaxploitation film) moves. I was rooting for Samantha (Tina Theberge) though.
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Culture Editor Tony Sokol is a writer, playwright and musician. He contributed to Altvariety, Chiseler, Smashpipe, and other magazines. He is the TV Editor at Entertainment…