FANDANGO
A film review by Andrew Hicks
Copyright 1996 Andrew Hicks / Fatboy Productions
(1985) **1/2 (out of four)
Freddie Mercury spoke to me a couple days ago on the radio, saying, "Scaramouch, Scaramouch will you do the Fandango?" I hate it when he calls me Scaramouch, but I decided to oblige him and watch FANDANGO anyway because hey, where else are you going to find a movie that gives Judd Nelson top billing over Kevin Costner? FANDANGO is a road comedy set in the 60's, with four college buddies out to reclaim some lost youth before they're forced to grow up and/or go to Vietnam.
It's one of those comedies that's only ninety minutes long but is still padded with unnecessary scenes to lengthen the thin plot. That's because, in it's original form, it was a short student film. They had to add in enough plot digressions to make it hit the hour-and-a-half mark, but at least most of them are entertaining, as when the car runs out of gas and one of them decides to connect a cable between the car and a passing train for a free tow, or the sequence where the four college buddies and a couple of "jailbait" girls are shooting fireworks at each other in a cemetary. Most of the scenes have a dramatic context as well, the tombstones and flying fireworks in the cemetary reminding them of the threat of death under fire in Vietnam.
The longest piece of the plot involves Judd Nelson, who plays the nerd of the group. (So now we know Nelson can play both extremes of the spectrum -- the too-cool rebel in THE BREAKFAST CLUB and the wimpy dork here.) The other guys pressure him into skydiving with a whacked-out, pot-smoking pilot and later scramble on the ground to warn him his parachute is faulty. It's definitely the most entertaining part of FANDANGO and serves to point out that beneath all their differences they still like Judd Nelson, even if all of Hollywood has since betrayed him. Interestingly enough, the entire "Breakfast Club" is now serving breakfast at the Pasadena Denny's.
Although it's mostly entertaining, FANDANGO isn't the best road movie and it isn't the best comedy set in the past about a bunch of guys trying to reclaim their lost youth (a.k.a. DINER). It isn't the first in each genre and it isn't the last. Nostalgia for the teenage years will continue to be a popular film theme for decades to come because, as Judd Nelson said, "Give me work, any work! Voice-over work, guest appearaces on sitcoms! I'll take anything! I'll be the San Diego chicken, for God's sake!" He also said in FANDANGO, "You're only eighteen once, just like you're only a virgin once." Well, listen here people, I am eighteen and I am a virgin and I can't imagine ever looking back on this point on my life with any degree of longing. And Judd, if you're reading this, I'll give you twenty bucks to mow my lawn, but that's it.
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