Great Tape

I have lately been watching a particular movie over and over. I do that. Recently there was Stalag 17, and before that there have been movies like Tango & Cash, Executive Suite (William Holden again), Death Proof, Starship Troopers and more. Presently it's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, that great film of 1990 that was such a personal favorite of everyone I knew when I was a kid. I grew up, you understand, while the Turtles craze was at its height.

I've been watching the movie on VHS. There's really no other way to do it. More recent formats may offer superior resolution and the theatrical aspect ratio, but they lack something critical. It's something whose inclusion I would today decry vehemently. It's the ads. The videotape had an ad at the beginning and another at the end, and they are practically as significant as the film itself, the first one especially being so.

That first one was from Pizza Hut, which in those days operated dine-in restaurants. It was a special day to eat at one. The ad told the story of the quintessential untalented right fielder in Little League baseball. He lucks into a game-winning catch, winning the adulation of the whole team, and they all celebrate at Pizza Hut. The song that went with it remains one of the best songs I've ever heard. The ad was supposed to burnish the chains reputation among parents, I guess. I don't know if it worked.

I know the movie worked, and still does. It was more than a cash-in movie, which nobody was above doing at that time. It was far more likely to happen than for an adaptation of a cartoon or a video game to be made with the intention of standing on its own merits. It's a great, movie movie with solid characters, a tight story and a reasonable message. The sequels dropped off dramatically, though at the time the second one seemed good. It sure doesn't now, but that first one I will play until the tape comes apart.