My Bodyguard
My Bodyguard is a 1980 American family comedy drama film directed by Tony Bill (his directorial debut), and written by Alan Ormsby. The film stars Chris Makepeace, Adam Baldwin (in his first film role), Matt Dillon, Martin Mull, and Ruth Gordon.
| My Bodyguard | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Tony Bill |
| Produced by | Melvin Simon Don Devlin |
| Written by | Alan Ormsby |
| Starring | Chris Makepeace Ruth Gordon Matt Dillon John Houseman Craig Richard Nelson Kathryn Grody Adam Baldwin Martin Mull |
| Music by | Dave Grusin |
| Cinematography | Michael D. Margulies |
| Edited by | Stu Linder |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release date | |
Running time | 96 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $3 million[1] |
| Box office | $22.5 million |
The film was the debut of both Baldwin and an uncredited Jennifer Beals and was Joan Cusack's first major film.
Plot
Clifford Peache lives in an upscale Chicago luxury hotel with his father, the hotel manager, and his grandmother. He is a new student at Lake View High School, where he arrives each day in a hotel limousine.
Clifford quickly becomes a target of abuse from a gang of bullies, led by Melvin Moody. They regularly extort money from students, allegedly to protect them from another student, Ricky Linderman. According to school legend, Linderman has killed several people, including his own little brother. Not believing the stories, Clifford consults a teacher who claims that the only violence she's aware of from Ricky's past occurred when his nine-year-old brother died accidentally while playing alone with a gun. Ricky was the first to find the body.
Despite the rumors, Clifford approaches Ricky and asks him to be his bodyguard. Ricky refuses, but the boys become friends after Ricky saves Clifford from a beating by Moody and his gang. Ricky has emotional issues over the death of his brother, and although he's slow to trust Clifford, Ricky shows him a cherished motorcycle that he has been rebuilding. The friendship between the two boys is strengthened as Clifford successfully helps Ricky search junkyards for a hard-to-find cylinder for the motorcycle's engine.
Through Clifford's friendship, Ricky comes out of his shell, proving to a few classmates that he's not the killer the school rumors allege. As Clifford, Ricky, and a few other friends from school eat lunch in Lincoln Park, Moody and his gang approach. Moody has enlisted an older bodybuilder named Mike to be his bodyguard. Mike intimidates and physically abuses Ricky, who refuses to fight. Mike vandalizes Ricky's motorcycle before Moody pushes it into the lagoon. Ricky runs away, ashamed and angry.
He later appears at Clifford's hotel, asking for money before leaving again. Clifford follows him and the two argue before Ricky finally reveals that it was he who accidentally shot his brother while playing with their father's gun, and lied about finding his brother's body after the fact. As a result, Ricky is overwhelmed with guilt and remorse, leaving Clifford behind as he takes a subway train into the night.
Moody and Mike return to the park to continue bullying the other children. Ricky is also there retrieving his motorcycle from the lagoon. Moody notices, demanding the motorcycle, which Ricky silently refuses. Moody summons Mike, and after more intimidation from the bodybuilder, Ricky and Mike engage in a long fistfight, which Ricky ultimately wins.
Moody and Clifford have split off into their own fistfight, after Moody tried to unfairly intervene in the fight between Ricky and Mike. Ricky urges Clifford to fight Moody while Ricky coaches him. Clifford initially fights incompetently, taunted by the overconfident bully, but finally lands several solid punches, the last of which knocks Moody down, breaking his nose. Moody sits on the ground, bleeding and whining, showing himself to be a coward. Ricky retrieves his motorcycle and jokingly asks Clifford to be his bodyguard as the two leave with their friends.
Production
The film was shot on location in Chicago with Lake View High School providing the setting for the film's fictional Fleer H.S. The hotel that Clifford lives in and which is managed by his father is the real life Ambassador East (now known as the Ambassador Hotel) at 1300 North State Parkway.
Cast
- Adam Baldwin as Ricky Linderman
- Chris Makepeace as Clifford Peache
- Matt Dillon as Melvin Moody
- Richard Bradley as Dubrow
- Tim Reyna as Koontz
- Dean R. Miller as Hightower
- Martin Mull as Mr. Peache
- Ruth Gordon as Gramma Peache
- Joan Cusack as Shelley
- Hank Salas as Mike
- Kathryn Grody as Ms. Jump
- John Houseman as Dobbs
- Craig Richard Nelson as Griffith
- George Wendt as air conditioning engineer
- Jennifer Beals (uncredited) as Shelly's friend
Release and reception
My Bodyguard opened on July 11, 1980, in limited release, and wide release on August 15, 1980. In its limited weekend, the film opened at #3 with $178,641 and went on to gross $22,482,953 in the United States.[2]
The film was named as one of the top ten films of 1980 by National Board of Review.[3] It was also nominated by the Writers Guild of America for Best Drama Written Directly for the Screen,[4] and in his analysis of the 53rd Academy Awards, Gary Arnold of The Washington Post wrote that My Bodyguard was unfairly snubbed when it failed to receive an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay.[5]
The film ranked No. 45 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the 50 Best High School Movies.[6]
The film received generally positive reviews, garnering an 84% "fresh" rating from 31 reviews and the consensus "T. Bill debuts as an affectionate director, keenly aware of growing pains", on review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes.[7]
Home video release
The film was released on DVD on January 29, 2002 and also was released on Blu-ray on September 6, 2016.
References
- Aubrey Solomon, Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History, Scarecrow Press, 1989, p. 259
- "My Bodyguard (1980)". Box Office Mojo. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved March 1, 2011.
- "National Board of Review of Motion Pictures :: Awards for 1980". National Board of Review. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007.
- "My Bodyguard (1980) - MUBI". MUBI. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
- Gary Arnold (March 29, 1981). "Watching the Oscars". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
- "Head of the Class: The 50 Best High School Movies". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on February 27, 2011. Retrieved March 1, 2011.
- My Bodyguard at Rotten Tomatoes