My Bodyguard (Widescreen Edition)
by Tony Bill
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Adam Baldwin, Chris Makepeace, Hank Salas, Matt Dillon, Paul QuandtDirector: Tony Bill
Cinematographer: Michael D. Margulies
Editor: Stu Linder
Producer: Don Devlin
Producer: Melvin Simon
Producer: Phillip M. Goldfarb
Writer: Alan Ormsby
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language); French (Original Language); Spanish (Subtitled)
Format: Color, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 102 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-01-29
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Movie Reviews of My Bodyguard (Widescreen Edition)
Movie Review: A delightful film that still holds up thirty years later
Summary: 5 Stars
First, let me say that any fans of either CHUCK or FIREFLY should definitely get a hold and see this film. This was Adam Baldwin's film debut and seeing him onscreen as a seventeen-year-old is a blast. It is also, by the way, the film debut of Jennifer Beals, though she is not named in the credits. She is very easy to spot, however, what with her dark beautiful looks. It was also one of the first film roles for both Joan Cusack and George Wendt. The film serves as a coming out for a number of Chicago actors.
Few films ever made evoke Chicago as wonderfully as this film. I actually saw it in Connecticut when it was first released (based on two thumbs ups by Siskel and Ebert). I had just gotten into grad school in Chicago and I was excited to get a good look at at the city I knew I was soon going to be living in. The film is still great thirty years after it was made, though Chicago has undergone some amazing changes. For instance, there are multiple scenes showing Linderman (Baldwin) walking through some blighted areas just south of the Loop. All of these areas are now either razed and replaced by condos or gutted and rehabbed. These are all highly gentrified areas now. What I especially love about the location shots in this film is that they don't focus on many of the better known areas, but instead are more localized. Though there are shots in a numbers of areas around the city, most take place south of the Loop (Linderman's neighborhood), the area around Lake View High School on the corner of Ashland and Irving Park (which is about a quarter of a block just north of one of my favorite bars in Chicago, Ten Cat), the Ambassador East, and the lagoon right beside the Lincoln Park Zoo.
The story is a simple one that is very well done. Cliff (Chris Makepeace) is a new student at a Chicago high school. When a gang of bullies led by Moody (Matt Dillon) start harassing him, Cliff hires the most feared kid in the school, Ricky Linderman, to protect him. Cliff becomes intrigued with Ricky, about whom a host of myths and urban legends have arisen. Ricky resists at first, but eventually they become real friends. Truthfully, it is not a complex plot, but the beauty lies in how well the whole thing is told.
So really there are three major reasons to see this movie. First, it is just a fine film. Second, few films show off Chicago in such fine fashion. Third, fans of CHUCK and FIREFLY will get a blast seeing Casey/Jayne as a teenager.
Summary of My Bodyguard (Widescreen Edition)
After years of being sheltered in private school, Clifford Peache (Chris Makepeace) finds life difficult at his new Chicago high school where a tough-talking bully (Matt Dillon) and his pals regularly extort students lunch money. Refusing to pay up, Peache hires a bodyguard-the intimidatingly large class misfit (Adam Baldwin) whose rumored violent behavior is legendary. Though everyone else is afraid of him, Peache strikes up a friendship with the troubled loner. Their deepening relationship and unified stand against the thugs manages to rouse the entire school.The son (Chris Makepeace) of a hotel manager (Martin Mull) finds himself the target of the school bully (Matt Dillon, in his breakthrough movie role). So he makes an offer to a school outcast--the biggest kid in class (Adam Baldwin), who reputedly has actually killed someone. He'll pay him to be his bodyguard against the bully. But the business arrangement turns into friendship, even as the smaller boy learns his new friend's secret shame. The first film by director-producer Tony Bill, this one comes down a little too heavily on the feel-good notes (and includes a gratingly precious appearance by Ruth Gordon in her lovable eccentric mode) but works because of strong performances by its young cast. --Marshall Fine
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