My Bodyguard
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| My Bodyguard | |
|---|---|
 A promotional poster for My Bodyguard. |
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| Directed by | Tony Bill |
| Produced by | Don Devlin Phillip Goldfarb Melvin Simon |
| Written by | Alan Ornsby |
| Starring | Chris Makepeace Matt Dillon Adam Baldwin |
| Music by | Dave Grusin |
| Cinematography | Michael D. Margulies |
| Editing by | Stu Linder |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
| Release date(s) | 1980 |
| Running time | 102 min. |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
My Bodyguard is a 1980 movie released by 20th Century Fox studios, directed by Tony Bill, and written by Alan Ormsby. It stars Chris Makepeace, Matt Dillon, Adam Baldwin, Martin Mull, and Ruth Gordon. This movie ranked number 45 on Entertainment Weekly's list of the 50 Best High School Movies.
[edit] Synopsis
Clifford Peache (Chris Makepeace) is the new kid at Lake View High. He is brought to the attention of school bully Melvin Moody (Matt Dillon) who terrorizes and extorts lunch money from other students as "protection" from school outcast Ricky Linderman (Adam Baldwin) who supposedly killed his little brother. Living with his hotel-manager father (Martin Mull) and kooky child-like grandmother (Ruth Gordon) in a fancy hotel, he spends his nights with his family spying on the neighbors through a telescope. When he asks Linderman to be his bodyguard, Linderman refuses, but both boys soon become friends when Ricky saves Clifford from a beating by Moody and his gang.
Near the climax, we learn Ricky and his little brother were playing with their father's gun and Ricky tried to pull it away from his brother, but the trigger was loose and he shot his brother. But Ricky put all the blame on himself and put the gun in his brother's hand and said he found him like that.
In the end, there is a fight between Ricky and Moody's even tougher bodyguard Mike (Hank Salas) and after Ricky brings Mike down, Clifford and Moody are fighting. Ricky gives Clifford advice and Clifford breaks Moody's nose. Before the credits roll, Linderman asks Clifford to be his bodyguard the same way Clifford asked him early in the movie.
[edit] Cast
- Chris Makepeace as Clifford Peache
- Adam Baldwin as Ricky Linderman
- Matt Dillon as Melvin Moody
- Paul Quandt as Carson
- Hank Salas as Mike
- Joan Cusack as Shelley
- Martin Mull as Larry Peache
- Ruth Gordon as Gramma Peache
[edit] Western thematics
The film bears the brand of the Old West morality plays. The character of Clifford evokes the honest cowboys of Gunfight at the O.K. Corral and Tin Star, while Ricky is the gunfighter with the shadowed past a la High Plains Drifter. Perhaps a better example would be the Jimmy Stewart/John Wayne relationship in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. Their working together to rebuild the motorcycle is reminiscent of the stump removal scene in Shane. Moody is the pizza-faced incarnation of Bruce Dern's character in The Cowboys. Just as in these films the characters learn that sometimes you must forget about the past, forget about making peace, and just fight. Fight to win.
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