The Adventures of Ford Fairlane

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The Adventures of Ford Fairlane
Directed by Renny Harlin
Produced by Joel Silver
Steve Perry
Written by Rex Weiner (characters)
James Cappe &
David Arnott (story)
Daniel Waters and
James Cappe &
David Arnott (screenplay)
Starring Andrew Dice Clay
Priscilla Presley
Wayne Newton
Robert Englund
Gilbert Gottfried
Lauren Holly
David Patrick Kelly
Music by Boris Blank
Cinematography Oliver Wood
Editing by Michael Tronick
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release date(s) July 11, 1990
(USA)
Running time 104 min
Country Flag of the United StatesUnited States
Language English
Budget Unknown
Gross revenue $21,413,502 (USA)
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

The Adventures of Ford Fairlane is a 1990 American action/comedy film starring controversial comedian Andrew Dice Clay as Ford Fairlane, a private detective whose beat is the music industry in Los Angeles. The film was directed by Renny Harlin, who also directed Die Hard 2: Die Harder that same year. It was released on DVD on December 16, 2003.

Contents

[edit] Plot

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Please edit the article to focus on discussing the work rather than merely reiterating the plot.

Although he is living an almost idealized existence, when the sudden death of big-time rock singer occurs, Fairlane starts experiencing problems. It's not with the opposite sex, or getting into clubs, or looking good and driving a fast car. He always wanted to be a big-time rock star and here, he seems to be living a life as close as possible, without actually playing the music.

One of his biggest current problems is, despite all his impressive efforts, he's not making any actual money. All his rock star clientele pay him with autographed pictures, drum sticks, koala bears, food processors, CD players and bicycle shorts. Another one of them is that all his employers that want him to find a girl named Zuzu Petals.

He has his hands full investigating a murder, and is watching over a kid of the presumed missing man while investigating. A pompous record exec, a seductress, a foul-mouthed DJ, a bitter police lieutenant, a brain-dead groupie, a scuzzy killer... where will it all lead?

Ford Fairlane, "Rock n' Roll Detective," is seen sitting on a beach smoking as the film opens, recalling the events that led up to his current situation. A flashback initiates, showing a roaring crowd at a concert as the popular heavy metal band The Black Plague. Lead singer Bobby Black makes an eccentric entrance down a zip-line onto the stage and begins performing after a fury of pyrotechnic fire which engulfed him as he arrived on stage is extinguished. Short into one of the band's songs, Bobby Black collapses on stage and dies.

The flashback ends and Ford Fairlane is seen entering the popular club Greed. He receives many positive looks from women as he's entering the club. Ford is greeted by two women, giving one of them his number.

In the course of his adventure we find Ford Fairlane is crude, rude and cool. Rock n' Roll is his beat and Fairlane is one detective as seamy as the industry he investigates. After The Black Plaque singer is murdered onstage, a shock-jock named Johnny Crunch hires Ford to track down a mysterious teenage groupie named Zuzu Petals, who may have a connection to Bobby Black's death.

Soon after hiring Fairlane, Crunch is killed by being electrocuted on the air. The world's hippest detective soon finds himself trading insults with a ruthless record executive, a clueless cop, a merciless hit man and countless ex-girlfriends out for his blood. Aiding and abetting Fairlane in this whodunnit is a bizarre lineup of suspects, victims and beautiful women as he finds himself hip-deep in the case of his life.


[edit] Cast

[edit] Soundtrack

Music being central to the plot of a film about a private detective who specializes in cases arising from the music industry, the soundtrack featured a diverse group of artists. The official soundtrack release had the following tracks:

  1. "Cradle of Love" - Billy Idol
  2. "Sea Cruise" - Dion
  3. "Funky Attitude" - Sheila E.
  4. "Glad to Be Alive" - Lisa Fisher, Teddy Pendergrass
  5. "Can't Get Enough" - Tone Loc
  6. "Rock 'N Roll Junkie" - Mötley Crüe
  7. "I Ain't Got You" - Andrew Dice Clay
  8. "Last Time in Paris" - Queensrÿche
  9. "Unbelievable" - Yello
  10. "Wind Cries Mary" - Richie Sambora

The film's soundtrack is perhaps most notable for its inclusion of Idol's "Cradle of Love", the video for which was shown often on MTV in 1990. The song also appeared on Idol's 1990 album Charmed Life. In the video, a young woman, played by Betsy Lynn George, taunts a conservative neighbor with her advances as she dances to the music. The video also featured footage from the film playing on a television in the neighbor's home, although none of the footage features Clay (at least not his face). This may be due to the infamous ban of Clay from appearing on the music network.[citation needed] Alternate versions of the "Cradle of Love" video eliminates the film footage when the video is usually aired on MTV.

Sambora's contribution to the soundtrack was a cover of the Jimi Hendrix song. EMF's "Unbelievable" samples bits of dialogue from the film, but did not feature on the soundtrack. A number of the musicians featured on the soundtrack also appeared in the film itself, including Morris Day, Sheila E., Tone Loc (as Slam the Rapper), former Ozzy Osbourne drummer Randy Castillo appears playing the Black Plague concert during the flashback at the beginning of the film and Vince Neil, the lead singer of Mötley Crüe (who appeared as Bobby Black, the lead singer of the fictitious band, Black Plague). Not appearing on the soundtrack is "Booty Time", the song that Ed O'Neill's character performs during the film.

Yello is credited with the film's "music score", and an early cut of their album Baby is used as the film's incidental soundtrack.

[edit] Reception

The film received mostly negative reviews upon release and holds a "rotten" 26% rating at Rotten Tomatoes. [1] Critic Roger Ebert called the film "loud, ugly and mean-spirited" [2]

It was not a financial success during its original theatrical release, making just over $21 million in the U.S. [3] It found a cult following once it was released onto VHS and DVD.

The film "won" the 1991 Golden Raspberry for Worst Actor (Andrew Dice Clay), Worst Picture (Joel Silver & Steve Perry - tied with Ghosts Can't Do It) and Worst Screenplay (Daniel Waters, James Cappe & David Arnott). It was also nominated for Worst Director and twice for Worst Supporting Actor (for both Gilbert Gottfried and Wayne Newton). [4]

Billy Idol's recording of "Cradle of Love" was named one of the "Most Performed Songs from Motion Pictures" by the ASCAP. [5]

In Hungary the film was probably the biggest phenomenon of the video tape era in the early '90s. Illegal copies of the movie were circulating in the country. (The popularity was given by the Hungarian dubbing of the movie: really dirty language was used, and catchphrases became part of the slang very quickly.)

In Norway, after the movie was released on VHS in 1992, Ford Fairlane soon became a phenomenon. The catchphrases quickly became hugely popular and the movie received cult status during the 90s. After huge demand from Norwegian audiences the movie was released on DVD in the early 2000s.

In Spain it also became quite popular, especially due to the dubbing of the movie by the popular singer, actor and comedian Pablo Carbonell. They also included some references to music bands from that era like "Alaska y Dinarama", and some funny catchphrases or insults like "menosmola" (Cool-less).

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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