VALLEY GIRL

VALLEY GIRL

SPOILER ALERT

Although he had been in a couple of films, Nicholas Cage’s first starring role was as Randy in the 1983 movie Valley Girl.  The story, which is influenced by William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, is about two teenagers who must choose between friends and each other.    

The film opens with scenery that pans from the hectic streets of Hollywood to the posh bedroom community of the San Fernando Valley where Julie Richman (Deborah Foreman) is at the mall shopping with best friends, Stacey (Heidi Hollicker), Suzi (Michelle Meyrink), and Loryn (Elizabeth Dailey).  As the four go from store to store, they spend hundreds of dollars on sundry items like shoes, jewelry, and clothes which they pay for with credit cards.  After they’re done, the girls sit down to have lunch and discuss boys.  While they are talking, Julie sees classmate Brad (Tony Markes) enter the food court and stares at him.  When the three friends remind her that she is dating Tommy (Michael Bowen), the most popular boy at school, Julie responds that although her boyfriend is bitchin’, he’s too dumb and she is looking for someone new.  As they are leaving the mall to go home, the group runs into Tommy and his gang of jocks.  He tries to make small talk, but Julie blows him off and returns his ring.

 Later the girls go to the beach and, once again, while away their time talking about boys.  They see the particularly buff Randy (Nicholas Cage, as Nicholas Coppola) coming out of the waves and comment on his good looks.  Stacey, Loryn, and Suzi then return to their conversation, but for some unknown reason Julie feels immediately drawn to the guy and can’t stop watching him.  Stacey takes Loryn to get some food and while they are waiting in line, she mentions that there is a party at Suzi’s house and divulges the address.  The girls are so wrapped up in their conversation they don’t notice that Randy’s best bud, Fred (Cameron Dye), is listening in.  Excited, he hurries back with information about the event, but Randy doesn’t want to hear it because he doesn’t like valley kids.     

Although Julie’s parents (Frederic Forrest and Colleen Camp) sell health food for a living and still dress the same as they did in the 1960s, their expensive home in an upscale neighborhood suggests that they straddle the line that separates hippies from yuppies.  For example, they shower Julie with enough money to shop at upscale boutiques yet refuse to give her a curfew so she will learn to be self-reliant. Thus, when she leaves for the party, instead of making conditions, they only instruct her to do what she thinks is right.  Julie’s plan for the night is getting Brad to ask her out, but when she tries to talk to him, he turns his back and walks away.  Meanwhile, Tommy makes a big show of flirting with other girls to make her jealous.  When that doesn’t work, he follows Loryn, who is notoriously promiscuous, upstairs and seduces her.  After they have sex, however, he accuses her of being a bad person for sleeping with her best friend’s ex-boyfriend then goes downstairs and tells his buddies what just happened.    

Suddenly, Randy and Fred walk in.  Decked out in black leather jackets and died spikey hair they differ dramatically from the well-coifed valley boys in their pastel polos and khaki trousers; everyone is appalled by their appearance except Julie who recognizes Randy from the beach and approaches him.  Since none of the girls will give Fred the time of day, Randy sends him after Stacey, who just happens to be the biggest snob in school and starts talking to Julie.   Tommy sees what is going on, sucker-punches Randy, and has his crew throw the interlopers out, but he is too late.  Julie has already become intrigued by this strange new guy and can’t resist gazing out the window for one last look.  Randy, who is equally smitten, says Julie is dazzling, but Fred reminds him that she is not like them and drives away.  They are only a few miles down the road before Randy makes Fred let him take the wheel and heads back to the party.   He parks in front of Suzi’s house, sneaks in through the bathroom window, and hides in the shower stall, certain that Julie will come in eventually.   While he’s waiting, he listens to couples make out, girls gossip about hand jobs, and people share a joint.  Julie finally shows up, which prompts him to emerge from his hiding place to request that she leave with him.  When she asks where they’re going, his humble reply is that he doesn’t care.  She gives in and goes to find someone to accompany her while he returns to the car to wait.

A few minutes later Julie appears with Stacey in tow.  Randy drives them over the hill into Hollywood where the music is loud, the traffic is bumper to bumper, and the décor is garish.  As Julie gawks at the flashing strip clubs and diverse gangs of kids that crowd the sidewalks, Randy calls to people he knows, demonstrating that he is not a pariah at home.  He takes them to his favorite teen club where boys shave their heads and girls ply their faces with heavy makeup.  To show her disdain for everything Hollywood, Stacy makes a big show of putting napkins on the chair before sitting down, but Julie is a good sport and enjoys the novelty.  While the Plimsouls play their hit “A Million Miles Away” on stage, Randy reveals that he goes to Hollywood High with friends that do the same things valley kids do, but in a different way because they think for themselves rather than being programmed.  Although Julie does not agree with everything Randy says, she confesses that she feels connected to him, as if they are linked somehow.    After they leave the club, the kids park in a secluded spot where Julie and Randy make out while Fred chases poor Stacey around the car.  Julie tries to tell Randy that her friends won’t let her see him again, but he is not dissuaded. 

By the time Randy drops Julie at home the sun is up and her father, who has always spoken in defense of lenient childrearing, is angrily pacing the floor.  When she walks in the door, both parents start to lecture her about being out all night without calling, but when she asks why they don’t just punish her like other kids’ parents do, her mother replies that would be bad Karma.  Later in the day Randy shows up at the health food store where Julie is working.  After respectfully introducing himself and shaking her father’s hand, he asks Julie to leave with him.  From that day on, the couple in inseparable.  As Modern English sings “I Melt With You” (One of my all-time favorites) the young lovers talk on the phone for hours, kiss at the movies, and swim at the beach; Julie even buys a leather jacket.  Then one day they go to a soda shop, and as Julie feeds Randy bites of her cream pie, Tommy jealously watches from across the room. 

Tommy is aware of how important Julie’s friends are to her, so, to get rid of his rival, he tells Stacy, Loryn, and Suzi that dating Randy will ruin her life.  Terrified that he is right, they invite Julie to a sleepover and give her the dire news that she won’t be asked to any valley parties or be elected class representative if she remains with Randy.  Their concerns are contagious, and Julie begins to fret about losing the acceptance of her peers.  She asks Loryn what she should do, but since Loryn can’t weigh in without revealing what happened on the night of the party, she is noncommittal.  Julie next goes to her father for advice, explaining that her friends want her to dump Randy because he is different.  In response, he shows her a picture of himself as a longhaired hippie and tells her that what is important is what someone stands for rather than how he looks.  She doesn’t understand what that means, however, so it doesn’t help.  Finally, reluctant to give up Randy but worried about losing her friends, July meets Stacey, Suzi, and Loryn for lunch and tries one last time to get their approval.  As group leader, Stacey coldly tells Julie that everyone is counting on her to do the right thing and come back to valley.  She reluctantly acquiesces and Tommy, who has been waiting for his cue, walks up to the table causing the girls to scatter.   He hands Julie his ring, which she accepts, and then, still jealous of what he saw at the soda shop, asks if he can have her burger and fries.  As soon as she says yes, he shoves them in his mouth, symbolically consuming her. 

That night Randy comes by unannounced and Julie accuses him of barging in and controlling her.  Dumbfounded he tries to smooth things over, but she adamantly declares that he can’t see her again.  He quickly figures out that her friends are behind this, tells her to f—k off fer sure, and heads back to Hollywood where Fred tells him it will take something wildly romantic to get her back.  Unfortunately, the things Randy considers wildly romantic leave something to be desired.  For instance, he dedicates a song to her on the radio, spits gum on Tommy at a hotdog stand, and, six years before Lloyd Dobler (John Cusack) wakes Diane Court (Ione Skye) by blaring Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes” on his boombox in Say Anything, Randy prepares to greet Julie at sunrise by spending the night sleeping on her front lawn.  When it becomes clear that his friend isn’t having any luck, Fred devises a plan that he says will get Julie back and at the same time exact revenge on Tommy.  

The night of the prom, Tommy reserves a room at the Sheraton, rents a limo, and wears a pale pink tuxedo that perfectly complement’s Julie’s formal.  Fred and Randy are already waiting at the high school and as the couple walks into the gym, Fred tells Randy to sneak in behind them.  Since he hasn’t been told what to do next, however, all Randy can do is watch Tommy make repeated attempts to kiss Julie, which drives him crazy.   They are elected king and queen and move behind the curtain where they wait to be called onstage.  When Tommy once again tries for a kiss, Randy jumps out to hit him, but gets punched instead.  Then, to end the rivalry once and for all, Tommy begins taking off his jacket so he can deliver a real pummeling.  Seeing his opening, Randy knocks Tommy to the ground, grabs Julie’s hand, and runs for the limo.  Recognizing Julie, the driver opens the door for them, and as he pulls away, asks if they are going to the Sheraton.  Randy unhesitatingly answers yes and Julie, finally positive of what she wants, throws Tommy’s ring out the window.      

I think it is important to examine the significance of relationships in this movie.  Even though the audience never gets to meet any of the boys’ parents, it is possible to draw some conclusions based on inference.  For example, since Tommy’s mom and dad give him enough money to rent a limo for the prom and Fred’s mother lets him use her car to go to the party, it is not difficult to deduce that both boys have someone who cares.  Randy, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to have anyone to depend on except Fred.  Where does he live?  Who does he live with?  Does he even have a home?  In the scene where Randy drops off Julie at dawn, she reassures him that her parents won’t be mad, to which he responds, “Don’t they care?”  We are inclined to wonder the same thing about him.

 The relationships between the girls and their families, on the other hand, are clearer.  Julie, who is not only willing but anxious to invite Randy into her life has parents that support her independence and encourage her to try new things.  This gives her the courage to break up with the most popular guy at school and date a boy who is unlike anyone she knows.  Because her father died and her birth mother is not in the picture, Suzi’s only family is a too young stepmother (Lee Purcell) that blatantly flirts with the boy Suzi likes and a bratty little sister (Tina Leberge).  The only people she is close to are her friends, and it is understandable why she trusts them more than the people she lives with.  Stacey’s parents are only mentioned a couple of times, but in a way that suggests they have traditional values; Stacey has a strict curfew that she dares not break and depends on her mother to drive her and her friends to school.  Stacey’s conventional background makes it easy to understand why she is uncomfortable doing things that are unorthodox or socializing with people that don’t conform to society’s norms.  Finally, there is Loryn.  Like Randy, she doesn’t seem to have anyone except friends to rely on.  She fulfills her need for intimacy with flagrant promiscuity and retains Julie’s friendship by staying silent about Tommy’s betrayal.  The way she resists Tommy’s attempt to use her to get Julie back, however, points to a strength of character which will not be compromised.  If “I Melt With You” by Modern English is Julie’s and Randy’s theme, “Girls Like Me” by Bonnie Hayes is Loryn’s song.

Lastly, I want to present my analysis of the way Tommy uses his understanding of Julie and her friends to his advantage, and why he fails in the end.  During their lunch at the food court, Julie tells the girls that Tommy is dumb, but she underestimates him.  He fully grasps how the girls are tied to one another and skillfully manipulates them by using that knowledge to get Julie back.  Starting with Loryn who is the least susceptible to his tactics, Tommy renders her unable to oppose him by seducing her. Because Stacey is the most outspoken and conservative member of the group, Tommy turns to her next.  He stokes her fear of Randy’s unconventionality which results in her telling Julie she will lose everything if she doesn’t return to her own kind (see lyrics to “A Boy Like That” from West Side Story).  Suzi is the easiest to control because her sweet nature and reliance on friends virtually guarantee that she will go along with whatever Stacey and Loryn do.  Tommy’s machinations succeed in recapturing Julie, but he can’t hold her because he will never be able to give her the one gift that Randy can: the ability to care more for her than he does for himself. 

Valley Girl is a great trip back to the 1980s with cute dialog and a fun soundtrack that you can listen to on Spotify.  I didn’t find the movie streaming anywhere (I own it) but it can be bought for a reasonable price from places like Amazon, Best Buy, and eBay.  Next time I will discuss The Last American Virgin, another 80s film that I believe a serious film collection should include.  Till then spend some quality time watching your own favorite flicks.  Later, Dude.