Directed by Jonathan Demme and written by E. Max Frye. A flashback to my 1986. A story of change within change.
Charlie Driggs (Jeff Daniels) likes to spice up his life by sneaking out on restaurant tabs. I'm guessing Brooks Brothers 346, a pinpoint button down with extra starch (on a hanger) and Johnston & Murphy cap toes in British tan.
Audrey 'Lulu' Hankel (Melanie Griffith) is banging 12 on the koo-koo meter but in a good way. The way it was in 1986 when girls who were just a little crazy were something wild. E. Max got the idea for the film when he saw an ultra straight guy in a suit having a romantic lunch with a gal just like Lulu.
Lulu confronts Charlie outside the diner for his Dine & Dash. Then offers him a ride back to work. Uptown. She has a car.
How can you say no? Instead of going uptown...
Lulu kidnaps Charlie and takes him to a NJ motel where she handcuffs him to the headboard...
and proceeds south after calling Charlie's office...
and putting him on the phone...
with his boss. "Yeah, I'm getting this down."
Later, Lulu and Charlie both do a dine & dash.
I've been looking for these seat covers for 25 years.
Fabulous.
Lulu & Charlie stop off at another cheap motel...
but have to give the car up when a cop (that's John Sayles behind those Ray Bans) asks if they own it.
They cross the street to another cameo by John Waters as a used car salesman. That shirt is a perfect McNairy knock off.
Lulu, who tells Charlie to call her Audrey, visits her 10 year high school reunion.
Where she introduces Charlie as
her husband.
While the Feelies play
and I'm transported back to this wonderful time. Full of nostalgia and color...
And it all changes when Ray Liotta appears.Before CDs. Before cell phones. Before any responsibility of any kind. Something Wild made a huge impression on me. Like being hit in the head with a shovel. I loved it then and even more today through Criterion's Blu-Ray. An amazing soundtrack that I still have on cassette. It's different.
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