My Bodyguard [Blu-ray]

Director: Tony Bill Tony Bill

Overview

This quietly compelling film explores the hardships and anxieties of high school with intelligence, sensitivity, warmth and humor. Chris Makepeace stars as a shy, bookish student who has recently moved to Chicago and begun a new school. There he finds himself the target of a group of punks led by Matt Dillon (ideally cast as the weasel-like bully), who threaten him each day to turn over his lunch money for protection...or else. When he stands up to them, he nearly loses his dental work before being saved by Ricky Lindemann (Adam Baldwin), a hulking loner rumored to have murdered his own brother. Makepeace offers the boy a job as his bodyguard, and the two become unlikely friends -- that is, until the ousted bullies find a champion of their own who challenges Lindemann. When Lindemann refuses to fight back, he disappears into reclusion, and the bullying begins anew, worse than ever. Makepeace then learns the truth about Lindemann's past: he did indeed kill his brother, but the death was an accident while the two young boys were playing with a gun, and Lindemann lives tortured by guilt as a result. Just when things seem at their worst, the bodyguard returns to face his nemesis as Makepeace and Dillon square off in the final showdown of good versus evil. The real strength of the film is its handling of the relationships between its characters, particularly between Makepeace and Baldwin, and Makepeace and his family (Martin Mull and Ruth Gordon). My Bodyguard is light but thoughtful entertainment with a Rocky theme that's suitable for the entire family.

Product Details

Release Date:	09/06/2016
UPC:	0738329206253
Original Release:	1980
Rating:	PG
Source:	Kl Studio Classics
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[DTS 5.1-Channel Surround Sound]
Language:	English
Time:	1:42:00

Special Features

Audio commentary with director Tony Bill and film programmer Jim Healy; TV spots; Original theatrical trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Chris Makepeace	Clifford
Adam Baldwin	Linderman
Matt Dillon	Moody,Hostess
Ruth Gordon	Gramma
Martin Mull	Mr. Peache
John Houseman	Dobbs
Paul Quandt	Carson
Hank Salas	Mike
Joan Cusack	Shelley,Principal Rath
Dean R. Miller	Hightower,Hightower
Tim Reyna	Koontz
Richard Bradley	Dubrow
Denise Baske	Leilani
Vicky Nelson	Freddy,Griffith
Kathryn Grody	Miss Jump
Dorothy Scott	Librarian
Angelo Buscaglia	Basketball Coach
Kitt York	Stewardess
Marge Kotusky	Mrs. Linderman
Jennifer Beals	Actor
Tom Reilly	Reissman
Paul Charbonneau	Allen
Laura Salenger	Girl
Bert Hoddinott	Burt,Teacher in Hallway
Jonathan Turk	Boy in Cast
Marge Kotlisky	Mrs. Linderman
Cindy Russ	Cheerleader #1
Allison Caine	Voices
Laurie McEathron	Cheerleader #2
Lori Mandell	Crying Girl
Dean Devlin	Boy
Tim Kazurinsky	Workman
Bill Koza	Mr. Dunphy
Vivian Smolen	Mrs. Dunphy
Bruce Jarchow	Roberto
Leonard Mack	Custodian
George Wendt	Engineer
Jerome Myers	Counterman
Freddy Moss	Counterman #2
Joseph Cohn	Counterman #3
Patrick Billingsley	Biology Teacher
Eddie Gomez	Eddie

Technical Credits

Alan Ormsby

Tony Bill	Director
Don Devlin	Producer
Melvin Simon	Executive Producer
Alan Ormsby	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

My Bodyguard is propelled by some fine acting from its primarily young cast. The performances of the main teen players (Chris Makepeace, Adam Baldwin, and Matt Dillon) and the supporting adults (Ruth Gordon and Martin Mull) are convincing and genuine. Dillon made a splash in 1979's dystopian Over the Edge, and he stands out here as the creepy school bully. The interplay between Makepeace and Baldwin, however, is the film's most compelling aspect. The film was clearly cast in the same underdog-champion mold of the Rocky films, but it also had a deceptively sweet tone that went against the grain of the usually bitter teen pictures of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Such a sweetness prefigured the explosion of the teen comedy-dramas of the mid-1980s, notably the films of John Hughes. The picture was a critical and popular success, and it marked the feature-film directorial debut of actor-producer Tony Bill.

All Movie Guide