It was 1983 and I was 13. I watched Valley Girl on HBO one night when my parents were working. After it ended I wanted to talk with someone about it immediately. Turns out my best friend watched it too and it became our favorite movie. Every weekend after that we watched it until we could recite it. We woke her parents up late at night laughing hysterically. We began to worship the main character, Julie, played by the beautiful Deborah Foreman. I am not saying this is a great classic. Although it is for me personally. And I understand that the whole Valley Girl talk becomes annoying but that was the 80's. But deep down at the heart of the movie-it is a love story, and a familiar but good one. Girl meets boy and there are sparks from both sides, an instant connection. Julie's friends don't like him-he doesn't fit in, doesn't go to their school, doesn't have money. They like her better with her ex-boyfriend the football player even though he is a jerk. She makes the ultimate sacrifice-her own happiness for her friends' happiness. And she has these really cool supportive hippie parents. It is one of Nicholas Cage's first movies and his first starring role. One minute he is absolutely hilarious and the next incredibly touching and romantic. His friend Fred is pretty funny too. If you were a teenager in the 80's you will love this movie or at the very least it will bring back memories. It is no longer my favorite movie but it is still one of my favorites, probably in my top 10. I am eagerly awaiting it's release on DVD if they ever release it. You can go to Deborah Foreman's website to sign a petition to get it released on DVD and there are 2 soundtracks from the movie that are must haves if you like 80's music.
110 Reviews
Lighten up!
soundoflight24 May 2021
"Valley Girl" is one of those rare films that's much better today, nearly 40 years later, than when it was released. In its time, it was just another romantic teen comedy, lost in a sea of many during that time period, but today it's a fascinating time capsule of early 1980s Los Angeles - the people, the places, the accents (even if much of it is stylized and over the top). By taking us to a place and culture now mostly gone and forgotten, something about "Valley Girl" gets elevated a notch or two, and it becomes an absolutely fascinating thing to watch.
You can tell by watching "Valley Girl" why Nicolas Cage became a star. He is eminently watchable. The camera just eats him up, and so do we. His female co-star, Deborah Foreman, never amounted to much, but is also highly watchable at the height of her beauty in this film. Together, they succeed in carrying this film and you want to see what happens to them, even if it's silly at times.
Everything today is so heavy and moody, exhibit A being the curmudgeonly reviewers here crapping all over "Valley Girl" because it isn't "high art" or something. Yes, "Valley Girl" is a light-hearted romantic film. That's all it ever set out to be, and it's a fun and nostalgic film to watch (if you have the right attitude...)
You can tell by watching "Valley Girl" why Nicolas Cage became a star. He is eminently watchable. The camera just eats him up, and so do we. His female co-star, Deborah Foreman, never amounted to much, but is also highly watchable at the height of her beauty in this film. Together, they succeed in carrying this film and you want to see what happens to them, even if it's silly at times.
Everything today is so heavy and moody, exhibit A being the curmudgeonly reviewers here crapping all over "Valley Girl" because it isn't "high art" or something. Yes, "Valley Girl" is a light-hearted romantic film. That's all it ever set out to be, and it's a fun and nostalgic film to watch (if you have the right attitude...)
Valley Girl
Scarecrow-888 May 2007
Warning: Spoilers
One word:Plastics
Valley girl, Julie(Deborah Foreman) finds herself attracted to Punker Randy(Nicholas Cage) in this simple "opposites attract" tale about what happens when social circles are tainted and friendships are tested. Foreman's friends wonder why she'd even think about dating someone from Hollywood High when she could have Tommy(Michael Bowen, most might know him as the orderly who allows men to screw a comatose Uma Thurman in KILL BILL, while also being the owner of the notorious PUSSY WAGON), the popular, although smug, stud of Valley High. Yet, she finds Randy to be so much fun. Love is there, but can she choose Randy over her best friends. The film embraces..and pokes fun at..the artificial, manicured lives of the wealthy while also being non-judgmental towards the opposite Hollywood side where the undesirables hang.
The film's ultimate success, besides the truly marvelous casting of Frederic Forrest and Colleen Camp as Foreman's hippie parents, is the great chemistry between the two leads. Startling enough, the film is quite adult on one side while also lovingly portraying what it's like to be a teenager in love while also facing the pressure of remaining part of your collective group when the choice of who your partner is may not be accepted by the friends you spend time with. Profanity and nudity does appear in increments so the film tries to be as accurate about high school life as possible. The highlights for me, as many who watch this flick, are the songs, styles, and dialogue of these characters. And, Foreman, who I just fell right in love with..she has that smile which really melts you. If you don't fall head-over-heels for Foreman then your heart is encased in steel. It's also cool seeing a young Cage as a punk with the wavy colored hair. Perhaps, one thing going against it, the flick doesn't have much of a story other than the conflict presented to Foreman. This flick depends heavily on the leads for it's charm.
Valley girl, Julie(Deborah Foreman) finds herself attracted to Punker Randy(Nicholas Cage) in this simple "opposites attract" tale about what happens when social circles are tainted and friendships are tested. Foreman's friends wonder why she'd even think about dating someone from Hollywood High when she could have Tommy(Michael Bowen, most might know him as the orderly who allows men to screw a comatose Uma Thurman in KILL BILL, while also being the owner of the notorious PUSSY WAGON), the popular, although smug, stud of Valley High. Yet, she finds Randy to be so much fun. Love is there, but can she choose Randy over her best friends. The film embraces..and pokes fun at..the artificial, manicured lives of the wealthy while also being non-judgmental towards the opposite Hollywood side where the undesirables hang.
The film's ultimate success, besides the truly marvelous casting of Frederic Forrest and Colleen Camp as Foreman's hippie parents, is the great chemistry between the two leads. Startling enough, the film is quite adult on one side while also lovingly portraying what it's like to be a teenager in love while also facing the pressure of remaining part of your collective group when the choice of who your partner is may not be accepted by the friends you spend time with. Profanity and nudity does appear in increments so the film tries to be as accurate about high school life as possible. The highlights for me, as many who watch this flick, are the songs, styles, and dialogue of these characters. And, Foreman, who I just fell right in love with..she has that smile which really melts you. If you don't fall head-over-heels for Foreman then your heart is encased in steel. It's also cool seeing a young Cage as a punk with the wavy colored hair. Perhaps, one thing going against it, the flick doesn't have much of a story other than the conflict presented to Foreman. This flick depends heavily on the leads for it's charm.
Like, totally awesome
pooch-821 January 1999
The first time I saw Valley Girl, I was bedridden and as sick as a dog, out of junior high school for two weeks with a nasty illness. I watched it on a tiny black and white set with the volume turned down to a whisper so my parents wouldn't hear and make me shut it off. I was mesmerized. It was a revelation. Martha Coolidge's milking of the Romeo and Juliet premise (with Nicolas Cage and Deborah Foreman filling in as star-crossed lovers in the San Fernando Valley) was smart and convincing. I was amazed by the hot "Val" chicks. I was thrilled by the interesting vocabulary words. I wanted to be like Cage's tough Randy and fall in love with a beautiful girl like Foreman's Julie to the sounds of Eddie Grant, Modern English, and The Plimsouls.
Opposites attract
lib-412 November 1998
I'm glad Cage changed his name from Coppolla and got this part on his own. Light-hearted, no deep thought needed, but a cute piece about opposites attracting- though her parents are still hippies.... Captures the voice of the early 80's- the whine of the valley and the funk of the other side. One can see the beginning of Cage's talent.
A sweet yet corny 80's romance.
defleppardcath31 December 1999
I've seen this movie quite a few times and each time I watch it, the quirkier and funnier it becomes. Perhaps its the lack of research that went into Nicolas Cage's character's 'punk' persona or just the cheesiness factor because it was such a typical eighties film...nonetheless it's a cute love story with extremely funny, unique characters. I think it's right up there with "Fast Times" and "Weird Science" (quintessential eighties flicks!)
Holy 80's Batman!
caspian19788 January 2005
For starters, Nochols Cage proves that he can not only act but carry a film. Valley Girl is still known to many as the film that made Nicholas Cage an actor. Although it helps being related to Francis Ford Coppola, it also helps if you can act. Cage proves himself in this blast from the past movie about growing up in the Valley during the awesome 80's. A good soundtrack if this is your kind of thing, the wardrobe and the attitude is true 80's. At moments, you want to laugh at some of the clothes that the "teens" are dressed in. Although Cage is great as a high school kid from Hollywood, Deborah Foreman looks more like a woman in her late 20's than someone in high school. Looking back, the Valley Girls have all moved to Malibu or the Glendale area, the Valley today is what downtown Hollywood was back in 1983. Still, a fun movie to watch and to recall how things use to be before the 1990's.
As vapid as its characters
Jinjerale19 July 2015
I watched this film after reading the plethora of positive IMDb reviews, touting it as Romeo and Juliette for the eighties and, while it does share with the bard's masterpiece the theme of forbidden teenage love, all similarities begin and end there. Filled with pointless story lines, characters on both sides of the divide who are sorely lacking in intellect, depth and purpose, and an ending that is pathetically lazy and neither intriguing nor romantic, this sorry excuse for a film brings absolutely nothing new to the table and fails miserably at even adding anything interesting, let alone insightful, to a familiar, seemingly straightforward topic. For a truly brilliant take on the complications of love among the young, rich and shallow, watch Amy Heckerling's Clueless, itself based much more faithfully on another work of classic literature, yet adapted to not only appeal to but actually shape the culture of its time. What a shameful insult to William Shakespeare it is, having his timeless work of poetic style and substance compared to this vacuous garbage.
Top of the heap of eighties teen films
ddn329 September 2001
This gem captures early 80's life brilliantly. As a grad '83 boy
myself, I must say that Valley Girl (along with Fast Times at
Ridgemont High )stands out as the class of the teen sex film
genre. The characters are accurate representatives of the era; the
vapid mall chicks, pseudo punk rebels, preppy jocks are all
represented here.
I have seen this over ten times now. The music in the film was top
notch. Unfortunately, these tunes could were never as popular in
their era as those by arena cockrockers like Journey, Styx or
Loverboy. Before the soundtrack existed, I searched out records
and tapes (it was the 80's after all !) of Josie Cotton, Sparks,
Plimsouls and Modern English.
This movie deserves respect. It isn't just a good 80's teen flick. It is
a great film. Period.
myself, I must say that Valley Girl (along with Fast Times at
Ridgemont High )stands out as the class of the teen sex film
genre. The characters are accurate representatives of the era; the
vapid mall chicks, pseudo punk rebels, preppy jocks are all
represented here.
I have seen this over ten times now. The music in the film was top
notch. Unfortunately, these tunes could were never as popular in
their era as those by arena cockrockers like Journey, Styx or
Loverboy. Before the soundtrack existed, I searched out records
and tapes (it was the 80's after all !) of Josie Cotton, Sparks,
Plimsouls and Modern English.
This movie deserves respect. It isn't just a good 80's teen flick. It is
a great film. Period.
One of the most 80s films I can think of!
planktonrules18 May 2022
When I watched this film tonight, I sure noticed how 1980s it was...the hair, the clothing, the music and the style of film. And since I was still a teen when the movie debuted, it was like a walk down Memory Lane.
The story is a reworking of "Romeo & Juliet"...minus all the suicide. A 'Valley Girl' (Deborah Foreman) falls in love with a 'Punk' (Nicolas Cage) and the pair encounter all sorts of problems since their friends (particularly hers) don't approve of the relationship. Will the pair manage to work it out...or will they bow to peer pressure and go their separate ways?
This is a modestly enjoyable film though like many 80s films, it annoyed me. While the film clearly is intended mostly for teens, the film also is rated R and filled with language and boobs that make it less than kid-friendly. This cynical attitude is also pure Hollywood circa 1983!
Decent acting, a great soundtrack and a nice reimagining of Shakespeare make this one worth your time. Not exactly 'high art' but entertaining...but not a film I'd recommend for younger viewers.
The story is a reworking of "Romeo & Juliet"...minus all the suicide. A 'Valley Girl' (Deborah Foreman) falls in love with a 'Punk' (Nicolas Cage) and the pair encounter all sorts of problems since their friends (particularly hers) don't approve of the relationship. Will the pair manage to work it out...or will they bow to peer pressure and go their separate ways?
This is a modestly enjoyable film though like many 80s films, it annoyed me. While the film clearly is intended mostly for teens, the film also is rated R and filled with language and boobs that make it less than kid-friendly. This cynical attitude is also pure Hollywood circa 1983!
Decent acting, a great soundtrack and a nice reimagining of Shakespeare make this one worth your time. Not exactly 'high art' but entertaining...but not a film I'd recommend for younger viewers.
Accurately captures the disappointingly boring reality of early '80s youth culture
jbaxter-204-32637913 October 2015
Warning: Spoilers
I am only giving this movie five points because it contains a fair amount of footage of L.A. circa 1983. It also features some of the most awkward dialogue ever penned for the screen, especially the exchanges involving adults. I mean, Frederic Forrest must have been so annoyed with his agent once he started shooting his dreadful scenes. It also would have been nice for at least one of the Valley girls to talk like a real Valley girl--I can understand not being able to find an established young actress who could do a spot-on Valley girl accent, but if you're going to cast a bunch of nobodies with limited acting ability, why not just drive over the Valley and take your pick? That's plain old lazy. And--here comes the spoiler--the Julie Richman character's sudden change of heart about Randy makes no sense, given how hot and heavy they were, and the climactic prom scene is just too silly for words.
Nicolas Cage's best role
phils_phan16 March 2003
This movie is one of my all time favorite movies and is what made me a lifelong Nicolas Cage fan. Back in the mid-80's I taped this movie (when VCR's were impossible to do this with!!) and would watch it over and over. Nicolas Cage is just brilliant here. And, he looks wonderful and has no affecting "acting-isms" (see "Peggy Sue Got Married" to know what I mean about that!!). I measure all his performances against this one. He was so perfectly cast as the cool punk guy with the edgy friends. The music was GREAT. The Plimsouls! The Psychodelic Furs! Modern English! Men At Work! Whenever I hear "Melt With You" I am taken back to the finale of this movie.
What ever happened to his cute costar, Deborah Foreman? And his hysterical friend, Cameron Dye? Certainly took a different turn than Nicolas! Interestingly, the slutty friend (Elizabeth Daily) ended up being the voice of Tommy from the Rugrats (she is billed as E.G. Daily for that horrid show)! Bizarre!
IF you want to take a great trip back to the 80's, watch this movie. It is definitely a classic. Like Totally!
What ever happened to his cute costar, Deborah Foreman? And his hysterical friend, Cameron Dye? Certainly took a different turn than Nicolas! Interestingly, the slutty friend (Elizabeth Daily) ended up being the voice of Tommy from the Rugrats (she is billed as E.G. Daily for that horrid show)! Bizarre!
IF you want to take a great trip back to the 80's, watch this movie. It is definitely a classic. Like Totally!
Silly and fun
Jeremy_Urquhart2 July 2022
No joke, I struggled to tell the parent characters apart from the characters who were supposed to be teenagers. It's genuinely ridiculous.
This is basically Romeo and Juliet with less stakes, worse writing, a banging 80s soundtrack, and an iconic young Nicolas Cage.
The pros outweighed the cons for me, but only just, because it's pretty flawed in some areas, to be honest. Still, it's worth it for baby Cage and that music 👌
(Because like, seriously, how many movies contain both Sparks and Nicolas Cage? Worlds colliding in the best way possible)
This is basically Romeo and Juliet with less stakes, worse writing, a banging 80s soundtrack, and an iconic young Nicolas Cage.
The pros outweighed the cons for me, but only just, because it's pretty flawed in some areas, to be honest. Still, it's worth it for baby Cage and that music 👌
(Because like, seriously, how many movies contain both Sparks and Nicolas Cage? Worlds colliding in the best way possible)
Dreadful silly slop
robertlauter256 July 2013
I remember reading a review by Roger Ebert who liked this movie as well as hearing other people who agreed. I think it was dreadful, I knew it was gonna be a high school romance flick, but unlike the successful hughes films like sixteen candles, pretty in pink and some kind of wonderful, or the raunchier ones like Porky's and fast times at ridgemont high, Valley Girl is boring, unfunny and poorly made. There's nothing original about the story or any of the characters, the production wallows in it's own low budget trappings, and man is the acting bad. What a dud. I've seen porn with more entertaining dialogue, how can this movie have entertained anyone.
One of my favorite guilty pleasures
TomAldred1 May 2000
Everyone has a great list of cinematic guilty pleasures, and "Valley Girl" has been on mine from the first time I saw it. It was clear from the first "valley view" of the San Fernando that it was several cuts above your average teen-aimed movie. Obviously, Nicolas Cage was pretty impressive, even if I had no idea of his heritage or his future. I liked Deborah Foreman, too, and the supporting cast was well-chosen. If the plot was trifling, it was at least clever and certainly not pretentious. And the music, from the opening by Foremen and her friends to the closing shot of the limo ride to Modern English's "I Melt With You," is a big plus. Overall, an very entertaining take on love across the valley of cultural differences from Martha Coolidge, who is one of our most underrated directors.
YOUNG nic cage. and awesome musica
ksf-213 December 2021
Young, teenage angst. When valley girl Julie (Deborah Foreman) meets Randy ( a VERY young Nic Cage) from hollywood, they hit it off. But, of course, her friends don't approve. Of anything about him; his clothes, his hair, his friends. Can Randy convince Julie to follow her heart and not her friends? Runs like a John Hughes film, although his Sixteen Candles actually came out a year AFTER this, so maybe he got the idea from Valley Girl. Directed by Martha Coolidge. The best part of this film is the music featured - The Plimsouls, Josie Cotton, Bonnie Hayes, Sparks. And the first two we actually watch perform as part of the plot. This one is rated R, while Sixteen is PG...much more toned down. Some fun gags... Julie's overly permissive hippie parents. The driver's ed class. Cruising the hollywood strip. It's an oldie but a goodie.
Bit of light fun
damianphelps12 December 2020
No Oscars here just a bit of silly fun, that makes for a bit of a nostalgic throw-back to the 80's (like we need more of that at the moment lol).
Cage really steals the show (as usual) although he is more understated than most of his later performances.
Music is good, fashion is deplorable :)
Its enCaging hahah
Cage really steals the show (as usual) although he is more understated than most of his later performances.
Music is good, fashion is deplorable :)
Its enCaging hahah
Like I'm so sure
injury-6544727 January 2021
They call that punk??
poizen-9856028 September 2018
Specific time--yet timeless
vivalarsx1 September 2001
Valley Girl will always hold a special place in my heart: I would say this is certainly the best of the 80's teen-sex-comedies, but that is a back-handed compliment. This is a good movie, period. It is very specific in time and place--nearly twenty years later this is a marvelous snapshot--yet its story remains timeless. (This is just Romeo and Juliet, minus the death, after all!) Nicolas Cage is wonderful, showing all the early promise that, it turns out, he has squandered on overblown action crapola. Deborah Foreman is the revelation of this movie, and I can't believe she didn't go on to have a bigger career; someone rediscover her QUICK. This is sweeter and gentler than most films of the genre--the requisite nudity seems thrown in by contractual obligation--and, while not groundbreaking, it certainly is nice to see this kind of movie that respects its characters and doesn't crucify its shallow young girls for having fun--even Foreman's crew of best friends, misguided by peer pressure, are never presented as villains. (Indeed, her friend Stacy, forced to doubledate w/ Cage's friend Fred, has a good time despite her protests, and makes out w/ Fred in the backseat.) This will take you back to the early 80's if you were there, but it holds up quite well today. Warning to those unfamiliar with the movie: do NOT watch one of VH1's seemingly continual showings of it--go rent it in its unedited glory. Otherwise, you are missing some of the movies' most potent, time-specific dialogue. And one can't write about Valley Girl and not mention the fabu soundtrack of great 80's tunes--most of them by one-hit wonders, which are not only integral to the sense of time and place in this movie, but thematically well-chosen. See it--awesome little flick! Fer shur!!
Remember when Cage made good movies?
cooper-291 September 2000
There were a lot of dumb teenage getting sex movies of the 80s and a lot of slasher flicks but there were only a handful that were made with thought, made you laugh and captured the time period right; this was one of them. Cage is Hillarious, so is Forman who from her bio unfortuatley has dissapeared from the Hollywood limelight. I'd love to see this released on DVD with in a special version with commentaries by Cage and Forman. Wishful thinking, I know. Ever want to plan a true 80s movie weekend, rent this, Sure Thing and 16 candles and Breakfast Club. It will take you back to a "Totally Rad" time which it seemed at the time, was a lot more simple. Memo to studios: Time to release the DVD!
Listen to Zappa instead
oldbollweevil1 July 2001
If you grew up in the '80s, you knew people who talked like this.
You maybe even talked like this yourself. The problem is, the people in this movie talking like this don't sound authentic. The dialogue is right, but the people delivering it don't have the slightest feel for the rhythms and intonations of the Valley Girl.
Listen to the Frank and Moon Zappa song that took the subculture nationwide and you'll see what I mean. The song is dead-on; the movie is a pale, outsider imitation. But, what do you expect?
The only redeeming feature is Nic Cage's fantastically smoldering performance as Randy. The filmmakers couldn't seem to decide if his character was punk, rockabilly, or just working-class (something else that makes the film feel like an outsider's attempt to exploit a craze without really understanding it), but when Cage is onscreen, it all ceases to matter. One of his great quirky, weirdo, but very attractive performances, on a par with Raising Arizona and Peggy Sue Got Married.
Between Cage and a great soundtrack (Modern English! Josie Cotton!), it earns 5/10.
You maybe even talked like this yourself. The problem is, the people in this movie talking like this don't sound authentic. The dialogue is right, but the people delivering it don't have the slightest feel for the rhythms and intonations of the Valley Girl.
Listen to the Frank and Moon Zappa song that took the subculture nationwide and you'll see what I mean. The song is dead-on; the movie is a pale, outsider imitation. But, what do you expect?
The only redeeming feature is Nic Cage's fantastically smoldering performance as Randy. The filmmakers couldn't seem to decide if his character was punk, rockabilly, or just working-class (something else that makes the film feel like an outsider's attempt to exploit a craze without really understanding it), but when Cage is onscreen, it all ceases to matter. One of his great quirky, weirdo, but very attractive performances, on a par with Raising Arizona and Peggy Sue Got Married.
Between Cage and a great soundtrack (Modern English! Josie Cotton!), it earns 5/10.
Valley Girl should be a joke. It isn't.
BandSAboutMovies24 September 2020
Warning: Spoilers
It should be a cheap cash in on the novelty song that Frank Zappa had recorded with his daughter Moon Unit. Recorded when she was just 14 and appearing on his album Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch, it's his only top 40 hit despite a career in music.
It's not typical Zappa, staying mainly in conventional 4/4 time (until the end) and being mainly all about the conversations Moon Unit had overheard at the mall, but meant to be a deliberate attack on typical Valley Girls.In fact, Zappa saw the San Fernando Valley as "a most depressing place."
While he was distressed that this song would make hi a novelty act, Zappa did try to see if a film could be made. He'd later try to stop production of the film through a lawsuit, claiming that it infringed on his trademark.
Regardless, no one got the point of the song. It wasn't cool to be a Valley Girl. Try telling that to everyone else.
Speaking of music, the songs in this movie ended up costing $250,000 over the film's $350,000 budget. As a result, some of the clearances - like "Who Can It Be Now?" by Men at Work, which was replaced by Josie Cotton's "Systematic Way" - changed the songs and ended up canceling the original Epic Records soundtrack. Some copies did get out and there's also a bootleg with the title Valley Girls that are both collectors' items. There was a six-song mini-LP that Roadshow Records - a one-off Atlantic imprint - put out and that was all fans got until 1994 and 1995, when Rhino released two CDs of the movie's songs.
The songs are what drive this music, as it's powered by KROQ, taking that station's playlist to the entire county with standouts like Cotton's "Johnny Are You Queer?," Bonnie Hayes' "Girls Like Me," The Plimsouls' "A Million Miles Away," The Payolas' "Eyes of a Stranger" and, of course, Modern English's "I Melt With You," which appears twice in the movie. Director Martha Coolidge heard it on the ROQ and felt that it was the song for her story, but since the station didn't announce songs, she was forced to call them and sing it to have it be identified. Cotton, the Plimsouls and the Psychedelic Furs all show up in the actual movie, too.
The actual story is a mix of Romeo and Juliet with an allusion to The Graduate at the end, as the Valley side - Sherman Oaks Galleria being their Mecca (and the home of Commando, Chopping Mall and many, many other films) - is represented by Julie (Deborah Foreman, whose credits endear her to horror fans everywhere with April Fool's Day and Waxwork on her resume) and Hollywood being personified by Randy (California Kinski Nicolas Cage). Their relationship begins as just looks at a beach - hints of Grease, huh? - but progresses to show the difference between classes that has only grown since 1983.
There's also a subplot between Suzi (Michelle Meyrink, the female nerd Judy in Revenge of the Nerds) and her stepmother Beth (Lee Purcell, Necromancy) vying for the same boy. A more conventional relationship exists between Julie and her parents (Coleen Camp, who has been in everything from the Police Academy series to Wicked Stepmother, Sliver, Apocalypse Now and The Swinging Cheerleaders along with Frederic Forrest, who was also several Coppola films, including One from the Heart), who despite owning a health food business really want their daughter to experience life.
Joyce Hayser is also in this and she's made quite the career of showing up in teh pop culture moments of my life. She's the girl in the Dan Hartman video for "I Can Dream About You" (which comes from the soundtrack for Streets of Fire), she's in the strange as hell Saturday Night Fever sequel Staying Alive and if you were 13 in 1985, you'd know her as Teri/Terry from the cable juggernaut Just One of the Guys.
Oh! Valley Girl has even more! E.G. Daily - who would also appear in the aforementioned Streets of Fire, a movie that I cannot implore you enough to watch - is here. Most folks know her as Dottie from Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, but she was also in Better Off Dead, provided the voice for Babe the Pig and Tommy Pickles on Rugrats, was in the video for Rod Stewart's "Young Turks" and was Sex-Head in Rob Zombie's 31. She also dated Jon-Eric Hexum before his untimely death and was married to Rick Salomon. Yes, the same guy in the Paris Hilton sex tape, who was also married to Pam Anderson and Shannen Doherty. Hollywood is crazy.
The club scenes in this movie were shot at a place that was once called Filthy McNasty's and The Central. Today, you would know it as The Viper Room. Seeing the Sunset Strip in this movie made me dream of one day being there, surrounded by all this energy and rock and roll. I mean, just look at the marquees - Kitten Natividad is dancing!
It's not typical Zappa, staying mainly in conventional 4/4 time (until the end) and being mainly all about the conversations Moon Unit had overheard at the mall, but meant to be a deliberate attack on typical Valley Girls.In fact, Zappa saw the San Fernando Valley as "a most depressing place."
While he was distressed that this song would make hi a novelty act, Zappa did try to see if a film could be made. He'd later try to stop production of the film through a lawsuit, claiming that it infringed on his trademark.
Regardless, no one got the point of the song. It wasn't cool to be a Valley Girl. Try telling that to everyone else.
Speaking of music, the songs in this movie ended up costing $250,000 over the film's $350,000 budget. As a result, some of the clearances - like "Who Can It Be Now?" by Men at Work, which was replaced by Josie Cotton's "Systematic Way" - changed the songs and ended up canceling the original Epic Records soundtrack. Some copies did get out and there's also a bootleg with the title Valley Girls that are both collectors' items. There was a six-song mini-LP that Roadshow Records - a one-off Atlantic imprint - put out and that was all fans got until 1994 and 1995, when Rhino released two CDs of the movie's songs.
The songs are what drive this music, as it's powered by KROQ, taking that station's playlist to the entire county with standouts like Cotton's "Johnny Are You Queer?," Bonnie Hayes' "Girls Like Me," The Plimsouls' "A Million Miles Away," The Payolas' "Eyes of a Stranger" and, of course, Modern English's "I Melt With You," which appears twice in the movie. Director Martha Coolidge heard it on the ROQ and felt that it was the song for her story, but since the station didn't announce songs, she was forced to call them and sing it to have it be identified. Cotton, the Plimsouls and the Psychedelic Furs all show up in the actual movie, too.
The actual story is a mix of Romeo and Juliet with an allusion to The Graduate at the end, as the Valley side - Sherman Oaks Galleria being their Mecca (and the home of Commando, Chopping Mall and many, many other films) - is represented by Julie (Deborah Foreman, whose credits endear her to horror fans everywhere with April Fool's Day and Waxwork on her resume) and Hollywood being personified by Randy (California Kinski Nicolas Cage). Their relationship begins as just looks at a beach - hints of Grease, huh? - but progresses to show the difference between classes that has only grown since 1983.
There's also a subplot between Suzi (Michelle Meyrink, the female nerd Judy in Revenge of the Nerds) and her stepmother Beth (Lee Purcell, Necromancy) vying for the same boy. A more conventional relationship exists between Julie and her parents (Coleen Camp, who has been in everything from the Police Academy series to Wicked Stepmother, Sliver, Apocalypse Now and The Swinging Cheerleaders along with Frederic Forrest, who was also several Coppola films, including One from the Heart), who despite owning a health food business really want their daughter to experience life.
Joyce Hayser is also in this and she's made quite the career of showing up in teh pop culture moments of my life. She's the girl in the Dan Hartman video for "I Can Dream About You" (which comes from the soundtrack for Streets of Fire), she's in the strange as hell Saturday Night Fever sequel Staying Alive and if you were 13 in 1985, you'd know her as Teri/Terry from the cable juggernaut Just One of the Guys.
Oh! Valley Girl has even more! E.G. Daily - who would also appear in the aforementioned Streets of Fire, a movie that I cannot implore you enough to watch - is here. Most folks know her as Dottie from Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, but she was also in Better Off Dead, provided the voice for Babe the Pig and Tommy Pickles on Rugrats, was in the video for Rod Stewart's "Young Turks" and was Sex-Head in Rob Zombie's 31. She also dated Jon-Eric Hexum before his untimely death and was married to Rick Salomon. Yes, the same guy in the Paris Hilton sex tape, who was also married to Pam Anderson and Shannen Doherty. Hollywood is crazy.
The club scenes in this movie were shot at a place that was once called Filthy McNasty's and The Central. Today, you would know it as The Viper Room. Seeing the Sunset Strip in this movie made me dream of one day being there, surrounded by all this energy and rock and roll. I mean, just look at the marquees - Kitten Natividad is dancing!
Good but can be better
moviewiz-48 April 2001
This typical teenagers movie is one of the best, beside the story is good, the music is well accompany the movie all along.
Although i do not enjoy classic movie unless it is classic and better written script, this one is exceptional. Maybe the hair style and language should be change a bit, in the 80's i believe offensive language is still rarely heard.
Although i do not enjoy classic movie unless it is classic and better written script, this one is exceptional. Maybe the hair style and language should be change a bit, in the 80's i believe offensive language is still rarely heard.
Get me John Hughes
Prismark1026 November 2018
A punk inspired Romeo & Juliet set in the San Fernando valley.
Randy (Nicolas Cage) is a punk who gatecrashes a party with a friend. Randy hits on Julie (Deborah Foreman) who has just broken up with her boyfriend Tommy who is a jerk. However Tommy gets jealous when he sees Randy hitting on Julie and beats him up. Julie's friends do not think much of Randy as well.
However Randy is determined to win Julie's heart.
Valley Girl is a low budget edgy film about teenagers and comes across as rather flat, boring and dated. The soundtrack is ok.
Nicolas Cage in an early role is not really stretched. He gets to play an outsider who also has a sweet, tender side. His character goes to Hollywood High. I have seen that school, it has a mural featuring its famous ex pupils, one of whom is Nicolas Cage.
Randy (Nicolas Cage) is a punk who gatecrashes a party with a friend. Randy hits on Julie (Deborah Foreman) who has just broken up with her boyfriend Tommy who is a jerk. However Tommy gets jealous when he sees Randy hitting on Julie and beats him up. Julie's friends do not think much of Randy as well.
However Randy is determined to win Julie's heart.
Valley Girl is a low budget edgy film about teenagers and comes across as rather flat, boring and dated. The soundtrack is ok.
Nicolas Cage in an early role is not really stretched. He gets to play an outsider who also has a sweet, tender side. His character goes to Hollywood High. I have seen that school, it has a mural featuring its famous ex pupils, one of whom is Nicolas Cage.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
