A Nice Film About an Era Long Past. Or is it? | Getting It On!

NOT MY RELEASE | Getting It On! | Buzz Atwood, C.K. Bibby

DVDs:


	• Getting It On! Buzz Atwood, C.K. Bibby Vci Video, 2004 average customer review:based on 5 reviews view larger image
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"Making love is like frying bacon...you have to make sure the pan is hot before you slap the meat to it!"

For those not familiar, the title of the film Getting It On (1983), sometimes known as Getting It On! (with an exclamation point at the end), generally refers to the ole in `n' out, scoring, bone dancing, the bedroom boogie, or, as the rappers are so fond of saying, `getting busy'. Written, directed, and produced by William Olsen (Rockin' Road Trip, After School), the film features Martin Yost, Heather Kennedy (Leprechaun), and Jeff Edmond. Also appearing is Kathy Brickmeier, Mark Alan Ferri, C.K. Bibby (Bull Durham), Terry Loughlin (October Sky), and a whole slew of other folks you've never heard of, mainly because for most, this was their first and only feature. Now that, in and of itself, doesn't really bode well for the film, but I was truly surprised how much I ended up enjoying this movie by the end.

As the movie begins we meet a 14 year old named Alex Carson (Yost), a peeping Tom of sorts with a penchant for fantasizing, who's hung up on the attractive new neighbor girl next door named Sally Clark (Kennedy). In an effort to get a closer look at her one night Alex sneaks into her yard, but soon gets busted after falling off a fence (smooth move, Ex-Lax). The next day Alex convinces his moderately well to do father (Loughlin) to loan him some dough to start his own video business (his father thoroughly impressed with his son's entrepreneurial spirit), but in reality Alex intends on setting up a series of hidden cameras throughout the neighborhood with the express purpose of seeing nekkid women. To help in this endeavor Alex engages his friend Nick (Edmond), who's latest escapade of photographing his genitals and passing said pictures out to girls at school has landed him in hot water with Principal White (Bibby), a real dill hole who's now threatening to expel Nick, and force him to attend a nearby all boys school. From here quite a few things happen but know much of it isn't really tied to any sort of structured plot, but more or less a series of events that might occur in the life of your average teenager (getting caught pinching dirty mags from the local store, asking girls out on a dates, talking with your friends about doing it, ogling girls in general, and so on). Eventually Nick finds himself in trouble again allowing for Principal White to make good on his promise (Nick gets blamed for the showing of one of Alex's `homemade' videos during a school assembly), to which the boys devise a plan to get one over on Principal White during a neighborhood costume party, a plan that involves a hidden camera and, well, you'll just have to watch and find out the rest yourself...

I should probably start off by mentioning the production values are virtually non-existent here, as the entire feature smacks of a low budget, independent quality. Also know that few of the performers present seem to have any, real experience in front of the camera, and it tends to show. Despite these elements, I actually enjoyed this film a lot more than I thought I would have due to a couple of factors, the main one being the realistic feel of the dialogue and its delivery. I think Olsen did a wonderful job capturing the distinctive differences in how teenagers of the time spoke, in terms of talking to their peers, their parents, and various other entities that occupy their world. Below is an example as Alex is attempting to call Sally on the phone to ask her out on a date...

Sally: Hello?
Alex: Sally?
Sally: Yeah?
Alex: This is Alex...
Sally: (rolling her eyes) Oh, hello Alex.
Alex: Um, listen, I was wondering if you'd like to go to the movies Friday.
Sally: Um, well, what time?
Alex: I dunno...I forgot to look...
Sally: Well look and then call me back, dumbash. (replace the H in dumbash with an S)

The film has plenty of the aspects present in dumb, teen comedies of the 1980s (including a decent amount of female skin), but then also included are some really bizarre bits. One of these occurs while Nick gets busted at a convenience store for swiping a dirty mag, and the proprietor pulls out a gun and threatens to call the cops. After a bit of give and take an African American kid we've never seen before, with a cheap, mini boom box on his shoulder saunters in and asks, "Hey, do you want to listen to my radio?" Maybe this was just an effort to transition from one scene to another, I don't know...another bit near the end, as some well to do types are throwing a costume party, we see the host, an uppity, older woman has accidentally hired a pseudo punk band to play, and angrily calls whomever set up the gig with the following remark..."They don't play jazz...they play s***!" There's lots of profanity throughout, all of it used in the way consistent with how my friends and I spoke to each other at that age, although I'm sure some of the colloquialisms have change since then. The only, really over the top scenario throughout the film occurs at the beginning, when Alex weasels four grand out of his father to buy the video equipment. Other than that everything's fairly low key and almost believable, sometimes awkward, but generally entertaining. Some of the characters might sound a little sleazy (that whole peeping Tom aspect), but in spending time with them they sort of grew on me as their antics weren't too farfetched from those my friends and I might have participated in back in the day, except for the voyeuristic stuff.

The DVD I own was released by a company called Liberation Entertainment, and it features a fullscreen, pan and scan picture. The picture quality isn't all that great, looking about as good as a slightly worn VHS tape, and the audio, supposedly in Dolby Digital, comes across slightly muddled and indistinct at times. There aren't any true extras on the DVD except for a trailer for the film, along with a few others including Joysticks (1983), Beverly Hills Brats (1989), and Snowballing (1984).

Cookeiman108

An interesting note...Alex, when asking Sally to go to the movies, mentions possibly seeing the film Revenge of the Jedi, which happened to be the working title of Return of the Jedi (1983), which came out in the same year. I can't explain why this stuck in my mind, other than for the fact that back then that was about the biggest event of the year, for those who were around.

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A Nice Film About an Era Long Past. Or is it?

I grew up in the 1970s and 1980s and life was simpler then. Youth worried about not much more than friends and lovers, drink and fun, and fighting authority. Today's world, with its constant connectivity, is far more complicated and anxiety about so much more about life plagues many youth. However, friends and lovers, drink and fun, and fighting authority are still at the core of being young and William Olsen's timeless film very sweetly explores these tropes. Some things about the human condition never change, and Olsen deftly taps into them. Like films that came before--American Graffiti--and those that came after--Porky's, Hollywood Knights--Olsen realizes that titillating sex, mind-opening (as well as altering) drugs, and deviant rock and roll only change in name and type as time whirls by. Every generation of young feel the same alienation, the identical anxieties, and Olsen presents them in a film with a real story unlike anything issuing forth from Hollywood today. I recommend this film for adults as well as their children. It is an adroit study of the human condition not so far removed from adulthood or youth to be offensive to either, but instead bring them together with the realization that these kids exist in all of us, and they always will.

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NOT MY RELEASE

I am William Olsen, the writer, producer, director of GETTING IT ON, and I'd like to say first off, that everyone is entitled to their opinion. What I want to address here is the transfer of my film negative to DVD. The quality is bad because Liberation is not authorized to release the film and made the transfer from a VHS. I personally produced a slew of extras which include a photo featurette, New York auditions and a trailer, plus my directors commentary. All of this is missing from the Liberation release because their release is unauthorized and illegal. VCI Entertainment is the distributor I made the deal with. I just wanted to goon record staing that the transfer I did was much better.

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Alex Carson is a shy, handsome high school freshman with a huge crush on Sally Clark, the girl next door. He convinces his father to invest in his "video business" so he can video tape Sally without her knowing it. With the help of his mischievous sidekick, Nick, they begin to record hidden camera footage of Sally and other pretty girls, until his "peeping Tom" hobby becomes a full-fledged business with outrageous results, including a back-fired revenge plot against mean Principal White. Bonus Features: Director's Commentary| Photo Featurette with Commentary| New York Auditions| Theatrical Trailer| Widescreen 1.66:1| Enhanced 16x9 Anamorphic Transfer from the Director's Cut. Specs: DVD5; Dolby Digital Stereo; 96 minutes; Color; 1.66:1 Aspect Ratio; MPAA - R; Year - 1983; SRP - $9.99.

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