Just One of the Guys (1985)
November 30, 2022 10:20 AM - Subscribe
[TRAILER] When Terry Griffith (Joyce Hyser) loses her high school's writing competition, she's convinced that it's because she's a girl. So Terry decides to change high schools and pose as a boy to prove her point. Her brother, Buddy (Billy Jacoby), helps her pass as a guy so well that she is soon making friends with the boys at school, including the attractive Rick (Clayton Rohner), who becomes her new best friend. But her gender-swapping makes things difficult when she falls in love with him.
Also starring Toni Hudson, William Zabka (as the bully, obviously), Leigh McCloskey, Sherilyn Fenn, Arye Gross.
Directed by Lisa Gottlieb. Screenplay credited to Dennis Feldman & Jeff Franklin, although according to Gottlieb, she also co-wrote the screenplay together with her writing partner Mitch Giannunzio but was denied writing credit by the producers. The film is a loose adaptation of William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Just One of the Guys did solidly theatrically and was an enduring hit on home video and cable. Nevertheless, Gottlieb would wait ten years before being given another chance to direct a feature film.
54% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
Currently available for digital rental in the US on multiple outlets. JustWatch listing.
Today, I'm going to be posting six 80's teen comedies that seemed to constantly be playing on cable back in the day.
Also starring Toni Hudson, William Zabka (as the bully, obviously), Leigh McCloskey, Sherilyn Fenn, Arye Gross.
Directed by Lisa Gottlieb. Screenplay credited to Dennis Feldman & Jeff Franklin, although according to Gottlieb, she also co-wrote the screenplay together with her writing partner Mitch Giannunzio but was denied writing credit by the producers. The film is a loose adaptation of William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Just One of the Guys did solidly theatrically and was an enduring hit on home video and cable. Nevertheless, Gottlieb would wait ten years before being given another chance to direct a feature film.
54% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
Currently available for digital rental in the US on multiple outlets. JustWatch listing.
Today, I'm going to be posting six 80's teen comedies that seemed to constantly be playing on cable back in the day.
Is this the movie where the dorky-ass white kid is also a huge James Brown fan, leading to some very unconvincing scenes of him dancing and singing along? Or am I thinking of a different one?
posted by Saxon Kane at 11:22 AM on November 30, 2022
posted by Saxon Kane at 11:22 AM on November 30, 2022
It is! Here's the scene.
I do remember that when Terry wakes up in the opening scene, she's underneath a Born in the USA poster.
The Boss was her ex. They had dated for several years.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:39 AM on November 30, 2022 [2 favorites]
Yep, it's this one. Unfortunately that clip doesn't have Rick showing off his dance moves (although I may be conflating the dancing scenes from Nightmare on Elm Street 2 with this movie in my brain).
posted by Saxon Kane at 11:45 AM on November 30, 2022
posted by Saxon Kane at 11:45 AM on November 30, 2022
(Edit-related jinx!) My bad.
It's truly wild how hard Hollywood worked to sell sex to kids in the 1980s.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:48 AM on November 30, 2022
It's truly wild how hard Hollywood worked to sell sex to kids in the 1980s.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:48 AM on November 30, 2022
High School life in 80s movies is absolutely bonkers shit. Kids buying alcohol, smoking, doing drugs, driving around all night doing whatever they want, getting laid, going to all night parties. When I got to high school in the 90s, I was VERY disappointed that my life was not at all like what I pictured.
posted by Saxon Kane at 11:52 AM on November 30, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by Saxon Kane at 11:52 AM on November 30, 2022 [5 favorites]
Sason Kane wrote...
"High School life in 80s movies is absolutely bonkers shit. Kids buying alcohol, smoking, doing drugs, driving around all night doing whatever they want, getting laid, going to all night parties. When I got to high school in the 90s, I was VERY disappointed that my life was not at all like what I pictured."
Those are exactly the things that we did in High School in suburban NJ in the 80s. We interacted with adults hardly at all - at work (everyone I knew had at least one job), and at school, but that was it. And at work, we were more often than not left alone to run things, we had keys to the business at 15 or 16. Alcohol we bought at a couple of places we knew we could get served, or we got an older sibling or workmate to buy for us.
I'm shocked when I talk to teenagers and find out how constricted and surveilled their lives are.
posted by conifer at 12:04 PM on November 30, 2022 [4 favorites]
"High School life in 80s movies is absolutely bonkers shit. Kids buying alcohol, smoking, doing drugs, driving around all night doing whatever they want, getting laid, going to all night parties. When I got to high school in the 90s, I was VERY disappointed that my life was not at all like what I pictured."
Those are exactly the things that we did in High School in suburban NJ in the 80s. We interacted with adults hardly at all - at work (everyone I knew had at least one job), and at school, but that was it. And at work, we were more often than not left alone to run things, we had keys to the business at 15 or 16. Alcohol we bought at a couple of places we knew we could get served, or we got an older sibling or workmate to buy for us.
I'm shocked when I talk to teenagers and find out how constricted and surveilled their lives are.
posted by conifer at 12:04 PM on November 30, 2022 [4 favorites]
Kids buying alcohol, smoking, doing drugs, driving around all night doing whatever they want, getting laid, going to all night parties.
That's your free-range kids in high school. I was a relatively mild-mannered and nerdy kid, and I bought a joint from the older kid next door and went to the nearby branch of the Chicago River to smoke it; even though it was mostly stems and seeds and didn't get me high at all (for all I knew, it was oregano, with the stems and seeds mixed in to make it seem like real weed), that was pretty average in terms of experimentation. High schoolers were dating college kids, and one of the smartest girls in the class was known for an unfortunate experience involving quaaludes, although I can't remember if she had her stomach pumped or just puked them up. (This was several years before 'ludes were taken off the market.) The more serious students didn't do this sort of stuff on a school night.
posted by Halloween Jack at 12:24 PM on November 30, 2022
That's your free-range kids in high school. I was a relatively mild-mannered and nerdy kid, and I bought a joint from the older kid next door and went to the nearby branch of the Chicago River to smoke it; even though it was mostly stems and seeds and didn't get me high at all (for all I knew, it was oregano, with the stems and seeds mixed in to make it seem like real weed), that was pretty average in terms of experimentation. High schoolers were dating college kids, and one of the smartest girls in the class was known for an unfortunate experience involving quaaludes, although I can't remember if she had her stomach pumped or just puked them up. (This was several years before 'ludes were taken off the market.) The more serious students didn't do this sort of stuff on a school night.
posted by Halloween Jack at 12:24 PM on November 30, 2022
Yeah, maybe I just hung out with the wrong crowd...
posted by Saxon Kane at 12:24 PM on November 30, 2022
posted by Saxon Kane at 12:24 PM on November 30, 2022
Joyce Hyser having dated Springsteen sounds awful and totally is not. If you read that she was introduced to him by her high school teacher and they dated before she played this high school role, it sounds gross.
But when you take into account that she met him at 21 (her former teacher introduced them) when he was only 24 and they dated for four years, that sounds way less weird.
And of course, as was the way with high school comedies of the era, she played a senior in high school at roughly 30 years old.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:29 AM on December 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
But when you take into account that she met him at 21 (her former teacher introduced them) when he was only 24 and they dated for four years, that sounds way less weird.
And of course, as was the way with high school comedies of the era, she played a senior in high school at roughly 30 years old.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:29 AM on December 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
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And that wasn't in a pervy "They put boobs in a PG movie way!" either. I saw it on basic cable and didn't even know that scene was there until years later.
This was my older brother's favorite movie, and it was on a lot.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:36 AM on November 30, 2022