Sneakers :: Dan Aykroyd :: Trading Places

Dan Aykroyd connects from Sneakers to one of the best comedies of the 80's, Trading Places.

Aykroyd is in great form, Eddie Murphy is at the top of his game, plus after years as the "Scream Queen," we actually get to see a topless Jamie Lee Curtis.

I love the "nature vs. nurture" wager and the twist on the "Prince and the Pauper" storyline.  Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche are perfect as the Duke Brothers.  Denholm Elliott is hilarious as Coleman, the butler.  We get pimps and parties, a hooker with a heart of gold, ahomicidal Santa, drunk baggage handlers, and Paul Gleason (the principal from Breakfast Club) getting raped by a gorilla.

Even after watching this movie as many times as I have, I still don't exactly understand the whole stock market sequence at the end.  All I know is that Murphy and Aykroyd get rich and the Dukes get poor.  That's really all you need to know to enjoy it, I suppose.

The Last Crusade :: River Phoenix :: Sneakers

He played the young Indiana Jones in Last Crusade and a young spy in Sneakers. River Phoenix looked to have great potential, but of course died young of a drug overdose.

It's always tragic when young talent dies.  We can look at that spark of talent and imagine how much more amazing work they would have done if they had been given the chance to live a full life and career.  Imagine River Phoenix competing for roles with Leonardo DiCaprio.  Imagine more of Heath Ledger's Joker in the next Batman sequel.  Imagine the laughs we could have gotten from more comedies from John Belushi, John Candy, or Chris Farley.  Imagine the directions music would have taken with more albums from Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, John Bonham of Led Zeppelin, Keith Moon of The Who, or Kurt Cobain.

You're imagining some pretty amazing stuff, right?

Well, I'm probably going to piss some people off for saying this, but you're probably wrong.  I'm not saying that those artists wouldn't have made more good or even great art.  But thinking that a handful of talented performances or great albums means that they could continue to make great art forever is fallacy. Two words: Chevy Chase.  If Chase had died in 1985 after SNL, Caddyshack, Vacation, and Fletch, he would be considered one of the greatest comedians of all time.  Instead, we got Chevy in the 90's with a failed TV talk show and awful films like "Cops and Robbersons."  Chevy Chase was a Hollywood punch line for nearly two decades.  John Belushi is still a genius because he didn't live long enough to be offered scripts like "Funny Farm."

That doesn't diminish any of these artists' youthful accomplishments.  It just brings the godlike status of these deceased celebrities back down to earth a bit. 


By the way, Sneakers is an awesome spy thriller with a great cast: Robert Redford, Sidney Poitier, Dan Aykroyd, Ben Kingsley, David Straithairn, and even James Earl Jones.  Check it out if you've never seen it.