There’s a film on the market that’s so utterly insane that if I had been to explain it to you, you’d swear I made it up. Don’t purchase it? Okay—right here goes nothing. In a post-apocalyptic future, a bunch of rollerskating teenagers attempt to save an alien ball from the repressive regime that runs their planet. A Mel Brooks movie. And no, it’s not a comedy.
The film, in fact, is Solarbabies. And okay, I’m exaggerating once I name it a “Mel Brooks film,” since he didn’t direct it. However he did produce it—and actually, personally financed the factor, to the extent that it got here very near bankrupting him. Don’t fear although—all of it has a cheerful ending. However this, my pals, is the fantastic story of Solarbabies.
Flashback to the yr 1987. I used to be six years previous and being babysat by the lovable lady who lived subsequent door that I had a crush on—not that, at that age, I even REALLY knew what a crush was. My babysitter at all times loved taking care of me, not as a result of I used to be an particularly cool child, however as a result of my mother and father had cable—and we had been one of many few homes on the road to subscribe to First Selection. Now, should you watch a variety of movies on this web site you’ve heard me communicate of First Selection earlier than, but it surely was mainly the Canadian model of HBO. That evening, my babysitter was actually completely satisfied to be babysitting me, as a result of her all-time favorite film was on—you guessed it—Solarbabies.
Now, I think about her love of the film had much less to do with the truth that it was a post-apocalyptic rollerskating film, and extra to do with the truth that it starred Jason Patric, who was fairly the teenager idol on the time. My babysitter threw it on, and I used to be FUCKING RIVETED. The apocalypse! Teenagers! Rollerskating! And there was even some cool violence! It was simply risqué sufficient that I felt like I used to be being a bit unhealthy by watching it—though, actually, my mother and father would have been extra amused by the truth that these rollerskating teenagers had been entertaining me to such a wild extent than the rest.
So, what precisely is Solarbabies? To reply that query, we’ve to return to the early Eighties. In 1982, North America bought The Street Warrior, and its success had an outsized affect on low-budget motion motion pictures of the period. Director George Miller made a mint off it, in addition to its predecessor Mad Max, making each him and Mel Gibson rising stars. However the factor about it was, because it was set in a post-apocalyptic future, you can do these motion pictures CHEAP—though none of them even got here near The Street Warrior as a result of, natch, they didn’t have George Miller or Mel Gibson. However that’s how we bought motion pictures like Exterminators of the 12 months 3000, Warriors of the Wasteland, Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn, 1990: The Bronx Warriors, and lots of others—a LOT of them from Italy.
On the similar time, Mel Brooks was taking a little bit of a break from directing and was having a variety of success as an unbiased producer making motion pictures far faraway from his personal. He introduced David Lynch into the mainstream with The Elephant Man, and employed David Cronenberg to direct The Fly. On the time, teen flicks had been additionally sizzling, so when Brooks was offered with the script for Solarbabies, he in all probability figured it couldn’t miss—it might be like Mad Max meets The Breakfast Membership. And it might be executed low cost!
Alas, issues didn’t work out too effectively for Mel. Brooks himself informed the entire story on one of many biggest episodes of How Did This Get Made ever, however as he put it, it was alleged to be a $5 million film, and he fronted the price range. He employed a director named Alan Johnson, who was good friend of his and did an ideal job directing To Be or To not Be with Brooks just a few years earlier. His forged was nice—Jason Patric, Lucas Haas (coming off Witness), Charles Durning (who bought an Oscar nomination for To Be or To not Be), Jami Gertz, and Richard Jordan. They determined to shoot in Spain, as a result of it was low cost, and he despatched all of them on their manner considering he’d get a pleasant little sci-fi motion flick out of it.
Alas, as Brooks tells it, the previous adage that rain in Spain falls primarily within the plains turned out to not be true, with the placement hit with tons of rain. Earlier than he knew it, his $5 million funding was gone. However somewhat than bringing individuals residence—and impressed with the footage—he saved placing increasingly more cash into it, to the purpose that the film price $22 million (greater than twice the price range of Star Wars). Brooks ended up taking a second mortgage on his home and promoting his vehicles to pay for it. He was on the verge of chapter, however he was in a position to promote the movie to MGM for $14 million—leaving him $9 million within the gap. Personally. Ouch.
As for the film itself—effectively, I beloved it as a child. However I gotta marvel what Mel was considering by placing sufficient cash to make Return of the Jedi into this factor, given how low cost it appears to be like. The premise of the movie is that, sooner or later, Earth’s water is sort of gone and is hoarded by the repressive, fascist Eco Protectorate. Youngsters dwell in orphanages the place they’re skilled to grow to be troopers by collaborating in struggle video games which might be mainly a hybrid of lacrosse and rollerskating. The Solarbabies are the league’s underdogs, they usually have a younger deaf boy, Daniel (Haas), that they shield. At some point, he finds a mysterious orb referred to as Bodhi which not solely heals his listening to, however could make water. But when the orb is taken, Daniel goes after it, and the Solarbabies—led by Jason Patric’s umm… Jason—go to the rescue.
Now, it’s a dumb film, however there’s tons of rollerskating motion, plus Adrian Pasdar as an older teen with a cool hawk. All of it involves a surprisingly violent finish the place the Solarbabies tackle the fascist chief of the Eco Protectorate (performed by Richard Jordan) and save the day. Man, I get CHILLS simply considering of it now.
Should you dig the eighties—and particularly eighties cheese—that is the film for you. It’s ninety minutes, extremely dumb, but additionally so heartfelt that the silliness is additional scrumptious. The truth that Mel Brooks needed to watch $22 million of his personal cash go down the drain whereas making it’s unhappy, however some good got here of it. You see, the film died in theaters, solely grossing $1.5 million. However Brooks felt like he owed MGM a success, so he rotated and made Spaceballs. Nevertheless, it kind of ended his profession as a producer—exterior of The Fly II, he didn’t need to threat big sums of his personal cash once more.
However right here’s the kicker: in line with Brooks, the film finally turned a revenue, and just lately he’s been getting small residuals for it, because it turned an unlikely video and cable hit. It’s nonetheless a well-liked streaming title amongst aficionados. It additionally appeared to be good for just a few careers, with each Jason Patric and Jami Gertz taking pictures The Misplaced Boys instantly afterward, whereas Adrian Pasdar made Close to Darkish the identical yr.
Whereas nobody will say Solarbabies is a good film, how will you hate a film the place the movie’s sole Black character beatboxes with an animated orb and has lengthy rollerskating motion sequences? I definitely don’t suppose it’s doable—so should you’re searching for a good piece of ‘80s fromage, that is for you.
