WTF Happened to Better Off Dead?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 ธ.ค. 2024
- Better Off Dead is one of two 1985 movies that marked John Cusack’s debut as a leading man. After small roles in Sixteen Candles and Class, Cusack, at only eighteen, nabbed the lead in Rob Reiner’s The Sure Thing, and Savage Steve Holland’s Better Off Dead followed immediately afterward. While Cusack has often praised The Sure Thing and Reiner’s direction, his feelings on Better Off Dead have always been controversial. Holland says that while Cusack attended the dailies, when he saw the cut-together version, he felt humiliated and told him that he would never trust him again as a director. This was problematic as they were in the middle of shooting a follow-up, One Crazy Summer, whose shoot would be more fraught than the collegial Better Off Dead.
So what made Cusack so angry? Better Off Dead is an absurdist comedy that, among other things, includes a Korean drag racer who sounds exactly like Howard Cosell, a claymation interlude, and a plot that treats suicide as “wacky.” It’s strange, but it’s also much loved by fans of eighties cinema, and indeed Cusack has mellowed on it in recent years, trying to downplay his attitude to Holland and appreciating its cult status.
In this episode of WTF Happened to this Movie, which is written by Bryan Wolford, edited by Cesar Gabriel and narrated by Mathew Plale, we dig into the makings of this cult classic, which is still considered one of the better eighties teen movies thirty-seven years later. We examine the cast, which includes not only Cusack but future teen programming king Dan Schneider, Diane Franklin, the great Curtis Armstrong, Kim Darby and the late David Ogden Stiers (of MASH).
Do you have a soft spot for Better Off Dead? Let us know in the comments!
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#BetterOffDead #JohnCusack #wtfhappenedtothismovie
That's strange. "Better Off Dead" and "One Crazy Summer" were my favorite John Cusack movies growing up. They were absolutely absurd and we needed more of that.
Hollywood is cruel!
He had a nice bit part in 16 Candles too.
@@hendo337 Forgotten birthday!
It felt real. Because that’s how all teens feel inside. That could be why John didn’t like the movie.
@@missmarthafawker Reality!
I remember seeing Better Off Dead in the theater with my older brother & sister. I was 11 and, at the time, I had never laughed so hard! My friends and I would find ourselves quoting this film for many years to come. Christ, who hasn't said, "I want my two dollars" or "Really sorry your mom blew up, Ricky." This film will be remembered quite fondly by those of us who grew up during a time when HBO & Cinemax were the channels we watched after school and all day on the weekends!
Nobody!
Have you done Orlando bloom yet? Dude was on fire the years after I graduated then totally disappeared
@@skeptical_aristotle Momentum evaporated!
Since this movie was made I don't think I've ever come across anything in life that costs two dollars without saying, well, I can't exactly spell it, but just squint your eyes and say "two dollars..."
I had a good friend borrow 2 dollars off me to get cigarettes. I would not let him pay it back just so I could say that line to him. Made it funnier because he knew I was a paperboy when we were kids.
“THIS MOUNTAIN IS PURE SNOW!! Lane, do you REALIZE THE STREET VALUE OF THIS MOUNTAIN?!!”
My favorite scene.
“Well you’ll make a fine little helper what’s your name?”
Charles* 😆
Cmon dude, it’s Christmas Eve. I could be home right now drinking this amazing stuff my brother makes with lighter fluid.😂
“Go this way, really fast. If something gets in your way…turn.”😂
“People die down there. Dying when you’re not really sick is really sick, Lane.” 🤣
I saw this movie when I was in elementary school, and it was one of my favorite movies at the time.
But revisiting it, as an adult, made me realize that I had great taste as a kid. This movie is great.
Is was my favorite when I was a kid from the first time I watched it, 20 years later, it still is.
@@DShort1088 I think it's that the humor is really kind of independent of age. There's so much absurdity in the movie, done in the exact right way. I can't think of many movies that have such a distinct style of humor. The teacher asking to take out Beth is already funny, but they go the extra and show him driving her home hehe.
@@sydhamelin1265 Amen, I thought the same thing! That style of comedy is unbelievably awesome. Yeah, Lane's math teacher was the late, great Vincent Schiavelli, loved that guy ESPECIALLY in this movie, but also in "Ghost," "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," and "Tomorrow Never Dies"...
I have lost count of how many times I have seen this movie!!!! A true classic and another example of why the 80s ruled!!!!
Same. I'd think somewhere in the 30's though.
I learned how to ski from this movie
"Go that way, really fast. If something gets it your way, turn". Brilliant!
“What a coach”
This film is a classic, not a cult classic, but a classic. Do One Crazy Summer next
Dont telegram me. I’m not some scammer asshole. No free crap in life.
I really liked this film and it’s psuedo sequel One Crazy summer. Cusack I was the perfect straight man.
I grew up on One Crazy Summer, and then decades later, I ended up working for the obese guy on the beach from One Crazy Summer.
Totally agree!!
not a "cult classic" but it should be
The one point you missed about Dan Schneider is that him opening the door to enter the gym at the prom was the single greatest character entry in cinema history
that WAS a dramatic entrance!
I love the bit later when his balloon floats away, and for just a split second he tries to fly after it, with like a sense of wonder on his face. I feel like that split second does so much to redeem the character. He’s not all bad. He dreams of being free.
@@truejim "you should not disappoint mom"
@@truejim I love that the Ricky has a happy ending. I love that while Lane is doing legendary things on a single ski, Stalin is the actual winner of the race due to his later start, the way Creed beat Rocky in the first movie. It's still a happy ending.
I thought it was him jumping for the balloon, which he says was an adlib on the spot.
Love the scene when Lane’s dad is talking to him and using a book to relate to him by using lingo of the time.
I do this with my 14 year old son now. "What is up, my dude." 🤣
Yes I have 2 sons and will likely be doing that once they hit the teen years. But I refuse to say “spill the tea.”
@@JamminOnThe1 If you say that then they are going to say, "you are really (pause as I read book) bringing me over man".
“Lane you are (looks in book) really putting me off man.”
RIGHT OFF!
ON!
“Now that's a real shame when folks be throwin' away a perfectly good white boy like that.”🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
GenX here, grew up in the 80’s. This movie, and The Sure Thing, were the quintessential movies of my youth.
The "2 dollars" line was recently
a clue on "Jeopardy!". Stumped everyone.
Nobody even rang in.
Yup. I was shocked that none of them knew the reference.
Wtf.. Clueless people!.
One of my favorite 1980's films ever!
One of the most quotable films of all time. I've heard people do the "where's my two dollars" line who then said they had never even heard of this movie.
Unforgettable!
"you go that way. if something gets in the way, turn"
that line is so good it was said said twice 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
just priceless
"You wash your hands on your own time!!"
That line where the utility workers say, "that's a real shame throwing away a perfectly good white boy..." was re-used in Charlie Sheen/Emilio Estevez's 1990 movie "Men At Work" when Louis finds the politician in the barrel.
Hello Lane. How was your day?
Beth broke up with me.
Oh, huh, that's nice!
I went to this movie with a friend and her dad. She was so embarrassed that her dad and I were laughing so hard. In my group of friends, this movie was probably the most loved and quoted.
Knowing the creepy next door neighbor is played by Dan Schneider suddenly makes a lot more sense….
Creepy!
The best touch of the film for me. He plays the sheltered momma's boy Ricky so well
@@tynao2029 Unfortunate implications!
He nailed that dance solo though
Love it! It's crazy looking back at how consistently Roger Ebert makes an ass of himself smack talking so many amazingly great 80's movies!
Uh.....what about Gene?
@@blackamerican40 He's not quite as consistently negative. At least from my memory.
@@LastBastian Gene was even worse of a blowhard with no sense of humor. There were many movies that Ebert seemed to understand that Gene was still totally not getting. It's like Gene judged movies by his own little vision of the values movies should promote, not the actual films or their intentions
Siskel and Ebert were parodied in One Crazy Summer as cartoon bunnies who were blown up as revenge for their critique of Better Off Dead.
Let's not forget what that idiot Ebert said about Ryan Dunn right after his death. Ryan obviously made poor choices that lead to the death of him and another person, but Ebert showed his true colors the second he said what he did. Siskel and Ebert were both drab idiots with no sense of humor, though.
I used to work at a VHS rental counter. We couldn't show R rated movies which were much more common at the time, so this movie was on constant rotation. "One Crazy Summer" and "Peewee' s Big Adventure" made a perfect triple feature for any shift. I can never tire of this one.
The Godzilla scene from One Crazy Summer could be the single most hilarious scene ever filmed. Most things tend to lose their luster over the years, but I still laugh my ass off every time I see it. I don't think that scene would have been possible without Bobcat
@@kwantoon "Phygeah! Got anything heavier I can carry, like a car?" That one still busts me up.
VHS rental counter? Not a video store, but a rental counter? What, was it inside some other store?
Imagine making kids watch Street Trash, Tourist Strap, and 'The Deadly Spawn'. };-P
I LOVE Better off Dead. I watch this movie a couple times a year, when I do an 80's night with friends and it's always a hit. It's up there with "Valley Girl". A lot of my friends really enjoy these movies.
This movie is like if Airplane and sixteen candles had a baby.
Siskel and Ebert always hated the movies that I loved. If they hated a movie, it was my clue that I needed to watch it.
This is legitimately one of my most favorite movies ever.
Same here. The casting was perfect!
It remains one of my fave movies (I am now 54 soon-to-be 55, but I guess I was the perfect audience at the time when I saw it in the movies at age 17). I don't know what Cusack's problem was, but my cousin and I are always doing lines from the film - to me it was a laugh riot. I love One Crazy Summer too. At the time period, I went through a string of movies that really helped me through my teenage years of angst: Sure Thing, Secret Admirer, Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Better off Dead and so on. Thanks for the memories!
I’m 56 and still watch it! First time I saw it was on my ship in the navy, the crew liked it too!
“What a waste throwing away a perfectly good white boy”
From what I read, Cusak doesn’t like to talk about the movie. I think it’s one of his best and entertaining movies 40 years later. A friend of mine went to HS with him and one could occasionally see him around Chicago. He has had a good run of movies.
I heard that too - I really don't know why. I hadn't heard bad things about Savage Steve Holland or other cast members, so why does he avoid it like the plague? It is hilarious and certainly not the worst movie in his filmography. "What a waste of a perfectly good white boy". @@BarrettRodriguez
I love how they referenced the "Two Dollars" line in a later Cusack film, "Hot Tub Time Machine."
It took me 15 years to find this movie on DVD and I'm going to hold on to it till the day I die.
No kidding me too. I could not believe how hard it was to find . It's the only movie I own I will NOT loan out , if someone wants to see it you can watch it at my house.
Until recently I had it on VHS from goodwill but all my VHS tapes were stolen for some reason lol. So many classics gone.
It’s on Blu-ray too!
It’s literally the only dvd I own lol
@@Lauren-km7tc same.
One of the best teen comedy's from the 80's it's a shame john cusack didn't like the movie
In my honest opinion, the funniest scene in better off dead is when barney rubble asks lane if he can go out with beth that was awesome.
Nightmarish!
Funniest part:
Lane driving in car and a love song comes on the radio. Cut to car radio sliding down the street as he drives away.
Classic!
Barney Rubble- that scene made my eyes water from laughing!
@@oakhurstaxe6392 Every song he tuned to was a song about breaking up 🤣
I could not find a copy of this movie forever, It was nowhere online either. I think the music rights are too expensive to put it back out.
One of my fave films ever, introduced to me by my best friend, it was the funniest I had also seen at the time, I cried with laughter watching this. Super underrated cult classic indeed, that i still hold dear and talk up to people to this day.
EG Daly’s songs and appearance in the movie are great!
This is still my favorite 80's teen comedy.
Definitely a Top 10 Comedy of all time! So quotable. You can't hear the words Two Dollars and not think of this!
Unavoidable!
7:31 Full Metal Jacket -helicopter turret scene
One of my favorites. I still yell "I WANT MY $2 DOLLARS!"
Comb-Switchblade!
Same.
@@itsmainelyyou5541 Boy-Genius!
My Girlfriend and I would say, "I want my $2.00 Dollars" and LAUGH! *80's Best Decade!!
Undeniably!
“Aww, that’s a shame when people are throwing away a Perfectly Good White Boy like that?!”
This movie is the reason I listen to Van Halen, play the sax, and my dream car is a 67 Camaro
I love this movie. Every time I listen to the Cure and the Cars, I think of this movie.
Holy shit. I JUST watched Better off Dead this morning.
2 hours later, your video comes up. I'm freaked out. 😟
Easily my absolute favourite "80's Teen Comedy"! Absolutely brilliant and utterly hilarious...my goodness did my brother and I ever love this movie!!! I'd even go further to suggest that for me, aside from Ghostbusters, this was the greatest comedy of the 80's.
I though the movie was funny and watched it countless times. "I want my 2 dollars" was my favorite phrase because I used to be a paperboy as a kid lol
A thankless job!
One of my favorite films all together not just the 80s
The line I want my 2 dollars was used in hot Tub time machine when Adam,Lou,Nick,Jacob were on ski area.
OMG I love this movie so much. Thank you for doing a video on it!
My favorite movie of all time! So many great characters, memorable scenes, music and a sweet classic Camaro.
While Savage Steve Holland still works today (mostly in television), I wish he'd get to do another personal project, as One Crazy Summer would be the last film he'd write and direct. He would mainly direct afterward (though he did write for the Saturday Morning Cartoon, Eek the Cat, along with cartoonist Bill Kopp). I remember reading in the 2000s that he was trying to get a movie he wrote made called The Big 1-0, about a dad trying to throw his son the greatest tenth birthday ever, after his own childhood birthday was so disappointing, but it never got off the ground.
I know Dow!
Actually, didn't he write and direct How I Got Into College after this with Anthony Edwards and Lara Flynn Boyle?
@@TheNameisPlissken1981 No, he didn't write that film, and he only became a director on that after the first one was fired after a week or so of filming, and the studio wasn't happy with their work, so Holland came on board.
@@yusakug gotcha. Thanks for the info.
@@yusakug For a long time, I also thought he was the same Steve Holland who worked on the Big Bang Theory, then I found out he wasn't. So I am 0-2 on my knowledge about "Savage" Steve.
My mom and I just happened to see this film on VHS and we both laughed pretty hard for the entire run time. Such great memories.
One of my FAVORITE movies ever w/ John Cusack besides "One Crazy Summer!" Still watch these movies to this day constantly.....
Also love "Hot Tub Time Machine" because of the Easter eggs....
Basketball!
This is such a crazy fun movie full of memorable scenes and quotes!
I've never known anyone to watch this movie and not like it. I knew several adults when it came out that loved it.
I saw Better Off Dead when it first came out in theatres. Still to this day, it is one of the funniest movies I have ever seen. Also one of the most quotable. A true classic!
This is one of the best movies of the 80's! I've watched it at least a dozen times, if not more. It's long overdue for a sequel!
Nothing happened to "Better of Dead". It's one of the top ten movies of the 1980's
Definitely in my top 10 and my favorite 80s comedy.
Better Off Dead is the Repo Man of ‘80’s teen comedies.
2 of my favorite movies! Good call..
I absolutely LOVE THIS MOVIE, it use to be free to watch on here for like 8 years and I watched is a hundred times at least, even if I played it in the background while I was focused on something else.
I identified with this movie so much. I played alto sax all through high school. I drove a beat up '68 Firebird, which was pretty similar to the '67 Camaro. Plus, I was an assistant manager of a local fast food restaurant. My life wasn't as colorful as Lane's, but I could absolutely relate.
I'd love to hear a WTF happened to The Last American Virgin.
I remember two things about that movie:
1, The completely depressing ending that they would never dream of doing now.
2. The incredible soundtrack that featured, among other musicians, Journey and a young newcomer band called U2
One of the greatest teen movies of the 80's
This is one our favorite Christmas movies.
Best line of the movie, "Now that's a real shame when folks be throwin' away a perfectly good white boy like that."
Absolutely love this movie. Definitely my favorite John Cusak movie and one of the best 80’s comedies. The paper boy scenes were my favorite.
“ I want my 2 dollars!!!” Will forever crack me up 😂😂
What a weird tangent to go off on for Dan Schinder... Man, I always thought that The Sure Thing came out after both Holland films. Maybe I just place it there because Cusack plays a college kid. Anyways, this is my John Cusack 80's trilogy: Better Off Dead, One Crazy Summer, and The Sure Thing. BOD got so much airplay on HBO back in the day it helped make it a cult classic for us.
Awesome cast all around. Was surprised to find that Lane's mom, Kim Darby, was the same actress who played the young girl from the original True Grit. David Ogden Stiers was great to see in the role as well. The movie is insanly quotable.
The hamburger scene was EPIC!!!!! I lost it when I saw it. So good. BoD is def in all my top movie lists. Every character is awesome. Every one. Rickys mom is just incredible. So so good.
Just shows the worth of executives: nothing.
The moment Ricky briefly turns to jump after the balloon after the dance kills me for some reason.
I've always liked this movie always like that song when the soundtrack With One Look. And the Japanese guys who learned English by watching The Wide World of Sports. And his brother taking off at the end for outer space in his own homemade built space shuttle.
Without even watching this movie, I can tell you EXACTLY WTF happened to this movie. It became one of the GREATEST of all time!!!!!!!!!!!!! And the paper boy is Bobby from Back to the Beach. I love that movie!!! "Honey, we can come back in the year 2000 and still see Dick Dale."
Oh dang I had no idea and I'd say I watched Better Off Dead and Back to the Beach an equal number of times (approaching the hundreds). Bobby and Frankie Avalon were so hilarious. The Eighties were a great time to grow up.
@@Psilocybin77 He keeps needling me!!! What the hell is a Kahuna anyways? And is it good to have a big one? I had this movie on VHS and would watch it over and over and over again. rewind it, watch it right away again.
We would rent it every chance we could get. It's bizarre but I have a very vivid and fond memory of the first time we rented it. The video store we were at was one of the biggest I'd ever been in at the time. I miss those places.
One of the best fiom from 80's, I love it
Always love your videos, thanks for doing one of my favorites.
You’re welcome!
You’ll make a fine little helper. What’s your name?
Charles De Mar
The most interesting thing about Better Off Dead was the fact that Liane Meyers mom was the little girl who starred opposite John Wayne in the original True Grit.
Siskel and Ebert were so clueless 🙄🙄🙄
I do think they were great in general, but S&E clearly didn't understand slapstick and the mind of the young adult...
Proof the film critics don't have a clue, this movie was hilarious.
Possibly the greatest and most underrated movies of the 80's at the same time, has aged better than so many other movies that are considered 80's classics, this and Weird Science I think are my two favorite 80's flicks, followed by Ferris!
I loved this movie as a teen and still love it, especially because I also love skiing, and I was a paper boy, whose paper did cost $2.00 a week. People really did have the lamest excuses why they just couldn’t pay me. I can’t get on the ski slopes without thinking “Go that way really fast. If something gets in your way - turn!” Now I’ve shown it to my teen kids and they love it too.
"it's a shame folks be throwing away a perfectly good white boy like that" 😂😂😂
It's now streaming at several locations, including Amazon Prime and TH-cam.
One of my favourite movies! Made me LOL and that was in the 80's! Still will LOL today.
I saw this movie exactly once in my life. My grandmother took me to see it. I laughed through it all and never could find it on VHS. It drifted from my memory but I still remember the paper boy kid. Lol.
I love this movie, and it's got a great soundtrack
Best movie EVAH!!!!! I can't imagine why Cusak didn't like it. His other movies were great (other than 16 Candles, that one was kinda sucky,) but Better Off Dead was the best!
One speaks no English the other one speaks Howard Cosell
I saw Better Off Dead in the theater with bunch of my friends when it was released. We laughed uproariously from beginning to end. The dark humor hit the sweet spot for many teens back then.
I was so struck by Diane Franklin. She was amazingly cute in BOD.
Cusack, is really a good actor but his radical political views are a huge turn off. Hard to separate the two.
Every year, My baby sister and I would send each other $2 in the mail for our birthdays.
I grew up saying "Do they have Christmas in France," I want my two dollars," and countless other phrases growing up. One of the funniest movies I have ever seen.
Love this movie! Found it randomly on tv as a preteen back in the prevalent days of cable boxes and I've loved it ever since. Overdue for a rewatch!
This movie is a classic and one of my favs of the 80s. I agree, One Crazy Summer pales in comparison and also it was an OK movie.
Pepper spray!
The weird mailman was played by the legendary Taylor Negron - and the line worker who commented on throwing away a white boy was played by Steven Williams - who is more well known for playing Captain Fuller in the original 21 Jump Street series
Yeah, Taylor always showed up in a lot of those classic 80''s comedies.
And wasn't his boss at the restaurant, Porky from the movie, Porky's?.
This is my favorite Xmas movie. I used to have it on VHS but that tech has long been gone from my house. I was actually trying to find a way to stream it last Xmas to show my niece. I love both the lunatic mothers and just the whole comedic twist of the movie. It's top 80's tier for me and I'm a massive Cusack fan.
I love this movie. And its hard to think that the Camaro in the movie was about 18 years old when filmed. If this movie were made today that would make the car a 2005, but instead that car is now 56 years old
So many iconic classic 80s movies were made. Back when the idea of people getting offended by JOKES was unheard of. Everyone, every class, every ethnicity, every race were poked fun at in one way or another in the 80's and we all laughed our asses off together. Soon we will have movies about wall paint drying so as to not offend anyone.
Loved this movie! It combines action and hilarious comedy. The star, John Cusack, really began his career with it. The incorporation of the song Bad To The Bone, was perfect.
My understanding is Aaron Dozier was an actual ski instructor and continued to instruct for years after the movie.
Gotta love a movie from the guy who did Eek! The Cat.
This is easily one of my top favorite movies!!!!
I love all the early Cusack movies!
they still rock the 80s guy in me.
Siskel and Ebert called a lot of now comedy classics bad movies because they had no sense of humor that went beyond Jerry Lewis type of films.
Also, in Disney's pocket!
They were already middle aged old farts when these eighties classics came out. Definitely out of the scope of the target demographic.
@@demonicusa.k.a.theblindguy3929 Definitely, they looked at this movie way too seriously to understand the humor.
That's because they took themselves way too seriously. I know the type as my mom was a film critic for a couple of S.F. newspapers back in the day. Forty years later she still thinks her opinions on such matters are more valid than anybody elses.
BTW your Jerry Lewis blurb gave me a good chuckled.
This is one of the funniest and most quotable movies of all time.
For some reason, the hyper-excited math students in math class is the funniest sequence to me. It's a great contrast to the Ferris Bueller scene of complete boredom, and perhaps serves as high school teacher wish fulfillment of what we wish our classes were like.
I love this film. It's a great 80's flick, a great teen comedy and just a great film. Just embrace the weird and love it!
I Love 'Better Off Dead' starring John Cusack :) Thanks JoBlo Originals.
OMG! Thank you for scratching this gem out of my locked away memories! I actually have this movie on DVD and have to go dig it out! LMAO!
Think I might watch One Crazy Summer too and make it a John Cusack double comedy feature.🤣