Movies:
My Bodyguard
DVD Release
- Release Date: 2002
- Widescreen format (aspect ratio 1.85:1)
- Pan & scan (aspect ratio 1.33:1)
- Audio: English Dolby Surround, English mono, French mono
- Subtitles: English, Spanish
- Theatrical trailer & TV spots
- Interactive menus
- Scene selection
- Rating:
- Genre: Comedy Drama
- Movie Type: Teen Movie, Coming-of-Age
- Themes: Protecting the Innocent, Bodyguards, Getting Along
- Director: Tony Bill
- Main Cast: Chris Makepeace, Adam Baldwin, Matt Dillon, Ruth Gordon, John Houseman, Martin Mull
- Release Year: 1980
- Country: US
- Run Time: 96 minutes
- MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
This quietly compelling film explores the hardships and anxieties of high school with intelligence, sensitivity, warmth and humor. Chris Makepeace stars as a shy, bookish student who has recently moved to Chicago and begun a new school. There he finds himself the target of a group of punks led by Matt Dillon (ideally cast as the weasel-like bully), who threaten him each day to turn over his lunch money for protection...or else. When he stands up to them, he nearly loses his dental work before being saved by Ricky Lindemann (Adam Baldwin), a hulking loner rumored to have murdered his own brother. Makepeace offers the boy a job as his bodyguard, and the two become unlikely friends -- that is, until the ousted bullies find a champion of their own who challenges Lindemann. When Lindemann refuses to fight back, he disappears into reclusion, and the bullying begins anew, worse than ever. Makepeace then learns the truth about Lindemann's past: he did indeed kill his brother, but the death was an accident while the two young boys were playing with a gun, and Lindemann lives tortured by guilt as a result. Just when things seem at their worst, the bodyguard returns to face his nemesis as Makepeace and Dillon square off in the final showdown of good versus evil. The real strength of the film is its handling of the relationships between its characters, particularly between Makepeace and Baldwin, and Makepeace and his family (Martin Mull and Ruth Gordon). My Bodyguard is light but thoughtful entertainment with a Rocky theme that's suitable for the entire family. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie GuideReview
My Bodyguard is propelled by some fine acting from its primarily young cast. The performances of the main teen players (Chris Makepeace, Adam Baldwin, and Matt Dillon) and the supporting adults (Ruth Gordon and Martin Mull) are convincing and genuine. Dillon made a splash in 1979's dystopian Over the Edge, and he stands out here as the creepy school bully. The interplay between Makepeace and Baldwin, however, is the film's most compelling aspect. The film was clearly cast in the same underdog-champion mold of the Rocky films, but it also had a deceptively sweet tone that went against the grain of the usually bitter teen pictures of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Such a sweetness prefigured the explosion of the teen comedy-dramas of the mid-1980s, notably the films of John Hughes. The picture was a critical and popular success, and it marked the feature-film directorial debut of actor-producer Tony Bill. ~ Brendon Hanley, All Movie GuideCast
- Chris Makepeace - Clifford
- Adam Baldwin - Linderman
- Matt Dillon - Moody
- Ruth Gordon - Gramma
- John Houseman - Dobbs
- Martin Mull - Mr. Peache
Craig Richard Nelson - Griffith; Paul Quandt - Carson; Hank Salas - Mike; Joan Cusack - Shelley; Kathryn Grody - Miss Jump; Dean Miller - Hightower; Tim Reyna - Koontz; Richard Bradley - Dubrow; Denise Baske - Leilani; Jennifer Beals; Patrick Billingsley; Dick Cusack; Dean Devlin - Boy; Eddie Gomez; Bruce Jarchow - Roberto; Tim Kazurinsky - Workman; Marge Kotlisky - Mrs. Linderman; Vicky Nelson - Freddy; Tom Reilly; George Wendt - Engineer; Dorothy Scott - Librarian; Allison Caine
