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Thursday, January 16, 2014

MY CHAUFFEUR (1986)



Directed by David Beaird
Written by David Beaird
Starring Deborah Foreman, Sam Jones, Howard Hessman, Sean McClory, E.G. Marshall & Penn and Teller

Brentwood limousine service is about to get a serious upset to their status quo. Casey Meadows (Deborah Foreman) has been sent a letter from a very powerful man, Witherspoon (E.G. Marshall) to report for work. Casey finds herself in a classic fish out of water scenario when she is introduced into a man’s world of chauffeuring the rich and powerful around. 
Her first gig is hauling around a punk rocker named Cat Fight (Leland Crooke) who makes her stop the limousine so he can liberate a woman in a blue dress with blue hair with a blue dog of her panties.
Yeah, it’s kinda weird.
Then we are introduced to workaholic, Battle (Sam Jones). His girlfriend is breaking up with him in the back of Casey’s limo. Note the girl is the same actress who cut the blonde girls hair free from the door in the party scene from SIXTEEN CANDLES. I didn’t feel like looking up her name. There are a lot of actors like that in this movie. People that relate to a lot of other movies. That old, ‘Hey! I know that guy! He was in…’ kind of thing.
Casey advises Battle to have a drink. Battle has a lot of drinks and it isn’t long before we see more of Sam Jones than we ever wanted to. This leads to her taking him home with her since she has no idea who he is. Nothing happens, but he is not happy waking up with the help.
We discover that Battle is the son of Witherspoon and the elder Witherspoon says that Battle works too much and sends him off to check their vineyards holdings in Sonoma. He takes a limo and guess who his driver is?
Well, the limo breaks down in the middle of nowhere and the pair is forced to walk. They wind up at a house in the middle of nowhere with a couple who invite them in. He is the chubby evil guy from PEE WEE’S BIG ADVENTURE. (Again, not looking it up.) The two of them share a bed and more and in the morning he wants to marry her. She is not interested so he continues to try and try and try.
Eventually they come to his father and he has a big secret for them, but he doesn’t. It seems that he thought he was Casey’s father, but one of the limo drivers comes forth and says he is the actual father. This goes a long way in avoiding an extremely awkward situation. And in the end they get married.
I was happy to see MY CHAUFFEUR in the mega set as it might be the one Deborah Foreman movie I have never seen. I had it bad for her back in the day. I can remember repeated viewings of LOBSTER MAN FROM MARS for no other reason than she was in it. She is extremely cute and gives off this bizarre vibe in the film. Kind of a Cyndi Lauper look and this weird staccato reply to any questions people ask her in the movie. Sometimes, she gets this mischievous smile on her face and you aren’t sure if it’s part of the act or she’s just having this much fun. 
And I have to discuss the end. See, my wife and I saw this coming. It was going to end up with them being brother and sister and that made it creepy. Of course they aren’t related, but when E.G. Marshall does the reveal; Sam and Deborah look at each other, smirk and say Uh-Oh.
Really?
Incest makes for an uh-oh? Man, that played really weird. I mean in the end it turned out that her mom was a cleaning lady and slept with a lot of limo drivers. It was the 80’s so being a slut is better than banging your sister.
And, yes, Penn and Teller are in it. It’s weird though in that the only cast member they interact with is Foreman. It seems forced and a little long. It’s sweet in the end, but it seemed totally unnecessary.

In the end MY CHAUFFEUR is definitely a product of it’s time and Foreman is cute and manages to keep her clothes on when everyone else around her is losing theirs. Even Flash Gordon.

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