It's hard to believe, but it was thirty years ago when a little known cast and a potentially cliched script made its mark on the teen film genre with the release of Valley Girl starring Nicholas Cage and Deborah Foreman. The movie which was riffing on the teen speak of southern California popularized in Frank Zappa's song, and which put a surprisingly fresh spin on Shakespeare's star-crossed-lovers motif, was well received at the box office. And, on its way to becoming one of the most well-known and cited teen films of the eighties, the film also launched a hallowed soundtrack of eighties post-punk and a theme song which would be come synonymous with the decade itself - Melt With You by Modern English:
This week MovieFone takes a look at where the stars are now. Some faired very well while others drifted into respectable careers and some literally dropped off the map map. However, the most disturbing news is that studios are planning a remake of the film. That said, we'll always have the original, and it's still great every time I see it. And, even in an era of Facebook and text messaging, the story of a young punk falling in love with a girl from the Valley seems honest and fresh in its treatment of adolescence, love, angst, and music. The soundtrack was one of the first time I remember a movie's music making all the difference in the story, and teen movies of the 80s did that in an impressive way. These days, the killer soundtrack is a standard component of teen movies and television shows, and it became an art form with shows like The O.C. and One Tree Hill. But it was the young kids rocking out to The Plimsouls at a club in the Los Angeles that really put movie music on the map for me.
For a look back at the highlights of the original, check out this montage:
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