''My Bodyguard'' is a 1980 American family comedy drama film directed by

Tony Bill Gerard Anthony Bill (born August 23, 1940) is an American actor, producer, and director. He produced the 1973 movie ''The Sting'', for which he shared the Academy Award for Best Picture with Michael Phillips and Julia Phillips. As an actor, Bi ...

(his directorial debut), and written by Alan Ormsby. The film stars

Chris Makepeace Christopher Makepeace (born April 22, 1964) is a Canadian former actor, known for his starring roles in the coming-of-age film ''My Bodyguard'' (1980) and comedy horror ''Vamp'' (1986), and supporting roles in the screwball comedy '' Meatballs'' ...

, Adam Baldwin (in his first film role),

Matt Dillon Matthew Raymond Dillon (born February 18, 1964) is an American actor. He has received various accolades, including an Oscar and Grammy nomination. Dillon made his feature film debut in '' Over the Edge'' (1979) and established himself as a te ...

Martin Mull Martin Eugene Mull (born August 18, 1943) is an American actor, comedian and musician who has appeared in many television and film roles. He is also a painter and recording artist. As an actor, he first became known in his role on ''Mary Hartman, ...

, and Ruth Gordon. The film was the debut of both Baldwin and an uncredited Jennifer Beals and was Joan Cusack's first major film.

Plot

Clifford Peache lives in an upscale Chicago luxury hotel with his father, the hotel manager, and his grandmother. He is a new student at Lake View High School, where he arrives each day in a hotel limousine. Clifford quickly becomes a target of abuse from a gang of bullies, led by Melvin Moody. They regularly extort money from students, allegedly to protect them from another student, Ricky Linderman. According to school legend, Linderman has killed several people, including his own little brother. Not believing the stories, Clifford consults a teacher who claims that the only violence she's aware of from Ricky's past occurred when his nine-year-old brother died accidentally while playing alone with a gun. Ricky was the first to find the body. Despite the rumors, Clifford approaches Ricky and asks him to be his bodyguard. He refuses, but the boys become friends after Ricky saves him from a beating by Moody and his gang. He has emotional issues over the death of his brother, and although he's slow to trust Clifford, Ricky shows him a cherished motorcycle that he has been rebuilding. The friendship between them is strengthened as Clifford successfully helps Ricky search junkyards for a hard-to-find cylinder for the motorcycle's engine. Through Clifford's friendship, Ricky comes out of his shell, proving to a few classmates that he's not the killer the school rumors allege. As Clifford, Ricky, and a few other friends from school eat lunch in

Lincoln Park Lincoln Park is a park along Lake Michigan on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. Named after US President Abraham Lincoln, it is the city's largest public park and stretches for seven miles (11 km) from Grand Avenue (500 N), on the south, ...

, Moody and his gang approach. Moody has enlisted older bodybuilder Mike to be ''his'' bodyguard. He intimidates and physically abuses Ricky, who refuses to fight. Mike vandalizes his motorcycle before Moody pushes it into the lagoon. Ricky runs away, ashamed and angry. Ricky later appears at Clifford's hotel, asking for money before leaving again. Clifford follows him and they argue before Ricky finally reveals that it was ''he'' who accidentally shot his brother while playing with their father's gun, and lied about finding his brother after the fact. As a result, he is overwhelmed with guilt and remorse, leaving Clifford behind as he takes a subway train into the night. Moody and Mike return to the park to continue bullying the other children. Ricky is also there retrieving his motorcycle from the lagoon. Moody notices, demanding the motorcycle, which Ricky silently refuses. Moody summons Mike, the bodybuilder intimidates him, they engage in a long fistfight, which Ricky ultimately wins. Moody and Clifford have split off into their own fistfight, when Moody tried to unfairly intervene in the fight between Ricky and Mike. Ricky urges Clifford to fight him while coaching him. Clifford initially fights incompetently, taunted by the overconfident bully, but finally lands several solid punches, the last of which knocks Moody down, breaking his nose. Moody sits on the ground, bleeding and whining, showing to be a coward. Ricky retrieves his motorcycle, and jokingly asks Clifford to be ''his'' bodyguard as they leave with their friends.

Production

The film was shot on location in Chicago with Lake View High School providing the setting for the film's fictional Fleer H.S. The hotel that Clifford lives in and which is managed by his father is the real life Ambassador East (now known as the Ambassador Hotel) at 1301 North State Parkway.

Cast

* Adam Baldwin as Ricky Linderman *

as Clifford Peache *

as Melvin Moody * Paul Quandt as Carson * Richard Bradley as Dubrow * Tim Reyna as Koontz * Dean R. Miller as Hightower *

as Mr. Peache * Ruth Gordon as Gramma Peache * Richard Cusack as Principal Roth * Joan Cusack as Shelley * Hank Salas as Mike * Kathryn Grody as Ms. Jump * Patrick Billingsley as biology teacher *

John Houseman John Houseman (born Jacques Haussmann; September 22, 1902 – October 31, 1988) was a Romanian-born British-American actor and producer of theatre, film, and television. He became known for his highly publicized collaboration with director ...

as Dobbs * Craig Richard Nelson as Griffith * Tim Kazurinsky as workman * George Wendt as air conditioning engineer * Jennifer Beals (uncredited) as Shelly's friend

Release and reception

''My Bodyguard'' opened on July 11, 1980, in

limited release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...

, and wide release on August 15, 1980. In its limited weekend, the film opened at #3 with $178,641 and went on to gross $22,482,953 in the United States. The film was named as one of the top ten films of 1980 by National Board of Review. It was also nominated by the Writers Guild of America for Best Drama Written Directly for the Screen, and in his analysis of the

53rd Academy Awards The 53rd Academy Awards ceremony, organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored 1980 in film, films released in 1980 and took place on March 31, 1981, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles beginning at ...

, Gary Arnold of '' The Washington Post'' wrote that ''My Bodyguard'' was unfairly snubbed when it failed to receive an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay. The film ranked No. 45 on '' Entertainment Weekly''s list of the 50 Best High School Movies. The film received generally positive reviews; on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 79% of 34 critics gave the film a positive review (with an average rating of 6.8/10) and the site's critics' consensus reading, "T. Bill debuts as an affectionate director, keenly aware of growing pains."

Home video release

The film was released on DVD on January 29, 2002 and also was released on Blu-ray on September 6, 2016.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:My Bodyguard 1980 films 1980s high school films 1980s teen comedy-drama films 20th Century Fox films American comedy-drama films American high school films American teen comedy-drama films Films about bullying Films scored by Dave Grusin Films set in Chicago Films shot in Chicago 1980 directorial debut films American children's comedy films Films directed by Tony Bill 1980s English-language films 1980s American films