Ready to Take a Chance Again
My favorite movie growing up tended to be whichever one I saw most recently in the theater. Although there were classic movies on TV that I loved, those didn’t seem to have the impact of sitting in a movie palace with a soda in hand, Sno-Caps stuck in my braces, snug in the middle of the row surrounded by my family and a thousand other people. My childhood list of favorites by the year starting in 1975 would be as follows: Strongest Man in the World, No Deposit - No Return, and The Rescuers. A new favorite entered my life in 1978 - Foul Play starring Goldie Hawn and Chevy Chase. It was probably my first grown-up movie..maybe a little too grown-up. The story was complex and my young brain struggled to comprehend it. There was a scary albino thug, microfilm, sex jokes that I didn’t and maybe still don’t understand, an old man fighting an old lady, broad racial stereotypes, a laughing snake, Billy Barty, Dudley Moore, and a plot to kill the Pope. Even if I didn’t understand what the f*ck was going on, I still enjoyed the jump-scares and the jokes that registered on my level. Plus, a 1970’s Goldie Hawn in full-on adorable blonde damsel in distress mode is always a good thing. There’s something about women’s hairdos in that era, so long and flowing, falling across their faces and needing to be tucked behind their ears in one smooth motion. I’m sorry, that was weird.
I’ve left out one of the most crucial parts of this cinema experience - the theme song “Ready To Take a Chance Again” sung by Barry Manilow. The ’70s were very good to Barry, who scored a ton of Top 40 hits throughout the decade. He was sort of everywhere during this time, the sound of his voice pulling me back to childhood even as I hear it today. While I’m sure his era-appropriate hairstyle also played about his face in an attractive way, I want to focus on his music, or at least this particular song. During the opening credits of Foul Play, the tune washed over helicopter footage of a yellow VW Beetle convertible as it drove along a windswept California coastal road. The font and color of the credits during these shots very evocative of that era. A movie that is so of-its-time and firmly planted in that world is charming to live in for an hour and a half. The macrame plant holders, elbow patches, ferns, beiges, and bellbottoms combine to add to the experience. The music, of course, does too.
Is this song a maudlin piece of crap, or is it the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard? I have never been able to decide. Over the years it has plagued and delighted me, although I still have yet to come to a solid conclusion. While watching Foul Play for the first time in thirty years, I absorbed the entire experience with a fresh, open mind. I found it harmlessly fun and still pretty entertaining, with a theme song that is… the most beautiful thing ever created, with Goldie coming in a close second.
I think I have been chasing this opening sequence my entire life without realizing it. During my college years, I ended up buying the same model yellow VW Beetle convertible. I am ashamed to say it, but I was too cool back then to blast Barry Manilow as I drove through the streets of my hometown, Downers Grove. The closest I could get to winding my way along the California coastline with waves crashing was driving past a lawn sprinkler or the community swimming pool, but it still could have been glorious. Maybe there will come a day when I will embrace my love of this song and share it with a world that has forgotten the music of Barry Manilow. Maybe one day, I will be willing to take that chance.
