Underground Aces

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Audience Member Underground Aces has it all! I like to think of myself as a bit of an 80's expert. I spent most of my teenage years in the 80s. I watched a lot of TV, hung out at my favorite VHS rental store and even today I destroy people at any game that involves 80s trivia and yet… I had never even heard of this 1981 classic before this week. It's never on an 80s movie list. It was never trashed by my favorite movie channels on YouTube. It never gets referenced on Family Guy and the people who went on to actually have a career never brought it up on talk shows. Yet there it sits, free to stream on Prime, invisible to 80s historians, and still craving your attention. Set in the early 80s, and quite possibly filmed in the late 70s, this time-capsule of actors, tropes and jokes reminds me of what life was like the day after the last episode of That 70s Show. This movie has it all… car chases, a 5 minute Rube Goldberg scene, a little bit of unnecessary nudity, the prince and the pauper, roller skates, comedy racism, slapstick, Melanie Griffith… Yes. That Melanie Griffith along with Dirk Benedict (before he went on to be Face on A-Team) and Robert Hegyes fresh from Mr. Kotters classroom. Sid Haig shows up in a comedy role, Frank Gorshin does his best George Murdock impersonation, Jerry Orbach with the same haircut he had in Law and Order and my personal favorite is a pre-Police Academy, Michael Winslow, who was not allowed to speak a single word, but was still a main character. The actors are reallty great but, the characters in Underground Aces are really the biggest flaw in this whole movie. There are no less than twelve characters struggling to develop who they are in a 95 minute film, and it takes 45 minutes for the lead story to even emerge. It's not about Melanie Griffith and Dirk Benedict developing a relationship. It's not about Michael Winslow overcoming a traumatic past that forced him to speak with sound effects instead of works… it's about Robert Hegyes finding true love for the first time in his life and using a Sheik to make it all happen. Most sites compare this movie to the cult classic Car Wash, and while that is a fair comparison, this movie reminded me more of the movie D.C. Cab, that was released 2 years later, featuring Mr. T. Unliked Car Wash, it features a college educated lead who wants to quit the real world and live the exciting life of a job that depends on tips. Car Wash was about people who hated their jobs and pulled pranks to deal with a substandard life and not people who thought they were hip and cool because of their service industry jobs. Still, if it were up to me, all three of these movies would be sold as a the "Hollywood Has No Idea What Jobs Are Trilogy." Maybe throw in a, "AKA, Actors Hungry For Work," secondly title. This movie is worth watching. You will laugh. You will tell your friends about it. It may take 10 years, but you will even watch it again! Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/14/23 Full Review Audience Member Endless failed attempts at humor distract from the main storyline. Difficult to follow what's going on because bad jokes cause you to turn away from screen and miss story progression. Horrible acting by the Sheik character. No likable characters. Annoying theme music. Rated 1/5 Stars •  Rated 1 out of 5 stars 02/12/23 Full Review Audience Member I've thought there were some slow scenes going towards the middle of the film but the really good scenes made up for the slow scenes, the highlights of the film were the excessive driving scenes in the parking lot, the scene where they sabotage a wedding, the blitz night scene with the big flated ball and the scene where they put an antique car back together quickly. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/22/23 Full Review Audience Member A reckless group of hotel valet parking attendants help a Sheik woo an unhappily engaged Audrey Landers. Got better as it went. I did like the angry cowboy venting to the Sheik about high gas prices. That joke is still relevant 31 years later. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/13/23 Full Review Audience Member Group of underground parking attendants at a nice hotel mix business with pleasure. Appears to be more pleasure than business, this one doesn't quite turn up aces. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/24/23 Full Review Audience Member A reckless group of hotel valet parking attendants help a Sheik woo an unhappily engaged Audrey Landers. Got better as it went. I did like the angry cowboy venting to the Sheik about high gas prices. That joke is still relevant 31 years later. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 01/28/23 Full Review Read all reviews

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