Jayne, the beginning

High School is a bitch. We all know that. There are, literally, hundreds if not thousands of movies about how tough it is to
be a high school student. Plenty of good and bad out there. There was this one movie, however, that was one of those movies that was on HBO every afternoon when you got home from school. So while you were relaxing after a hard day of being a 5th grader, you'd come home and see this movie over and over. As an adult, it's really interesting to see whose careers started with this movie. Many actors who were still nobodies, becoming respected actors in the industry who are still in the headlines. Today, it's all about the 1980 after school special, My Bodyguard.

My Bodyguard follows Clifford, played by Chris Makepeace (the kid in Meatballs), as he begins his career at a new school. One of the first people he meets is the school bully Melvin Moody, played by Matt Dillon (this was his third movie), who is terrific at making new kid's life miserable. In an attempt to protect himself from Dillon's character, he hires the one person at the school everyone is afraid of to be his bodyguard, the kid who killed his own brother and just got back from prison, Ricky Linderman, played by my favorite "that guy" of all time, Adam Baldwin (Firefly's Jayne). Well, it doesn't take long for Clifford and Linderman become friends. Linderman is just misunderstood. He didn't really kill his brother, but he was part of the reason he died, and Ricky got to see it, he was there. They run off Matt Dillon and are safe to pursue their adolescent dreams when Dillon returns with his own bodyguard. Fights break out and everything is fine in the end. Yes, it's a very typical after school special.

Part of me truly believes this is truly a great movie, and part of me thinks I still believe it because there was so much young talent in the cast (Joan Cusack, Jennifer Beals, George Wendt and Martin Mull also have small parts). I think because it was right on the heels of movies like Breaking Away and similar coming of age movies of its time, it has a certain quality to it. You really, really hate Matt Dillon's character, Moody. The stuff he does to poor Clifford is truly despicable. It made a very easy case to justify Clifford going out and paying another student to protect him. Of course when the time comes, he learns to stand his ground and fight back. These kids aren't killing themselves, just learning how to fight for themselves, even if it's literally.

All in all I absolutely love, My Bodyguard. It was something that made me aware of the darker side of high school, even though I in elementary school at the time. It wasn't kids killing other kids, just the older more common forms of bullying like taking lunch money and giving whip downs in public places. Ultimately, I'd say it's probably pretty accurate description for many schools of its time. The movie spawned one of my favorite actors whose career I've followed since that movie, Adam Baldwin. He's popped up in movies and TV as some huge guy in the background. He's kind of a character actor, but he's always been around, and he's always terrific. I was reminded of how good he was when I was introduced to Firefly, and was glad to see he was getting plenty of work. I could write a whole article about Adam Baldwin and his rise to brilliant TV shows that are cancelled after 15 episodes. Matt Dillon gets better with most every movie he does, and he has a great range. Then, Joan Cusack playing one of Clifford’s friends is fun to see, as it was one of her first movies.

To this day, when I see it on, I have to sit and watch it. It's very moving all the way through. It's also a great movie for all age groups. It is entertaining as well as full of good lessons. It would be a great Sunday afternoon family movie day. Have lots of snacks and soda around and enjoy My Bodyguard. You'll love it.