Sean T. Collins has written about comics and popular culture professionally since 2001 and on this very blog since 2003. He has written for Maxim, The Comics Journal, Stuff, Wizard, A&F Quarterly, Comic Book Resources, Giant, ToyFare, The Onion, The Comics Reporter and more. His comics have been published by Top Shelf, Partyka, and Family Style. He blogs here and at Robot 6.
(Provided that I deem them suitably fabulous, your name and message will be considered eligible for publication unless you specify otherwise.) Review Copies Welcome
One of my favorite things on Earth that I do is a tradition among various current and former Wizard staffers (a lot more former than current at this point!) called the Manly Movie Mamajama. On a more or less quarterly basis, 10-20 of us will get together some night, get a ton of beer and junk food, and watch three macho-ish genre movies in a row while hooting and hollering at the screen. It's kind of like Mystery Science Theater 3000, only with more drunken screaming of the word "YEAH!!!!" for each topless scene and exploding head.
Because I feel like it, here is a rundown of each MMM we've done so far--the themes and the films.
THE MANLY MOVIE MAMAJAMA
MMM1: ROADS AND/OR WARRIORS
1. Road House
2. The Warriors
3. The Road Warrior
MMM2: DYSTOPIAN FUTURES AND/OR KURT RUSSELL
4. The Running Man
5. Escape from New York
6. Big Trouble in Little China
MMM3: VERHOEVEN IN VER-GOSHEN
7. RoboCop
8. Total Recall
9. Starship Troopers
MMM4: GET WELL, FIDEL
10. Red Dawn
11. Invasion U.S.A.
12. Rambo: First Blood Part II
MMM5: SCHLOCKTOBERFEST
13. The Monster Squad
14. Hellraiser
15. The Thing
MMM6: FEMININE FILM FEST
16. Terminator 2: Judgment Day
17. Aliens
18. The Descent
MMM7: STALLONE IN THE DARK
19. Over the Top
20. Death Race 2000
21. Rocky IV
MMM8: MMMY BUDDY
22. Dead Heat
23. Point Break
24. Tango & Cash
MMM9: NIGHT OF THE LIVING NIGHTS
25. Night of the Comet
26. Night of the Creeps
27. Nightbreed
MMM10: MONSTER MOVIE MAMAJAMA
28. Tremors
29. King Kong Lives
30. Reign of Fire
MMM11: SWAYZE FROM THE HEAT, OR "THEY SAVED PATRICK SWAYZE'S PANCREAS: A VERY SPECIAL MMM"
31. Road House
32. Steel Dawn
33. Point Break
MMM12: THE MODERN MANLY MOVIE
34. Crank
35. Doomsday
36. Rambo
-----
There are just so, so many things I enjoy about the MMMs: Drinking like it's a night out at college, then collecting all the empties and photographing them for posterity. Greeting each famous one-liner and infamous groaners like a visit from the Pope. Eating pizza, buffalo wing pretzel bits, sour patch kids, and those store-brand chocolate chip cookies with M&Ms instead of chips that they sell in those plastic containers in the bakery aisle. More or less openly ogling Patrick Swayze's ass (seriously, have you seen that guy in his prime lately? Unbelievable). The ongoing, unofficial contest for "line of the night" from the peanut gallery (my all-time favorite, from Todd Ciolek, after some of us decried the gratuitousness with which that three-breasted hooker gets shot in Total Recall: "Well, to be fair, it had been almost five minutes since a woman was brutally murdered onscreen."). The amazing commemorative T-shirts made by Zach Oat (my faves include a Che-style portrait of Patrick Swayze from Red Dawn for "Get Well, Fidel" and a Hellraiser/Monster Squad mash-up featuring the immortal line "Pinhead Stole My Twinkie" for Schlocktoberfest). The money we raised for pancreatic cancer and cyclone relief in Burma during "Swayze from the Heat" and "The Modern Manly Movie" respectively. The wee-hours viewings of the final film in each marathon, which separate the men from the boys and the caffeinated from the comatose. The email chains leading up to the selection of each line-up, and celebrating the impending festivities ("What do you get when you mess with the Orphans? Is the Lord Humungus a reasonable man? Does pain hurt? The answers to these questions and more in just two hours."). And that's before you even get into the films themselves, the influence of which on my aesthetics of late cannot be exaggerated: great rough-and-tumble warts-and-all affairs, nearly all set in a world where the way to make sense of things is to kill someone. Bloody and profane and glorious--just like, on a good night, the Manly Movie Mamajama itself.
You forgot to mention the round robin phone messages those not in attendance (usually me) are subjected to.
I will say that my own personal proudest(?) moment was my racially controversial, "You'll just be hungry again in a hour!" line when one of the zombies is about to eat an Asian child in Night of the Comet.
Ben, I totally blanked on some of the other classic lines so I only listed the one from Todd. But that was a KILLER. Another good one: Rickey on the old farmer discovering Swayze's sweet ride in Road House: "This boy's from the future!" And yes, I forgot to mention the phone-bombing. Dammit! Actually, haven't we not done that at the past couple? You would know...
Jim, we've actually discussed including Predator at length, especially early on, but the thinking was we've all got the movie memorized already and it might be less fun. But since then we've gotten more comfortable with doing movies we've all already seen a million times, and plus it's a rad flick, so it's a likely candidate for the next one (esp. since that should go down around Halloween and it's a good time for monsters and gore). Also, passing out is the best part.
I have not been phone bombed since the last Goshen MMM when I threatened that Justin that I would call the Goshen PD and get the party shut down if I was bombed.
And in an ironic twist, it was actually me who invented the Phone Bomb during MMM3 with, I believe, Jesse Thompson as the original target.
My personal favorite MMM still has to be the original one with the Road House/Road Warrior/The Warriors viewing. I can't remember the exactly line, but someone (probably Jesse or Zach) yelled something out in the scene from Road House when Swayze walks out and sees the stop sign through his windshield.
I resent the implication that NOT watching a movie about well-oiled, half-naked men running through the jungle somehow makes us gay, while watching a movie about "Pretty Lips" Peter Weller and his band of singer-surgeon Duran Duran rejects is totally okay.
I mean, I love "Buckaroo Banzai," but manly? Very few movies based on books are manly. "Running Man" and "Starship Troopers" don't count, because they threw their source material out the window. And I'm still not sure if we should have even watched "Nightbreed."
nd I'm still not sure if we should have even watched "Nightbreed."
Considering that that whole movie is a metaphor for being gay, moving out of your podunk hometown, and letting your freak flag fly in the West Village, I'd say the answer is a big YES!
I don't know if the line was mine, but the stop sign wasn't through the windshield, it was hanging out the passenger-side window, and it looked like it had been driving. Someone said something like, "Dammit, stop sign -- that's the LAST time you borrow my car!" And the sign was all drunk, like, "Shorry, Dalton!" It was funny at the time, but not as funny as "This boy's from the future!"
Did we really watch that movie twice? Did any good lines come out of the second viewing?
If I recall correctly, the stop sign was Rickey as well. He was on fire that night!
As for other memorable lines, my memory is awful, so MMM jokes are always ephemeral for me. At best I can remember some of my own jokes from the past one or two. I seem to recall referring to Crank as the heterosexual equivalent of Moulin Rouge, which I only remember because it's so very apt.
For my money, the absolute height of MMM hilarity so far was King Kong Lives.
Man, we must have watched King Kong smash his face into that rock 20 times.
And it is strange that we haven't done "Conan," although I suspect that "Conan the Destroyer" might be more fun to watch. Maybe the next one just needs to be an Arnold night? We've been deficient. Predator, Conan and... Red Heat? Commando? Terminator 1 or 3? Last Action Hero?
I've long advocated for Conan, under several possible rubrics:
1) Sword and Sorcery (or Sword and Sandals)
Besides Conan and/or Conan the Destroyer, this could include 300 (sorry, Alejandro, you blew your veto on that one when you skipped out on MMM12), Willow, Excalibur, Beastmaster, Gladiator, Braveheart, Krull, Red Sonja, Clash of the Titans...
2) Schwarzenegger Night
This could include Commando (though there was some hesitation because it was part of the proto-MMM that they threw in Justin's honor when he revealed he hadn't seen it), Predator, Red Heat, Raw Deal...
3) Planet Hollywood
Schwarzenegger, Stallone, Willis. Conan, Cobra, Die Hard. BLAM!
There was some debate over that, but since we were doing a sort of "greatest hits" tribute to the MMM's ailing patron saint by re-watching Road House and Point Break, Steel Dawn's callback to our Dystopian Future roots (The Warriors (sorta), The Road Warrior, The Running Man, Escape from New York) gave it the edge.
I actually just looked down and realized that I'm wearing my T-shirt from the first MMM and the date reads November 11, 2005. Holy crap, we've been doing this for a long time. That was a little under a month after I moved to NY and started at the Wiz.
I vaguely remember a great line and I'm trying not to sound arrogant because I said it. But it was during the first viewing of Point Break (MMM8) where Utah finished sleeping with his androgynous young looking "girlfriend" and I said something like, "Honey, did you tape Duck Tales for me?" The line got me a free copy of Tango & Cash as a prize!
It saddens me to realize how many MMM's I've missed (I only stuck around NY long enough for the inaugural one, after all), but I have very fond memories of us laughing our asses off at the very end of "Road House," when we realized Dalton's crazy old man landlord ("Sunshine" Parker!) was watching him swim naked. From a lawnchair right next to the lake, no less.
The first time you guys phone-bombed me in TN was one of the most surreal joyous/painful experiences I've ever had. Tears were shed, bitches!
Man, I miss Manly Movie Nights, so much so that I may have to start the tradition out here on the West Coast! But alas, it won't be the same, not without Todd, Rickey, Zach or anyone else spewing those hilarious one-liners at the TV screen. Those were some treasured moments, fellas.
And yeah, I miss that ravioli pizza, too. If I only I knew how to make it, I'd make a killing out here in LA.
Sean, thanks for this trip to the past. And Rob, thanks for tweeting the link!
This is awesome beyond belief. The T-shirts are a nice touch. Almost makes my upcoming SACK FEST '08, a two-day tribute to all things John Cusack on three screens indoors and out, seem lacking. ALMOST.
Smarter and better-looking does not necessarily equal manly. In fact, most of our manly movies feature ugly and/or stupid protagonists, Patrick Swayze being a notable exception.
I'm still pushing hard for a "Hulkamania" theme with No Holds Barred, Rocky III and a third film TBD (the Hulkster mostly went into family fare after that, but we could easily insert his nemesis Roddy Piper's Hell Comes to Frogtown or They Live as a third).
Godammit, The Lost Boys is ridiculous. I can't wait for that film at a MMM. There's that fucking scene DURING THE OPENING CREDITS as that Doors song plays where the guy-who-would-star-in-Speed 2 asks a dude on the street if there's any jobs around "here." After a pause, this goofy, hippie-looking dude who is OBVIOUSLY a gigolo and has OBVIOUSLY just finished hitting the bong says "Nothin' legal."
Ugh.
(There's also a Dark Knight poster in the Frog Bros.' parents' comic shop.)
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Comments (31)
You forgot to mention the round robin phone messages those not in attendance (usually me) are subjected to.
I will say that my own personal proudest(?) moment was my racially controversial, "You'll just be hungry again in a hour!" line when one of the zombies is about to eat an Asian child in Night of the Comet.
Posted by Ben Morse | September 23, 2008 7:36 AM
Too scared to watch Predator, you buncha slack-jawed faggots?
Big Trouble in Little China and Buckaroo Banzai is a fun double-feature. After that I pass out.
Posted by Jim Treacher | September 23, 2008 7:43 AM
Ben, I totally blanked on some of the other classic lines so I only listed the one from Todd. But that was a KILLER. Another good one: Rickey on the old farmer discovering Swayze's sweet ride in Road House: "This boy's from the future!" And yes, I forgot to mention the phone-bombing. Dammit! Actually, haven't we not done that at the past couple? You would know...
Jim, we've actually discussed including Predator at length, especially early on, but the thinking was we've all got the movie memorized already and it might be less fun. But since then we've gotten more comfortable with doing movies we've all already seen a million times, and plus it's a rad flick, so it's a likely candidate for the next one (esp. since that should go down around Halloween and it's a good time for monsters and gore). Also, passing out is the best part.
Posted by Sean T. Collins | September 23, 2008 9:40 AM
I have not been phone bombed since the last Goshen MMM when I threatened that Justin that I would call the Goshen PD and get the party shut down if I was bombed.
And in an ironic twist, it was actually me who invented the Phone Bomb during MMM3 with, I believe, Jesse Thompson as the original target.
Posted by Ben Morse | September 23, 2008 10:01 AM
My personal favorite MMM still has to be the original one with the Road House/Road Warrior/The Warriors viewing. I can't remember the exactly line, but someone (probably Jesse or Zach) yelled something out in the scene from Road House when Swayze walks out and sees the stop sign through his windshield.
Can anyone remember the line?
Posted by TJ Dietsch | September 23, 2008 10:10 AM
I resent the implication that NOT watching a movie about well-oiled, half-naked men running through the jungle somehow makes us gay, while watching a movie about "Pretty Lips" Peter Weller and his band of singer-surgeon Duran Duran rejects is totally okay.
I mean, I love "Buckaroo Banzai," but manly? Very few movies based on books are manly. "Running Man" and "Starship Troopers" don't count, because they threw their source material out the window. And I'm still not sure if we should have even watched "Nightbreed."
Posted by Zach Oat | September 23, 2008 11:03 AM
nd I'm still not sure if we should have even watched "Nightbreed."
Considering that that whole movie is a metaphor for being gay, moving out of your podunk hometown, and letting your freak flag fly in the West Village, I'd say the answer is a big YES!
Posted by Sean T. Collins | September 23, 2008 11:07 AM
NIGHT-BREED! NIGHT-BREED! NIGHT-BREED! [To the tune of the MMM Nightbreed themesong.]
Posted by David | September 23, 2008 11:19 AM
I don't know if the line was mine, but the stop sign wasn't through the windshield, it was hanging out the passenger-side window, and it looked like it had been driving. Someone said something like, "Dammit, stop sign -- that's the LAST time you borrow my car!" And the sign was all drunk, like, "Shorry, Dalton!" It was funny at the time, but not as funny as "This boy's from the future!"
Did we really watch that movie twice? Did any good lines come out of the second viewing?
Posted by Zach Oat | September 23, 2008 11:42 AM
No CONAN. Or CONAN THE DESTOYER?
You're dead to me, man.
WHAT IS BEST IN LIFE?
Posted by Matt M. | September 23, 2008 12:10 PM
If I recall correctly, the stop sign was Rickey as well. He was on fire that night!
As for other memorable lines, my memory is awful, so MMM jokes are always ephemeral for me. At best I can remember some of my own jokes from the past one or two. I seem to recall referring to Crank as the heterosexual equivalent of Moulin Rouge, which I only remember because it's so very apt.
For my money, the absolute height of MMM hilarity so far was King Kong Lives.
Posted by Justin | September 23, 2008 12:13 PM
Man, we must have watched King Kong smash his face into that rock 20 times.
And it is strange that we haven't done "Conan," although I suspect that "Conan the Destroyer" might be more fun to watch. Maybe the next one just needs to be an Arnold night? We've been deficient. Predator, Conan and... Red Heat? Commando? Terminator 1 or 3? Last Action Hero?
Posted by Zach Oat | September 23, 2008 12:20 PM
I've long advocated for Conan, under several possible rubrics:
1) Sword and Sorcery (or Sword and Sandals)
Besides Conan and/or Conan the Destroyer, this could include 300 (sorry, Alejandro, you blew your veto on that one when you skipped out on MMM12), Willow, Excalibur, Beastmaster, Gladiator, Braveheart, Krull, Red Sonja, Clash of the Titans...
2) Schwarzenegger Night
This could include Commando (though there was some hesitation because it was part of the proto-MMM that they threw in Justin's honor when he revealed he hadn't seen it), Predator, Red Heat, Raw Deal...
3) Planet Hollywood
Schwarzenegger, Stallone, Willis. Conan, Cobra, Die Hard. BLAM!
Posted by Sean T. Collins | September 23, 2008 12:42 PM
This all looks about perfect to me, although I'm baffled by the choice of Steel Dawn over the greatest film of all time, Next of Kin.
Posted by Tom Spurgeon | September 23, 2008 1:05 PM
There was some debate over that, but since we were doing a sort of "greatest hits" tribute to the MMM's ailing patron saint by re-watching Road House and Point Break, Steel Dawn's callback to our Dystopian Future roots (The Warriors (sorta), The Road Warrior, The Running Man, Escape from New York) gave it the edge.
Posted by Sean T. Collins | September 23, 2008 1:17 PM
How the heck have you dudes watched point break twice now and I managed to miss both showings??
Man I miss that ravioli pizza.
Posted by Brian W | September 23, 2008 1:22 PM
I actually just looked down and realized that I'm wearing my T-shirt from the first MMM and the date reads November 11, 2005. Holy crap, we've been doing this for a long time. That was a little under a month after I moved to NY and started at the Wiz.
Posted by TJ Dietsch | September 23, 2008 2:06 PM
I vaguely remember a great line and I'm trying not to sound arrogant because I said it. But it was during the first viewing of Point Break (MMM8) where Utah finished sleeping with his androgynous young looking "girlfriend" and I said something like, "Honey, did you tape Duck Tales for me?" The line got me a free copy of Tango & Cash as a prize!
Posted by Carlos | September 23, 2008 2:27 PM
It saddens me to realize how many MMM's I've missed (I only stuck around NY long enough for the inaugural one, after all), but I have very fond memories of us laughing our asses off at the very end of "Road House," when we realized Dalton's crazy old man landlord ("Sunshine" Parker!) was watching him swim naked. From a lawnchair right next to the lake, no less.
The first time you guys phone-bombed me in TN was one of the most surreal joyous/painful experiences I've ever had. Tears were shed, bitches!
Posted by Jesse Thompson | September 23, 2008 3:00 PM
Man, I miss Manly Movie Nights, so much so that I may have to start the tradition out here on the West Coast! But alas, it won't be the same, not without Todd, Rickey, Zach or anyone else spewing those hilarious one-liners at the TV screen. Those were some treasured moments, fellas.
And yeah, I miss that ravioli pizza, too. If I only I knew how to make it, I'd make a killing out here in LA.
Sean, thanks for this trip to the past. And Rob, thanks for tweeting the link!
Posted by Mel Caylo | September 23, 2008 3:08 PM
Dammit, Sean, now I'm all riled up for the next MMM!
Posted by Agent M | September 23, 2008 3:10 PM
Mission accomplished!
Can we get one in before Halloween? A horror-ish one? I'm thinking The Lost Boys/They Live/Predator?
Posted by Sean T. Collins | September 23, 2008 4:48 PM
This is awesome beyond belief. The T-shirts are a nice touch. Almost makes my upcoming SACK FEST '08, a two-day tribute to all things John Cusack on three screens indoors and out, seem lacking. ALMOST.
Posted by Tom the Dog | September 23, 2008 5:07 PM
I guess I'm just not intimidated by males who are smarter and better looking than me. I've learned to get over it, since all of them are.
Posted by Jim Treacher | September 23, 2008 6:59 PM
Those MMM titles are a trip.
Posted by James Kang | September 23, 2008 7:55 PM
"Sack Fest" was actually an early, rejected name for the MMM.
Posted by Sean T. Collins | September 23, 2008 9:33 PM
Smarter and better-looking does not necessarily equal manly. In fact, most of our manly movies feature ugly and/or stupid protagonists, Patrick Swayze being a notable exception.
Posted by Zach Oat | September 23, 2008 10:28 PM
I'm still pushing hard for a "Hulkamania" theme with No Holds Barred, Rocky III and a third film TBD (the Hulkster mostly went into family fare after that, but we could easily insert his nemesis Roddy Piper's Hell Comes to Frogtown or They Live as a third).
Posted by Ben Morse | September 23, 2008 11:15 PM
I'm still pushing for a "Ninja Nightmare" theme:
1. American Ninja - Michael Dudikoff is a ninja. Need I say more?
2. Revenge of the Ninja - Sho Kosugi, greatest on-screen ninja ever.
3. The Octagon - Chuck Norris single-handedly discovers and dismantles a camp full of... wait for it... TERRORIST NINJAS!
So when is it happening? Heck, once I move into the new place, maybe I'll host this one!
Posted by Rick Marshall | September 24, 2008 9:31 AM
THEY LIVE is so good that you should just run it three times consecutively.
Posted by Matt M. | September 24, 2008 11:49 PM
Godammit, The Lost Boys is ridiculous. I can't wait for that film at a MMM. There's that fucking scene DURING THE OPENING CREDITS as that Doors song plays where the guy-who-would-star-in-Speed 2 asks a dude on the street if there's any jobs around "here." After a pause, this goofy, hippie-looking dude who is OBVIOUSLY a gigolo and has OBVIOUSLY just finished hitting the bong says "Nothin' legal."
Ugh.
(There's also a Dark Knight poster in the Frog Bros.' parents' comic shop.)
Posted by Rickey Purdin | September 25, 2008 11:28 AM