Today, the Carlon brothers are joined by filmmaker Joe Indusi to discuss 1982’s MegaForce.
When this film came out, Mike and Jim were 8 years old. Looking back, that must have been the prime demographic for this film because it included flying motorcycles, glorified dune buggies with lasers, and men with feathered hair—lots of feathered hair. For all the missiles launched from motorcycles, there we no fatalities in this movie which makes us think that the inspiration was the G.I. Joe cartoon which was becoming popular around the same time.
Watching it at 45 is a difficult thing to do, and that’s putting it mildly. The plot (is there one?) makes no sense, the gold spandex jumpsuits are cringeworthy, and the one liners just don’t land. And wait, is that a Confederate Flag on the sleeve of a character named Dallas? It’s like if The Road Warrior and Star Wars had a baby and that baby grew up to wear gold jumpsuits and over use mousse in his hair, you’d have MegaForce.
There is one scene, though, that really stands out. Ace Hunter (yes, you read that right) played by Barry Bostwick (again, you read that right) is mansplaining something to Major Zara, played by Persis Khambatta (you might know her as the Bald Lady in Star Trek The Motion Picture). The scene is a silhouette shot and Barry Bostwick is clearly making a statement with the placement of his right hand (while the left one is finger wagging like Kamala Harris, the right one is placed strategically below his waist).
Unfortunately, while we had fond memories of this flick as kids, it just doesn’t hold up but that’s okay because it makes our discussion all the more colorful. Happy listening!
This episode of Celluloid Zeroes is brought to you by All the F*cks I Cannot Give by Mike Carlon. The writers and director of MegaForce gave no F*cks when making that movie so this is your chance to learn how not giving a F*ck can be the path to self-enlightenment. You can purchase All the F*cks I Cannot Give in audiobook, paperback, or kindle format at Amazon.com. Enjoy the show.
