Two Films From the 1980s

Married to the Mob is a fun Jonathan Demme film with many familiar faces including the person who played the doctor's mom in Loving Leah. Al Lewis (Grandpa Munster) has a small role late. A surprise is a young Nancy Travis (a familiar face, including on such shows as Becker) in a nude scene!

Michelle Pfeiffer plays a young mob wife and mother (her husband is played by a young Alec Baldwin) with a son. She's unhappy with her life and her marriage. His murder by a mob boss (Dean Stockwell is made his mistress—Nancy Travis—is double dipping) is somewhat serendipitous. 

She decides to leave town and start fresh in Manhattan. Unfortunately, Dean Stockwell has the hots for her, which interests the FBI. 

And, Stockwell's wife is pissed off at her since she thinks Pfeiffer is cheating on her husband. To top it all off, the FBI agent watching her (Matthew Modine, a familiar face around then) falls for her.  

The whole thing is comfortably paced and overall fun though some mob violence and the aforementioned nudity make it somewhat risque for the kiddies. There are also a few "f" bombs. 

BTW, TV Tropes says that the NY apartment complex was also used in Child's Play (the original). I will also recommend that film and most of its sequels. The television show also has received kudos. Did not see the film remake which received mixed reviews.  

Good music soundtrack. The interestingly put-together end credits appear to be a collection of scenes cut from the film. Either way, it's a nice touch.

Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II is the sequel to one of Jamie Lee Curtis' less well-known horror films. It is not a direct sequel. She is not in this movie. 

The movie starts in the 1950s but the song "Hello Mary Lou" came out a few years later. A bitchy prom queen gets her comeuppance though her boyfriend didn't mean to kill her. She comes back in the 1980s.

The Canadian cast is not too familiar though some faces might be, including Michael Ironside, who was in a bunch of "B" films. The possessed innocent was in an Anne of Green Gables adaptation. Here? Well, she eventually walks around nude in a locker room. 

(The two actresses who play the prom queens have an interesting look. The innocent one -- well before she's possessed -- particularly does not look like a run-of-the-mill horror queen. Watch it and see what I mean.)

The whole film is rather intentionally weird. The 1980s also seem a bit off. They hang out in a 1950s-style diner and the boyfriend drives a motorcycle that might come out of the 1950s. They dress more up-to-date (being the 1980s, they don't look it to us) but other than an old-fashioned computer used to select the prom queen, doesn't look too much different. 

After the opening scenes, the movie takes a bit of time to get going, but the whole thing is well-acted and put together. You cannot really ask for more since it is after all a sequel to a not that good film. 

I found it mentioned in my Leonard Maltin movie guide and there was one copy in the Westchester Library system. I even would be able to download it on my computer but wanted to see it on my TV.

I saw both films back-to-back. Enjoyable.