Cherry 2000 is somewhat of a
B-Movie staple, that's why I'm ashamed to admit that the first time I saw it all
the way through was last night. We bought it at a DVD bargain sale for about
$8.00 (that's about $6.00 for you Americans), so it was a pretty good deal. The
movie itself is highly watchable, with an interesting and quirky story that
flows well and doesn't really do anything to try to shock you.
Cherry 2000 isn't the name of Melanie Griffiths character, as much as the cover
of the DVD and her flame red hair might fool you. Cherry is the robot "wife" of
the straight laced Don Johnson-esque Sam Treadwell, from Anaheim. Apparently
there is something incredibly hilarious about being from Anaheim, but I just
didn't get the joke. Sam thinks he's in love with Cherry and at the beginning of
the film it seems like he has every right to be. She's beautiful, caring, smart
and most of all subservient and extremely randy. After a romp on the kitchen
floor goes awry when the sink overflows, Sam is left with one very waterlogged
and non functional Cherry. When he takes her in for repairs he is told that he
may never find another Cherry 2000, as they are considerably rare. But there is
one chance. Find a tracker by the name of E. Johnson and get them to go into the
ominous sounding Robot Graveyard in Zone 7. Although it is extremely dangerous,
for love struck Sam, it is the only option.
Sam heads off in search of E. Johnson, expecting a hardened crusty old tracker.
When he finds an attractive redhead female, he doesn't feel that she is up to
the job. But when he gets himself in some trouble with some thugs trying to
steal Cherry's highly valuable memory chip he realises he may not have much
choice and the two set off in Johnson's rocket powered Mustang (kickass!).
The area surrounding Zone 7 (the leftovers of Las Vegas) contains a number of
completely whacked out people. The most whacked out of them all being Lester.
Somewhat of a cult leader trying to build his vision of a utopian society out in
the desert in his Sky Ranch, which is nothing more than a series of weird dome
shaped buildings and a dirty swimming pool. Lester hates Trackers and is a
complete psychopath, which only means trouble for Sam and his quest.
Sam and E have a number of run ins with Lester's thugs resulting in Sam meeting
Six Fingered Jake (a legendary tracker) and getting kidnapped and taken to Sky
Ranch. When Sam wakes up at Sky Ranch he is dressed horribly and strangely
enough meets his old girlfriend Elaine who has changed her name to Ginger and is
living a stepford-esque existence amongst the blue domes as Lester's main
squeeze. From the sounds of Elaine/Ginger I can understand why Sam would invest
in a Cherry 2000. Elaine tries to convince Sam to stay and that everything is
great at Sky Ranch, but Sam can clearly see Lester is a maniac, after he plays
target practice with a tracker that looks like Stephen King during dinner. With
some careful manoeuvring, Sam escapes and runs into E, who has just come to
rescue him. He also learns that Cherry's memory chip is lost.
Meanwhile the sexual tension between E and Sam has been growing, and she has
fallen in love with him. After a car accident he puts the moves on her, but
finds Cherry's memory chip in her pocket mid grope. Angry, at E, Sam forgets all
about what he was just doing and sets off to meet up with Jake so they can
continue their journey. The pair stop at a roadhouse boasting the sign "Last
Chance Gas & Brothel" where they meet up with Jake. The old man and the hooker
running this place claim to be friends, but radio Lester of their whereabouts
without them knowing. With E's car a wreck, she decides to get an old plane
running so that she and Sam can fly into Zone 7 and get the Cherry.
The plane works and E and Sam get out of there in the nick of time, sadly losing
Jake in the crossfire. They make it to the robot graveyard and find a Cherry,
but when trying to escape they discover the plane too heavy. Sam now has to
decide who gets out of the plane. E or Cherry?
Pamela Gidley was absolutely beautiful in this movie and I wish she had made
more B-Movie trash so I could celebrate that fact more. I really enjoyed the way
that Cherry seemed to have a personality in the beginning of the film but when
reactivated her personality seemed completely programmed. I've never been a fan
of Melanie Griffith, but I must say she was quite attractive when she was
younger. I also find it strange that her male co-lead looks a lot like Don
Johnson (except for the mole on his forehead which I just couldn't stop looking
at), who Melanie was married to on two separate occasions (the first at 14!),
and her characters surname is Johnson. But this movie was made in between
marriages to Don Johnson - while she was married to Steven Bauer (Manny from
Scarface). Very interesting.
There was some very strange, somewhat misplaced violence too - a point blank
execution and the aforementioned target practice, but it really did help to
illustrate Lester's extremely unstable mental condition. Most versions of the
DVD are heavily edited, so you're not likely to get any gore.
A fun movie with an inevitable happy ending. I even overlooked the plot holes
and abandoned sub-plots. You will too.
|
|
Year:
1987
