Top 5 Scenes from The Wizard

Ah, summer is coming to a close. The video game drought is finally letting up as titles like Dead Rising arrive, with Star Fox command soon to be in stores. And we're just a week away from the release of a very important and influential film to DVD. Of course I speak of The Wizard. Starring Fred Savage and Jenny Lewis, this movie has been remembered mostly as an hour and a half long Nintendo commercial. But you know what? When you're ten years old, that's probably the best movie in the world. And since I own Super Mario (the movie and the cartoon) and Zelda on DVD and have VHS tapes of Captain N, it's accurate to say that when it comes to Nintendo, my tolerance level for cheesiness is pretty darn high. So with the upcoming release, I present to you in no particular order, my Top 5 moments from The Wizard!

1. The Power Glove

When the kids hear that Lucas is unbeatable, they can't resist seeking him out for a challenge. Lucas and his gang are the epitome of 1990 cool tough guys. They wear Street Vision clothes. They have sunglasses and most importantly Lucas has...The Power Glove. They went all out to make sure kids everywhere would want this, I mean it's so important of a gaming peripheral that Lucas has a custom made metal case for it! I could never help but notice, and I'm sure that I'm not alone, that even when it's a movie about videogames, they have to spruce up certain elements. For example, when Lucas pushes the buttons on the glove, they make little beeping noises. Maybe the one I played with was broken, but mine made no such noise. Nitpickers will also note that in scenes where we see the screen and the glove, the glove's movements are so not in synch with what's happening on the screen. Movie magic!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfyxWhwia90&w=375&h=300]

2. The Car Joust

There's a subplot of the film in which Corey's (Fred Savage) father and brother (Christian Slater and Beau Bridges) are trying to track the kids down before Mr. Bateman does, whom Corey's stepmother has hired to track down and return little Jimmy (Luke Edwards). Eventually it becomes a personal feud with some funny scenes, my favorite of which is when after spotting Bateman, Core's father speeds up to ram into his car.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvevM4ww-rM&w=375&h=300]

3. "He touched my breast!"

The one scene that's as quoted as Lucas' speech on the Power Glove. Bateman catches Jimmy and all hope looks lost, until Hailey (Jenny Lewis) does some quick thinking. Bonus points to the first person to identify the game Jimmy is playing when he's caught. You can see some of the screens, and right before he gets caught you can hear a sound effect.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiPLLyUqSFA&w=375&h=300]

4. The Most Awkward Kissing Scene Ever

So Corey kinda gets this thing for Hailey after a while. But Hailey's all kinds of tough, so no way she'll ever feel the same. But what's this then? She forces a kiss right on him? Not before some of the crazies dialogue ever. Corey likens her desire to get a non-trailer house to Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. Okay, first off, "He has to find Zelda, you have to find a house, same difference." Wrong! Zelda doesn't even need to be found, she's right there in the opening screen! Hailey says the statement is sexist, Corey replies it's romantic. I say they're both crazy!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQ-4lhb8O8g&w=375&h=300]

5. The Montage

Oh no! One day left until the video game championship and there's so many games little Jimmy hasn't played yet! What are we gonna do? Easy, win some money gambling, and then do a video game playing montage, that'll train him up. It worked for Karate Kid, right? Once again, more sound effects added in that don't really exist; I'll leave it up to those in the comments to find the inaccuracy.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mLsw7yB1Zg&w=375&h=300]

And there you have it. I should point out that I was originally going to have the Super Mario Bros. 3 part instead of the "He touched my breast" scene, but I figured that might be a bit of a spoiler, so I didn't want to upset anyone who plans to see it that hasn't yet. The movie comes out on DVD August 22. You can order it Amazon right here. I'll also take this time to do a short plug for one of my shirts featuring Lucas' world famous line about the Power Glove:

My online store is up and ready for business. Four shirts to start, four or five more coming very soon.

Bonus Theater!

Curious what Jenny Lewis is up to now? She's lead singer of the band Rilo Kiley! Check out below to see her in their single "The Frug".

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_wWrZEOFZg&w=375&h=300]