Underground Aces

Underground Aces (1981)

Runtime: 93 minutes

Directed by: Robert Butler

Starring: Dirk Benedict, Melanie Griffith, Rick Podell, Randy Brooks, T.K. Carter

From: Filmways Pictures, Inc.

Here is a random movie most people would not have heard of before. It has quite the character name which was slightly modified and became much more famous a few years later. Sadly, despite a nice cast and awesome title song that I wish was an MP3 of its own somewhere, the film itself is not good. Find out why below:

Here's a movie I had never even heard about until real late Sunday night, when I stumbled upon it, free for anyone who has Amazon Prime. I noticed that the director was Robert Butler, who did a lot of TV but also directed everything from Turbulence to The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes and even the awesome cult favorite Night of the Juggler. Even though the plot being about “zany” parking attendants (mostly teenagers) at a posh hotel sounded silly, look at the cast. The highlights there are:

Dirk Benedict
Melanie Griffith
T.K. Carter
Michael Winslow
Audrey Landers
Jerry Orbach
Nicky Katt
Sid Haig (playing an “Arab” character)
Jerry Orbach
Ernie Hudson
Frank Gorshin

Some roles are bigger than others, but I have to mention Gorshin's character. He wears a hat and trenchcoat as if he's a noir detective, even though he's just the head of security at the hotel and is a natural foil for our “heroes”. Note that his name is... FRED KRUGER. Yes, with that spelling. What must these people think when a few years later Wes Craven “borrowed” the name and changed it in the most minor of ways for one of the most famous slasher villains in movie history?

Once the opening credits start, you hear the bass loudly poppin', and the title song is pretty awesome, especially when you find out it's from The Commodores-of all bands-and that makes it even better. Then the actual film starts... it's not good. It's not atrocious and I did laugh a handful of times, but it's not good. As I feared, the young adults that are our heroes are real asstagonists, meaning A-holes I in general didn't really like, as they acted like jackasses and typically weren't good at their job either. I wasn't supposed to but when Fred Kruger wanted to fire all of them, I agreed! Hell, I prefer Freddy Krueger to those jokers.

The plot is utter nonsense revolving around A-holes being A-holes to each other, people dealing with love, and an Arab character (as stereotypical as you'd expect; Sid Haig is his Arab bodyguard) falling in love. It's really not worth discussing. I see why this movie with its cast has been long-forgotten. A Nightmare on Elm Street and the title track are both much better than this motion picture.