Rewatchables Reference

• Bill: Billie Jean getting exchanged across Texas as Pat Benatar's 'Invincible' plays for 5 full minutes. 'One of those rare 80s sequences where the song completely drives the scene.'
• CR: The scene at Lloyd's house where Billie Jean emerges with her new haircut and makes the tape – 'you look famous.'
• Also nominated: Opening credits with Divinyls' 'Boys in Town'; the golf course chase; the mini-mall exchange gone wrong.

• Bill: The authentic beta movie camera; Honda Elite scooter; Panama Jack sunscreen stand; gas at $1.05; watching a wall of TVs in a store.
• CR: Jimmy J Judge on C101 Talk Radio as a local DJ – peak 1985 local media.
• Craig: The haircut itself – 'the most 1985 element.'

• Mr. Pyatt as an amazing 80s villain; exchange scenes in an 80s mall going wrong.
• Young Christian Slater (his film debut); Billie Jean's haircut becoming a local phenomenon.
• Characters getting mad their ransom was too low (Lloyd: 'Only 10K?').
• Lloyd's hostage plan as an inventive way to try to get laid.
• '80s high school bad guys (Hubie's crew); hiding in empty suburban mansions.
• The Slaters looking like real siblings despite not being related.

• Dreaming of living in Vermont; the way adults talk to Billie Jean (casual misogyny).
• A good old boy shooting at Billie Jean with a hunting rifle to get ransom money.
• Helen Slater's wig in reshoots (looked like Steve Kerr's '98 Bulls hair).
• Pat Benatar saying it was 'the worst movie ever made.'

• By far: 'Invincible' by Pat Benatar – played 3 full times in the movie, completely iconic.
• Also: Divinyls' 'Boys in Town' (opening credits); Billy Idol's 'Rebel Yell.'

• Big wide shot of them lying on wood in the lake.
• Craig: The hair reveal shot starting in the pool – shot by Jeffrey Kimball ('Top Gun' DP).

• Bill: Billie Jean saving Kenny the abused kid subplot, or the scene where people shoot at her for ransom.
• CR: Yeardley Smith's character getting her period for no story reason.

Bill: Putter's mom. CR: Kenny's dad.

• Bill: This movie is prescient about viral celebrity culture, internet fame, and citizen journalism – 'the movie that created the Internet.'
• CR: The movie didn't need a love interest (Lloyd) – it weakened the female empowerment theme.

• Bill: Richard Bradford (Mr. Pyatt – also in 'The Untouchables').
• CR: Barry Tubb (Wolfman in 'Top Gun').
• Winner: Yeardley Smith / Putter (who later became Lisa Simpson).

• Helen Slater: Debated between this, Supergirl, Secret of My Success, and 'City Slickers'.
• Christian Slater: Yes (film debut).
• Honda Elite scooters: Yes (Lou Reed did their ad in '85).
• Self-haircuts in movies: Yes.
• Peter Coyote: Probably E.T.
• Yeardley Smith: The Simpsons.
• Short-haired '80s women: Yes.

Scorsese version would add cocaine dealing for Mr. Pyatt.

Bill: Hubie. Craig: Also Hubie.

• Too many detectives working this case in Corpus Christi.
• Hubie repeatedly obstructing justice with no consequences.
• The kids would have been caught in 45 minutes – they never left Corpus Christi.
• Binx buying an expensive scooter with no bike lock in a trailer park.
• Sharpshooters at the rally taking orders from the DA, not the police chief.

Discussed briefly – probably no one since the movie made $3.1 million.

The Honda Elite scooter. Also: the 'Fair is Fair' T-shirts.

'Fair's fair.'

• Bill: 'The Terminator' (female empowerment heroes).
• CR: Last Starfighter or Rad (cult VHS classics).

Helen Slater (with Pat Benatar/'Invincible' as an alternative).

Craig had never seen or heard of the movie before. His flex: 'What happens the next day' – in 2025, Billie Jean would go on a Hawk Tuah podcast and release music by 25.