Fancy A Shag

Growing up with two older sisters comes with its share of hardships. Most of which I'd rather not relive as they involve photographs of me as toddler draped in pink hand-me-down pajamas. However, there are a handful of instances I once viewed as hardships, but as hindsight would later reveal, were actually eye-opening experiences. For example, films I, at the time deemed as "chick flicks" and I was often forced to watch, I now regard as some of the better films of my childhood. Pretty In Pink, Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, and most anything else John Hughes have long since ceased being "movies about girls who like boys," and I now simply revere as films that embody the struggles of teenage angst.

Another one of these such films is the 1989 classic, Shag. Yes, a movie about girls liking boys and boys liking girls... and dancing. C'mon, at least Patrick Swayze isn't in this one. Where's baby? Oh yeah, IN THE CORNER! With the family together for Christmas this past winter, Shag came out of the VHS collection. Although a protest was put forth, I soon lost out to the heavily skewed odds of boys versus girls in the Maggio family, and after a loud sigh of frustration and some tracking of the VCR, I quickly realized yet again, I was wrong. With the help of about twenty years, the chick-flick turned into a stylish case-study of high-water chinos, loafers with no socks and the importance of the white t-shirt. Hey, it's still a movie about girls going on vacation to Myrtle Beach and getting involved in all kinds of shenanigans ("I am not going parkin' with you.") but at least they all look fresh while doing it.

Oh, and those pink hand-me-down pajamas? THEY WERE SALMON!!!!!!!!!