My Bodyguard (1980)
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85% of critics liked it
(27 reviews) -
66% of users liked it
(5,903 ratings)
This quietly compelling film explores the hardships and anxieties of high school with intelligence, sensitivity, warmth and humor. Chris Makepeace stars as a shy, bookish student who has recently moved to Chicago and begun a new school. There he finds himself the target of a group of punks led by… More This quietly compelling film explores the hardships and anxieties of high school with intelligence, sensitivity, warmth and humor. Chris Makepeace stars as a shy, bookish student who has recently moved to Chicago and begun a new school. There he finds himself the target of a group of punks led by Matt Dillon (ideally cast as the weasel-like bully), who threaten him each day to turn over his lunch money for protection...or else. When he stands up to them, he nearly loses his dental work before being saved by Ricky Lindemann (Adam Baldwin), a hulking loner rumored to have murdered his own brother. Makepeace offers the boy a job as his bodyguard, and the two become unlikely friends -- that is, until the ousted bullies find a champion of their own who challenges Lindemann. When Lindemann refuses to fight back, he disappears into reclusion, and the bullying begins anew, worse than ever. Makepeace then learns the truth about Lindemann's past: he did indeed kill his brother, but the death was an accident while the two young boys were playing with a gun, and Lindemann lives tortured by guilt as a result. Just when things seem at their worst, the bodyguard returns to face his nemesis as Makepeace and Dillon square off in the final showdown of good versus evil. The real strength of the film is its handling of the relationships between its characters, particularly between Makepeace and Baldwin, and Makepeace and his family (Martin Mull and Ruth Gordon). My Bodyguard is light but thoughtful entertainment with a Rocky theme that's suitable for the entire family. ~ Jeremy Beday, Rovi
- Directed By
- Tony Bill
- Written By
- Alan Ormsby
- Genres
- Drama, Kids & Family, Comedy
- In Theaters
- Jul 11, 1980 Wide
Critic Reviews
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Variety Staff, Variety
In his directorial debut, Tony Bill assembles a truly remarkable cast of youngsters with little or no previous acting experience.
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Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader
A film of ingredients, rather than ideas realized and integrated: it panders on different, disjunctive levels.
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Derek Adams, Time Out
The message that accompanies the central theme -- Kids are basically Nice -- is that Brute Force Rules.
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Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
This movie is fun to watch because it touches memories that are shared by most of us, and because its young characters are recognizable individuals, and not simplified cartoon figures like so many movie teen-agers.
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Janet Maslin, New York Times
A sweet little movie about characters who really seem to be people, and that sort of verisimilitude is rarer than it ought to be nowadays.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)
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Cast
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Chris Makepeace
as Clifford
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Adam Baldwin
as Linderman
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Matt Dillon
as Moody
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Ruth Gordon
as Gramma
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Martin Mull
as Mr. Peache
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John Houseman
as Dobbs
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Paul Quandt
as Carson
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Craig Richard Nelson
as Griffith
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Hank Salas
as Mike
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Joan Cusack
as Shelley
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Kathryn Grody
as Miss Jump
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Dean Miller
as Hightower
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Tim Reyna
as Koontz
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Richard Bradley
as Dubrow
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Denise Baske
as Leilani
- Jennifer Beals
- Patrick Billingsley
- Dick Cusack
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Dean Devlin
as Boy
- Eddie Gomez
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Bruce Jarchow
as Roberto
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Tim Kazurinsky
as Workman
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Marge Kotlisky
as Mrs. Linderman
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Vicky Nelson
as Freddy
- Tom Reilly
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George Wendt
as Engineer
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Dorothy Scott
as Librarian
- Allison Caine