Cotton Candy

I actually haven't seen this movie in several years, but I do remember enjoying it. The story is cheesy at best, but entertaining nonetheless. There are two things most notable to myself. Firstly, the rival band in the flick repeatedly delivered an interesting rendition of Bob Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff." Secondly, the Battle of the Bands scenes were shot at Town East Mall, which is about 3 miles from my home. I was 10 years old when the film aired, and I thought that featuring a local "monument" was pretty cool. Ron Howard did the directing, and, of course, his brother Clint has a part. In this case, Clint has a lead role. It's a far cry from the bit part that Clint played in "Apollo 13."

I saw cotton candy when I was just a kid, and never forgot it. It may be a bit cheesy by today's standards, but I think the naivete just adds to the innocent magic of the film. Although the movie has been locked away since Disney aquired it and hasn't seen the light of day, this film will always be a special part of my youth, and just thinking about it all these years later still manages to make me smile. From the melodramatic performances of the Howards to the fully overblown character of Torbin Biqette, this film was what most movies of today just aren't anymore...FUN!

This is surely no piece of great cinema, but it is incredibly kooky and anyone who likes lamb-chop sideburns and bad, bad pop music will love this one. That is, if you ever see it. Seems like maybe Ron "Opie" Howard has locked this one up in a vault, because I have not seen it aired since they used to play it on the 2 O'clock Movie on WBBM in Chicago over and over and over back in the 80's. If you like bad stuff, ie the Love Boat, Robbie Benson movies and anything made by Aaron Spelling, you'll love this.

The guys that played the bad guy band Rapid Fire in the movie were 4 guys from MacArthur High School (Irving, TX...Morgan, John, Mark, and Tad) and the drummer was from Dallas (Oak Cliff - David J...) Marty Bongfelt was from Mac as well (always had a crush on her - there, the cat's out). While it really was/is a cheesy flick, we got out of 2 weeks of school, received A's, and were local heroes for awhile. And it's still great at a party when someone is spewing garbage, to throw out "I was in one of Ron Howard's" movies. After the wrap, Ron took us out to Campisi's for dinner (if you're from Dallas you know of where I speak)... I have LOTS of funny stories from the shoot but would have to incriminate myself as well : )

What a great, great underdog band movie! I remember seeing this in grade school and, to this day, it still stuck with me. I would love to be able to get a copy of this Ron Howard bad boy on DVD and drift back in time to 4th grade and watch Cotton Candy rock the house and take over the senior prom! Remember Clint Howard as the bands manager after he got thrown out for starting the fight with Torbin? As Rapid Fire leaves the stage and Cotton Candy starts to win over the Rapid Fire crowd, there's Clint, looking through the door and crying at the fact that the band is becoming a hit. Chalk one up for Cotton Candy, the little band that could! STAND UP AND SHOUT!!!!!!!