80's Memories hit me with the Son of Rambow (2008)

Son of Rambow (2008)

“Come on Ma, It’s the 80’s!” Daniel San said it back then in the Karate Kid and I just found myself reliving a part of the 80’s!

I was born in 1980, so I’m fortunate enough to have taken in the joys of most of the 80’s from a childhood perspective. From my point of view during the 80’s; I never have my hair slicked back while I pranced around in red braces and embraced Thatcherism, I didn’t kiss the hot girl to any Wham, Flock of Seagulls or a Cure song when I lived in the 80’s (I have since then) – of course not – I was 9 years old when the 80’s ended.

My memories of the 80’s were from a child’s perspective and lucky for me I was blessed with a privileged up bringing. I went to good schools, I had the best friends in the world (at least from my perspective), and my teachers were scary but awe inspiring (Mr Pugh will always be the SAS Captain and we were his recruits). I spent days on end outside riding bikes, skateboards, BMX’s, setting up ramps and trying my best to jump higher than ever before without scraping my knees and chin. I swung from tree to tree in an effort to be like a monkey, I built tree houses and dens in the woods and bases in the ditches which to me were like Soldiers trenches. I played Cops & Robbers, Cowboys & Indians and all kinds of warfare games using sticks as props for guns, dock leaves would be our medic-kit if we rolled in Stinging Nettles and mud would be our war paint. If our imaginations came up with it we invented the scenario and played the make believe games from dusk till dawn.

Then when I came home for dinner and the sun had gone down maybe if I was lucky and it was a weekend I got to go to the video store with my Dad and choose an 80’s classic – be it The Goonies, Empire Strikes Back, Indiana Jones, Labyrinth, Ghost Busters, The Karate Kid and the list could go on for pages and pages. And then with sheer joy and excitement, like some kind of miracle a dodgy pirate copy of the 15 and 18 would find its way to me via a friend at school and just maybe if I could get the tracking right on the VCR I got to watch films like Top Gun (it was a 15!), Terminator, Robocop, Crocodile Dundee and even Rambo! Yes I wasn’t supposed to be seeing these 15 or 18 rated movies but these movies were the Holy Grail when you were growing up – if you didn’t know what ED-209 was you were out of the loop when playing Robocop in the playground but at the same time it was exactly these movies that added spices to our imaginations – we became the Terminator and we found ourselves down under wrestling crocodiles and at least for me and obviously many others out there you could no longer play in the woods anymore without thinking or at least pretending to be Rambo!

And like a stun grenade all these memories came flooding back to me tonight when I finally got to watch ‘Son of Rambow’ (2008). And what a film it is and yes thankfully it’s a British movie without cockneys or bumbling floppy haired chaps seeking romance!



Son of Rambow is written & directed by Garth Jennings (Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy 2005) inspired by the child hood home movies he used to make with his friends in his back garden. Set somewhere in middle England from June 1982 onwards (we know this because Rambo: First Blood was released in 1982 and the fish tank says June). Staring the very talented Bill Milner who plays the central character Will Proudfoot as well as the son of Rambow and the extraordinary Will Poulter who plays Lee Carter. The story plays out through the eyes of Proudfoot, the eldest sibling and only son of a fatherless Plymouth Brethren family who choose to live the strict and basic way of life while the those around them “outsiders” live out their lives in a typical British sense including Lee Carter – soon to be Proudfoot’s new best friend. Will Proudfoot has never been allowed to mix with the other 'outsiders' listen to music or watch TV, until he finds himself caught up in the extraordinary world of Lee Carter, the school cheeky chappy who is always up to mischief and maker of bizarre home movies. Carter exposes Proudfoot to a pirate copy of Rambo: First Blood and from that moment on, Will's mind is captivated by the legendary Stallone as Rambo which easily convinces him to be the stuntman in Lee Carters' ‘Screen Test’ home movie. Proudfoot’s imagination is not only given a chance to flourish in the world of film making, but also comes in very handy when it comes to dreaming up elaborate schemes to keep his partnership with Lee Carter a secret from the strict Brethren community.

As the story unfolds and we bare witness to hysterical fearless disregard for consequences as Proudfoot throws himself down hills and out of trees with complete innocent ambition and disregard for his health as they proceed in making there ‘Screen Test’ film in glorious rollercoaster form and thus eventually leading to true friendship as Blood Brothers. After an innocent with a flying dog they start to make a name for themselves at their school as movie makers, but when popularity descends on them in the form of the Pied Piper-esque French foreign-exchange student, Didier Revol (Jules Sitruk), their unique friendship and their precious film are pushed, quite literally, to breaking point.

I honestly can’t recommend this film enough – while its not perfect and there are a couple of niggling goofs that kind of annoyed me - 'Siouxsie And The Banshees' "Peek-A-Boo" is playing in the 6th form despite not being released until 1988 – First Blood came out in 1982! However, I’m a music geek and should really deal with this condition so if I ignore the odd out of place thing like that and amerce myself in this movie – which I did – Childhood memories engulf me and I’m left at the end of the movie feeling very emotional and touched.

9 / 10 - simply the best British movie I have seen in years!