Retro movies remind us of a simpler time

Posted Thursday, October 7, 2010 at 5:10 PM Central

by John Couture

I mentioned earlier this week in the Titanic in 3D story that my girlfriend and I were going to go check out The Goonies on the big screen at the local megaplex and we did. It was showing as part of a massive three month long retro series in which they are showing movies from our childhood (read 1980s mainly) for a discounted price.

The genius in their marketing is that they are cherry-picking cult classics in which a whole generation has been deprived of the big screen experience and showing them at prime times on Monday and Tuesday nights. I would imagine these two night are, not coincidentally, the slowest nights for theaters.

Well, we went in high spirits and no expectations. The $5.00 cost (see tickets to the right) were quite a relief from the normal price of a current first run movie which is double that price. Much to our surprise, they were also giving out a free Baby Ruth candy bar with each ticket. So, for $5.00, you get a movie and a candy bar, that's a pretty amazing deal right there.

Obviously, if you've seen the movie, then you know that a Baby Ruth candy bar plays a pivotal role in the bonding between Chunk and Sloth. Some might say that the candy bar was the turning point that ultimately saved The Goonies at the end.

That got us thinking about other uses of candy in movies and product placement in general. Of course, who could forget the more infamous use of a Baby Ruth bar?

Where it accidentally ends up in a pool and gets mistaken for a "floater."

Until Bill Murray sets the record straight in a memorable scene from Caddyshack.

We all know the famous story from the set of E.T. where Steven Spielberg was set to use M&Ms as the candy that Eliot uses to tempt E.T. out of hiding, but the powers that be in charge of M&Ms didn't bite and Reese's Pieces were only happy to step in.

And just like that cinematic history was made. While Wikipedia tells me that product placement in movies was happening as early as 1919, this was one of the biggest success stories to hit.

After this, movies became littered with obvious product placements almost to the point that the placements themselves were the joke like they were in Wayne's World.

I can still remember watching Josie And The Pussycats (hey, don't judge) and laughing at how overt and numerous the product placements were. It was like the entire movie was a huge NASCAR affair. Of course, not all product placement is benign.

To this day, I am unable to forgive Michael Bay and the team behind Transformers for selling out to General Motors. Suddenly, Bumblebee, the iconic Volkswagen Beetle was retconned (or upgraded) into a Camaro. Boo!

I could go on, but I think you get the point. Life was a lot simpler before product placement took over our movies. Tell us your favorite or most egregious use of product placement and we might feature a list in the near future.