The Boost is an American anti-drug drama based on the book “Ludes: A Ballad of the Drug and the Dream” by Ben Stein.
Yes, THAT Ben Stein, the intelligent and avuncular guy with the comically phlegmatic voice and matching Buster Keaton face, and the host of “Win Ben Stein’s Money.” His soporific economics lecture in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, punctuated frequently by “Anyone? Anyone?”, and “Bueller?” is familiar to all cinema buffs. Stein was no stranger to that material. He got his undergraduate degree in economics from Columbia, and his father, Herbert Stein, was a noted economist and a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Stein himself was the valedictorian of his class at Yale Law in 1970, and has actually written sixteen books, including “how many novels … anyone? anyone? – seven novels.”
I had never seen this film before today, despite the familiar stars (James Woods and Sean Young), and I don’t remember that book at all. Wikipedia says the film opened in nine theaters, so I guess it was nearly a total write-off for the studio. There are no reviews on RT, but it was reviewed by Roger Ebert and Leonard Maltin, who could not have differed much more on the merits of the film. Ebert awarded 3.5 stars, while Maltin awarded 1.5 and called it a misfire.
The movie itself may not have made a significant contribution to the history of cinema, but its filming was a landmark in the world of celebrity gossip. James Woods alleged that Sean Young harassed him after the pair starred in this movie. On the set, rumors flew of an affair between Woods and Young. That may have happened, but they both denied it at the time – Woods was then sharing a home with Sarah Owen. (They have since married and divorced.)
The post-filming plot twists were truly bizarre. Ms. Young pestered Sarah Owen with late night phone calls, and she was said to have arranged for a disfigured baby doll to be left on the doorstep of the home of Woods and Owen. You have to think that Young and Woods might have been lying about not having an affair. Young’s actions would represent some remarkably psychopathic behavior if the pair had never been lovers. Even if she was his jilted lover, she still had more fury than society, hell, or even William Congreve would have expected from a woman scorned.
Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned. Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned.
The situation deteriorated to the point where Woods actually ended up filing a civil action against Young. The tabloids competed vigorously to print the charges and counter-charges between the two stars. In popular mythology, the 1988 Young/Woods situation was compared to the relationship in ‘Fatal Attraction,’ Adrian Lyne’s much discussed 1987 film about a woman who exhibits extreme behavior when cast adrift after an affair. In real life, Young got some satisfaction and a measure of exoneration when the court ordered Woods to pay her legal costs.
I learned about a new occupation today that I did not know existed. I didn’t know who William Congreve was, so I looked him up on Wikipedia, where I learned that Congreve (24 January 1670 – 19 January 1729) was an English playwright, satirist, and poet. However, what I found fascinating is that Wikipedia also says “he was an apprentice to the English poet John Dryden.” I didn’t know poets took on apprentices. Unfortunately, Maya Angelou is no longer with us. I wonder if Eminem has any apprentices?
How about learning to embed the pictures rather than posting the links eh?
James Woods is a meglomaniac and pedophile, so there is that.
Egomaniac is more accurate, but they pretty much both fit.
For those not familiar, James Woods has sexually harrassed multiple girls under 18, at least one of whom recorded him harrassing her. There may not be conclusive proof he’s a pedophile, but he likes them young and it would be stunning if at least a few of them didn’t say ‘yes’ at the time.
Glad you clarified under 18 vs pedo as a pedo likes undeveloped children, often both boys and girls. That’s way under 18 and since the most popular Playboy centerfolds were 18 and Traci Lords was on top of the porn world at 16, it’s safe to say that the norm for men is to like them under 18. That seems to bother some people, but I have to go with the data. Calling normal men pedos makes no sense for those that do it.
True “pedophilia” is rare, and indicative of serious mental illness. That means sex with or attraction to pre-pubescent children.
Interest in a 17-year-old could be ephebophilia, depending on the age of the interested party. (Obviously, sexual interest in 17-year-old girls is totally normal for 17-year-old boys.)
First, I don’t think there is any evidence that most men do want to date 16-18 year olds, since that’s what James Woods liked to do, not that he liked to look at them, and to the degree that it might be most older men’s fantasies, they generally have the ability to resist the urge. So, no, James Woods is a pedo.
Oddly enough this distinction was brought up in a message board I’m in. On the day that Dick Cheney parted us, a poster sought fit to start a topic that ‘progressives are wrong, Cheney never killed 1 million Iraqis,’ Which, nobody on that message board had ever stated, and received this response that I didn’t write:
“How would you react if you were sitting around a table discussing Jeffrey Epstein, and suddenly one of your interlocutors felt compelled to blurt out “Ackthually, he was an ephebophile, not a pedophile, as he was trafficking post-pubescent women”? I imagine it would kill the conversation pretty quickly, and for obvious reasons: the comment is clearly motivated by something more than an honest probing of the truth.”
Anyway, back to films. It’s interesting that both James Woods and Mel Gibson, two of the biggest fascist actors both acted in left wing films about right wing dictatorships early in their careers (and both were regarded as excellent.) James Woods in Oliver Stone’s Salvador (although James Woods called himself a conservative Democrat at the time) and Mel Gibson in Peter Weir’s The Year of Living Dangerously, which used the fall of the Sukarno government in Indonesia as its backdrop.
The Year of Living Dangerously is an excellent movie.
I miss James Woods. Something happened to him in the mid-2000s as he wasn’t making many films and then just petered out as some crazy old fart. Mel Gibson I used to like but nowadays, he seems to enjoy eating our dictator’s shit for breakfast. Both of them are cocksuckers.
I get Mel. His Dad raised him nuts.
James Woods was *always* an intense, masculine guy, and in my experience, most of those types swing right eventually.
Losing Woods is a bummer for me too, especially as he’s in two of my top 5 movies of all time.
(Diggstown and Videodrome for anyone that cares or is taking notes)
This reminded me how much I loved “Ben Stein’s Money” The co-host Nancy Pimental was tall, dark, smart and funny. She was one of the writers for “The Sweetest Thing” also a gal-pal movie favorite.
Great write-up, Scoop, it makes sense old Nixon speechwriter Stein wrote the book, it’s practically Reefer Madness for blow
Young got harassed by Weinstein around the same time so I can understand why she went loco, Me Too was NOT a thing in the late 80s, you were either beloved Julia Roberts or straight to the tabloids, she got as raw a deal as Anne Heche – Young & Woods were both good actors & the director made some decent movies like Taps & Malice but never had a desire to revisit this
This post could have started out “Sean Young naked in…” and then just listed her imdb credit list. The woman liked to bring the perkies.
The incident with Woods was not isolated. She dogged the director (IIRC) of a Batman movie for a part as catwoman, to the verge of a restraining order.