Short Circuit (1986)

 

Off-List: Short Circuit

The second off-List movie for 1986 is “Short Circuit”. I am of the general opinion that there are far too few comedies on the List, and I have a soft spot for these eighties comedies even if they do not necessarily qualify as great. “Short Circuit” was a big movie for me in my childhood, and I think it holds up better today than most comedies.

At the commercial research facility Nova five autonomous military drones are presented to the military. As this is the eighties, the drones are semi-humanoid with tracked drives and a face like a Mars rover. They are also mounted with a high-powered laser of Star Wars strength. The military is impressed with their capabilities but in the aftermath one of the drones are hit by lightning which resets its memory and does... something else. Like Frankenstein, the lightning seems to have imbued the drone with life. The drone, Number 5, goes AWOL and through accidents finds itself lost in a food truck.

The owner of the food truck, Stephanie (Ally Sheedy), first take the drone for being an extraterrestrial alien, but by the time she realizes it is a military robot, Number 5 has convinced her he is something more.

Meanwhile, the Nova facility is in an uproar. The top manager, Howard Marner (Austin Pendleton) is keen to get his expensive hardware back. His head of security, Captain Scroeder (G. W. Bailey), is eager to blow up the drone with excessive force if necessary. Engineers Newton Crosby (Steve Guttenberg) and Ben Jabituya (Fisher Stevens) want to secure the drone unharmed as their precious creation.

And so, the hunt begins. Who will get the drone or will Number 5’s newfound intelligence and newfound allies save it?

What makes “Short Circuit” such a charming movie is the character of Number 5. He is naive as a child, smart as a genius, but also lovable as a human being is supposed to be. This, being a “good person”, more than anything makes it the heart of the movie and then it does not hurt that it is funny to boot with a pile of great one-liners it clearly learnt from trashy TV shows and has very expressive “eyebrows”. Movies, especially Hollywood, has classified the “Alien” as either a scary and powerful danger (“The Terminator”) or the lovable creature teaching humans on what it means to be human (“E.T.”). Number 5 is clearly in the second category although it is created as belonging to the first. The transition is attributed to it “becoming alive”, but is really by equipping it with humanity.

From a comedy point of view, it was a scoop to make G. W. Bailey be Captain Scroeder. He is essentially the same character he played in “Police Academy” and that makes him a fantastic butt of the jokes and pranks pulled on him. It is tempting to see Steve Guttenberg in the same light, but rather than being a street-smart romantic, he is being the isolated, shy engineer. It is difficult for Guttenberg to be entirely convincing in this role, but he gives it a shot. His scenes are, however, usually stolen by Fisher Stevens who, in Indian brownface, mess up the English language every time he opens his mouth. I know it is hopelessly politically incorrect and I should be cringing badly, but it is hilariously funny.

“Short Circuit” is fantastic family entertainment. That category of films has since then suffered badly and the label today is more a warning to stay away than anything else, but forty years ago it was possible to make good family movies. As a thirteen-year-old boy I loved the movie and loved the charming robot and today, 39 years later, I still love this movie. I find different things fun and charming, but it is the same magic. In an age of drone warfare and AIs and autonomous driving this is a surprisingly relevant movie and it is great with a positive spin for a change on those topics.

Take your children to watch this movie. You will all get something out of it and likely have a good time.