Tom Hanks. Hollywood’s Mr. Nice. Housewives’ favourite actor. The mother’s choice. Your man from that film with the beach ball and the island — Fed-Ex Goes To Maui I think it was called. The man drips with synonyms these days, pockets overflowing with awards and nominations, newspaper blurbs about the tilt of his head in a new cinematic visitation.
In two and half decades, Hanks has levitated to the summits of Hollywood stardom, receiving upwards of twenty million dollars per flick. Impressive manoeuvres, you might say. Look at him there in that Da Vinci Code caper, silly hair and a face of expanding girth, but yet he still gets the zeroes. I have yet to see it, but I can (and will) assume that his symbological prancings are quite easily overshadowed by the presence of the glorious Audrey Tautou.
Let’s not hold that against him. It’s automatically disregarded as anything worth commentary anyway. We all know that which stands proud atop the Hanks filmography. It’s his 1989 masterpiece The Burbs, Joe Dante’s farcical take on suburban life, which has a luminous cast attempting to find out whether their new neighbours are horrific flesh-manglers. Are they? Maybe. Maybe not. Go watch it.
That would be a journey deep into the annals, a place full of tombs and trenches; perhaps even Corey Feldman’s rotting cadaver would be unearthed. But no, I want to go a little further, to a place not of tombs and trenches, but of Mazes and Monsters.
The 1982 TV movie of the aforementioned name sits as the first film to showcase Hanks straddling the apex of the cast list. His first opportunity to break from minor TV roles and demonstrate his youthful acting vigour. Hanks is Robbie, a young teen with an afro, who arrives at a new college, having been banished from his last educational institution. Turns out a number of his peers are into some sort of game, and are looking for a fellow student to partake in their group playings. This game goes by the name of Mazes and Monsters. It is a role-playing board game of the Dungeons & Dragons variety. They are all seasoned players and luckily Hanks is himself a ‘ninth level’ player. Thank fuck for that.
Article comments
1 - Eric Berlin
Great stuff, Aaron! Bachelor Party was one of my favorite films of my junior high school years.
2 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
fantastic sir fleming! and also, fantastic, sir fleming, since comma or no, it all makes sense.
a particular favourite of mine regarding the golden years De Hanks is Turner And Hooch, and this reminds me of a flick i saw a poster for today, about tim allen turns into a dog. but more importantly, it makes me think of the possibilities for flicks concerning Turner And Hooch VS K-9 etc.
3 - Mary K. Williams
wow, i just watched the Terminal - speaking of Hanks. What a cool movie. kinda weird.
anyway, Mazes and Monsters, never ever heard of this in the filmography.
However, I think I read this book. How odd.
4 - Mat Brewster
Thank you for giving The Burbs its dues. These days its all Philadelphia this, Saving Private Ryan that, but where were the jokes about stapling a dogs ass cheeks together in those flicks, I ask? Nowhere is what.
5 - Aaron Fleming
Thanks for the comments. Aye, to hell with Forest Gump, The Green Mile and the like. I'd much rather watch Joe Versus The Volcano again!