Michael J. Fox: Daredevil
During a surprise birthday party last month, I fell into an argument with some friends over what constitutes the “perfect” Halloween. After some heated debate and ruined friendships, we determined that Michael J. Fox’s Teen Wolf (a.k.a. Scott Howard) from the 1985 film of the same name was, inarguably, the single best costume idea in the holiday’s history. (I’m not joking. We have a rationale: It is both a classic monster and a ’80s pop icon – the twin pillars of the cool Halloween outfit.)
This, needless to say, led us to an in-depth discussion of Teen Wolf in general (did I mention we were drinking?). In particular, we talked about the film’s odd obsession with “van surfing.” For those not familiar with stunts performed in Michael J. Fox movies, van surfing is a kind-of extreme sport, featured in Teen Wolf, in which the participant stands on top of a moving van (typically driven by a hip friend in sunglasses) attempting flips, poses, and generally trying not to break their neck.
The weird thing about Teen Wolf is that it devotes an abnormal amount of time to this activity. There’s a lengthy sequence in the film’s first act devoted to van surfing. There’s another, even bigger sequence devoted to van surfing after Scott turns into a werewolf. In fact, I’m willing to bet that if, in some bizarre parallel universe, turning into a werewolf was normal, Teen Wolf would be considered a film only about van surfing.
Baffling as Teen Wolf’s obsession with van surfing was, I managed to put the issue aside. Until today, when I overheard two co-workers discussing Back to the Future. Thinking about that 1985 Michael J. Fox film, I suddenly realized all three installments of the Back to the Future trilogy include a scene in which Marty McFly grabs onto the back of an automobile (or locomotive) while riding a skate- (or hover-) board. Like Teen Wolf, all three Back to the Future films feature Michael J. Fox performing a dangerous stunt involving a moving vehicle.
Pondering the tendency of M.J.’s more famous characters to engage in these risky car stunts, I was reminded of the infamous scene from the 1993 college football drama The Program where the star quarterback lies in the middle of a two-lane road to prove his bravery. The scene came under scrutiny after teenagers began copying the stunt and getting killed.
Here’s the weird thing: Wanting to further research Teen Wolf’s legacy of vehicular meyhem, I re-watched The Program for the first time since my older, hockey-playing brother developed an obsession with sports films at the age of 13 and forced me to sit through it. Joe the suicidal quarterback, it turns out, was played by Craig Sheffer, who I remembered as Keith from One Tree Hill, but more importantly, according to IMDb.com also lent his voice to the late-’80s Teen Wolf animated series.
And this is how I came to regard Michael J. Fox as the most dangerous man in America.
This pretty much sums up my world view.
3 years ago
