Semiquincentennial Movie Project #8: D.A.R.Y.L.

 

 

 

The Semiquincentennial  Movie Project is an ongoing celebration of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. During the course of this project your humble blogger is choosing a movie a week to represent each of the 50 states in the Union, as well as a movie scheduled for 4th of July weekend that will represent the nation's capitol, Washington D.C. The order of the weekly entries will coincide with the order of each state's entry into the fold (although, not necessarily coinciding with the date of their entry into said fold).

 

Week #7: South Carolina -

 

The state of South Carolina was established on May 23, 1788 

Details about South Carolina:

State bird: Carolina wren

State flower: Carolina yellow jessamine

State tree: palmetto tree 

Additional historical trivia:

Concerning the Civil War, Fort Sumpter was the site of the first shots ever fired in it. South Carolina was also the first state to secede from the Union.

The Dock Street Theater is the site of the first venue for theater ever established in the United States.

If you've eaten a peach, it's likely it came from South Carolina. The state produces more peaches than even Georgia...

The first game of golf ever played in the U.S. was played in South Carolina.

South Carolina is the only state in the Union that owns and operates the school bus system for the whole state. 

Famous people from South Carolina: Vanna White (from Wheel of Fortune), "Shoeless" Joe Jackson (of the infamous Chicago Black Sox), "Dizzy" Gillespie, "The Godfather of Soul" James Brown and Andrew Jackson (7th U.S. President). 

 

 

 

D.A.R.Y.L. (1985): 

Yet another of the kids vs. science fiction trope that got kicked off with Steven Spielberg's E.T. The Extraterrestrial. This one features Barrett Oliver (and that is his real name, despite the fact that it sounds like it might have been inspired by Ryan O'Neal's character in Love Story, Oliver Barrett.) Oliver had come to prominence the year before after being cast as the lead in the fist The Neverending Story series of films. That role garnered him some attention, as he was nominated for a Young Artist Award in the category of Best Starring performance. (He was beat out by his co-star in the film, Noah Hathaway).

Oliver only had a brief career in film. He was in today's film as well as both Cocoon and Cocoon II: The Return, but by 1989, after a brief 8 year run in the industry, he apparently decided to go a different route. He is currently a photographer and his work as such has been seen in museums and even on film, but he quit the in front of the camera before he even reached the age of maturity. (He was only 16 in his last film).

D.A.R.Y.L. open with a car chase. A boy and an older man are on the run from a plethora of chase vehicles (cars, helicopters, etc.). The older man drops off the boy and continues on it's run, ultimately crashing by driving the car off a cliff. The boy, basically on the run in the woods, ends up being discovered by an older couple and ends up being taken to a children's shelter.  

 

The director of this children's shelter is Howie Fox (Steve Ryan) and his wife Elaine (Colleen Camp). They are neighbors and good friends with the Richardsons, Andy (Michael McKean) and Joyce (Mary Beth Hurt). The Richardson's have been looking to adopt a child, and this boy just might be the start. Although they are told from the beginning that the boy is suffering from a form of selective amnesia... he knows his own name, Daryl, but he can't remember anything about his parents. So basically the Richardsons  can only foster care for the boy until he remembers who he really is.

 

While with the Richardsons it becomes apparent that Daryl is rather unique. He exhibits quite a bit more intelligence than the average 10 year old, and he is polite and respectful to everyone. He also shows an uncanny ability to learn and adapt to new studies, such as becoming a phenomenal home run hitter despite not even knowing how to play baseball when first introduced to it.

 

Eventually two adults show up claiming to be Daryl's real parents, although it is not a spoiler to learn that they actually aren't... they are scientists who had developed this advanced robot, whose real designation is D.A.R.Y.L. (That stands for Data Analyzing Robot Youth Life-form). He is not a real boy, although he probably wants to be. He has developed an affinity for the couple who were raising him, and a friendship with his neighbor, a boy only called "Turtle". In other words, he has exceeded the boundaries of what he was originally developed for: that of a government utility for whatever purposes the government wants him to perform. He was NOT expected to develop a personality or garner any range of human emotions.

 

As a result, the head guy in charge of the government organization (which is never actually named, but is probably the C.I.A., given how that organization operates in these kinds of movies...) orders that the D.A.R.Y.L. program be terminated, and that Daryl be deactivated. The fly in the ointment is that one of the scientists, Dr. Stewaert (Jeffrey Sommer) has let the outsiders of the Fox and Richardson family know of Daryl's true nature. And Dr. Stewart has also gained a conscience, so he plans to fool the government entity that Daryl has been deactivated when in fact he plans on escaping the facility with Daryl.

 

Just how he expected to fool a government entity that has a reputation for knowing when an individual goes to the bathroom despite said individual even realizing there is someone with that knowledge, is anybody's guess. The final reel includes Daryl driving a car like he is in a game of "Pole Position", a video game he has previously become familiar with, and even operating a supersonic jet, which he only learned by being shown how just a bit earlier in the film.

 

If you've watched these kinds of films before you don't need me to tell you how it ends.

The movie was not a big hit at the box office, it didn't even make back it's budget of $10 million. It garnered only a 50% on Rotten Tomatoes, which means half of the reviewers liked it, but half of them didn't. Vincent Camby sums up the good view by saying that "the best thing that can be said about D.A.R.Y.L. is that it's inoffensive... [but] it's pretty silly". Paul Attanasio wrote that "the script is moronic and so riddled with improbabilities that the suspense element never takes root."

My opinion is that it is flawed in some ways, but as a example of 80's children-oriented sci-fi (or fantasy) it fits in as suitable family entertainment. My only real problem is with Michael McKean as the father. I just never could see him in such a straightforward "normal" role, mainly because of characters he had played that I had seen in the past: Lenny on Laverne and Shirley, David St. Hubbins in This is Spinal Tap, Mr. Green in Clue.

Referring back to the starring role actor, Barrett Oliver actually won some acclaim for his performance as Daryl. He won the Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor, beating out, among others, Fairuza Balk in Return to Oz and Jeff Cohen in The Goonies. 

Wee, until next week folks, drive safely.

Quiggy