“The roast is resting in a shallow unmarked grave in the backyard.”

The Scoop: 1987 PG, directed by William Dear and starring John Lithgow, Melinda Dillon, and 40 pounds of industrial shag carpeting

Tagline: When you can’t believe your eyes, trust your heart

Summary Capsule: Family hits Bigfoot with the car, kidnaps him, and then learns an important lesson about the Second Amendment.

Justin’s rating: I’ve found my long-lost brother!

Justin’s review: I don’t think anyone can make a serious case that Harry and the Hendersons is a good movie, per se.  It’s heavy on the slapstick, it clubs you over the head with an anti-hunting message that’s more annoying than relevant, and it’s squarely aimed at the schmaltzy family demographic of the ’80s.

And yet, it’s one of those “growing up” movies that I — and plenty of others I’ve talked to — have seen dozens of times anyway, and remember with some measure of fondness.  It didn’t redefine our childhood in any way, but it was part of it, and so I’m reluctant to go all-out attack mode on it.

Besides, Harry and the Hendersons remains somewhat entertaining.  The story of a suburban family that runs over Bigfoot (twice) while returning from a hunting trip, only to adopt the intelligent beast is one of those concepts that you don’t see a lot in movies today, but we got plenty of in the 80s.  You know, the “wacky something comes to live in a normal middle-class household” genre (see: E.T., Short Circuit, Suburban Commando, etc.).  Bigfoot?  It’s an interesting choice, as the alien/robot thing had been done to death.

Harry is the definite star of this piece, a shambling Chewbacca-like tower of foul-smelling hair (and the movie really does sell the concept that he’s stinky, for what it’s worth).  Harry’s getup won an Oscar for best makeup, which is understandable when you see just how expressive — and funny — his face gets.  Harry’s a gentle pacifistic vegetarian who’s completely out of his element in suburbia, but aside from accidentally destroying half of a house, he’s not there to do any damage.

No, the true threat here is EVIL MAN.  It’s played for ludicrous laughs, but the filmmakers really didn’t have any problem painting people as gun-happy, murder-prone, mob mentality psychopaths, which is exactly what I think of when I think “Seattle residents.”  Harry teaches the Hendersons that killing, even for food, is, y’know, totally wrong and we just need to look in his big loving eyes to be cured of our violent tendencies.

My question follows: Is Harry so sheltered in the wild that he’s never seen an animal attack another animal (or eat one), or have to defend himself from an attack?  If not, I can understand why Bigfeet are an endangered species, as well as ridiculously naive.

Anyway, a bulk of the movie is simply hijinks as the family and Harry come to terms with each other, the community goes nuts when it learns Bigfoot is real, and an obsessed hunter tracks down Harry (and tastes his fur — huh?) for the ultimate kill.  It’s a Disney/Amblin Entertainment production, so none of it is dark in the least, although there are a surprising amount of swear words for what I’d categorize as a family-friendly film.

Not bad nor good but somewhere in the middle, Harry and the Hendersons still goes down easy with just a little bit of liberal indigestion.  I can see why this movie was chosen to be adapted into a three-season-long sitcom a couple years later.  It was a simpler time, really.  Also, a stupider time.

Intermission!

• That poor car really takes a beating
• Harry is a peeping tom perve!
• When Harry is looking at the TVs, the same dialogue from the newscast is played over and over and over again
• In one scene, John Lithgow’s character complains to his wife, portrayed by Melinda Dillon, that as a boy when he asked for artist’s paints for Christmas that his dad gave him a BB gun. This is clearly a send off to 1983’s A Christmas Story, where the lead character Ralphie’s quest was to receive a BB gun for Christmas. Melinda Dillon played Ralphie’s mom.
• Drinking game: Take a shot every time the mom says “GEORGE!”

Groovy Quotes

Sarah Henderson: Where’s the roast?
George Henderson: I’ll go get it.
Nancy Henderson: The roast is resting in a shallow unmarked grave in the backyard.

Jerry Seville: Good morning, Seattle!
George Henderson: God, I hate this guy.
Nancy Henderson: I’ll turn it off.
George Henderson: No let me hate him. It’ll keep me awake before the coffee kicks in.

Ernie Henderson: The basement. You’ll love it! It’s like a cave. With a pool table.

George Henderson: We don’t even know what it is. We don’t know if it’s male or female.
Sarah Henderson: Definitely male.
Nancy Henderson: How can you tell?
[Sarah stares at them]
Nancy Henderson: Oh, don’t answer that, honey.

If you liked this movie, try these:

• Monsters Inc.
• E.T.
• Honey I Shrunk The Kids