#joeycramer

[themsmichele]

Happy 50th Anniversary to this epic debut album @aerosmith #aerosmith #steventyler #joeperry #bradwhitford #joeycramer #tomhamilton 🎉🎈🎤🥁🎸🎹 #epicalbum #epicalbum https://www.instagram.com/p/CnCNEzPOAd2/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[twodollarlatefee]

Happy 47th birthday to Joey Cramer! While the actor didn’t star in a lot of movies, he was in one of the most popular kid movies of all time, Flight of the Navigator! He also had great roles in Clan of the Cave Bear and cohost Zak’s personal favorite Runaway! What’s your favorite JC movie/tv/role? ❤️📼❤️ • •• ••• #joeycramer #actor #birthday #movies #disney #flightofthenavigator #runaway #genesimmons #clanofthecavebear #vhs #videostore #vcr #podcast #80spodcast #80s #totally80s #michaelcrichton #scifi https://www.instagram.com/p/CEPB4aplNRN/?igshid=gcn0ssiniz4s

[thatsmovietalk]

Flight of the Navigator (1986) Directed by #RandalKleiser Starring #JoeyCramer #PaulReubens #CliffDeYoung #VeronicaCartwright #MattAdler #SarahJessicaParker #HowardHesseman #FlightoftheNavigator #Hollywood #hollywood #picture #film #movie #cinema #films #theater #movies #movieposter #movieworld #movielovers #movienews #screen https://www.instagram.com/p/B_kHVeBgT1k/?igshid=cwosbohzeimz

[doomonfilm]

Favorites : Flight of the Navigator (1986)

Back in my elementary school days, specifically during the after school daycare situations, we would mostly spend our afternoons playing outside.  On days where the weather wouldn’t permit this, however, you could almost always guarantee on a movie day, and one of the handful that was often shown was Disney’s Flight of the Navigator.  With nostalgia in overdrive since the release of the Disney+ streaming service, many people are rediscovering old favorites, so I took it as an opportunity to revisit a film that, at the time, was one of my favorites.

After spending the afternoon at a Frisbee dog competition, David Freeman (Joey Cramer) and his family head home for a July 4 celebration in 1978.  After dropping his younger brother Jeff (Albie Whitaker) off at a friend’s house, David and his parents (Cliff DeYoung and Veronica Cartwright) head home to prepare for barbecue and time on their boat.  Later that evening, David is sent to pick up Jeff, who surprises him in the woods.  On his way back home, David slips and falls into a ravine, and when he comes to, unbeknownst to him, he has traveled eight years into the future into the year 1986.  After rediscovering his family, David is taken into custody by local researchers, and it is discovered by Dr. Louis Faraday (Howard Hesseman) that David’s brain signatures directly connect to an unidentified spacecraft discovered and confiscated by NASA.  David is kept at the same facility for testing and research, but with the help of orderly Carolyn McAdams (Sarah Jessica Parker), David finds escape to the ship, which is beckoning him via telepathic messages.  Upon boarding the ship, David discovers Max (voiced by Paul Reubens), the ship’s artificial intelligence.  As the pair get to know one another, a bond is formed and a deal is struck : in exchange for the maps in David’s head, Max will help David return to the home where he belongs.

Despite a situation that takes a LARGE leap of faith to buy into, this is still one of the more enjoyable and unique time-travel films out there.  The added element of doubling down on the science-fiction by incorporating alien elements, space ships and creatures gives the film a grandiose, overwhelming feeling.  The swerve into a buddies on the road film balances against the loftier elements, grounding the film in humor and emotion after dipping the viewer deep into the realms of confusion and suspension of disbelief.  Giving such a timid kid control of such an impressive device made an immediate connection to my friends and myself back in the day, and even after several decades, that sense of wonder and connection to David and his extremely strange situation is not lost.  

This film is dated is some of the most endearing ways possible.  While the design on the spaceship is still highly impressive, most everything else about this movie screams the 1980s : clothing, haircuts, interior design, the level of technology presented, and even the youthful looks of people like Sarah Jessica Parker immediately date this film in an era long since past.  The insults hurled between the kids reak of long dead slang and colloquialisms, the kind of which you only find in modern day projects like Stranger Things, or other properties aimed at nostalgia.  The fact that the film plays so well in our current nostalgia wave is interesting in regards to the way that the film handles David’s fish out of water predicament, as he often leans on nostalgia for comfort (ie references to Starsky & Hutch, or the inclusion of music by The Beach Boys). 

Narratively, using the David character as to what essentially equals up to a human USB drive for storage of Max’s star charts was a very forward-thinking element to drive the story forward.  Though brief, the puppetry and creature work used to display Max’s cosmic menagerie is memorable and believable, or as believable as the presentation of creatures that don’t exist can be.  The animation used to create and superimpose the ship, though archaic by today’s standards, works very well in the context of the film, and still holds up visually (in my opinion).

I’ve not revisited this film in quite a long time, but I always had a sense of familiarity in regards to the Max voice... I was surprised and amused to learn that Paul Reubens did the voicework under the pseudonym Paul Mall, but it made complete sense based on the ridiculous and quirky nature of the performance.  For such a young actor, Joey Cramer does a good job of carrying the majority of the film via isolated performances, as his choices kept the audience engaged.  Veronica Cartwright and Cliff DeYoung play a good couple, and they manage to embody the spirit of the aged-up makeup to give two different eras in the lives of the same set of parents.  Howard Hesseman and all of his character-acting glory kick things into high gear as the unwilling antagonist, as he plays his intentions pure and without malice in order to make him a sympathetic fall guy.  Albie Whitaker is perfectly annoying as David’s younger brother, and Matt Adler steps into his grown-up shoes to echo Whitaker’s performance with a mature edge.  Sarah Jessica Parker brings her youthful energy to her small role, and although she was used for exposition, her performance showed the promise of her eventually successful career.  Jonathan Sanger, Richard liberty, Iris Acker, Raymond Forchion and Keri Rogers round things out.

Films like Flight of the Navigator aren’t necessarily meant to be examined, analyzed and dissected.  Films like this are meant to put on, and for a couple of hours, allow you to escape the real world.  For my money’s worth, this film is as enjoyable as it was in my youth, which is not always promised when you revisit films of your childhood.