The Garbage Pail Kids Movie (1987)

The Little People were copyrighted in 1978 and began production.  Families in Georgia could adopt the dolls from the Babyland General Hospital, a toy store run by Xavier Roberts.  When the dolls were licensed to Coleco in 1982, they took on their more well-known name.  The Cabbage Patch Kids were one of the largest toy phenomena of the 1980s and have been selling worldwide ever since.

A few companies decided to take the idea and make their own versions of the Cabbage Patch Kids.  There were Pumpkin Patch Kids, Lollipop Kids, and Flower Kids.  The greatest form of flattery, however, doesn’t come from the many knockoffs.  It’s good to know that people love your product so much that they’ll steal from it.  But the greater flattery comes from parody.  Even if you don’t like the parody, which Xavier Roberts didn’t, true parody helps you know that you’ve made it.

The Garbage Pail Kids were a series of trading cards that were brought to market in 1985.  The characters had some sort of abnormality and got a humorous name based on their ailment.  Many of the early run of characters bore similarity to Cabbage Patch Kids.  This would eventually lead to a lawsuit.  But the cards became popular among children, much in the same way as Cabbage Patch Kids.  It was for vastly different reasons though.  They were disgusting.  Schools banned them.  That didn’t stop a movie from being made.

The Garbage Pail Kids Movie was released in 1987.  It starred Mackenzie Astin as Dodger, a kid being picked on by the bullies of his town.   He hung out at an antique shop owned by Captain Manzini (Anthony Newley).  One day, while being bullied, Dodger accidentally opened up a garbage can that contained The Garbage Pail Kids: Valerie Vomit, Foul Phil, Ali Gator, Nat Nerd, Windy Winston, Greaser Greg, and Messie Tessie.  These new friends would help Dodger create some clothing that would get him close to Tangerine (Katie Barberi), a girl who wanted to be a fashion designer.

The popularity of the cards with children helped usher the movie into production and eventually into theaters.  It didn’t fare to well, only making $1.6 million at the box office.  That could all be boiled down to the mixed tones and nonsensical story.  The characters were meant to be kids, yet acted like perverted, violent adults with disgusting traits.  It was a movie based on a children’s product that felt like it wasn’t geared towards children.  And it didn’t make any sense.

Most of the story was spent on Dodger and Tangerine’s relationship.  She was a year older than him, but it looked like there were many more years in between.  Tangerine designed her own clothing and sold it outside a nightclub from her car.  It was like dealing clothes instead of drugs.  Dodger tagged along a few times.  He would hide when Juice (Ron MacLachlan), Tangerine’s boyfriend, showed up to take the money.  He and Tangerine formed a bond where she was his sales mentor and he was the kid who looked up to her and wanted to be with her.  That was the case until the Garbage Pail Kids made Dodger a jacket.  Tangerine loved the jacket, so Dodger got the Kids to make more clothing to impress her.  She found out about the Garbage Pail Kids and started using them as slave labour to make clothes for her.  Then she held a fashion show, taking credit for their work.  She disrespected them, which turned Dodger against her.  When Tangerine tried to apologize, Dodger didn’t accept it because he had seen her true colours.  She was filled with greed.

This relationship was what the audience was meant to follow throughout The Garbage Pail Kids Movie.  Dodger was the main character and it was his relationship with Tangerine that drove the story forward.  His bully was Juice, Tangerine’s boyfriend.  He got into the fashion world to be near Tangerine.  And by the end of the movie, he realized that he didn’t like her personality.  She was too focused on herself and furthering her career.  Her passion in fashion caused harm to the people around her.  She harmed the Garbage Pail Kids and lost Dodger’s trust.

The trust was broken even more by Tangerine’s boyfriend.  Juice and his cronies broke into Captain Manzini’s shop one night and captured the Garbage Pail Kids.  They had the Kids sent off to the State Home for the Ugly, where ugly people would be executed.  The State Home for the Ugly was a strange place.  It didn’t seem at all like it was designed to house only the ugly of the world.  Abraham Lincoln was there because he was too skinny.  Santa Claus was there because he was too fat.  There was a clown that was too silly being housed there.  None of these reasons were because they were ugly.  The Garbage Pail Kids were there because of this so-called ugliness, but Abe Lincoln, Santa, and the Clown had different reasons, which made the State Home for the Ugly not just for the ugly.  Unless they consider fat, skinny, and silly ugly traits.

Before they were captured, the Garbage Pail Kids had gotten up to some antics that probably should have had them arrested.  Windy Winston and Ali Gator went to a biker bar.  Ali Gator went inside and bit one guy’s toes, causing a bar fight to break out.  Winston was outside hotwiring an ATV.  During the fight, he drove it through the wall and then farted in a guy’s face, blowing his mustache off.  The rest of the Kids went to the theater, where The Three Stooges played.  They assaulted many of the moviegoers.  Some of them were hitting on women.  One of them pulled a knife on someone.  One of the Kids was asking people if they were his mommy.  The Garbage Pail Kids were causing mayhem all over the city.

The last thing that needs to be touched on with The Garbage Pail Kids Movie was that there was a musical number.  When Tangerine and Dodger started getting help from the Garbage Pail Kids to make clothes, the Garbage Pail Kids performed a musical number about working together.  They walked out of the shop, into the street, and sang.  They went to a sweat shop and stole some machines to make more clothes.  It was sing-song thievery at its finest.

The Garbage Pail Kids Movie was a strange hybrid of childish and adult tones.  There was a kid as the star who was being bullied and would come of age through the new friends he made.  That’s standard kids’ film fare.  The fact that there was a musical number only added to it.  And then there was the part where the movie was based on an item marketed to kids.  But then there were the adult things like how violent the bullies were.  They tried to drown Dodger in sewage and left him for dead.  The Garbage Pail Kids harassed people at a theater and tried to sexually assault women.  They were hanging out at bars.  The two tones never really came together to make something coherent.

The Garbage Pail Kids were a huge item in the 1980s.  The popularity of the original line of cards and stickers cemented it in pop culture for years to come.  The cards are still being made to this day.  They spoof different aspects of pop culture now, and not just Cabbage Patch Kids.  But the people who know the Garbage Pail Kids cards know their origins.  They know that the original cards were parodies of the Cabbage Patch Kids.  That’s why both lines use the Kids as their final defining descriptive word.

The introduction of The Little People changed the market for decades.  When they changed their name to Cabbage Patch Kids, they skyrocketed to fame.  The dolls were some of the best selling of the 1980s and are still beloved.  They inspired many people to put out other products along the same lines.  They inspired Garbage Pail Kids.  That line then inspired a film.  And that film inspired me to write this post.  Not bad for a small company from Georgia that made it big.

Now let’s get some notes out of the way:

• One of the actors in The Garbage Pail Kids Movie was Debbie Lee Carrington.  She has become a regular of the Sunday “Bad” Movies, having been in Tiptoes (week 28), Howard the Duck (week 75), Mom and Dad Save the World (week 186), and The Ewok Adventure (week 287).
• The Garbage Pail Kids Movie featured two other actors from The Ewok Adventure (week 287).  They were Bobby Bell and Kevin Thompson.
• Phil Fondacaro returned to the Sunday “Bad” Movies this week after first appearing in Evil Bong (week 52).
• Arturo Gil made his second appearance in The Garbage Pail Kids Movie.  He was previously in Freaked (week 131).
• Jim Cummings did some voice work in The Garbage Pail Kids Movie.  He was also in Cabin Boy (week 173).
• Mackenzie Astin played Dodger in The Garbage Pail Kids Movie.  He could also be seen in Elf-Man (week 213).
• Finally, Chester Grimes made a quick return to the Sunday “Bad” Movies.  He was recently a part of Cop and a Half (week 340).
• Have you seen The Garbage Pail Kids Movie?  What did you think about it?  Did you have any Garbage Pail Kids stuff when you were younger?  Let me know on Twitter or in the Comments.
• If there are any movies that you think I should be checking out, let me know about them in the comments or on Twitter.  I’m always open to suggestions.
• Check out the Sunday “Bad” Movies Instagram account.  I do some things over there.
• Let’s talk about next week and then we’ll head our separate ways.  One of the places I go to find movies I should be checking out is The Asylum.  They’re known for their knock-off movies and schlocky creature features.  I’ll be seeing one of those creature features for the next post.  Battledogs is coming up in a week, and I hope to see you back here then.  Have a good week.