15 Greatest Guilty Pleasure Movies Of The 1980s
13. Joysticks
Two disparate forces commanded the attention of adolescents in the 1980s: video arcades, and tacky teen sex comedies. Small wonder, then, that some bright spark hit upon the idea of bringing the two together.
Produced and directed by Greydon Clark (previously responsible for such time-honoured masterpieces as Satan's Cheerleaders), Joysticks centres on a popular small-town arcade where the staff and the clientele are as interested in one another's anatomies as they are in the latest games.
In the tradition of all the best teen movies, the popular young person's hang-out comes under threat from a shady local businessman (Joe Don Baker), who enlists a gang of local punks to try and run the place out of business. Plentiful hi-jinks ensue, leading to the inevitable battle of the gamers climactic showdown.
Very much a product of the Porky's era, Joysticks is filled to bursting with cheap innuendo, toilet humour, slapstick, and - of course - lots of gratuitous nudity, including but not limited to a bizarre round of strip Pac-Man.
The film never wastes an opportunity to emphasise the obvious connotation of 'playing with your joystick.' This is a key theme of the opening title song, which any viewer is destined to have on earworm for weeks afterwards; in particular its unforgettable refrain, "TOTALLY AWESOME VIDEO GAMES!"