"Wayne's World" 1992

“Wayne’s World”

Wayne Campbell: So, do you come to Milwaukee often?
Alice Cooper: Well, I'm a regular visitor here, but Milwaukee has certainly had its share of visitors. The French missionaries and explorers were coming here as early as the late 1600's to trade with the Native Americans.
Pete: In fact, isn't "Milwaukee" an Indian name?
Alice Cooper: Yes, Pete, it is. Actually , it's pronounced "mill-e-wah-que" which is Algonquin for "the good land."
Wayne Campbell: I was not aware of that.

I remember seeing this movie in the theater and loving it. I bought it on video as soon as it came out. I don’t quite remember how it became my then three year old son’s favorite movie.

“Wayne’s World” started as a funny skit on “Saturday Night Live”. Sometimes a three minute skit becomes a funny movie. But for every “The Blues Brothers”, there is a “Here’s Pat”. For every “Coneheads” there is a “Stuart Smalley Saves the World”. “Wayne’s World” created a great universe to expand on the funny skit. Mike Myers and Dana Carvey are both funny and have a great chemistry.

My son had been on a Disney kick. We had months of “101 Dalmations” which was starting to turn my brain into mush. I could quote it backwards and forwards. I had developed an unhealthy hate for Pongo and Perdita. I had started rooting for Cruella DeVil. I needed a change. I’m sure it was a matter of the kid being in the room while we were watching this movie and getting drawn in.

Soon he was obsessed. There is a scene where Wayne and Garth go to a club called The Gasworks. Soon every gas station was called the Gasworks. We had a dog named Phil. My son would look at him and quote Wayne, “Phil, you are partied out dude.”

Years later when I let him watch “Terminator 2” he finally got the joke with the cop.

But it was Alice Cooper that sunk in the deepest. I remember walking by his room and there he was lying on his Batman sheets singing “Be my Frankenstein!”

Just last year there was a local music festival that was headlining Alice Cooper. And my son was there. He wasn’t the only one that my son had to see that day, but he was a big part of it.

It is still a fun movie. I’ve never gotten tired of it. Even after he rewound the video tape so many times that he almost wore it out.

We’re not worthy.