Why this is such an awesome movie. Die Hard fans please read.
The Adventures of Ford Fairlane, to me at least, represents a certain age of film-making we hardly see anymore. A nonchalant mixture of genres, hardly taking itself serious, packed with a great cast and featuring remarkably slick direction, Ford Fairlane is that type of goofball macho man comedy no studio would touch today.
The film in more ways then one is creative in a way that was ahead of its time. Consider the way the film breaks the fourth film, is not afraid to bring characters back from the dead, and generally promotes a certain level of self-awarness that until the 2000s, became cool. Look at something like Family Guy, that type of zanny humor is a spawn of films like this.
The oddball cast of musicians, TV actors and comedians is a colorful assembly that gives the film rich flavor. Apart from this we have a terrific soundtrack that's nicely complemented by Yell-O, who really had some musical zest to some great scenes.
The chain smoking, the laughable MacDonald s product placement, the goofy hair styles and loud colorful clothing, disliking a film like this is just plain wrong. Andrew Dice Clay playing this hero whose tough womanizer in retrospect is hysterical. The way the film tries so hard to make think Ford is what makes the film work so well. Consider the music video scene, this scene alone is there to make Dice look awesome.
The director Renny Harlin has stated that while they were making this film they knew it was going to fail, simply because of how much fun they were having making the film and I think this element transcends onto screen in a way that becomes more apparent with each viewing. Contemporary movies like this that I also love (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) are very similar.
On a side note, to any other die hard fans I highly recommend looking into the limited released 4 issue mini series that take place before the film. Very funny, and the film makes a few small joke references to the cases in the comics. They aren't particularly expensive and worth the read.
As Ford would say, this case is getting CLOSED!
A Funny trailer as well, enjoy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPTSJSYUI2I