A brief guide to the music videos of FLETCH

I know, I've been gone for a while.  My apologies to the two or three people that actually noticed -- I hope you've been watching something good! 

You probably have.  There's a lot of neat stuff out there.

Anyway, when I started this vanity blog, my plan was to keep it updated constantly, several times a day, like a real-life website that multiple people were in charge of.  That worked for a while, thanks to the ability to plan things on the weekends and have them slowly leak out during the week.  Soon, however, it became more of a burden than something fun -- which was the whole point of starting this in the first place.

After a few false re-starts, I think I'm ready to commit again, though this time, I'll just be posting sporadically -- whenever I find something notable enough to write about.

Without further ado...

I miss the time when a movie's soundtrack provided a music video for just about every dang song on it.  I have no idea if this tactic worked as a merchandising device, though evidence suggests it didn't, as with few exceptions, most music from '80s movies is remembered only in the context of the movie itself. 

FLETCH, the 1985 cinematic adaptation of Gregory McDonald's series of detective novels starring Chevy Chase as the titular character, had not one, not two, but three music videos devoted to the songs on the soundtrack.  I hadn't realized this until recently, having only been aware of the video for Harold Faltermeyer's Art of Noise-y instrumental theme music, which features Faltermeyer wandering around a beach and occasionally playing synthesizer.  It's "integrated" into the movie in that, er, it's set on the beach, where part of the film is, and one point, he seems to be calling Fletch.  Sort of.



The prolific Will Harris, he of the AV Club's excellent "Random Roles" feature, pointed out this second music video, which is significantly more nuts.  Stephanie Mills sings the "actual" theme from FLETCH in a bizarre performance art space that's probably best described as "'80s futurism."  Clips from the film show up via video screens and sound samples.



But look!  Defenseless babies!  No, I kid.  Things do, however, get even weirder with our final FLETCH video, that actually seems to feature new footage with Chase shot for the video itself.  At least, I don't remember a scene in FLETCH where the lead character ran into a tent and watched George Wendt appearing in a crystal ball operated by Dan Hartman.  There is leather.  And random glitter.  And it feels like it was meant for a DEATHSTALKER sequel.




I could be wrong, though. It's been a while since I've seen the film.