From the Hip (1987): Judd Nelson IS Stormy Weathers

No doubt it is a cliche to say that in a given movie, a certain actor IS a certain character, but believe me when I say there is no more apt summary of "From the Hip." After all, it is SO essential to the film that we know that Judd Nelson IS Stormy Weathers that we hear it over 400 times by my unofficial count during the course of the film.

"You're Stormy Weathers," people keep telling him. He knows he's Stormy Weathers. The characters addressing him are really addressing US, reminding us that he has a "cool" name. You see, this is a film where someone came up with the idea to call the main character Robin "Stormy" Weathers, and then everyone else ran with it and felt we needed it reinforced, else the movie might not amount to much.

I blame credited screenwriter David E. Kelly because it's fun to blame him and because it seems like the kind of the thing he'd do. Let's not absolve the director of "From the Hip," the late Bob Clark, who was never known for his subtlety. One scene in particular displays Clark's heavy touch, one you might well expect from a project built around a character named Stormy Weathers. Judd Nelson (who IS Stormy Weathers) is celebrating in his apartment with his best friends/colleagues, and they are all getting rowdy, when his sensible girlfriend, played by Elizabeth McGovern, reminds them of the gravity of the situation, asking them to calm down and show some dignity. Then the camera pans out so we can see McGovern plod into the room wearing giant hairy gag monster feet. Now, there may be a subtle way to execute this gag, but this ain't it.

Nelson is a hotshot young attorney who, through various machinations we won't get into here, ends up defending accused murderer John Hurt in what is thought to be an unwinnable case. He deals with the prickly Hurt, legal partners who want to see him fail, and--awwww--his own self-doubts as he pursues the case...and maybe, just maybe, the right thing.

The story has kind of an odd ebb and flow, especially outside the courtroom, but I will say the trial scenes are highly watchable, and the cast is interesting. John Hurt is compelling, but he often seems to belong in a different film. In addition, there's Darren McGavin, Nancy Marchand (who gets to remind Nelson that he's Stormy Weathers), and the late Allan Arbus (I was gonna ID him as "the guy who played the shrink on M*A*S*H*," but the man especially deserves some respect now). And in a random bit of pop culture confluence, those lawyer pals Weathers consorts with are played by Dan Monahan of "Porky's" fame and by a young David Alan Grier.

But the problem is we are supposed to think Nelson is cool, with his irreverence and his floppy hair, but it's hard to escape the reality that, well, Stormy Weathers is kind of an a-hole, which is interesting given an early showcase scene features him instigating a debate over the word "a**hole." Ray Walston as the presiding judge becomes indignant, and we are supposed to enjoy the irreverence and admire his wacky but accessible logic. In short, we're supposed to really get behind Nelson's character right from the start, much the way we supported 80s mavericks like Axel Foley.

But while Nelson IS Weathers, Weathers is no Foley, and  his wild courtroom antics look good on film, but, several citations for contempt notwithstanding, are received with a lot more tolerance than they would be in the real world. He destroys things with a hammer, he brings live animals and vibrators into the courtroom (thankfully not at the same time) and generally showboats without an iota of shame. So if you don't buy into Stormy Weathers and his shtick, you might as well not even bother adding this to your Instant Watching queue.

There is one scene that made me laugh out loud the first time I saw it (I had never seen the whole movie before catching it on Netflix) and still makes me laugh, though maybe not for the right reason: During testimony, a prosecutor throws out a lofty-sounding quote, adding, "Henry David Thoreau said that." From his table, Judd Nelson (IS Stormy Weathers) says, "Yabba Dabba Doo. Frederick Flintstone said that. So what?"