Baby It's You

Some Enchanted Evening Somewhere Off Rte 1

Jennifer Graham wrote a nice op-ed in the Boston Globe a couple weeks ago called "A Special Fondness for an Ugly Highway." To set the record straight, she is writing about Rte. 95, not the BQE. Her piece reminded me of an episode of the great Jean Shepherd's America on WGBH in which he rhapsodizes Rte. 1 (the pre-95) as art in all its kitschy splendor (see Youtube video below). 

Did that subconsciously prompt my semi-annual viewing of John Sayles' Baby It's You? Hard to say, except that Vincent Spano, as "The Sheik," makes his own Rte. 1 pilgrimage (c. 1966) from Miami to Sarah Lawrence College to take one last "shot" at high school girlfriend Jill Rosen (Rosana Arquette). Who cares, as long as it gets you back to this movie?

I've done the math for you:

• Best Rosanna Arquette movie
• Best use of Bruce Springsteen on a soundtrack*
• Best New Jersey movie
• Best movie to use the "Trenton Makes, The World Takes" railroad bridge sign
• Best college drinking/puking scene

It adds up to the Best Movie of All Time, or at least a leading contender for the All-Time Pure Pleasure (Even When It Hurts) Award.

(*Not to mention title song by the Shirelles.)