When I was in college and Susan Vander Closter, a great lady I tried to take all my liberal arts classes with, gave us a memoir called Naked to read by a man called Sedaris, I was ecstatic. Not because I was a rabid NPR listener–but because I naturally assumed it was Andy Sidaris who produced all the soft core pornography movies I love so much.
Andy Sidaris never did write a memoir and, sadly, he passed away this last year from throat cancer, but my family and I will always remember his legacy. That's right, my family. See, his movies are the most campy, fun, funny, masterfully badly acted, phoney spy films but on film.
John Waters, if there is any chance you're reading this, you owe it to yourself to get the entire collection. The Hagues are such fans, that for a time my mom was even in correspondence with Mrs. Sidaris, getting the scoop on planned sequels to Return to Savage Beach and receiving an autographed photo.
His piece de resistance, Hard Ticket to Hawaii, is pure B-grade pleasure featuring a murderous cancer-infected snake, undercover government agents who “think better” topless in a hot tub, a bad guy named “Seth”, and a doofus hit man who gets blown up while riding on a skateboard holding a blow up doll.
In another classic, Picasso Trigger (which also stars my favorite of the Sidaris actresses, former Playboy model Donna Speir), the most priceless piece of art in the world is an airbrushed, 80's, Florida-style angel fish painting.
The man was a genius and while his death may not have made international headlines, he will be deeply mourned in the world of skinamax bad-good movies.
But what do you think?