“She’s cool. He’s hot. She’s from the Valley. He’s not.” That was the tag line that summed up the premise of Valley Girl, the cult classic from 1983 that starred a nineteen-year-old Nicolas Cage as a punk kid from Hollywood who falls for a sweet-natured girl from the San Fernando Valley (played by Deborah Foreman).
Frank Zappa‘s 1982 satirical hit song “Valley Girl” with his teenage daughter Moon Unit Zappa inspired national fascination with youth culture in “the Valley,” this mysterious land where teenagers spoke phrases “Like, oh my god / Like, totally / Encino is, like, so bitchen!” This film capitalized on that mystique, combining the classic bad boy/good girl teenage romance fueled by a new wave soundtrack featuring Sparks, Psychedelic Furs, Modern English, and Felony, among other KROQ mainstays. Local music heroes The Plimsouls and Josie Cotton also made cameos in the film, in addition to their respective hits “A Million Miles Away” and “Johnny Are You Queer?” being spotlighted in the movie.
Amazingly, the film has never been available across digital services until now. Valley Girl is available today via MGM on Amazon Prime, iTunes, VUDU, and FandangoNOW.
