Electric Dreams (1984)
Retro Review #65: An underrated 1980s rom-com gem for music video lovers, music lovers and musical lovers.
Electric Dreams (1984)
+ Feature film, £ 1h 36m🎖️
A+^
Grade: A+^ (20.0) / HOF: 90
EQ 👍A+ | 📖A+ 👥A+ 📽️A 🎼A+
DW 😎😎10.4 | 🌚10 🌝11
POPCAP 💯n/a 🍿n/a 🧢n/a
L-R 💻⬇️1️⃣ 👀⬇️0️⃣ 🛐⬇️2️⃣
One of the taglines for the 1984 movie, Electric Dreams, is as follows: “The most unusual triangle in the history of love: a boy, a girl, and a computer.”
On the surface, that’s a good description of the movie. San Francisco architect Miles Harding purchases a home computer to help him be on time for work.
While he becomes smitten with his neighbor, concert cellist Madeline, the computer accidentally becomes sentient and falls for her too.
Now, in my opinion Electric Dreams is a masterpiece and one of the best romantic comedies ever, albeit a lot stronger on the romantic side of the ledger (10 out of 10) than the comedic side (5 out of 10). To be fair, it is trying to be a mix of drama and comedy, a.k.a. a dramedy, not a pure comedy.
Sadly, the film got little respect in the industry or with critics. This is probably due in large part to some industry elitist snobbery against director Steve Barron, making his feature film directorial debut after directing dozens of music videos.
The prejudice seems particularly unfair, considering that he directed some of the best music videos ever, including Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” and the iconic MTV hit “Take on Me” by a-ha.
But music videos were new in the 1980s and not viewed as serious work by feature film creators, similar to how comic books were not viewed as serious literature for decades, until they were upgraded to “graphic novels”.
Indeed, what makes Electric Dreams a masterpiece is that it is a music video—a glorious upgraded one. Or, better yet, an epic anthology of music videos, with a connecting theme and story.
Really, what are music videos? Short films. What’s wrong with extending one to feature length? And nobody had a problem with Fantasia, an anthology of music videos with far less story connection. But I digress.
Of course for a music video to be great, the music must be great. Credit here goes to composer Giorgio Moroder, responsible for the score of the movie. The Electric Dreams soundtrack album, produced by Moroder, and featuring pop artists such as Culture Club, is one of the best ever in my opinion.
However it’s also one of the hardest to get your hands on. For years I had a cassette of the album and finally got a CD sometime after it was released for the first time in limited amounts in the US in 1998. It isn’t available on Spotify or streaming services as far as I know.
I hate that it’s not on Spotify because I can’t include one of my favorite pieces of music ever in any of my Spotify playlists! While I like every track on the album, one is a stand-out. “The Duel” by Giorgio Moroder, based on the classical piece “Minuet in G major” by Christian Petzold, is a breathtaking fusion of classical music and electronic pop.
“The Duel” is best experienced in stereo with good separation between the speakers. Although not available on streaming services, it is on YouTube. I’m including it here for your convenience. It will sound beautiful even from cellphone speakers, but if you have a better way to listen, like stereo speakers with your desktop computer, it will be worth the effort. If you must listen with your phone, then put it in landscape, close your eyes and hold it just an inch or two in front of your face. 🙂 Listen in. I’ll wait.
“The Duel” is far more than just the best track on the Electric Dreams soundtrack album. It arrives early in the film with a scene that establishes the theme of the movie, while also setting up the plot conflict. Since the scene is early in the movie, watching it ahead of time won’t spoil much. Personally, I’d recommend just watching the entire great film, but if you want to experience what I’m writing about here’s a link to the scene itself.
In this scene, without consciously realizing it yet, Madeline begins to fall in love with Miles, Miles’ computer begins to fall in love with Madeline and viewers like me completely fall in love with the movie. (Miles was, of course, already falling for Madeline, because she’s beautiful, friendly, and witty, and he’s a guy, so beautiful alone would have begun the process.)
All of this falling in love happens because of the powerful emotional bonds created through sharing music. The connection between romantic love and beautiful art, whether classical or electronic, is at the beating heart of Electric Dreams.
Lenny Von Dohlen and Virginia Madsen portray the romantic leads and are each charming in their own way. Their romance is sweet and believable against the scenic backdrop of San Francisco (with interior scenes filmed in England).
Most of the Dark and most of the Whimsy in this underrated gem of a film comes from Miles’ computer, a childish little monster that acts out because he just wants to be loved. Bud Cort voices the petulant device perfectly.
If it weren’t for some adult language in this film, from both Miles and his computer, it would earn an overall content rating of “✅0️⃣” from me, meaning “Mostly OK for teens and adults.” There’s a handful of uses of blasphemous profanity (mostly against God, once, Jesus) and while the F-word is used in just one scene, by the sentient computer in a weird electronic voice, it is repeated rapidly over a dozen times and certainly unmistakable. If you prefer not to hear objectionable language, this movie is a great candidate for using a video filtering service such as VidAngel.com to keep it clean.
Even with the language scrubbed up, the film would still only be “mostly OK for teens” in my book due to a brief scene implying sex between an unmarried couple. Younger teens might not even catch it, so as they say, “Parental discretion advised.”
For adults, Electric Dreams is a delightfully sweet romantic comedy with a Dark Whimsy edge. Since the computer technology is dated now, you don’t even notice that the film is technically science fiction! Instead, the 1980s setting seems nostalgic as if it were made today as historical fiction and a loving homage to that decade, with just a hint of wicked parody. 😉
Perhaps you should make a date to share Electric Dreams with someone you love!
Onwards!
+ last viewed (4) 2025-04-25, HDX7, 1.85v, 2D
+ first viewed 1984, ThX, 1.85, 2
+ 🪐🌎⚛️🥰💘😏😥🥸🎧
+ ❌0️⃣ Problematic for teens and sensitive adults. | PGa
+ 😡+1 😵💫+2 🤬-1^ 🤭+0 🫣+0
+ 👀⬇️0️⃣ ➖(😍)
+ ✝️ -0 ➕❤️ ➖(🤬🩳)
+ ✡️ -0 ➕🤍 ➖🤬(🫢)
+ 🗽 -0
Last updated 2025-04-26
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