Make a Deal With God: How The Chocolate War (1988) Brought Me to Kate Bush

Guest post alert! I’m very excited to kick off this year’s slate of featured bylines with my dear friend Craig Ceravolo. I met Craig when I first appeared on the Sleep In Cinema radio show, which he co-hosts with friend of the newsletter Gareth Jones. Since then, I’ve loved running into him frequently around town, sometimes even on purpose—including three more appearances with him on Sleep In Cinema. When Craig pitched me this piece, I’d never even heard of this film, and wouldn’t you know it, I’m now dying to see it after reading this piece. I have a feeling you will be too. (Especially if you love brooding 80s music.) Take it away, Craig!

Reader, I am having a birthday in a few days. It’s a big one. Not really one I want to acknowledge, but it’s there. Staring me in the face, tapping on its wrist.

Nostalgia is a dangerous drug. It’s fun to dabble in it when you’re closer to that thing you miss or remember. Recreational use can be healthy when you’re still young—even if you don’t think you are. Because you are. Still young. Yes, even me.

But the older I get, the less I’m compelled to reminisce. Nostalgia starts to feel more like an IV drip keeping you comfortable as you approach the end. Nothing left to do but look back.*

I’m old enough to relish the VHS era. Like most kids, I had a local video store: Video Express in Midfield, Alabama. A nice lady ran the place; she didn’t know a thing about movies, but she was always helpful, and she called me “baby” a lot. She reserved a copy of G.I. Joe: The Movie for me when I was probably just a little too old for it, but I was sheepishly holding on to that part of my childhood. She even asked me if I had a little brother that liked G.I. Joe when I requested it.**

I read Robert Cormier’s “The Chocolate War” in ninth grade. It was assigned reading at Ramsay High School in 1989. But I loved it, as I did most books. I used to read constantly. For fun. I don’t think we had cable, or we had one TV that I rarely had access to, so I read and listened to music. Lots of music.

I was ecstatic when my Video Express friend let me know they had a copy of the film version of “The Chocolate War.” She seemed pleased that I had advanced from cartoons to live action. Much like the novel, the film hit me at just the right time. However, it had something the book didn’t—a perfect soundtrack for my tragically sensitive heart.

The story follows Jerry Renault, a freshman at a Catholic school for boys. He’s reeling from the death of his mother, unsure how to grieve while his dad is completely checked out. At school, he’s pressured into selling chocolates by abusive headmaster Brother Leon (played by the always amazing John Glover). But a secret student society called The Vigils is bullying Jerry into refusing to participate in the fundraiser. He’s a target for harassment by faculty and students alike. His miserable life gets worse because of those damn chocolates.

The overall tone is moody and surreal and takes all the angst head on. Jerry gets pummeled and bloodied from the first scene on the football field to the climactic boxing match. He’s not an athlete. He’s in way over his head from the beginning. All this melancholia and brooding spoke to my 14-year-old, The Cure-worshiping self.***

Writer/director Keith Gordon (yes, that Keith Gordon) was only 27 when he tackled The Chocolate War. Even as an established actor, he struggled to make it happen. I’m in awe of anyone that writes a screenplay and gets it on a screen; it’s a miracle of sorts.**** And Gordon got this film made on just a $500,000 budget with a great cast and an incredible soundtrack. Hail Mary, full of grace indeed.

Gordon must have spent all the Hollywood capital he accrued from working with the Slaters, both Helen and Christian (who are not related, actually), in The Legend of Billie Jean. Or maybe it was his association with Rodney Dangerfield. Or that demon car. Regardless, Gordon convinced every artist on the soundtrack to drop their licensing fees significantly. Peter Gabriel apparently just said “Have at it, kid.”

And the result is song placement perfection.

The film begins with Yaz’s “In My Room.” Spoken-word Lord’s Prayer over synth bass—an inspired choice out of the gate for a teen angst Catholic school drama. (Keith Gordon, you’re my goddamn hero.) Yaz contributes three songs to the soundtrack in total.

But that’s just the beginning. Gabriel is all over this thing, including “I Have the Touch” and “We Do What We’re Told,” a little bit of perfection from his 1986 So album.***** The epilogue was supposed to play out with David Bowie’s “Heroes” to punctuate the theme of, well, heroes and villains. Which would’ve provided a sliver of hope as an aural palette cleanser after all the moping and existentialism. But that song came with a $100,000 price tag, and Starman would not budge.

A replacement song was secured from another weird British crooner by the name of Kate Bush. She agreed to let Gordon use “Running Up That Hill” as the emotional bow to tie up the story and send us on our way as the credits rolled. This was the first use of that now iconic song in a film or TV show. In this sleepy little film. (More like comatose.)

I’m not gatekeeping Kate Bush. I was overjoyed when this masterpiece found a new audience thanks to Stranger Things. However, the song is truly in its element in The Chocolate War. The Duffer Brothers built their entire fourth season around “Running Up That Hill” to shoot the audience up with nostalgia, but the song was barely three years old when Gordon used it as the last emotional gut punch for his story. And it was exactly what this 80s teen drama needed. The song, just like the film, takes itself way too seriously and demands you not only listen—by God, you’d better feel it.

Stranger Things was peddling the good stuff when those distinctive drums and that iconic synth line saved the lives of those fake 80s kids. It was a crafty move. But I bet you a box of chocolates I know where they got the idea.

*Wow, that intro got dark. Thank you for abiding.

**Yes, that really happened. Animated straight-to-video features were middle school nostalgia gateway drugs in 1987.

***It’s no secret I have been obsessed with The Cure since I was 13. I make a point to play at least one Cure song on my radio show. (Wake Up, Boo! on Substrate Radio every Sunday morning!). I didn’t wear all black and lipstick, but I had enough posters to make my mom concerned.

****Yes, this is a vulgar display of flattery toward the host of this newsletter.

*****Kate Bush is featured on one song from this album. Coincidence!? (Probably.)

The Chocolate War is now streaming on Tubi, and it is available to rent elsewhere.