Lea Thompson: From “Some Kind of Wonderful” to “Back to the Future”

Lea Thompson, at left, in the 1987 film "Some Kind of Wonderful" with co-star Eric Stoltz.
Source: https://ew.com/movies/2019/02/11/john-hughes-some-kind-of-wonderful-oral-history/
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She has gone from Marty McFly’s mom to Darby Spencer’s mom in the span of 38 years. Yet in that time, Lea Thompson has carved out a notable career, highlighted for me by two great performances in teen angst movies in the 1980s.

The past few weeks I have been binge watching “The Spencer Sisters” and seeing Lea Thompson has brought back memories of “Back to the Future”, “Some Kind of Wonderful” and more.

Marty’s mom
It’s funny. In “Back to the Future”, Lea Thompson had to wear make-up to look older. In “The Spencer Sisters”, she looks so young one of the themes is that she looks more like her daughter’s sister than her mother, hence the title of the show.

However, playing Marty’s modern-day mom was just a fraction of her role. Essentially, Thompson played two roles. One was the doting mother. The other was an amorous teenage high-school girl who develops a crush on the boy who was actually her son.

She had undeniable chemistry with Michael J. Fox, especially as he resisted her advances. She puts her hand on his knee underneath the dinner table, and his reaction is priceless. After all, that's actually his mom hitting on him.

Some Kind of Wonderful
I had wanted to see the movie for a long time, but it took almost eight years to see “Some Kind of Wonderful”.

It was well worth the wait.

"Some Kind of Wonderful" is the story of Keith, a teenage boy who has a crush on Amanda Jones, one of the most popular girls in school. Unfortunately, she is dating Hardy Jenns, the cool, rich kid who is an absolute entitled jerk. They break up, so Keith has his chance. He asks her out and Amanda says yes. Hardy obviously hears about it, and lays an elaborate trap for Keith. Hardy throws a big party, and invites the new couple. Only his plan is to have the crap beaten out of Keith, by other people of course because Hardy is an entitled jerk. He also wants to humiliate his ex-girlfriend..

Thompson plays the popular girl, and does a great job. You see, Amanda is from the wrong side of the tracks, the same place as Keith. In a moment of vulnerability, she tells our hero how she overcame all that by dating the cool guy. Keith essentially tells Amanda she does not have to define herself that way, and is special all on her own

It’s a great movie, with an ending I absolutely love, because I never saw it coming.

The rest of the 1980s
Lea Thompson had a lot of other roles in movies in the 1980s as well. Those included “All the Right Moves” and “Red Dawn”, both in 1984; and Howard the Duck in 1986.

The years after
Lea Thompson continues to act to this day. She moved to television in the 1990s with the sitcom “Caroline in the City” which ran from 1995 to 1999. Coincidentally, she went head to head in the ratings with her former “son” Michael J. Fox in “Spin City”.

The other role I really liked was on the comedy-drama “Ed” which was one of my favourite shows. In the final season of the show she assumed the role of Liz, the title character's ex-wife. The role had initially been played by Marianne Hagan.

Currently, Thompson plays Victoria Spencer in the Canadian drama “The Spencer Sisters” as a mystery writer turned private investigator.

Parting thoughts
Lea Thompson may be Victoria Spencer now, a mother filled with regret who is trying to mend her relationship with her daughter on “The Spencer Sisters”. For me, she will always be frozen in time for the role in “Some Kind of Wonderful”.

That movie, my hero John Hughes’ final piece in his teen-angst tetralogy, has left a lasting impression on me.

Not only is the writing excellent, and the performance by Eric Stoltz amazing, but Lea Thompson plays the perfect blend of vulnerable girl and cool kid.

For that, I will always e grateful.