The video above is a series of clips from the little-seen 1994 documentary Wildwood, N.J. Directors Carol Weaks/Cassidy and Ruth Leitman took to the boardwalk (and its surrounding area) of resort town/hole in the country Wildwood, N.J., in 1992, to explore the culture of the girls and women who populate it. The results are almost entirely hilarious. Even before my posts about it, I have long been obsessed with Wildwood and its unapologetic trashiness. I've always described it this way: if Jersey is the armpit of the U.S., Wildwood is a louse clinging to one of its hairs. Watching the film today, though, it's hard to say where the trashy begins and the products of the time (be they mousse or gel) end, but I'm pretty sure that halo-like scrunchies and shoulder-less button-up shirts and (maybe) lying about all the girls you've beat up and put in the hospital were never a good idea.
The film has a feminist bent (just the fact that anyone cares enough to talk to these girls about their lives and dreams bespeaks a rare kind of social consciousness) and it's moving at times, especially during a segment where girl after girl talks about her fatherless life. Mostly, though, it's a big laugh. It feels like a missing link for me, as it's full of females so similar to the ones that surrounded me while growing up just 25 minutes away from the profiled town: girls and women who know they're funny but don't quite realize that they're hilarious. Relating to those people introduced me to the strange sensation that occurs when you find yourself simultaneously laughing at and with a person. That same sensation is present when I watch and talk to people on reality TV.
Basically, Wildwood, N.J., feels like it was made for me (much love to John, who hooked me up with a copy). I don't know if people will be as amused as I am by this (some of the clips I included based on accent alone), but I figured with July 4 looming, it's the right week to find out.
Update: Wildwood, N.J., director Ruth Leitman contacted me to say that she's thrilled about the attention this unreleased gem is receiving and that she's going to start to sell copies of the film via her site within the next few days. Here's what Ruth says about procuring your own copy (which I [South Jersey Accent]soooooooow[/SJA] reccomend):
I am really excited that so may of you asked about the film. Because of this I am mastering a new DVD and you can order via PayPal. As we speak, I am having my web designer add a button for this shortly on my website (Ruthless Films). It's $22.99 including shipping & handling. We were in the process of a re-design when this all came up, so that is why there is so little on there now. After you've purchased please allow 3 weeks for delivery.
Update 2: OK, it's available.
Below, some screen shots to celebrate the fashions of the time/location...
It's different. It's different every night. Did I mention that it's different?
Posted by: John R | July 01, 2009 at 02:33 PM
They had to discontinue manufacturing shoulder-less womens oxfords because they were somehow making girls into pathological liars...strange but true!
Posted by: John R | July 01, 2009 at 02:38 PM
OH MY GOD! The scary thing is that when I graduated from high school in 1997, these fashions were still going strong in my small connecticut hell hole of a town! That's really disturbing.
The guy in the second picture looks incredibly fuckable though lol!
Posted by: trix | July 01, 2009 at 02:42 PM
The middle girl around 2:50=Dina from Real Housewives NJ....?
Also, I love the girl who puts people in the hospital every other week. I might hire her as my bodyguard. Hope she's still in business.
Posted by: Linda | July 01, 2009 at 02:46 PM
omg, growing up in the bronx, my family & i used to go to wildwood every summer for vacation. i cant tell you how freaking spot on this is. its my childhood, my teen years, my heritage. i mocked those guidettes then. i almost miss them now XD
Posted by: narita | July 01, 2009 at 03:00 PM
Apparently Wildwood, NJ and Pittsburgh, PA exist inside the exact same time warp. 17 years later and some of the gals in the 'Burgh are still rocking giant plastic earrings, tube tops and daisy dukes made from mom jeans, and big, BIG hair! Le sigh. I miss home.
Posted by: torrinpaige | July 01, 2009 at 03:08 PM
"I'm going to be with her the rest of the summer."
Wow. Way to go out on a limb and commit there dude. :/
Posted by: gi_janearng | July 01, 2009 at 03:11 PM
Oh god one of those girls in the screenshots looks exactly like my cousin when she was younger...come to think of it she would be the right age.....except we're not from Jersey so I'm guessing it's not her. I don't know if I'm sad or relieved.
Posted by: KRHsan | July 01, 2009 at 03:14 PM
That's one of the greatest things I've ever seen. Puts the K right in Klassy.
Posted by: Syd | July 01, 2009 at 03:18 PM
Tee hee, John R called it - that girl is sooo lying about putting another girl in the hospital, and in the first scene her friend is just dying to call her out on it (I totally wish she had).
Posted by: kimberly | July 01, 2009 at 03:35 PM
Was this shot in the 90's or the 80's? Hard to tell. All of these people scared me, except for the first dude with the Beeker hair. Cute. That shoulderless girl is a one-woman boardwalk hit squad and also? Dave IS a motherfucker for not high-tailing it to the payphone.
Posted by: Joe | July 01, 2009 at 03:55 PM
This is giving me serious wardrobe flashbacks. Oh, quelle horreur!
Posted by: hipsy | July 01, 2009 at 03:58 PM
I am from Jersey and went to the S. Jersey Shore growing up, but my parents wouldn't let us leave our safe haven of Avalon to go to Wildwood... clearly this is why. Not all of NJ is like this though; Wildwood and Seaside Heights are like whole societies of hairspray worshiping savages...
RICH PLEASE WHERE DO I GET THIS VIDEO?!?!?!?!
Posted by: A to the MCD | July 01, 2009 at 04:30 PM
that girl "look at these faces" is dina from housewives
Posted by: Mer | July 01, 2009 at 04:32 PM
Oh geez, total nostalgia trip. My sister, my mother and I used to take the trek from our apartment in NYC to Wildwood every summer for a week to go to a family reunion. Our italian-american family was mostly from Long Island and NJ and to them this was just another week at the beach but to us it was total culture clash and I still remember how shocked we could be year after year at the things we saw.
Posted by: Tanya | July 01, 2009 at 04:42 PM
Wow... That video was like a mini high school reunion for me. Those girls were pretty much every female I knew as a teenager.
Posted by: Wookie | July 01, 2009 at 04:48 PM
Please tell us, where can we find this movie?!
Posted by: Jen | July 01, 2009 at 05:02 PM
FYI: You can order this movie from the filmmaker, Ruth Leitman. Contact her at: [email protected]
Her website (which lists more of her amazing films!) is http://www.ruthlessfilms.com
Posted by: Jen | July 01, 2009 at 06:10 PM
THAT is HILARIOUS!
I love how that girl is slowly embellishing how she beats people up... and when the interviewer gives her the chance... she takes it further, and further. She killed someone????... Yeah, OK.
I love the herringbone necklace... the fact that that one chicks 'boyfriend won't let her fight anymore' (damn, he must really love her...)The chick who is just barely coherent.... 'it's different... it's different... it's just, everyday... it's different...' This is classic. Thanks for putting me on to it!
Posted by: erin | July 01, 2009 at 06:19 PM
Most of the women there reminded me of Mexican woman here in CA, same attitudes, same criminal records. God it makes me miss my aunts.
Posted by: Mario | July 01, 2009 at 06:28 PM
this is a modern day classic. i need this documentary in my life. and i seriously need to visit jersey again, its been way too long.
fav part is when the 3 girls are talking shit about the guys who are like, right behind them and can see and hear them. <3
Posted by: mara | July 01, 2009 at 07:40 PM
rich! i love this. i'm from south jersey and all this rings so true. thanks for being awesome and finding this
Posted by: Carrie | July 01, 2009 at 08:10 PM
I really love this! Thank you so much for telling us about it! Have you seen American Hollow? It is about a group of families living in a really remote place in Kentucky. It is worth watching.
Posted by: Jessica | July 01, 2009 at 08:38 PM
Growing up in Toronto in the late 90s, I have no frame of reference for this kind of culture. I guess Welcome To The Dollhouse is the closest thing. Being made in 1992, this doc isn't exactly historical, but it still feels like observing a culture so heavily anchored in the distant past.
Posted by: Henry Evil | July 01, 2009 at 09:33 PM
you nailed it when you described them as knowing they're funny, but not realizing they're hilarious. my favorite part was the chick talking about the mom who had her brows drawn on.
Posted by: gem | July 01, 2009 at 09:42 PM