Musical Montage: Ashford & Simpson “Down to Earth”
Mostly remembered now thanks to podcasts like How Did This Get Made? and every time Paul Rudd appears on Conan, Mac and Me is an insanely terrible film that combines ET, McDonald’s and handicapped child endangerment. Following a family of aliens who are accidentally transported to Earth via a NASA mission to an unknown planet, the youngest alien (whom everyone knows as the titular Mac although it apparently stands for Mysterious Alien Creature) is separated from the others and forms a bond with wheelchair bound Eric Cruise, who works with his brother and friends to get Mac reunited with his family and, eventually, get them US citizenship in the movie’s insane courtroom climax. Besides the clip of Eric careening down a hill that is the favorite of the once and future Ant-Man the other clip that most people probably have seen is the infamous McDonald’s dance sequence that is perhaps the most blatant product placement in movie history. The song during the sequence “Down to Earth” was performed by husband and wife duo Ashford & Simpson, who wrote such classic hits as “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”, “I Am Every Woman” and “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing” and had some decently popular singles on their own as well. You can check out the sequence below in all it’s crazy, fry greased drenched glory below.
