Color War is Declared!

Comfort food for most people consists of things like macaroni and cheese. Maybe mashed potatoes. But my comfort food is a little odd, I guess. To me, there is no better snack than a half-sleeve of saltine crackers crunched up in a glass with milk poured on it like cereal.

Don't knock it 'til you try it.

It's not my favorite food. It's my comfort food.

Recently the question was posed on Cool and Collected...

What movie is, or was, your “go to” Saturday matinee — the comfort movie you always popped into the VCR on a rainy Saturday afternoon...

While you might expect me to take this question and set off on another Karate Kid or Ferris Bueller tangent, my go-to movie wasn't either of those.

Back in 1985, just before the release of Back to the Future and at the height of Family Ties' popularity, Michael J. Fox starred in an NBC made-for-TV movie called Poison Ivy (not to be confused with the 1996 Drew Barrymore skankfest).

Setting our 14-ton VCR to record it, I had my own copy to enjoy for years to come. That tape either wore itself out or eventually was recorded over with something more important like Saturday Night's Main Event.

Poison Ivy features Michael J. Fox as Dennis Baxter -- a Camp Pinewood counselor who falls for the camp nurse Rhonda (Nancy McKeon). Dennis spends his summer at the boys' camp doing his best to convince Rhonda to leave her stuffy fiance while looking after the Pinewood campers. There's Toby the comedian, Jerry the slick-talker, Brian the poet, and Bobby the star athlete. But who could forget Timmy -- the kid who learns to swim in preparation for the annual Color War competition. Of course, Dennis and Rhonda end up together in the end and all is well at Camp Pinewood.

Poison Ivy is my cinematic crackers and milk.

It's not my favorite movie. It's my comfort movie.

Be sure to check out some of the other responses to the comfort-movie question. A full list of other participating blogs can be found over at Cool and Collected.