WHAT KIND OF FOOL AM I
Directed  by Paul Justman

Although the Love Somebody video is an extremely close second, this must rank as the video where Rick Springfield's hair looked the best. Ever! It is truly a stunning achievement ;o) He is perfect in this video. The way it casually lays in place, the way he brushes it with his hand in the beginning while looking in the mirror. Sheer beauty. I hate to focus SO much on the hair because he has much greater talents than hair-styling, but it is visual medium, and I am a weak person.

My favorite part of the video has to be when Rick jumps in the back of the truck and someone hands him the guitar (yeah, it is a stretch, but hey, he is working in a drive-in too???).  When he sings and plays the guitar with the movie projecting on him.....wow.  Then the light comes from behind him and he is a silhouette. This is how this 15 year old imagined Rick should look...always.  It gives me the same feeling in my stomach as when you hear the first notes of "Rhythm Of The Beat" and you see Rick hovering over you in the saucer.  It is HOW Rick should be...bigger than life.  It is like ...FINALLY...someone got it right and picked the perfect vehicle to showcase his greatness!

The other favorite part for me is when Rick is holding the girl at then end of the video (after all the floating, which again, strangely enough I liked) and he is stroking her hair.  It is touching.  Again.....it all comes back to the hair...

Rick is running the movie projector at a drive-in movie. He is thinking about a woman that he let go but really didn't mean to,
and now is regretting it. He eats a doughnut, drinks his tea (even back then), loads the projector, then starts wandering around the drive-in. He must be invisible, except to the person who hands him a guitar that they just happened to have handy. I would certainly notice if Rick Springfield was looking into my car window :-). That part always makes me laugh. I love his outfit in this video- jeans, white t-shirt, with a flannel type shirt over it. He looks like the all-American guy. This video reminds me a lot of the scene from the movie "Grease" when Olivia Newton-John leaves John Travolta at the drive-in and he starts singing "Sandy"- "stranded at the drive-in..... ".

I think this is probably my favorite video of all. The start of the video, with him looking in the mirror actually reminded me a little of Jessie's Girl when he was looking in the mirror.  I know for me, Rick looked his absolute best in this video - his hair was never more perfect. (I know this is kind of shallow, but after all, it's a video, it's all about the visual, and visually he looked GOOOOD). The way he looked in the Inside Silvia/Sylvia (because even Rick doesn't know how to spell it) comes in a very close second.  I really like the way Rick's character is such an average kind of guy, with an average kind of job.   I don't know how all those people in the cars could have been so oblivious to Rick Springfield walking around looking into their car windows.  Of course, this is all the fantasy of the character wishing he had his girlfriend back.  I bet it was a total blast to be able to walk around on all those cars.  I like it when he's performing in front of the movie screen.  The projector hitting his face and then when he's just a silhouette in the lighting, both look really cool!  The floating was maybe a bit much, but loved the landing.  And I swear, the guy driving in the far right after that, the one in the blue and black striped shirt, was either Mike Seifrit or Brett Tuggle (am I crazy?).

And whether it was a real movie playing at the theater or not, my guess is that the movie poster that you see at the end of the video, represents what was playing on the screen

I watched this video again to get a "refresher" (like I needed an excuse!) This one was never at the top of my list for favorites. I think it's the "flying" thing. Not sure though. I love the premise of Rick being the "projector guy", but let me tell you from someone who worked as an usher in a movie theatre in high school... none of the projector guys were that good looking! They were either geeky or overweight, or both! Seeing Rick in Average Joe clothes was cool too. Up to this point in Rick's short video career we had either seen him in a suit or cool rock-n-roll type clothes (a' la the jumpsuit in DTTS). I have a picture from this video shoot that appeared in Dynamite! magazine which I loved... Rick lying on the cot in the flannel shirt with the oh so perfect hair. Just looking like a gorgeous "ordinary guy".

The band members in the cars at the drive-in were a great added touch. I love that The Fabulous Eels were in alot the background scenes of the videos in the 80's.

Like I said a paragraph or two before, this whole video is sweet until that someone hands Rick the guitar and he goes flying... then all believability goes out the window. Of course, this is a video, and someone's interpretation of the song, but heck if I know what kind of imagery this is trying to convey.

My favorite part is the end, where he takes the girl in his arms, and his hand is in her hair. Sigh...just what every teenage girl who was a Rick fan in the 80's wanted...

The first time I saw this video I immediately loved it. Then I had to rewind and play it again. The loved the setting and I'm from the flannel shirt and blue jean era, when everyone wore them, all the time, even to school. Flannel can be very sexy. (Gee, is it Fall yet?) What Kind of Fool Am I as a video I think is definitely one of the best. The scene fits the song. It's a platform for not only singing but acting out the song.  Plus I've always liked the song.