Even with the shuttering of Hostess, Twinkies will live on in movie lore
Over the decades, Twinkies have made cameo appearances in many movies, from “WALL-E” to “Zombieland.” (AP file)
Well, terrific. Now what’s WALL-E supposed to feed his pet cockroach?
In case you haven’t already heard the news and started stockpiling Twinkies – I’m more of a Ding Dong person myself, in more ways than one – Hostess Brands Inc. filed a motion to liquidate Friday (today) with U.S. Bankruptcy Court after it said striking workers across the country crippled its ability to maintain production, according to the Associated Press.
Remember the prediction that Woody Harrelson’s Twinkie-seeking character makes in “Zombieland”? “Believe it or not, Twinkies have an expiration date,” he intones grimly. “Some day very soon, life’s little Twinkie gauge is gonna go … empty.”
Seems a bit prescient now that those little golden sponge cakes have stopped rolling off the line, huh? Maybe I should start prepping for the zombie apocalypse after all.
All joking aside, the shuttering means the loss of about 18,500 jobs, according to the AP. Hostess said employees at its 33 factories were sent home and operations suspended Friday. Its roughly 500 bakery outlet stores will stay open for several days to sell remaining products.
It’s never a happy day when people lose their jobs en masse. It’s also never a good feeling when we sense a part of our childhood memories or a popular culture icon slipping away. I’m guessing it won’t take long for those bakery outlet stores to sell out of Twinkies, Zingers, Sno Balls, CupCakes, Ding Dongs and Wonder Bread, as folks desperately try to get one last bite of those tasty treats that we’ve always taken for granted.
After all, who didn’t think Twinkies would last forever? We all laughed when we saw WALL-E the robot give his pet roach one 700 years in the future. It was funny because it was true – or so we thought.
It may be small comfort to those already suffering from sponge cake deprivation, but Twinkies will never really be gone, even if we actually do run out of the cream-filled delicacies. Besides “WALL-E” and “Zombieland,” the pastries have made cameos in countless movies. Remember in “Ghostbusters” when Dr. Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis) likened the “normal amount of psychokinetic energy in the New York area” to a Twinkie and then explained that the current levels of paranormal upset would be analogous to a Twinkie measuring 35 feet long and weighing approximately 600 pounds? Bet you remember Winston Zeddemore’s ( Ernie Hudson) response, too: “That’s a big Twinkie.”
Or how about Reginald VelJohnson’s Sgt. Al Powell binging on Twinkies before he is called to the aid of Bruce Willis’ John McClane when a Christmas night hostage situation goes down in a Los Angeles skyscrape in the actioner “Die Hard”? Or when ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic attempts to cheer up a pal by making him a Twinkie wiener sandwich in the comedy “UHF”?
Twinkies have definitely gotten around, cinematically speaking.
In these days of mega corporations that oversee companies that make seemingly everything from toilet paper and light bulbs to, yes, snack cakes and movies, it’s hard to imagine that some CEO won’t try to harness all that Twinkie energy and snap up the Hostess brand. Maybe we haven’t seen the last of Twinkies, after all.
If you do happen to get your hands on one, you might want to take a serving suggestion from “The Iron Giant” hero Hogarth Hughes (voice of Eli Marienthal) and remember that adding a little extra cream filling never hurts, especially if it just might be your last Twinkie ever.
For your nostalgic viewing enjoyment, here are some clips of Twinkie movie cameos; watch for the adult language in the “Zombieland” video:
-BAM
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Why is it not an option for a nonprofit or charity or cause to take over the brand with proceeds to end diabetes?