Directed by Eugene John Bellida Written By Eugene John Bellida, Fabrizio Fante and Deborah Rickey Cast: Mari Blake, Hallie Ruth Jacobs, Jason Schlaman, Suzanna Scorcia, Aleis Work, Chandler Reed, Tyler Meteu Bryan, Mikaela Seamans, Harrison Moore, Meena Knowles, Kelsea Baker, Adele Batchelder, Lisa Naso, Mark Ashin
When a group of friends sneak into a state park for a night of drinking and partying, a cruel dare brings Maddie (played by Mari Blake) face to face with the disturbed spirit of young Caroline Woodman (Hallie Ruth Jacobs of Poker Face) the forest’s legendary “Girl Who Cried Her Eyes Out.” None are safe as one by one they suffer the wrath of Caroline’s vengeance. Time is running out, and the bodies are piling up. How do they stop a 300 year old spirit that cannot be killed?
Enter the Ninja (10/2) Zoot Suit (10/2) Montenegro (10/9) My Dinner with Andre (10/11) Galaxy of Terror (10/23) Halloween II (10/30) Looker (10/30)
While overall the films released in October 1981 don’t match the production quality or critical acclaim of a number of films released earlier that year, October’s releases had something for everyone: a romantic comedy, an eventual art house classic, a thriller, a couple of cult action and sci-fi films, and a fair amount of horror. The films released in theaters in October 1981 grossed over $75 million domestically, less than half of the previous month’s gross. October 1981 might seen more as a month of guilty pleasures than of timeless classics, but nonetheless there are still a few notables to revisit today. But let’s start with the films that didn’t make the notable list:
Disney’s live action The Watcher In the Woods (10/9) starring Bette Davis and Carroll Baker, about an American family moving into a haunted British country home, was originally released in April 1980. The story hits the ground running with an ominous tone and is darker than the typical Disney live action movie of that era. But due to terrible reviews and abysmal box office upon its initial release, a new ending was shot by a different director and the film was re-released in October of 1981. The $5 million it earned at the box office in 1981 was still a disappointment against its $9 million budget. Bob Brooks’s dark thriller Tattoo (10/9) starring Bruce Dern and Maud Adams was also originally slated for release in 1980 but was pushed back by a year. Dern plays tattoo artist Karl Kinski, whose obsession over fashion model Maddie (Adams) leads to stalking, kidnapping and abuse (which led to some protests against the film). Dern fully commits to the deranged character of Karl, making for some uncomfortable scenes, but the overdone script and uneven tone make the film mostly forgettable.
Full Moon High (10/9) written and directed by Larry Cohen is a schlocky horror comedy starring Adam Arkin as werewolf that goes back to high school. Arkin makes the most of the material he has to work with, but the silly humor and predictable performances make this a film that leaves you scratching your head as to why you spent an hour and a half of your life watching it. Paternity (10/2), directed by David Steinberg, is a romantic comedy starring Burt Reynolds and Beverly D’Angelo that doesn’t crack the notable list due to a script that tries a little too hard and doesn’t hit the mark. Reynolds plays Buddy Evans, a single 44 year old man man in New York who hires Maggie (played by D’Angelo) to be the surrogate mother of his child. They start as complete strangers but Reynolds and D’Angelo play them with a comfortable familiarity that makes their eventual feelings for each other plausible. Though it’s pretty much forgotten today, it still earned almost $19 million at the box office (double the budget) and was in steady rotation on cable TV in the early 80s.
…All the Marbles (10/16) stars Peter Falk as a low level manager for The California Dolls, two women wrestlers working and suffering their way across the country through dingy, smoke filled arenas to further their careers with no clear idea of what “making it” will actually be (wrestling in Japan? TV wrestling?). The poundings in the ring take a physical toll on Iris (Vicki Frederick), and Molly (Laurene Landon) relies on pharmaceuticals thanks to Harry’s forged doctor’s prescription. The wrestling scenes are well choreographed and shot, but the rest of the film suffers from substandard lighting and sound editing, and soap opera level schmaltz that doesn’t effectively play on the emotions, but rather just pulls the audience out. It earned $6.5 million in North America. Director Jim Sharman’s Shock Treatment (which he co-wrote with Richard O’Brien) was the now forgotten follow up to The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Six years after Rocky Horror’s release, Brad (Cliff de Young) and Janet (Jessica Harper) find themselves in a town set inside a television studio and run by a powerful corporate sponsor. Despite members of the original cast including Patricia Quinn and Nell Campbell (who played Magenta and Columbia in Rocky Horror) appearing in Shock Treatment, the film was a critical and financial failure and disavowed by fans of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The Canadian productions Silence of the North (10/23 US) and The Pit (10/23 Canada) rounded out October 1981’s non-notable films.
And now the notable films of October 1981:
Enter the Ninja (10/2) is a classic low budget action movie by The Cannon Group that was a huge personal favorite of mine forty years ago, and a film that I’ll still watch every so often as a guilty pleasure. There are several movies that didn’t make the “notable” list for October 1981 that surpass Enter the Ninja’s production level and story quality, but its cult status gives this film an honorable mention for the month. When the film first hit cable TV around 1982-1983 I was a ten year old hooked on Marvel Comics’ Daredevil stories featuring The Hand written and drawn by Frank Miller. Italian actor Franco Nero plays Cole (though his dialogue was dubbed), a modern day ninja who arrives in the Philippines to find his friends Frank (played by Alex Courtney) and Mary Ann (Susan George) struggling to protect their farm from greedy businessman Venarius (Christopher George). Cole and Frank take on Venarius’s men, but Venarius fights fire with fire when he hires Cole’s nemesis Hasegawa (Sho Kosugi). Considering the film’s numerous tropes (the greedy businessman who will do anything to get what he wants, the protagonist as a one-man army, a henchman with a hook in place of a hand) Franco Nero brings more to the role than most actors would have, showcasing his professionalism, talent and dedication in spite of a clunky script (you can’t help but chuckle at the opening sequence, complete with production smoke that makes no sense in the daylight, the least stealth ninjas you’ll ever see in a movie, and Franco Nero’s very noticeable mustache under his mask). Overall Enter the Ninja is a low rent martial arts film, with barely two dimensional characters in an overly predictable plot. But in spite of everything the production lacks, Enter the Ninja is a FUN movie with Franco Nero the personification of cool. While it’s not the best showcase of the great Franco Nero’s work, he’s all in and carries the film. Without him it would have been forgotten. Enter the Ninja ultimately grossed $15 million against its $1.5 million budget.
Zoot Suit (10/2) written and directed by Luis Valdez (who also directed 1987’s hit film La Bamba) is a powerful drama about a Mexican-American family in 1940’s Los Angeles that is upended by the arrest of their son Henry Reyna (played by Daniel Valdez), who along with several of his friends is on trial for murder. The story is based on a real life event (the Sleepy Lagoon Murder of 1942) and set against the backdrop of racial tensions in Los Angeles that led to the Zoot Suit Riots of 1943. In the film, Henry and his friends languish in jail against insufficient evidence and a court that finagles the concept of due process in a racially charged effort to find them guilty despite the earnest efforts of Henry’s lawyer George Shearer (played by Charles Aidman) and reporter Alice Bloomfield (Tyne Daly). Edward James Olmos (Blade Runner, Stand and Deliver, Battlestar Galactica) is Zoot Suit’s cool narrator and guide El Pachuco. Zoot Suit is an adaptation of Valdez’s Broadway play of the same title (he also wrote and directed that version), and he incorporates these theatrical roots by occasionally moving the camera back to represent parts of the story as a stage play, complete with shots of the audience in their seats. While it’s a bold directorial decision, ultimately this move becomes distracting and unfortunately can draw the viewer out of the emotionally powerful scenes. At times Zoot Suit crosses into melodrama, but it’s themes of family, identity and social justice are clear as Valdez puts his heart into the story and his vision onto the screen. While the film wasn’t highly praised by the critics at the time of its release and only grossed $3.2 million against its $2.7 million dollar budget, Zoot Suit was ultimately honored with selection to the National Film Registry of the U.S. Library of Congress in 2019.
Montenegro (10/9) is a quirky, cerebral comedy by Dusan Makavejev starring Susan Anspach as Marilyn, an American housewife living in Sweden with her husband and children. She’s bored, undersexed (at one point literally setting her bed on fire due to her husband’s lack of interest) and coolly unstable as she just tries to get through each tedious day. Her life takes an unexpected but welcome turn when she misses a flight and accepts a ride from a group of Yugoslavs who take her to their provincial watering hole Zanzibar. Over the course of the night she goes with the flow, getting drunk on strange liquor, ending up in an attic decorated with red lights and sleeping on a musty bed with her new “friends.” Elements of their initial interaction would scream “human trafficking” in this day and age, but Makavejev’s script and direction bring the audience eagerly along for the ride. Is this a diversion for Marilyn, getting it all out of her system? Or is it another example of the organized chaos she unapologetically leaves in her wake? If you can get past the uneven opening scenes, Montenegro is a beguiling film due to Anspach’s performance, the supporting characters that have been given quirky scenes that act as connective tissue for the story (and at times solidifying Marilyn’s lack of desire to rush home), and scenes heavy on ironic humor. At times viewers might expect the film to take a turn into an old school European erotic comedy, but even with the story’s surreal erotic sheen, Montenegro stays more grounded than expected with a subdued tone and understated humor in the vein of Bill Forsythe’s classic films Gregory’s Girl and Local Hero. I also highly recommend Makavejev’s 1985 lighter but no less quirky follow up film The Coca-Cola Kid starring Eric Roberts.
Galaxy of Terror (10/23) directed by Bruce D. Clark and produced by Roger Corman’s New World Pictures, is a cult sci-fi horror film that always seems to be available on one streaming service or another, with a painted movie poster that gives more of a 60’s sci-fi vibe than early 80’s. It begins with a long pan across the wasteland of the mysterious planet Morganthus to the stranded derelict ship Remus where a crew member, consumed by intense fear and surrounded by the massacred bodies of his crew members, fights for survival (unsuccessfully) against an unseen alien. Commander Ilvar (Bernard Behrens) is tasked with leading a rescue mission to Morganthus with a less than enthusiastic crew. After a rough landing that damages their ship, Baelon (Zalman King) leads the scout team to investigate the Remus, finding the ship in shambles with no survivors. When new team member Cos (Jack Blessing) is killed by a tentacled creature, Baelon recommends repairing their ship and leaving as quickly as possible. Ilvar reminds him they’re on a rescue mission and there are still four crew members of the Remus unaccounted for. They investigate a mysterious pyramid and one by one they’re preyed upon with gruesome outcomes based on their own personal fears. For a low budget cult sci-fi film from 1981 (I hesitate to use the term “classic”), I’m giving this film a lot more latitude. James Cameron (Aliens, Titanic, Avatar) worked as production designer, giving the sets surprisingly high production value in spite of the film’s $1.8 million budget. But Cameron’s impressive work and the best efforts of the cast (which includes Robert Englund, Erin Moran, Edward Albert, Sid Haig, Ral Walson, Grace Zabriskie, and Taaffe O’Connell, who really give their all in this film) are unfortunately brought down by an overdone script, slow pace, a very controversial scene that almost got the film an X rating, and over the top music and sound effects that distract rather than complement the film. In spite of the film’s limited theatrical release, it still earned $4 million against its $1.8 million budget.
Looker (10/30) written and directed by Michael Crichton is probably the most prescient film of 1981 when revisited today, taking a deep dive that mirrors current Deepfake technology combined with the financial stakes behind the corporate advertisements that dominate day to day life. Whenever I talk about this film with a fellow cinephile, my conversation usually begins with “Hear me out…” as I try to convince them Crighton’s foresight makes it worthy of revisiting. Top Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Dr. Larry Roberts (played by the great Albert Finney) is puzzled by the string of commercial actresses requesting his services to correct seemingly imperceptible flaws on their faces and bodies down to the millimeter. Actress Lisa (Terri Welles) is his fourth successful patient, but as she prepares for a date her doorbell rings and she’s flashed with a bright light that momentarily stuns her, causing her to fall off her balcony to her death. A mysterious man (Tim Rossovich) leaves a pen and a button behind. The next day, as Larry looks over his latest patient Cindy (Susan Dey), he’s visited by Lt. Masters of the LAPD (played by Dorian Harewood) with questions about Lisa and another patient who had also died under suspicious circumstances. Their files are missing from Larry’s records, as are his pen and a button on his jacket, which satisfies Lt. Masters’s belief that Roberts is a suspect. His previous patient Tina (Kathryn Witt) arrives to see him and desperately asks him to reverse her surgery. She quickly leaves in a state of paranoia that she’s being followed. Roberts looks through her purse she left behind, finding a vial of cocaine and a list of measurements from a company called Digital Matrix run by John Reston (James Coburn). Larry and Cindy infiltrate Digital Matrix and find their work involves using advanced technology to scan actors and actresses bodies in order to be digitally added to television commercials, and they’ll do anything and eliminate anyone that gets too close even if it means using their latest weapon. Ultimately Looker flopped with critics and at the box office, earning $3 million against its $12 million budget. At the time the film’s plot was far fetched and required a high level of suspension of disbelief for the story elements and plot holes that are at times filled in with overly expository dialogue. But forty years later Looker’s strong points are in its parallels to today’s concerns over digitally manipulated images and the impact on media, politics, etc. Looker’s visually engaging cinematography, production design and editing hold up better than most films from 1981, and the cast led by Albert Finney, Susan Dey and James Coburn doesn’t play down to the flawed script. Upon further review you’ll see that in today’s age of Deepfakes that Crichton just might have been on to something.
Halloween II (10/30) starts where 1978’s Halloween left off: it’s October 31st and despite six bullets from Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasance), escaped mental patient Michael Myers (Dick Warlock) is still on the loose in Haddonfield as Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) is sent to the hospital for a stab wound from their initial meeting. The town is on high alert for Myers, with the body count quickly piling up. The film’s pacing is a little slow and spends too much time on the minor characters (as Michael’s soon to be victims) instead of Laurie, which keeps Michael Myers busy but gives Jamie Lee Curtis little to work with in the first half of the film. In spite of setups that are overly drawn out and jump scares that sometimes lack punch, Halloween II is still notable for Michael Myers place in pop culture and the longevity of the Halloween franchise. This sequel directed by Rick Rosenthal didn’t live up to the critical and financial standards set by 1978’s Halloween, earning just over $25 million at the North American box office compared to the initial film’s $47 million box office return.
My Dinner with Andre
Release Date: October 11, 1981 Starring Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory Directed by Louis Malle, Cinematography by Jeri Sopanen
My Dinner with Andre (10/11) directed by Louis Malle (Atlantic City) and starring Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory, has long been referenced as the classic example of arthouse cinema almost to the point of cliché (as well as occasional parody). But ironically many cinephiles I know have never actually watched this film. And of those I know who have, some walked away from it wondering what led the film to be as exalted as it has been over the last 40 plus years. For me the beauty of My Dinner with Andre has always been in its simplicity as a production and its sincerity (props to Malle, Shawn and Gregory for taking a long, at times esoteric conversation based on Gregory’s actual travels and turning it into a feature film), and with each screening my fascination with it never fades.
The opening shots of Wallace Shawn (The Princess Bride, Toy Story, Vanya on 42nd Street) walking along Canal Street and into the heavily graffitied subway of “gold old, bad old New York City” have the expected grainy patina of a low budget film of that era, and the camera setups give the feel of a 16mm student film (but hey, that’s what makes it artsy, right?). Shawn plays Wallace, a struggling New York actor and playwright who meets with theater director Andre to reconnect over dinner at an upscale restaurant. At the beginning of the film Wallace admits to the audience he had been avoiding Andre for several years but took the invitation at the advice of his agent in the hope of getting some work to pay the bills. The look of ambivalence on Wallace’s face says it all as he walks up to the restaurant, feeling out of place and under dressed once he walks in. Andre greets him with warm welcome, and as soon as they place their orders of quail their conversation kicks into another gear as Andre recounts his travels over the last five years since he left New York. Wallace sits through dinner with curiosity and interest but tempered with occasional confusion. Andre’s incredible retelling of his travels is an existential and at times fantastical deconstruction of his physical journey, his emotional experiences and his psychological evolution, which are then countered by Wallace’s more grounded views on life, his practical interpretations of coincidence, and the appreciation of his own simple lifestyle in which he comes home to his girlfriend, reads Charlton Heston’s biography, and is thankful for the cold cup of coffee waiting for him in the morning.
My Dinner with Andre is a low budget filmmaker’s dream scenario of an entire story taking place with two main characters in one main location. The simplicity of the camera set ups and coverage shots are countered by the complexity of Andre Gregory’s long, intriguing monologues (props to him for not only memorizing these long stretches of dialogue, but also for performing the long continuous takes of him speaking). The flow of Wallace and Andre’s conversation gives the impression it could have been filmed in real time over the course of two hours, though it was actually a two week shoot primarily in Virginia. Early on you wonder how you can sit through almost two hours of a conversation as a fifth wheel, but you ultimately feel connected. It’s a testament not only to their performances and Malle’s direction, but to Andre Gregory and Wallace Shawn’s ability to script an incredibly nuanced conversation between two emotional opposites. As My Dinner with Andre winds down, the simple piano notes playing over Wallace’s taxi ride home add a nostalgic feel, as if you’re witnessing Andre and Wallace unknowingly having dinner for the last time. It’s a memory Wallace will be carrying with him for years to come, looking back on it as an unexpected but pure moment of two acquaintances opening up to each other. It’s also a reminder of how we need those moments, the connections, and those friends in our lives we can truly talk to and reconnect with no matter how much time has passed (Malle would again direct Shawn and Gregory in 1994’s Vanya on 42nd Street). My Dinner With Andre rightfully deserves the praise it received upon its release and the respect it has earned over the course of forty plus years. It earned over $5 million against its $475,000 budget.
Next Up: Fante’s Inferno continues its retrospective with the films of November 1981!
The Captain America Project: 20 artists, 20 drawings of Captain America on one page.
#20: Rick Leonardi (Cloak and Dagger, Spider-Man 2099, X-Men)
When I started the Captain America Project back in 2010, I truly didn’t think it would take 13 years to complete the page. The penultimate panel #19 was drawn by Bob McLeod way back in 2014 and the past seven years seemed to fly by. But better late than never, I’m fortunate to finally have this amazing jam page completed by 20 of my favorite comic book artists whose careers spanned from the Golden Age to today.
I attended the New York Comic Con on October 15 with a mission to get a sketch from one of my all time favorite artists Rick Leonardi to complete the page. Over the last ten years I’ve been able to acquire several convention sketches from Rick and had some wonderful conversations about his work. Going into NYCC a couple of weeks back I knew a Captain America sketch from Rick would be a great way to top off the page.
As he was drawing it, several people on line behind me had some very kind words for the jam page, and were particularly in awe of the fact it was signed by both Stan Lee and Captain America’s co-creator Jim Simon back in 2011. An amazing coincidence occurred when an attendee chatting with Rick pointed to Joe Simon’s signature and said “He’s my grandfather.”
It was an absolute pleasure to meet Jim Simon’s grandson Jesse Simon and chatting about the jam page, his grandfather’s work in comics and Jesse’s current project Shieldmaster: Blast To the Past featuring the Simon and Kirby heroes The Fly, Fighting American, Private Strong, Bullseye and Stuntman (his Kickstarter for the project can be found here).
Several folks asked me what I plan to do with the Captain America Project now that the page is complete. I will be getting it framed and enjoying it on my wall for awhile. Down the road my hope would be to donate it to the Library of Congress as an example of a great visual representation of one of comics’ greatest heroes, drawn by twenty amazing artists whose work spanned from the 1940’s to the present.
A big thank you to all 20 artists that made this jam page a reality:
Row 1 (left to right): Mike McKone, Lee Weeks, Steve Epting, Rick Leonardi Row 2 (left to right): Khoi Pham, J.G. Jones, Alex Maleev, Bob McLeod Row 3 (left to right): Michael Zeck, David Finch, Rob Liefeld, Joe Madureira Row 4 (left to right): George Perez, Ethan Van Sciver, Rich Buckler, Herb Trimpe Row 5 (left to right): Joe Sinnott, Adam Hughes, Allen Bellman, Jim Lee
Autographs by: Stan Lee, Joe Simon, Jim Shooter, Arthur Adams, John Romita Jr., Jim Steranko and Ken Bald
Looks and Smiles (9/12) Continental Divide (9/18) Das Boot (German release 9/17) The French Lieutenant’s Woman (9/18) Raggedy Man (9/18) Only When I Laugh (9/23) Southern Comfort (9/25) True Confessions (9/25) Chariots of Fire (9/27 – US)
September 1981 had a better quality to quantity ratio compared to that of August 1981, with dramas making up most of the notable releases, including an epic war drama from Germany and one very underrated thriller. But ironically one of the year’s worst reviewed films is the most memorable of September 1981’s releases due to its memorable campy, over the top performance that would be parodied over the next several decades. But September 1981 saw the North American release of (spoiler alert) the year’s Academy Award winning Best Picture, with a film score that is still recognizable and used (mostly for parody) forty years later. The top nine grossing films released in September 1981 would earn over $170 million at the North American box office.
Mommie Dearest (9/18) is probably best known for a scene involving an impassioned monologue about wire hangers and the over the top, nightmarish performance of Faye Dunaway, who is likely the first person people who saw the movie think of when they hear Joan Crawford’s name. Had Mommie Dearest been a fictional story and not based on the tell all book of the same title by Joan’s daughter Christina Crawford, the film could have been a successful psychological thriller (the trailer alone plays like that of a horror film, and effectively at that!). Despite the twelve total nominations for the Golden Raspberry (Razzie) Awards and the Stinkers Bad Movie Awards (with eight total wins, including Worst Actress for Faye Dunaway), the film still earned $19 million against its $10 million budget. From dysfunctional families we move on to dysfunctional friendships in director George Cukor’s Rich and Famous (9/23) starring Candice Bergen and Jacqueline Bisset in a contemporary melodrama about two old friends navigating twenty two years of evolved personalities and professional jealousies that could strain even the strongest friendships. Best Friends is based on the 1940 play Old Acquaintance, and was Golden Age director George Cukor’s final film. But despite his incredible career with a filmography that includes The Philadelphia Story, Gaslight and My Fair Lady, Best Friends is an uneven film that would earn mixed reviews and take in $5 million against its $11 million budget.
Another critical and financial flop of September 1981 was writer/director Andrew Bergman’s comedy So Fine (9/25) starring Ryan O’Neal, a comedy released at the height of the designer jean craze of the early 80’s. O’Neal plays Bobby Fine, an academic who saves his father’s garment business by accidentally creating the next fashion fad with a line of designer jeans. Bergman would go on to write the 1985 comedy classic Fletch and write and direct The Freshman (1990) and Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), but So Fine’s push for laughs falls flat, and earned less than $5 million against its $10 million budget. Michael Schultz’s Carbon Copy (9/25) starring George Segal and Denzel Washington is a comedy about a Caucasian father introduced to his previously unknown African American son, and soon looses his job and family as he maintains a presence in his newfound son’s life. Segal and Washington play their roles with a charming familiarity that draws in the audience, but the script relies heavily on racial humor and at times is crassly stereotypical pushing for the cheap laughs. It’s hard to watch this film without wincing at more than a few of the jokes and gags that don’t age well after forty years (including the film’s title). But despite the film’s missteps, Carbon Copy is notable for Denzel Washington’s big screen debut, and earned over $9 million against its $6 million budget.
Director Karel Reisz’s The French Lieutenant’s Woman is a story within a story, comprised of a lush Victorian era period drama told in parallel with a contemporary fictional behind-the-scenes making of the film, complete with rehearsals, meal breaks and an affair between the co-stars. Meryl Streep plays the mysterious title character Sarah Woodruff, a Victorian era housemaid who hauntingly stands at the edge of a pier each day awaiting the return of the French lieutenant who left her and her reputation destroyed, and Anna the modern day actress playing her in the film production of her story. Jeremy Irons plays Charles Smithson, a young paleontologist who sacrifices his own reputation and his future to help her. In the present day (for 1981), actors Anna (Streep) and Mike (Irons) are having an affair during filming, with Mike doing most of the emotional heavy lifting. Though the story starts out slow, and individually the period and contemporary scenes would not have enough plot to effectively expand into two separate full length feature films, director Karel Reisz effectively melds them into a cohesive story grounded in the emotional turmoil of the characters in Harold Pinter’s screenplay, with Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons beautifully photographed by Freddie Francis (The Elephant Man, Glory, Dune). The French Lieutenant’s Woman found an audience, earning $26 million against its $8 million budget as well as five Academy Award nominations including Best Actress for Streep and Best Adapted Screenplay for Pinter.
Director Ulu Grosbard’s True Confessions (9/25) is a pulp/noir L.A. mystery (co-written by Joan Didion) set in the 1940’s starring two top actors in Robert Duvall and Robert DeNiro. Duvall plays Tom Spellacy, an LAPD detective working a murder case that starts with the discovery of a severed prostitute and spirals into the seedy world of pornography. His brother Monsignor Desmond Spellacy, played by DeNiro, is the bishop’s right hand man and a little too close to the key players in Tom’s murder investigation. The film is as much about Tom and Desmond’s brotherly dynamic as it is a murder mystery, though sometimes at the expense of the latter. True Confessions is a solid film that is rich in texture, with top notch production design and wardrobe that recreates 1949 Los Angeles. But the story is brought down by the slow pace, under developed characters, and anticlimactic ending. And at times it feels as if the writers held back in depicting the main plot element of the sleazy underground world of prostitution and stag films. Despite a gruesome murder and the twists and turns into places that are best not seen, the story falls flat. It doesn’t properly raise the stakes or build on the heightened tension between the characters, which is a disappointment when you have two powerhouses like DeNiro and Duvall playing opposite each other. Considering this was DeNiro’s first film after his role as Jake Lamotta in Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull one year earlier, it’s overly subdued. On paper this film has everything to create an engaging film, but even with the talent attached True Crimes didn’t find an audience, earning $12 million against its $10 million budget.
Raggedy Man (9/18) is a hidden, if not forgotten gem of 1981. Set in 1944 Texas, Sissy Spacek plays Nita, a divorced mother of two who is stuck in her job as a telephone operator for the local phone company and the target of unwanted advances by townies Calvin and Arnold played by William Sanderson and Tracy Walter. A young sailor named Teddy (played by Eric Roberts) arrives in the middle of a rainy night to make a long distance phone call to let his hometown sweetheart know he’s coming home to see her, only to find out from her father she married another man. With no place to go, Nita takes him in for his four day leave, which soon becomes the talk of the small town. Teddy, Nita and her sons Henry and Harry spend an idyllic few days together, but life doesn’t get any easier when the town creeps won’t leave her alone, her boss won’t give her a job transfer, and a mysterious, wandering “raggedy man” watches her at home. Spacek and Roberts are perfect opposite each other, and the performances from young Carey Hollis and Henry Thomas (pre-E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial) steal a few of the scenes. Roberts is one of my favorite actors of the 80’s, particularly for his work in The Pope of Greenwich Village and The Coca Cola Kid. His performance as the kind and charming Teddy would be turned on its ear two years later in 1983 with his subsequent over the top (in a good way) performance as Paul Snider in Bob Fosse’s Star 80. Director Jack Fisk (Spacek’s husband) crafted a beautifully shot film, with an emotional tone brought together perfectly with Jerry Goldsmith’s score, Ralf Bode’s cinematography (which beautifully captures small town life) and Edward Warschilka’s editing. Despite mostly positive reviews, it earned just under $2 million at the box office.
Looks and Smiles (9/12) directed by Ken Loach (My Name Is Joe, Bread and Roses) is a fictional drama shot in an almost documentary style that follows a young couple, Mick (Graham Green) and Karen (Carolyn Nicholson), navigating their feelings for each other and their economically depressed city in Margaret Thatcher’s England. Mick is seventeen, out of school and out of work, with only the Army as an option to escape unemployment and start his own life. His friend Alan follows through and joins the Army but Mick’s parents won’t allow him to enlist. One night out at a club he meets Karen who works in a shoe store and they start to date. Mick has a stable home life but no job, Karen has a steady job but a strained home life. Barry Hines’s script accentuates the bleakness of their day to day lives and lack of future prospects, captured in black and white by cinematographer Chris Menges (The Killing Fields, The Mission, The Boxer). The disaffected youth do anything they can to occupy their days (even if it means stealing a motorcycle for fun), sitting and waiting their turn in the employment office with only dead end jobs available and a sign encouraging them to leave for London. Looks and Smiles low key tone and Loach’s fly on the wall approach enhances Mick’s sense of hopelessness that is in turn felt by the audience. His casting of young actors Graham Green and Carolyn Nicholson (Looks and Smiles was their only screen credit) brings out the innocence of their characters. But their lack of acting experience and the film’s laid back style of direction leads to a slow pace that sometimes requires patience from the audience over the the film’s hour and forty four minutes.
Walter Hill’s Southern Comfort (9/25) was reviewed on Fante’s Inferno back in 2019 (click here for my earlier review), and is one of the more cerebral and underrated thrillers of 1981 that is worth revisiting. Set in the Louisiana Bayou in 1973, the film follows a squad of national guardsmen on maneuvers. Their morale is apathetic at best and it doesn’t get any better with arrival of Hardin (played by Powers Boothe), a transfer from Texas who just wants to put in his time and get home to his wife. Their situation goes from bad to insanely bad when they piss off the wrong Cajuns and their commanding officer Captain Poole (played by Peter Coyote) is killed. Lost and pursued in the swamps, their desperation takes a toll on their already fragile cohesion as they descend into paranoia and infighting. Director Walter Hill’s resume includes classic films like The Warriors and 48 Hours, but Southern Comfort is one of his lesser known films that deserves more attention and acclaim. It truly stands out as a great psychological thriller with strong performances by Powers Booth, Keith Carradine and the supporting cast of Fred Ward, T.K. Carter and Peter Coyote. It received better than average reviews but didn’t find an audience to recoup its $7 million budget.
Michael Apted’s Continental Divide (9/18) starring John Belushi and Blair Brown is a romantic comedy about a hard nosed Chicago journalist out of his element in the Rocky Mountains. Belushi plays Chicago journalist Ernie Souchak, whose columns consistently call out the city’s political machine until one of his pieces gets him beaten up by two city cops. Sent out of town to lay low, Souchak tracks down Dr. Nell Porter (played by Blair Brown) for an interview about her work researching American bald eagles. But she’s not interested in having her story told and they immediately start to grate on each other as Souchak is now stuck there until his guide returns in two weeks. But opposites ultimately attract as Souchak begins to appreciate mountain life and Porter appreciates him. Continental Divide is a classic fish out of water story with great use of the locations and a script that doesn’t overachieve with its pleasant pace and grounded cast. Belushi’s turn at some of the more dramatic scenes takes a little getting used to at first (especially for the generations of fans that were initially introduced to his work on Saturday Night Live, Animal House and The Blues Brothers) but Blair Brown’s performance complements him well as he develops his rom-com legs. Michael Apted’s (Coal Miner’s Daughter, Gorky Park, Gorillas in the Mist) low key directing and Lawrence Kasdan’s (The Big Chill, Body Heat) screenplay allowed a comedic genius like John Belushi to graduate to a role based less on outrageousness (a la Animal House, The Blues Brothers) and more on subtlety. It pains me to think of what roles Belushi could have played had he not died at the age of 33 in 1982. While Continental Divide didn’t match the box office success of Belushi’s earlier starring roles, it earned a respectable $15 million against its $9 million budget.
In Only When I Laugh (9/23), Marsha Mason plays Georgia Hines, a New York actress just out of rehab for alcoholism, whose fragile bearings are tested when her teenage daughter Polly (played by Kristy McNichol) moves in with her, and her ex-boyfriend (played by David Dukes) offers her a part in his new play about their turbulent relationship. Keeping her grounded are her close friends, the perpetually under employed actor Jimmy (James Coco) and the looks obsessed socialite Toby (Joan Hackett). Neil Simon’s script vacillates between snappy and schmaltzy with non-stop dialogue among the four main characters, which would work great on the stage (the film is based on Simon’s 1970 play The Gingerbread Lady) but doesn’t give a film audience time to decompress. Director Glenn Jordan (The Buddy System, Mass Appeal) expertly crafts each scene with solid camera work by David M. Walsh (The Sunshine Boys, The Goodbye Girl, Max Dugan Returns) despite the script’s overly manufactured plot. It’s still a solid film with engaging performances by Mason, McNichol, Hackett and Coco who reach for the audience’s empathy as each of their characters face their own personal dramas (Georgia’s turbulent post-rehab day to day life, Polly’s yearning for a relationship with her mother, Jimmy’s stalled acting career and Toby’s failed marriage). Mason and McNichol are paired well together as mother and daughter, but unfortunately McNichol is given less to work with compared to the rest of the cast. Only When I Laugh earned $25 million at the box office, and Mason, Hackett and Coco would all earn Academy Award nominations for their performances, along with Golden Globe nominations for Coco, McNichol and Hackett (who would go on to win her Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress).
Director Wolfgang Peterson’s World War II submarine drama Das Boot (9/17) is a film that when brought up in conversation among fans of cinema seems to have an air of reverence associated with it which is absolutely deserved. It premiered in West Germany on September 17, 1981 to critical acclaim and international box office success. Based on the 1973 book Das Boot by Lothar-Gunther Buccheim about his experiences on a German U-boat during World War II, the film follows the crew of U-96 during the Battle of the Atlantic, led by the experienced but jaded Captain (played by Jurgen Prochnow). It’s 1941 and the German U-boat fleet is stretched thin by losses, lack of support, and less experienced crew members that would have previously been considered too young for service. Lieutenant Werner (Herbert Gronemeyer) is an enthusiastic war correspondent on board to document the crew and life aboard the vessel. His enthusiasm and excitement is soon tempered by boredom and diminishing hygiene, with attacks on the British fleet few and far between, and long, uneventful stretches at sea that are only broken up when they are under attack from the British destroyers and their U-boat pushed to the brink of destruction. But the crew, while rough around the edges, is reliable and loyal to their captain even when their orders and struggle for survival border on the impossible.
Few films set in wartime submarines capture the camaraderie, claustrophobic environment and day to day life like Das Boot. The story grabs the audience from the first scenes on U-96, and is perfectly paced for its over three hour run time. Peterson and cinematographer Jost Vacano (The Neverending Story, Robocop, Total Recall) give the film an epic scale despite the claustrophobic interior of the submarine, making this a film that must be seen on the big screen to fully appreciate the camera work. The film relies less on underwater sequences and battle scenes (though there are more than a few) but more on the internal struggles of the characters. We don’t need to see a full sequence of a British destroyer pursuing U-96 because the looks on the crew’s faces and the ominous “ping” is more than enough to heighten the tension. Das Boot would earn over $11 million in the US and Canada and almost $85 million worldwide. Wolfgang Peterson would go on to direct several popular films of the 80’s, 90’s and early 2000s: The Neverending Story (1984), Air Force One (1997), The Perfect Storm (2000), Troy (2004), while the great actor Jurgen Prochnow would have a long career with roles in films such as Dune (1984), The English Patient (1996) and Air Force One (1997).
Director Hugh Hudson’s Chariots of Fire was released in the UK in March 1981 (and admittedly I should have included this in my March 1981 retrospective post), and premiered in the US on September 25, 1981 at the New York and Los Angeles Film Festivals prior to its wide North American release in April 1982. The historical drama follows runners Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell in the years leading up to their competing in the 1924 Olympics. Abrahams (played by Ben Cross) is the confident, undefeated runner from the University of Cambridge whose sometimes arrogant personality is the complete opposite of the humble, religious Liddell (Ian Charleson) of Scotland who sees his talent as a runner as a gift from God. Against the wishes of his sister, Liddell chooses to compete in the 1924 Olympics before returning to missionary work in China. Abrahams is shocked and his confidence shattered when he loses a race to Liddell, but puts his pride aside and approaches coach Sam Mussabini (Ian Holm) to privately train him for the Olympics, much to the chagrin of the Cambridge masters (played by John Gielgud and Lindsay Anderson) who unsuccessfully try to talk Abrahams out of it.
Chariots of Fire has all the elements of an Oscar bait period drama, but that’s not to say it’s unworthy of the critical acclaim it earned upon its release and the beloved status it has earned over the next forty years. It’s a beautifully produced film with sympathetic characters memorably brought to the screen by Ben Cross, Ian Holm, Ian Charleson, Nigel Havers and Nicholas Farrell. The costume and production design bring a rich representation of the years 1919 to 1924 to the screen, including a simple but wonderfully shot sequence of the 1924 Olympic opening ceremony (a far cry from today’s over produced spectacles). But despite the emotional tug the movie brings out of the audience through the film’s incredibly sincere characters (particularly the supporting characters of Lord Andrew Lindsey and Aubrey Montague played by Nigel Havers and Nicholas Farrell respectively), the story is not historically accurate: Lord Andrew Lindsey (played by Havers) was created for the story and based on real life English runner Lord David Burghley who did not want to be a part of the film, among other changes that were made for the script. This is an enjoyable, crowd pleasing film (in a good way), with the production design, cinematography and editing complemented by one of the most famous film scores in the history of cinema by Vangelis (Blade Runner). Chariots of Fire would earn $58 million at the North American box office and seven Academy Award nominations, winning four including Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Costume Design and Best Original Score.
Next Up: Fante’s Inferno continues its retrospective with the films of October 1981!
Gallipoli (August 7) Heavy Metal (August 7) They All Laughed (August 14) An American Werewolf in London (August 21) Prince of the City (August 21) Body Heat (August 28)
August had traditionally been one of two months of the year (including January) in which studios would dump their low expectation releases, almost as a self fulfilling prophecy to their box office underachievement. But while August 1981 contained more than its fair share of clunkers, a few soon to be classics were surprisingly part of the mix. In all there were sixteen U.S. releases that month, with horror and sex leading the box office with An American Werewolf in London, Private Lessons and Body Heat taking the first three spots in domestic receipts. For a traditionally weak month of movie going, the top ten grossing releases still brought in almost $140,000,000 at the domestic box office, with six of these films making August 1981’s notable list. But this is August that we’re covering, so first the not so notables…
Slasher films Student Bodies (August 7), Deadly Blessing (August 14) and Hell Night (August 28) collectively earned over $15 million domestic. Director Wes Craven’s Deadly Blessing led them at over $8 million, with a solid story but somewhat overbearing performances. An Eye for an Eye (August 14) is what you would expect of a police action thriller starring Chuck Norris. And with a cast that includes Christopher Lee and Richard Roundtree, it got the job done and more than doubled its $4 million budget. First Mondayin October (August 21) starring Walter Matthau and Jill Clayburgh was a political comedy set in the U.S. Supreme Court. The film was pushed up by several months for its August release to coincide with Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s appointment to the Supreme Court a month earlier, but the weak plot involving corporate malfeasance led to an ultimately bland comedy that only earned $12 million. The Night the Lights Went Out In Georgia was a country music themed drama starring Kristy McNichol and Dennis Quaid as Amanda and Travis, siblings traveling to Nashville to further their musical careers. But the talented Travis is his own worst enemy, unable to keep himself out of trouble, while Amanda is the only one that believes in him. It earned $14 million at the domestic box office and doubled its $7 million budget.
Chu Chu and the Philly Flash (August 28) was the month’s outrageous (and not in a good way) comedy starring icons Alan Arkin and Carol Burnett in the title roles. Arkin plays a washed up former baseball player and Burnett plays a Carmen Miranda impersonator who both get caught up in an overdone and implausible plot involving government documents. Directed by David Lowell Rich, it was one of August 1981’s biggest bombs, earning just over $200,000 against its $7 million budget. Condorman (August 7) was Disney’s foray into the superhero genre, but despite the budget and production value, from the opening credit sequence to the closing credits the film is just silly. Michael Crawford stars as Woody Wilkins, the creator and artist of the successful comic book character Condorman who gets in over his head in a good old fashioned Cold War spy game with KGB agents Natalia Rambova (Barbara Carrera) and Krokov (played by the always great Oliver Reed). Fans of comics and the superhero genre will bristle at Crawford’s two dimensional, caricatured representation of a comic artist and his characters. The film’s $14 million budget made great use of the locations (which at times reminded me of June 1981’s For Your Eyes Only), but the weak script and effects led to an almost $10 million loss. There was nothing to save this film.
Private Lessons (August 28) starring Sylvia Kristel was the third highest grossing film of August 1981 with $26.3 million at the domestic box office. But despite its financial success, it’s a shallow, lackluster addition to the wave of 80’s teenage sex comedies that were popular in the first half of the decade. Films such as Losin’ It, Class and My Tutor were produced to bring the teenage wish fulfillment fantasies of high school boys having affairs with 30 something women to the big screen. While these films weren’t exactly known for their contributions to cinematic history, Private Lessons was on the bottom tier of the early 80’s sex comedies. Sylvia Kristel (best known for the Emmanuelle series of erotic films) plays Nicole, the new maid working and living in the Fillmore home and the object of 15 year old Philip “Philly” Fillmore’s fantasies. Nicole seduces Philly and they begin an affair that to even Philly’s nervous surprise might be too good to be true (with especially cringeworthy scenes by today’s standards). Adapted by Dan Greenburg from his 1968 novel “Philly” and directed by Alan Myerson, Private Lessons is shot and plays like a low budget B-movie (the acting is especially low grade), with little to show for its $2.8 million budget.
Tarzan, the Ape Man (August 7) was director John Derek’s showcase of his wife Bo Derek after she had achieved international acclaim in 1979’s 10. Set in 19th century Africa, Derek plays Jane Parker, the headstrong and newly rich daughter of explorer James Parker (Richard Harris), who she has tracked down during his search for a legendary ivory graveyard. Her arrival at his camp is unexpected (he was expecting a cannon delivery), their relationship already strained by his abandonment when she was a year old and her mother’s recent death. Working their way through the jungle, they hear the cries of the Tarzan, who according to James is a hundred feet tall white ape. Overall the film has good cinematography and an even pace, but even with the talents of the great Richard Harris the story is flat and Tarzan’s introduction is anticlimactic. Despite the negative reviews Tarzan, the Ape Man earned $36.5 million domestically against its $8 million budget, making it the #2 top earning film of August 1981, though it’s the kind of film that makes you walk out from the theater wondering why you spent your hard earned money on the ticket.
Honky Tonk Freeway (August 21), director John Schlesinger’s (Midnight Cowboy, Hamburger Hill) ensemble comedy has William Devane playing Kirby T. Calo, the Mayor of Ticlaw, Florida, a town that takes pride in its roadside attractions. But when they’re about to get bypassed by the newly constructed interstate highway, Ticlaw turns to desperate measures not to lose their tourists. Unfortunately strong production value and the talented cast bring very little depth to the overall story. It earned $2 million domestically against its $18 million budget. More time should have been devoted to William Devane’s character than the ten minor characters, who by the midpoint of the film still hadn’t reached Florida. Honky Tonk Freeway is also a film out of its time, one that in tone and pace is more aligned with 70’s comedies such as Thank God It’s Friday or Cold Turkey. More surprising than director John Schlesinger wasting his talent on this unengaging film was the similarity in parts of film’s score to that of 1981’s classic comedy Stripes (both of which were composed by Elmer Bernstein).
And now the notable films of August 1981:
They All Laughed (August 14) is a well-intentioned romantic comedy written and directed by Peter Bogdanovich (The Last Picture Show, What’s Up Doc?, Paper Moon) about two New York City private investigators who fall in love with the married women they are paid to follow. It’s an upbeat film that captures the good in the New York City of its day, which is a refreshing change from the crime ridden and post apocalyptic New York City shown in films such as Wolfen and Escape From New York. Being a Bogdanovich film, They All Laughed channels an earlier cinematic era with dialogue and “meet cutes” reminiscent of a Billy Wilder’s The Apartment. The film is crafted with heart and is carried by a strong cast that includes Audrey Hepburn (what a dream it must have been to direct her!), Ben Gazzara and John Ritter, as well as the talented supporting cast of Colleen Camp, Blaine Novak (who co-wrote the film) and the angelic Dorothy Stratten (in her final film role, released one year after her tragic murder in 1980). Bogdanovich, still in mourning over Stratten (they had been in a relationship at the time of her death, which he goes into in depth in the excellent documentary One Day Since Yesterday) bought the film back from the studio in order to re-release it himself. It didn’t come close to recouping its $8.6 million budget, leading to personal financial disaster for Bogdanivich. While the story lags at times and should have taken more time to fully flesh out the main characters, They All Laughed deserves to revisited for its charm and the performances of its ensemble cast, especially Gazzara and Hepburn’s scenes.
In director Sidney Lumet’s Prince of the City (August 21), Treat Williams plays NYPD Detective Frank Ciello, a Special Investigations Unit detective who works narcotics but (along with his partners) takes advantage some of the shady opportunities that are made available to them, whether it’s using drugs taken from a bust to pay informants or pocketing some of the ill gotten money. When he’s approached by Assistant U.S. Attorney Rick Cappalino (played by Norman Parker) to weed out corrupt cops in the NYPD, Ciello stonewalls him at first. But after seeing the effects of heroin on an informant he pays with the drug for information, Frank has a change of heart and cooperates with the investigation, but under the strict rule that he will not turn in his partners. As the investigation continues, and the hundreds of wiretapped conversations pile up, Frank soon realizes he’s a cog in a machine with few people he can trust to watch out for him. No director does a New York City cop story like Sidney Lumet. Francis Ford Coppola’s and Martin Scorsese’s New York based films have an operatic tone, while Lumet’s films are street level. He knows how to shoot every corner and angle of New York City to bring out the most for the shot. Prince of the City is about 30 minutes too long, which may have turned audiences off, but overall the film is an engaging police drama with a memorable first starring role for Treat Williams. It barely broke even at the box office, but is a film that should be revisited.
Body Heat (August 28), written and directed by Lawrence Kasdan (The Big Chill, Silverado, Grand Canyon) continued 1981’s successful string of neo-noir classics– From the opening credit sequence you know the film will live up to its title. William Hurt plays Ned Racine, a nickel lawyer who gets caught up with Matty Walker, a lonely woman from the right side of the tracks played by Kathleen Turner in her breakout film debut. Matty is exactly the type of person Ned should know better than to get involved with: mysterious and married with an older husband (played by Richard Crenna) who’s rarely around. The story doesn’t waste any time, and before long they’re in her empty home and he’s gotten himself involved in a level of trouble he should have expected: Matty wants her husband dead. Ned is quickly in over his head, learning that lust is a hell of a drug, and there are always too many tracks to cover. Hurt and Turner play perfectly against each other, with Kasdan’s snappy dialogue hitting the right tone of 40s and 50s noir giving the film a genuine a throwback quality. Composer John Barry’s (Out of Africa, Dances with Wolves, eleven James Bond films) score hits just the right tone, and Bill Kenney’s (Rocky IV, Rambo II and III) production design and Richard H. Kline’s (Camelot, Soylent Green, Star Trek: The Motion Picture) cinematography practically make you feel the heat in the air and the ice in the drinks. This film brings everything together the way The Postman Always Rings Twice should have. It earned $24 million domestic against its $9 million budget.
Gallipoli directed by Peter Weir (The Year of Living Dangerously, Witness, Dead Poets Society) is in my opinion not only one of the best World War I films ever made, but also the best film of 1981. Set in 1915 Australia, Frank Dunne (Mel Gibson) and Archy Hamilton (Mark Lee) play runners that quickly grow from competitors to close friends when they travel across the continent to enlist in the Army to serve in World War I, despite their difference in motivations. Archy feels a sense of duty, lying about his age to join up against his family’s wishes while Frank doesn’t think it’s their country’s war to fight. Archy enlists with the Light Horse, but Frank can’t ride a horse and is rejected. Eventually Frank and his friends Billy (Robert Grubb), Barney (Tim McKenzie) and Snowy (David Argue) join the infantry. Archy and Frank soon find themselves reunited in Egypt as they train for their deployment to Gallipoli. Frank leaves his mates in the infantry to join Archy with the Light Horse and they soon have to adapt to life in the trenches against the army of the Ottoman Empire. Though it only earned $5.7 million in the U.S., Gallipoli is the most complete drama of 1981, with a fantastic cast (Mark Lee truly held his own as the lead) and a story written by David Williamson (The Club, The Year of Living Dangerously) that draws on friendship, duty and the horrors of trench warfare during World War I. The ending still gives me chills to this day. With all of the notable films of 1981 to watch, Peter Weir’s Gallipoli should be near or at the top of any list.
The 1980s were a great time for animation (of the traditional, hand drawn variety) and Heavy Metal (August 7) is no exception, standing out as one of the great, animated cult classics of the decade along with American Pop (February 1981), Fire & Ice (1983) and the criminally underrated, nearly forgotten Rock & Rule (1983). Heavy Metal is an animated feature film inspired by the illustrated sci-fi and fantasy stories of Heavy Metal magazine. Written by Daniel Goldberg and Len Blum and directed by Gerald Potterton, the film begins with a mysterious green orb, the Loc-Nar, brought back to Earth from space by an astronaut. The Loc-Nar melts him in front of his terrified daughter and proceeds tells her of its influence throughout space and other worlds, represented in the film’s subsequent scenes that differ in animation style much like in the magazines. On an artistic or technical level, Heavy Metal is not the best animated film of the 80’s (and like the magazine has sometimes received criticism for its stories skewing too heavily toward a male audience), but the film’s edgy stories ranging from dystopian to horror to scifi (with a little comedy along the way) make for a memorable ride.
An American Werewolf in London
Release Date: August 21, 1981 Starring: David Naughton, Griffin Dunne, Jenny Agutter, John Woodvine Written and Directed by John Landis; Cinematography by Robert Paynter; Make Up Effects by Rick Baker
In director John Landis’s An American Werewolf in London (August 21) American students David (David Naughton) and Jack (Griffin Dunne), on a three month backpacking trip through Northern England to Italy, stop in a Yorkshire pub filled with locals that don’t welcome strangers. After taking the not so subtle hint that they’re unwelcome, they’re sent out into the cold, rainy night with the warning to stick to the roads, avoid the moors, and beware the moon. David and Jack quickly veer off the road and are pursued by a very loud, growling wolf. Unable to get back to the road in time, Jack is attacked and killed, but as the wolf starts on David, the townspeople shoot it dead. But before passing out, David sees the wolf transformed to a human. David wakes up scarred in a London hospital three weeks later, but when questioned by police his memory of being attacked by a wolf conflicts with the official report: that he and Jack were attacked by an escaped lunatic that was shot by the locals in their defense.
During his hospital recovery he’s haunted by nightmares progressing from dreams of himself running in the woods stalking prey, to his family being murdered. He’s visited by the bloodied but quite cheerful corpse of Jack, who tells David they were attacked by a werewolf, turning David into a werewolf and dooming Jack to walk the earth undead until the werewolf’s curse is broken. In order for him to truly die the last werewolf’s bloodline must be destroyed: David. Jack tells David he must kill himself before he kills others. The good news: his nurse Alex Price, played by Jenny Agutter (Walkabout, Logan’s Run) takes him in upon his discharge and they begin a relationship. The bad news: there will be a full moon in two days. But in the meantime David’s doctor Hirsch (John Woodvine) drive up north to the Slaughtered Lamb pub to see if David’s on to something about being attacked by a werewolf.
An American Werewolf in London is the best horror film of 1981, with a story and cast that strike the perfect balance between horror and quirkiness. David Naughton carries the weight of David the character throughout his progression from guilt for Jack’s death, disbelief at his circumstances, and his responsibility for his lycanthropic actions. Jenny Agutter’s performance as Alex keeps him grounded through his descent, and Griffin Dunne’s Jack steals the movie as the glue that keeps the story moving forward (also keep an eye out for a young Rik Mayall in the Slaughtered Lamb). But it’s Rick Baker’s makeup effects, especially in Jack’s post mortem scenes and David’s transformation that put An American Werewolf in London in a superior class of the genre compared to 1981’s low budget slasher films, earning him his first of seven Academy Awards for Best Make Up. My only critique is the overbearing soundtrack of moon related songs (including several renditions of Blue Moon) that takes away from Elmer Bernstein’s score. While An American Werewolf in London didn’t match the box office success of director Landis’s earlier hits Animal House and The Blues Brothers, it earned $30 million at the domestic box office against its $5.8 million budget and was a successful transition for Landis to the horror genre.
Next Up: Fante’s Inferno revisits the films of September 1981!
Escape from New York The Fox and the Hound Arthur Wolfen Blow Out Eye of the Needle Escape to Victory
The Summer of ’81’s run of solid releases continued in July with another diverse lineup that included comedies, thrillers, an animated feature and a dystopian action film, though the month’s films didn’t match the box office success or the critical acclaim of June 1981’s releases. Comedy was king of the notable films for July 1981 with Arthur, starring Dudley Moore in the title role, raking in $95 million at the domestic box office, but the rest of the top five grossing films each didn’t crack $40 million. Disney’s animated classic The Fox and the Hound was #2 at the box office with almost $40 million domestic, followed by Endless Love ($31 million), Escape from New York ($25 million) and Under the Rainbow ($18 million).
Two films that didn’t make the month’s notable cut had over the top humor, disappointing box office and lukewarm to negative reviews in common. Hopes were likely high that Zorro the Gay Blade (July 17) starring George Hamilton could match the success of his 1979 comedy hit Love at First Bite which had earned over $40 million. But Zorro the Gay Blade ended up as July 1981’s biggest flop, earning only $5.1 million in North America against its $12 million budget. It probably didn’t help that it shared its opening weekend with the smash hit Arthur. The film has some witty dialogue despite it’s purposely over the top humor and overly flamboyant performances by Hamilton (in a dual role) and Ron Liebman, but it doesn’t age well forty years later and is grating by today’s standards and tolerance levels. Director Steve Rash’s comedy Under the Rainbow (July 31) starring Chevy Chase and Carrie Fisher is loosely based on a Hollywood legend that the actors who portrayed the munchkins in 1939’s The Wizard of Oz trashed their hotel during the production (it’s been debunked by actor Jerry Maren who was in both The Wizard of Oz and Under the Rainbow). Under the Rainbow’s uneven story is filled with gags that rely too much on racial and cultural stereotypes and old fashioned short jokes (written by five credited screenwriters no less). While it does have a few funny lines, it has a weak main plot involving international intrigue with two spies from Germany (Billy Barty) and Japan (Mako) stopping at nothing to retrieve a map of the America’s defenses, and the subplots of the trashed hotel and the assassination attempts on a foreign dignitary barely string the film together. Lead actors Chase and Fisher are underutilized, though Chase’s performance as Secret Service Agent Bruce Thorpe shows some flashes of his future role as Fletch.
I was initially unsure as to whether Blake Edwards’ S.O.B. and Franco Zeffirelli’s Endless Love should be included in July 1981’s notable list. One one hand the reviews were lackluster, but on the other hand the production value and performances were much better than the month’s duds. S.O.B. was a solid movie with a great cast, but barely made a profit. Endless Love received mixed reviews but proved popular and earned over $30 million. While S.O.B. and Endless Love don’t make the notable cut, ultimately I think they’re each worth a second look.
After his successes with the Pink Panther franchise and 1979’s erotic comedy 10 starring Bo Derek and Dudley Moore, Blake Edwards’ S.O.B. (July 1) brings together a cast of old Hollywood favorites including Robert Preston, Robert Vaughn, Shelley Winters and the great William Holden for an over the top ensemble comedy about the “Standard Operational Bullshit” of making movies in Hollywood. Director Felix Farmer (Robert Mulligan) proves you’re only as successful as your last movie as his latest release Nightwind starring his wife Sally Miles (played by Julie Andrews) flops at the box office. Catatonically depressed, Felix snaps out of it with the realization Nightwind should be reshot to turn Sally’s pure cinematic reputation on its ear with a more sexed up version. With all of the characters and tangents that form out of Felix ‘s subsequent desire to reshoot and re-release the film (with his own money!), Edwards’s directing keeps it all glued together, even the scenes that run off the rails (which is most of them). Each member of the cast plays this to perfect effect even though the first half of the film stretches way too long. But Edwards picks up the pace with a chase scene, a shootout and caper. S.O.B. is fun watching if you’re a fan of movies about making movies, especially with its great old guard cast (and sadly the great William Holden’s final film before his death). So invite some fellow film fans over, pour a round of scotch and enjoy.
Endless Love by director Franco Zeffirelli is practically the anti-Romeo and Juliet. As I screened this film for the first time since the 80’s I was preparing myself for a dated cringe fest that would romanticize obsession. It was a relief to see this film holds up as it should: as an example of the perils of obsession and immature, misguided love. Martin Hewitt plays David, a bright high school student who is dating the younger Jade played by Brooke Shields. Martin spends as much time as he can away from his work obsessed parents and with Jade’s more liberal pot smoking family. But their relationship sends warning signals to Jade’s father Hugh Butterfield (Don Murray) when David and Jade get too close even for his more open minded comfort zone. They’re practically inseparable (David openly spends the night with Jade in her room) and their late nights affect Jade’s performance in school. The breaking point for Hugh comes when he catches Jade trying to sneak amphetamines to stay awake. David tries to abide by Hugh’s request to stay away from Jade for 30 days, but soon realizes that her brother Keith (James Spader) is trying to set Jade up with another boy. David’s desperate attempt to play the hero to get back into her life tragically backfires, with consequences that derail his promising educational path and the stability of the Butterfield family. Martin Hewitt didn’t have many mainstream leading man roles after his debut in this film, which is a shame because he held his own as the obsessed David to Brooke Shields’s Jade (though he did star in the cult favorite Yellowbeard alongside Graham Chapman and Madeline Kahn two years later). Watch for early performances by James Spader and Tom Cruise, and the talented older cast that includes Shirley Knight.
Disney’s The Fox and the Hound (July 10) was one of only two animated features released during the Summer of ’81. The film begins when a young fox loses its mother and a group of birds (Big Mama the owl voiced by Pearl Bailey, Dinky the finch, and Boomer the woodpecker) lead the Widow Tweed to find him. She takes the young fox in, names him Tod and raises him with the rest of her animals. While trying to keep out of trouble on the widow’s farm, Tod wanders to the property next door and meets a young hound dog named Copper, striking up a friendship. But Tod runs afoul of Copper’s owner, hunter Amos Slade, and Widow Tweed releases Tod into the woods for his protection. But as Tod and Copper become full grown and follow their natural course of instincts, their bond of friendship is tested when they face each other as hunter and prey. The Fox and the Hound was one of two children’s films released in the Summer of ’81 along with June’s The Great Mupper Caper. The film doesn’t have the humor or emotional power of earlier Disney films, but that may have been a product of production issues. Production of the film began in 1977 but its release delayed by a year due to the infighting among original director Wolfgang Reitherman and the younger team of animators, leading to the resignations of thirteen of them including Don Bluth (who would go on to direct The Secret of NIMH, An American Tail and The Land Before Time). The Fox and the Hound was also the end of an era as the last Disney animated film to have been worked on by any of the company’s Nine Old Men, a group of animators that had worked with the company since 1937’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It shared its opening weekend with the dystopian thriller Escape From New York (talk about counter programming!) but ultimately won the box office vs. Snake Plissken with a $31 million return.
John Carpenter’s dystopian classic Escape from New York (July 10) starring Kurt Russell is one of the more memorable films of the Summer of ’81 and is still a go-to action thriller today (a full review was written on Fante’s Inferno back in 2014). The film takes place in an imagined 1997 with Russell as former war hero and now federal prison inmate Snake Plissken, drafted by government official Hauk (Lee van Cleef) to find and extract the President of the United States (played by Donald Pleasence) after Air Force One is hijacked and his escape pod lands in Manhattan, which is now a maximum security prison island. Plissken is given an offer he can’t refuse: get the President back within a specific time or an explosive implanted in his body will blow his head off. After silently making his way into the city, Plissken’s job becomes more difficult than he anticipated when finds an empty escape pod and has to take on the Duke of New York (Isaac Hayes) who is holding the President hostage. Snake Plissken is one of Kurt Russell’s most recognizable roles, bringing a calm cool to a situation that may literally get his head blown off. Ernest Borgnine, Adrienne Barbeau and Harry Dean Stanton round out an excellent cast, and Russell and Carpenter would team up with cinematographer Dean Cundey a year later in 1982’s classic horror film The Thing. Escape from New York earned $25 million against its $6 million budget (which looks like a lot more on the screen) and its sequel Escape from L.A. was released in 1996.
Arthur (July 17), written and directed by Steve Gordon, has become beloved comic actor Dudley Moore’s best known role after years on British television and on film with comedic partner Peter Cook. Two years removed from Blake Edwards’ classic erotic comedy 10 opposite Bo Derek, Moore plays Arthur Bach, a trust fund bon vivant who drinks his way through life with his expenses covered by his uber rich family, and his personal needs taken care of by his ultra professional and incredibly patient butler Hobson (John Gielgud in an Academy Award Winning role). His upcoming arranged marriage to Susan (Jill Eikenberry) and his eventual inheritance are thrown for a loop when Arthur meets and falls in love with the working class Linda (played by Liza Minelli). Arthur earned $95 million at the domestic box office, behind only Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, On Golden Pond, and Superman II which each earned over $100 million in 1981. Steve Gordon crafted a heartwarming comedy that was lightning in a bottle (no pun intended) from the perfect casting (it’s hard to think of Dudley Moore without thinking of his performance as Arthur) to its memorable theme song. Sadly his directorial debut with Arthur would be Gordon’s only film as a director. He died one year later at the age of 44. If only he and Moore could have followed up Arthur with a quality sequel.
Eye of the Needle (July 24) starring Kate Nelligan and Donald Sutherland is an underrated, throwback World War II spy thriller. The film was based on Ken Follett’s novel of the same title, with screenwriter Stanley Mann (Damien: Omen II, Firestarter) and director Richard Marquand (who would later direct a small film called Return of the Jedi) crafting Eye of the Needle in a style reminiscent of a classic 1940’s war era thriller to great effect. Sutherland plays Henry “The Needle” Faber, a stoic yet ruthless German spy who while in England obtains information on the allied invasion of Normandy. His effort to sneak back to Germany is thwarted when weather strands him on a small island with only a handful of inhabitants. While he waits to be picked up by a German U-Boat, he charms a neglected housewife played by Nelligan. But its only a matter of time before suspicions are raised about him, and Faber will stop at nothing to complete his mission. The direction, score and acting in Eye of the Needle add up to a film that at times borders on the melodramatic, but that ultimately lends to the charm and old school drama of the film (I envision Eye of the Needle as the type of story that could have been produced forty years earlier with Gregory Peck and Barbara Stanwyck in the lead roles). Despite its modest box office of $17 million domestic, Eye of the Needle is an engaging, exciting and enjoyable film with strong performances by Sutherland and Nelligan.
Blow Out (July 24) written and directed by Brian DePalma is a contemporary noir thriller set in Philadelphia starring John Travolta and Nancy Allen. Travolta plays Jack Terry, a sound editor for a low budget horror film who while recording audio on an empty stretch of road witnesses and records a car accident. Jack saves the woman in the passenger seat, but the driver is later pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. While there, Jack realizes the driver was Governor (and potential presidential candidate) George McRyan and the woman he saved was an escort named Sally (Nancy Allen). Jack tries to piece together the events leading up to and through the accident with his audio recording and magazine photography, unraveling layers of intrigue that put both his life and Sally’s at stake. Blow Out was released at the height of Travolta’s career after Saturday Night Fever, Grease and Urban Cowboy, and was DePalma’s third film after Carrie and Dressed to Kill. While DePalma’s first two films earned critical praise and over $30 million each at the domestic box office, Blow Out didn’t break even, only earning $13 million against its $18 million budget in a crowded July 24th weekend that included two other thrillers in Wolfen and Eye of the Needle. But despite the disappointing box office Blow Out is one of the best thrillers of the year. Vilmos Zsigmond’s cinematography and Paul Hirsch’s editing perfectly complemented DePalma’s story and direction, capturing the dramatic weight of the performances of Travolta, Allen and an especially memorable role played by John Lithgow. Pair Blow Out with March 1981’s Diva and you have a great double feature.
Wolfen (July 24) directed by Michael Wadleigh (Woodstock) is a contemporary horror thriller set in the derelict, burned out city blocks of early 80’s New York City. The film begins with a beautiful shot of lower Manhattan (there are a few of those in this film) where a mysterious figure walks along the top of the Brooklyn Bridge and stalks a limousine headed to Manhattan. Millionaire Christopher Van der Veer and his wife make a late night stop in Battery Park to see the art installation he sponsored (and enjoy the effects of cocaine) while his bodyguard watches them from a distance. All three are quickly and savagely murdered by an unseen beast. Albert Finney plays Dewey Wilson, a former New York City Police Captain who is brought back on to the force to lead the murder investigation with the help of Rebecca Neff (Diane Venora), a criminal psychologist brought in to investigate potential terrorist links to the Van der Veer murders. Dewey tracks down Eddie Holt (Edward James Olmos), a Native American activist he arrested years earlier, working a construction job on the Manhattan Bridge. Dewey climbs to the top of the bridge (this sequence still amazes me 40 years later) and questions Eddie, who’s eerily calm demeanor fits his “confession” as a shape shifter. Dewey tails Eddie and later finds him under the influence of psychedelic drugs, taking on the mannerisms and persona of a wolf. A string of subsequent murders in the Bronx seem random, but coroner Whittington (played by Gregory Hines) and zoologist Ferguson (Tom Noonan) find similarities in the methods of the victims deaths and determine the non-human hairs found on the bodies belong to the wolf family. Dewey and Rebecca soon realize they’re dealing with forces more powerful than they can imagine. Wolfen is a solid, well cast werewolf thriller that uses shots of the very real derelict city blocks of the Bronx (you have to see them for yourself to realize how destroyed parts of New York City were in the 70s and early 80s) along with innovative photography used to create a heightened sense of suspense throughout the film. It’s a more subdued film than February 1981’s The Howling, putting it more in the vain of Cat People, with a great on screen team up of Finney and Hines.
Victory, aka Escape to Victory (July 31) is the guilty pleasure of the month as a sports themed World War II drama…or World War II themed sports drama (think The Great Escape meets The Longest Yard). There is a lot of talent associated with this film, especially Michael Caine, Sylvester Stallone, Max von Sydow and director John Huston as well as the international footballers including Pele who make up the film’s German and Allied teams. Set in a German prisoner of war camp in 1941, Captain John Colby (Michael Caine) is a former professional football player tasked by Major von Steiner (Max von Sydow) to put together a team of Allied prisoners to play an exhibition match against a German team in France. While Colby is in it purely for the sport, his superiors want to use the match as an opportunity for an escape. Captain Robert Hatch (Sylvester Stallone), has his own personal (and hopefully permanent) escape plans thrown for a loop when he’s drafted into using his escape to contact the French Resistance, to plan the team’s escape, and then get re-captured and returned to the POW camp. Colby gets Hatch out of the cooler by making him the Allied team’s starting goalie, and the match is on. With dramatic overtones in a World War II setting, Victory also turns out to be a fun movie where even the somewhat fantastical elements of the story (namely the football match between the camp prisoners and the German team) can be enjoyed at face value. But the scenes are occasionally clumsy and the first two acts uneven, which make the script feel very first draft-ish. Regardless, I’ll still add this to the notable list for the talent involved (including the football stars), the fact it’s still very enjoyable despite its flaws and earning $25 million against its $10 million budget. I really would like to take a deep dive into what inspired the great John Huston (Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The African Queen, The Man Who Would Be King) to make this film.
Next Up: Fante’s Inferno revisits the films of August 1981!
Dragonslayer (June 26) For Your Eyes Only (June 26) The Great Muppet Caper (June 26) Stripes (June 26)
In my last post I wrote about how June 1981 could be ranked as one of the all time best movie months based on the quality of the films, their box office success and continued popularity forty years later. Now we’ll dig a little deeper into the best movie month’s best movie weekend with a review of the films released in the U.S. the weekend of June 26th 1981.
The Great Muppet Caper (June 26) was the second feature film in the Muppet franchise, and director (and muppet creator) Jim Henson’s film directorial debut. By 1981 the Muppets franchise was in full swing: their prime time television series The Muppet Show had just completed its fifth and final season, and two years earlier 1979’s The Muppet Movie earned $65 million at the box office. So going into The Great Muppet Caper you know it’ll have the usual cast of beloved characters, catchy tunes, celebrity cameos and humor that is also appreciated by adults. The film begins with reporters Kermit and Fozzie and photographer Gonzo unceremoniously fired from their newspaper jobs for missing the day’s biggest story when a jewel heist occurs practically under their noses. Determined to crack the case, they fly to London (though their tickets didn’t include a proper landing) to interview famous fashion designer Lady Holiday (played by the great Diana Rigg) for information on her stolen necklace. But instead Kermit finds Miss Piggy, who leads Kermit to believe she is Lady Holiday, and it’s love at first sight. While out on their first date at a restaurant (well, actually supper club…), Miss Piggy is framed for the theft of Lady Holiday’s diamond necklace, and Kermit and the gang are determined to get her off the hook. The cast includes Charles Grodin as Lady Holiday’s smarmy brother Nicky, with cameos by John Cleese, Peter Ustinov and Robert Morley. Overall The Great Muppet Caper is still an enjoyable film filled with the troupe’s trademark witty comedy (with that hint of vaudevillian flair), but the story and musical numbers didn’t match the charm of the first film and at times feels like more of a made for TV movie. It earned $31 million at the North American box office against a $14 million budget.
For Your Eyes Only (June 24 UK, June 26 US) was my cinematic introduction to James Bond and is still my favorite film of the franchise. For Your Eyes Only, with the iconic Roger Moore in his fifth turn as Agent 007, has a more grounded, contemporary story compared to Moonraker or The Spy Who Loved Me, without the over the top elements (such as villains with multi billion dollar hideouts or fantastical plots for destruction or domination) that would eventually become cliché and fodder for parody. For Your Eyes Only begins with a stunt filled helicopter sequence in which Bond puts an old nemesis to rest, and he is soon called to action after a British surveillance ship disguised as a fishing boat is destroyed by a forgotten World War II era sea mine and sinks to the bottom of the Ionian Sea off of Albania. Lost in the wreckage is British Intelligence’s ATAC transmitter, created to transmit ballistic missile launch orders to their submarines. The Soviets have caught wind of this and the chase is on to recover it first with stops along the way in Spain, Italy and Greece. Screenwriters Richard Maibaum, Michael G. Wilson and director John Glen (in his directorial debut after a notable editing career which included On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker) created an uncomplicated spy thriller without sacrificing action or suspense. The motorcycle/ski chase in Cortina, Italy was especially well done, and second unit director Willy Bogner Jr. deserves mention here. Cinematographer Alan Hume (Return of the Jedi, Octopussy, Runaway Train), who had two other releases in 1981 with Eye of the Needle and Caveman, expertly filled the screen with For Your Eyes Only’s fantastic locations (with Corfu doubling for the scenes in Spain). The cast included the great Chaim Topol (Flash Gordon, Fiddler on the Roof), Carole Bouquet (Day of the Idiots, New York Stories), Julian Glover (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Empire Strikes Back) and Lynn-Holly Johnson (The Watcher in the Woods, Ice Castles). For Your Eyes Only earned $54 million at the U.S. box office and $159 worldwide against its $28 million budget.
Dragonslayer (June 26), directed by Matthew Robbins, is an underrated fantasy film with high production value and a story that has the tone of a good old fashioned sword and sorcery adventure novel. It’s a lighter film than April 1981’s Excalibur, but that plays perfectly to Dragonslayer’s more polished cinematography and production design compared to John Boorman’s darker Arthurian cinematic take. The film begins with a young woman’s sacrifice to the dragon Verminthrax Pejorative in an effort to appease it and spare the city of Urland from attack. Soon after a group from Urland journeys to Cragganmore to seek the sorcerer Ulrich’s help in destroying Verminthrax. But before Ulrich (Ralph Richardson) can make the journey back with them to Urland, King Casiodorus’s guards arrive, led by Tyrian (John Hallam) who is cynical of Ulrich’s and all wizard’s powers. Ulrich invites Tyrian to test his command of magic by stabbing him in the chest, and to everyone’s surprise it actually kills the old wizard. With his master dead, young apprentice Galen (Peter MacNichol) packs up for the journey to Urland and his date with destiny against the dragon. But while his magic seems to trap Verminthrax deep under his mountain lair, they soon learn you can’t keep a good dragon down and King Casiodorus resumes the lottery to select the next young woman to sacrifice. Galen must now face the dragon with more than an apprentice’s spells. Cinematographer Derek Vanlint’s (Alien) compositions and color values of the lush forests reminded me of the beautifully painted covers of the fantasy books I read (and tried to copy on canvas) when I was younger. The miniature model work to bring the film’s dragon Verminthrax Pejorative to life brings a texture and realism that is missing from too perfect CGI. It’s a shame Dragonslayer didn’t recoup its $18 million dollar budget, only earning $14 million in domestic box office which unfortunately may have been due to its niche genre rather than the crowded June 26th box office weekend (it earned $2.4 million its opening weekend, less than The Great Muppet Caper’s $2.9 million). On a personal level, one small thing that makes the movie going experience even better for me is when the art of a film’s poster accurately represents the story and the film lives up to the anticipation the poster creates. Artist Jeffrey Catherine Jones’s poster for Dragonslayer makes me wish painted movie posters would be the standard again. It truly was a magical time.
Stripes
Release Date: June 26, 1981 Starring Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, Warren Oates, John Candy, John Larroquette, P.J. Soles, Sean Young Directed by Ivan Reitman; Written by Len Blum, Dan Goldberg and Harold Ramis; Music by Elmer Bernstein
When the topic of classic comedies comes up, Animal House (1978), Airplane (1980), Caddyshack (1980) and The Blues Brothers (1980) are generally the first films mentioned and for good reason. These comedies brought a new level of outrageousness to the genre, launched film careers, and set the standard for film comedy for decades. But one classic and beloved comedy that deserves equal mention and also holds up forty years later is Ivan Reitman’s classic Army comedy Stripes starring Bill Murray and Harold Ramis.
By 1981, Murray had established his film career with Meatballs (1980), Where the Buffalo Roam (1980) and Caddyshack (1980), which was also Ramis’s directorial debut. Their collaboration with director Ivan Reitman on Stripes is the perfect showcase for their style of humor and set the tone for their future work together on Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters 2. But compared to the Ghostbusters films, Stripes is a simpler comedy that relies more on Murray and Ramis’s perfect chemistry based on their laid back, subtle approach (with a touch of wise-ass humor) that doesn’t play it too far over the top.
John Winger (Bill Murray) is a photographer (though not exactly motivated enough to include the word aspiring…) who works a day job as a taxi driver while his best friend Russell Ziskey teaches questionable English as a second language to new immigrants. A rude passenger leads Winger to quit his job (with the type of dramatic panache that most people wish they could add), and while that alone would constitute a bad day for some folks, Winger’s car is repossessed, he drops his pizza, and his girlfriend Anita, fed up with his inability to move forward in life, finally leaves him. Using the moment to finally take stock in himself, Winger talks Russell into joining the Army with him. With nothing of value to really lose, they enlist and soon after are taking their bus ride to destiny…or in this case Fort Arnold (after flirting with two attractive MP’s at the bus depot).
Drill Sergeant Hulka (Warren Oates) sees Winger for the slacker he is and uses every opportunity to make an example of him and whip him into shape. But hundreds of push ups later, Winger’s mouth still gets him into trouble and leads to the platoon getting worked harder. Captain Stillman (John Larroquette) is the officer that everyone loves to hate: a stuffed uniform with a pretentious enthusiasm and an inability to lead or command respect. He’s under orders to find the base’s best platoon to take over the Army’s EM-50 project, and at first glance Hulka’s underachieving platoon looks safely out of the picture.
After a rough day on the training course, a fed up Winger challenges Hulka to take on a rope climbing obstacle himself in front of the platoon, while over on the mortar firing range Stillman orders a group of inept soldiers to fire a round indiscriminately. When Hulka easily rope climbs to the top of the obstacle, he quickly hears the incoming mortar shell and is unable to duck to safety when his obstacle his hit, plunging him to the ground seriously injured. With Hulka out of commission Winger takes the group out for a night on the town at a local (cough) gentleman’s establishment that includes scantily dressed women and mud wrestling. He convinces Dewey “Ox” Oxberger (John Candy) to take them on in the mud wrestling ring, but the bar is quickly raided and they’re all arrested. But MP’s Stella (PJ Soles – Carrie, Halloween, Rock n’ Roll High School) and Louise (Sean Young – Blade Runner, Dune, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective), now on their third run-in with Winger and Russell, take them back to base without any hassle. But Winger, in the spur of the moment breaks into General Barnicke’s empty house and Stella and Louise’s true feelings for Winger and Russell come out.
Stillman takes pleasure in telling the platoon that General Barnicke will see them for the screw ups they really are and they’ll have to repeat basic training. Winger and Russell make it back to the barracks to find the platoon too accepting of their fate and convinces them to pull an all nighter to cram everything they need to know to pass and graduate. They wake up an hour late the next morning, crash the in-progress graduation ceremony improperly dressed, and put on a demonstration that wows the crowd and General Barnicke, who admires their initiative in the face of losing their drill sergeant and assigns them to the EM-50 project in Italy.
The platoon arrives for their new assignment in Italy but their enthusiasm is quickly brought back down to earth when Sergeant Hulka’s creepy voice greats them in their barracks. Their job is to guard the EM-50 Urban Assult Vehicle: an RV equipped with high tech computers and weapons. But even with that new level of responsibility, and possibly the simplest job in the Army, Winger and Russell just can’t seem to play by the rules, and their cavalier handling of the EM-50 puts the platoon, Hulka and Stillman in some good old fashioned Cold War jeopardy.
No spoilers here. Part of what makes Stripes a great film and comedy is the supporting cast that perfectly complements Murray and Ramis, adding an extra layer that endears the misfit platoon to the audience. Larroquette (Night Court) and Oates (The Wild Bunch, Dillinger) are cast perfectly as the film’s foils, and even the smaller roles played by Judge Reinhold (Elmo), John Diehl (Cruiser) and Conrad Dunn (Francis…I mean, Psycho) lead to some memorable characters and classic lines. Be honest, how many of us have said or heard “Lighten up, Francis?” at least a few dozen times in the last 40 years?
Stripes turned its $10 million budget into an $85 million North American box office return, landing at #5 of the Top Ten grossing films of 1981. The film works on all levels, but special mention needs to be made of composer Elmer Bernstein, whose fantastic score keeps the film and the audience energized throughout its well paced run time of 106 minutes. I’ve seen the 123 minute director’s cut shown recently on the streaming services, and for years I’d heard of the additional scenes that answer where Winger and Ziskey were when they went AWOL, their unexpected predicament and how they got out of it. But I’m of the opinion that Stripes (and many other films that I will likely revisit down the road) works better without the additional scenes. If you’re a fan of the film, check out the director’s cut, but if you’re experiencing this near perfect comedy for the first time, go with the theatrical version.
While I missed it during its theatrical run in 1981, I watched it countless times on cable TV throughout the decade, making Stripes one of my favorite comedies of the 80’s and one that I return to as often as Animal House, Blues Brothers and Airplane!Stripes is the kind of film where you can’t help but root for the characters, quote a few lines and just laugh your ass off.
Next Up: Fante’s Inferno continues its retrospective with the films of July 1981!
Cheech & Chong’s Nice Dreams (June 5) Clash of the Titans (June 12) History of the World Pt. 1 (June 12) Raiders of the Lost Ark (June 12) The Cannonball Run (June 19) Superman II (June 19) Dragonslayer (June 26) For Your Eyes Only (June 26) The Great Muppet Caper (June 26) Stripes (June 26)
The list of films above would have made for an incredible movie summer, but the fact it only represents one single month of the Summer of 1981’s movie releases is astounding. From action to fantasy to comedy, June 1981 brought something for everyone, and I’m hard pressed to find another movie month before or since with the same depth of quality releases. June 1981 was unmatched in box office success with five films each earning more than $50 million domestically, with Raiders of the Lost Ark at the top of the year’s domestic box office with $212 million ($289 million in the US & Canada, and $389 million worldwide). In terms of the comedy and special effects of some of these films, let’s just say they were products of their time. But while some of these films haven’t exactly aged well (Cheech & Chong’s Nice Dreams, Clash of the Titans), forty years later some are still consistently watched (Raiders of the Lost Ark, Superman II, Stripes), while others are old favorites that continue to be revisited (Dragonslayer, The Cannonball Run, For Your Eyes Only).
Cheech & Chong’s Nice Dreams (June 5), directed by Tommy Chong, is a film that comes up on my radar every few years either on streaming video or back in the day when it would be part of a late night screening on cable TV with friends. Written by Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong, the film begins as the title characters make their small fortune driving around L.A. in an ice cream truck selling weed disguised in ice cream wrappers. As they dream about using the money to move to Costa Rica (Cheech) and buying more guitars (Chong), they’re tailed by LAPD officers Drooler and Noodles who get a sample to take back to their precinct for testing. Stacey Keach reprises his role as Sgt. Stedenko (previously in Up In Smoke), but this time around he’s showing the effects of being a little too into the product he’s trying to get off the streets. While they treat themselves to dinner, Cheech and Chong run into Donna (Evelyn Guerrero, reprising her role from 1980’s Next Movie) and the “crazy hamburger dude” played by Paul Reubens (also from Next Movie), who gets Chong to exchange all of their cash for a bogus check. Their attempt to get their bag of cash back takes an unexpected turn (after they almost get killed by Donna’s racist, escaped convict biker boyfriend) and they find themselves trapped in a mental institution. Nice Dreams was light on plot but has more than enough gags to keep you laughing, though the humor was definitely of its time (translation: elements of the story definitely wouldn’t be filmed today). It grossed a solid $35 million, but down from Next Movie’s $41 million in 1980.
What more can be said or written about Raiders of the Lost Ark (June 12), which was the the top grossing film of 1981 ($212 million US & Canada, $354 million total worldwide) and one of the great film franchises of all time? Before the film’s release Harrison Ford was already world famous for a couple of films called Star Wars and The Empire Strike Back, but his role as Indiana Jones in this throwback blockbuster propelled him to bankable leading man (prior to Raiders of the Lost Ark, Ford’s leading roles outside of the Star Wars franchise were in the films Hanover Street, Force 10 from Navarone and The Frisco Kid, none of which grossed $10 million in North America). Ford makes archaeology exciting and cool when Professor Indiana Jones is hired by the U.S. government in 1936 to find the location of the biblical Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis do, visiting several exotic locations (Nepal, Cairo) along the way. Producer George Lucas co-wrote the original story with Philip Kaufman (The Wanderers, The Right Stuff) as a love letter to the adventure serials of the 1940’s, and screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan (Body Heat, The Big Chill, Silverado) wrote a screenplay that incorporates the cliffhanger elements of the old movie serials and grabs the audience from the opening sequence. His script was brought to life and ingrained in our cinematic memories by director Steven Spielberg (how many times have we seen the clip of the giant stone rolling down towards Indy?) for a non-stop, action filled ride. Even after 40 years, Raiders of the Lost Ark never gets old.
Superman II (June 19) is regarded by many as the best of the Christopher Reeve Superman films. The film begins with a montage of the key scenes from 1978’s Superman: The Movie, and once the audience is back up to speed, continues with Lois Lane (Margot Kidder) in Paris putting herself in harm’s way to get the world’s biggest story: a terrorist group has taken hostages on the Eiffel Tower and set up a hydrogen bomb. Clark/Superman saves her and launches the bomb into space just as it detonates, saving Paris but freeing three Kryptonian criminals (General Zod played by Terence Stamp, Ursa played by Sarah Douglas, and Non played by Jack O’Halloran – introduced in the first film’s opening trial scene on Krypton) from their exile in the Phantom Zone. Earth’s sun provides them with identical powers to Superman and they make their way to Earth with the intent of world domination (what else?). In the meantime Clark and Lois are assigned an expose in Niagara Falls, where Lois confirms that Clark is Superman. He takes her to his Fortress of Solitude where he chooses to have his powers stripped in order to be with Lois as a mortal being. But by now Zod has taken control, and Superman’s old nemesis Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman) has joined the fun. Though it was filmed simultaneously with 1978’s Superman: The Movie, Superman II has a more lighthearted tone and cinematography more in tune with a comic book film due to Richard Lester (A Hard Day’s Night, The Three Musketeers) taking over directing duties after original director Richard Donner was removed from the project. Donner reportedly shot over 70% of Superman II, and several original elements pieced from outtakes were reintroduced to the film for the release of Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut in 2006. Superman II earned $108 million in North America and $190 million worldwide. In my opinion Superman II doesn’t match the original film’s heart and (in honor of Richard Donner) verisimilitude, but it’s a worthy sequel with a fun plot and dynamic visuals, making it a staple for fans of the comic book film genre.
Clash of the Titans (June 12), directed by Desmond Davis and written by Beverley Cross, is a fantasy film based on Greek mythology that showcased respected actors Burgess Meredith, Maggie Smith and Laurence Olivier and the classic visual effects of the great Ray Harryhausen. The film begins with King Acrisius of Argos exiling his daughter Danae and her baby Perseus to the sea for bringing shame to the kingdom. On Mount Olympus, Zeus, who had impregnated Danae and is the father of Perseus, orders Argos destroyed by the Kraken and Danae and Perseus saved. Perseus grows into adulthood as a favorite of Zeus on Seraphos, while his other son Calibos is punished for his arrogance with transformation to an abomination with horns and hooves. Calibos’s mother Thetis (played by Maggie Smith), angered by Zeus’s treatment of her son, transports Perseus (now an adult played by Harry Hamlin) from Seraphos to the island of Joppa where he is befriended by an old poet/actor named Ammon (Burgess Meredith) and begins his journey to earn the right to marry Princess Andromeda and save her city from destruction by Thetis. Clash of the Titans would be Ray Harryhausen’s last film before retiring, showcasing the effects on which he built his illustrious career in films such as 1958’s The 7th Voyage of Sinbad and 1963’s Jason and the Argonauts (also written by Beverley Cross). While the effects are dated by today’s standards (and even by the 90s for that matter) it’s a film that could be an inspiration to young, aspiring visual effects wizards who with today’s available and affordable technology could recreate Harryhausen’s effects at a fraction of the time and cost. Clash of the Titans may not hold up as well forty years later, but it’s still a joy to watch not only for the nostalgia but also because it’s refreshing to see an epic story told on a simple scale, unlike most overdone epic fantasy films of the last twenty years. It earned a respectable $41 million in North America and $70 million worldwide.
In History of the World Part I (June 12), writer/director Mel Brooks takes the audience on a comedic journey through human history beginning with the dawn of man and ending with the French Revolution (with stops at the Old Testament, Imperial Rome and the Spanish Inquisition along the way). It’s a very funny film by Mel Brooks if not at the level of previous classics Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles, and is remembered and enjoyed today for several classic scenes (who could forget the catchy tune about the Spanish Inquisition?) and their memorable quotes (“It’s good to be the king…”). Watching the Imperial Rome and French Revolution scenes makes you wonder what could have been had Brooks expanded these scenes into their own feature films. At a $10 million budget, Brooks puts it all on the screen with a cast that includes Madeline Kahn, Gregory Hines and the great Harvey Korman, elaborate production design and some of the best traditional matte painting work of that era by Albert Whitlock (a behind the scenes look at that process can be seen here and Mel Brooks’s reaction to Whitlock’s work on History of the World Part I is priceless). It earned $31.7 million in under 500 theaters. If only there could have been a Part II.
Director Hal Needham’s The Cannonball Run (June 19) is that lighthearted, laugh a minute comedy that you just need sometimes, and is the antitheses to May’s disappointing racing film King of the Mountain. One look at the film’s poster and you know exactly what kind of ride you’re in for. Neeham (Smokey and the Bandit I & II, Hooper, Stroker Ace) with screenwriter Brock Yates (who conceived the Cannonball Run challenge and actually won it with a time of 35 hours and 54 minutes in 1971) crafted a classic example of an ensemble comedy along the lines of It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World but with a high octane upgrade. Racer J.J. McClure (Burt Reynolds) is focused on winning in the Cannonball Run, an illegal cross country race from Connecticut to California, with his sidekick Victor Prinzi (Dom DeLuise). They’re disguised as ambulance drivers to outsmart the smokeys, complete with a doctor of questionable qualifications (Jack Elam) and a kidnapped environmentalist as their patient (Farrah Fawcett). They’re up against racers of equally dubious tactics in former Formula 1 racer Jamie Blake (Dean Martin – whose performance makes you wonder if he really was drunk throughout this film or if he really was that good of an actor) and Morris Fenderbaum (Sammie Davis Jr.) who are driving a red Ferrari dressed as priests. The cast of cannonballers includes Jamie Farr, Roger Moore, Adrienne Barbeau, Terry Bradshaw and Jackie Chan. It’s not a perfect film, feeling a little slapdashed at times, and more than a few of the jokes wouldn’t pass today’s standards, including humor related to drinking and driving, kidnapping, cultural stereotypes, speech impediments, mental health issues and racial jokes. Ironically the tamest part of this movie is driving over the speed limit. But to its benefit, the film moves at a quick pace with a generous amount of the Burt Reynolds/Dom DeLuise comedy dynamic. This film was made to be a crowd pleaser and didn’t fail as it earned $72 million at the North American box office.
Next up, we continue our look at the films of June 1981 with four films that opened the weekend of June 26th: The Great Muppet Caper, For Your Eyes Only, Dragonslayer, and Stripes!
Friday the 13th Part II (5/1/81) The Four Seasons (5/22/81) Bustin’ Loose (5/22/81) Outland (5/22/81) Death Hunt (5/22/81) Polyester (5/29/81)
May 1981 could be considered the month that the so called “sure things” ended up surely disappointing. Star driven films, acclaimed directors and timeless characters failed to live up to critical and box office expectations, but a couple of those under performing films might still be worth a look forty years later. And the releases that were notable in May 1981 included a horror sequel, two comedies, an adventure drama with two iconic leading men, an outrageous cult classic and an understated sci-fi film with a classic Western feel.
The less memorable films released in May 1981 included director Ed Bianchi’s The Fan (May 15) starring Lauren Bacall as a famous actress (Sally Ross) stalked by a delusional fan (Douglas Breen) played by Michael Biehn. The film vacillates between a dramatic thriller and a graphic slasher film but misses the mark on both with a muddled, bloated script that wasted the cast’s talent, and a heavy handed score that too often overstates the dramatic tension. It was unable to recoup its $9 million budget with a meager $3 million box office return. Happy Birthday to Me (May 15) is what you would expect of an early 80’s horror film, but accomplished director J. Lee Thompson (The Guns of Navarone, Cape Fear) elevates it from the typical slasher film with production value that exceeds most of the other horror films of 1981. But the story is overdone and the large cast of soon to be victims adds scenes that ultimately slow the pace of the film. It more than doubled its budget with a $10.6 million box office, but earned mostly negative reviews. The Burning (May 8) has three slasher tropes in the first ten minutes: a sleepaway camp, a prank gone wrong against an innocent person who, now horribly disfigured, will take his revenge out on the camp. Lower budget films have better production value than what The Burning put on the screen for its $1.5 million budget (what looks like stock footage of lightning at the 13 minute mark was especially out of place). And with a mediocre script for a derivative story, there’s little of note save for the opportunity to see the film debuts of Jason Alexander and and Holly Hunter.
Continuing our look back on the films that didn’t quite hit the mark in May 1981, director Noel Nosseck’s street racing drama King of the Mountain (May 1) starring Harry Hamlin and Dennis Hopper is one of the more frustrating examples. Despite Nosseck’s expertly crafted racing sequences with solid cinematography by Donald Peterman (Flashdance, Point Break, Men in Black) and editing by William Steinkamp (Against All Odds, Out of Africa, Scent of a Woman), King of the Mountain is weakened by unnecessary, one-dimensional, cliché characters and a script that veers off course by taking up too much time on the non-racing elements of the story. Ironically, the supporting characters are given more to work with in the script than star Harry Hamlin who plays Steve, an unambitious mechanic who puts his life on the line and his money where his mouth is as the top street racer on Mulholland Drive. While it likely wouldn’t have spawned a franchise, King of the Mountain could have been a breakthrough film in the early 80’s for the then cinematically underrepresented subject of illegal street racing.
The Legend of the Lone Ranger (May 22) was expected to be one of Summer 1981’s tentpole releases, but ended up as May’s critical and financial bomb. Negative publicity from the copyright owner’s lawsuit against 1950’s Lone Ranger star Clayton Moore combined with first time leading man Klinton Spilsbury’s difficult behavior on set led to PR and production demons before the film’s release. Despite opening in over 1,000 theaters, legendary cinematographer but first-time director William Fraker’s The Legend of the Lone Ranger earned $12 million against its $18 million budget and was outgrossed by notable films The Four Seasons, Bustin’ Loose and Outland in a crowded May 22nd weekend. Revisiting it forty years later, the slow pace, underwhelming story and Spilsbury’s uninspiring and unconvincing performance (his lines would be dubbed in post production by actor James Keach) as one of the 20th Century’s iconic heroes doomed The Legend of the Lone Ranger to obscurity. But the 1981 action figures by Gabriel are collectors items, with mint-in-box figures selling on eBay in some cases for upwards of $100 each.
Turning to May 1981’s notable films, Steve Miner’s directorial debut Friday the 13th Part II (May 1) was released one year after the immensely successful original film, earning over $6 million its opening weekend although its cumulative box office gross of $21 million was a less-than-stellar one-third of the original’s box office. Five years after the events of 1980’s Friday the 13th, new counselors in training at Camp Crystal Lake are terrorized and murdered by the subject of their ghost stories: Jason Voorhees. Despite Part II (and subsequent films) directly tying to the plot of the first Friday the 13th, the subsequent box office drop after a strong opening weekend could be a reflection of the sequel not meeting the expectations set by the classic original. But despite Friday the 13th Part II’s inability to match the first film’s cumulative box office and fan enthusiasm, it’s still notable for continuing the lucrative film series and marking the debut of the iconic Jason Voorhees that would be the (hockey masked) face of the franchise.
Death Hunt (May 22) is a film that I feel deserves a second look forty years after its initial run. Directed by Peter Hunt (On Her Majesty’s Secret Service), Death Hunt is a fictionalized account of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s pursuit of a solitary trapper in the Yukon Territory of 1931. Charles Bronson plays Albert Johnson, a trapper who runs afoul of a group of toughs led by Hazel (Ed Lauter). When they approach Johnson’s cabin for retribution, he kills one of them in defense. But Hazel and the gang’s discovery of Johnson’s cache of ammunition leads them to report him to the RCMP as the region’s reputed serial killer and the murderer of one of their gang. Sergeant Millen (Lee Marvin) is tasked with questioning him, but things quickly devolve and a manhunt is underway. Death Hunt recouped only half of its budget with a $5 million cumulative gross. But despite the lackluster reviews and box office, I would consider this film a must see simply for its two old school, tough as nails stars Bronson and Marvin playing opposite each other.
Bustin’ Loose (May 22) starring the great Richard Pryor had the highest opening box office in May 1981 ($6.6 million in 828 US theaters) and a cumulative gross of $31 million. Pryor plays professional thief Joe Braxton, who is spared jail time for a parole violation but is tasked by Vivian Perry (Cicely Tyson) to drive her school’s special needs students cross country from Philadelphia to Washington state in a broken down school bus. Her fiance, Joe’s parole officer Donald (Robert Christian), is against Vivian’s move and threatens Joe with jail time if he isn’t back by a specified date. Joe isn’t exactly good with kids and lets them know he’s not going to take any grief from them, but quickly realizes they’re tougher than they look. The kids are victims of emotional trauma that Vivian selflessly tries to heal, and Joe finds himself emotionally drafted into looking out for their physical safety and emotional well being. Overall Bustin’ Loose is a slightly below average comedy from Pryor compared to 1977’s Which Way is Up? (a remake of Lina Wertmuller’s classic Italian film The Seduction of Mimi) and his classic collaborations with Gene Wilder in Silver Streak (1976) and Stir Crazy (1980). While the story capitalizes on Pryor and Tyson’s on screen chemistry, at times it plays more like a sitcom than feature film and can’t find the right balance between edgy and heartwarming. Even though Bustin’ Loose may not hold up as well forty years later, it’s notable for its success during it’s initial theatrical run and Pryor’s performance.
Outland (May 22), written and directed by Peter Hyams (2010: The Year We Make Contact, Running Scared, Timecop), is a science fiction film (along with Blade Runner) with a premise grounded in Earth’s contemporary problems represented in a futuristic interplanetary setting. Outland deals with corporate exploitation of resources and a drug dealing operation on a mining colony located on Jupiter’s moon Io. Outland has consistently been referred to as a western in space, drawing comparisons to the classic western film High Noon starring Gary Cooper. Sean Connery plays William T. O’Niel, newly assigned marshal to the Con-Amalgamate mining colony, who uncovers a less than secret drug operation for an amphetamine that is killing miners. When it becomes clear to the general manager Mark Sheppard (Peter Boyle) that O’Neil won’t compromise his integrity and give in to their persuasion to turn a blind eye, a target is placed on his back and the clock counts down to the shuttle arriving with the hit men hired to kill him. But as Outland’s movie poster shows, O’Niel is ready for the fight. There’s something awesome about seeing a shotgun fight in space, especially when it’s Sean Connery as the lawman fighting for his life.
John Waters’ Polyester (May 29) is a campy comedy that spoofs suburban family life with more than a few jabs at the so called moral righteousness of the era. Divine plays Francine Fishpaw, a suburban housewife and matriarch of a dysfunctional family that endures community protests for owning the town’s adult theater. As the “normal” one of the family trying to keep it together, Francine is pushed over the edge by her cheating husband and delinquent kids in an equal opportunity offender that parodies wholesome suburban dramas and informational films of the 1950’s. It’s more polished than Waters’ 1972 cult classic Pink Flamingos, and filled with Waters’ notable wit, outrageous characters and purposely over the top acting. Waters’ script and direction allows the audience to lower its guard, revel in the campy story and acting, and truly appreciate Polyester for what it is…whatever that is. And who could forget Polyester’s olfactory gimmick of Odorama?
The Four Seasons
Release Date: May 22, 1981 Starring Alan Alda, Carol Burnett, Rita Moreno, Jack Weston, Len Cariou, Sandy Dennis and Bess Armstrong Written and Directed by Alan Alda, Cinematography by Victor J. Kemper, Edited by Michael Economou
The Four Seasons, written and directed by Alan Alda, had the second highest opening weekend in May 1981 behind Richard Pryor’s Bustin’ Loose. It ultimately grossed over $50 million against its $6.5 million budget to place it in the top ten of that year’s box office, but what makes The Four Seasons’ cumulative box office gross more impressive isthe fact it only played in 623 theaters. By 1981 Alda was well known for his starring roles in the TV series M*A*S*H (he also directed 32 episodes) and the films Paper Lion (1968), Same Time Next Year (1978) and The Seduction of Joe Tynan (1979), but his film directorial debut of his screenplay for The Four Seasons showcased his ability to craft an expertly balanced comedy and capitalize on the talents of an accomplished cast. The chemistry in their performances brings a realism to their on screen friendships that is grounded in the emotional ebbs and flows of marriage, middle age and friendship.
The film begins in springtime as three couples, best friends, hop in a car for a trip outside New York City to a country house for a weekend of cooking, drinking and laughter to the score of Antonio Vivaldi’s Spring concerto. Jack (Alan Alda) is a lawyer married to magazine editor Kate (Carol Burnett); Danny (Jack Weston) is an dentist and culinary expert married to artist Claudia (Rita Moreno); and insurance salesman Nick (Len Cariou) is married to homemaker and novice photographer Anne (Sandy Dennis). None of them can pinpoint the moment that brought them together as friends, but their appreciation for each other is evident in Jack’s toast to their friendship, and their needling his need to accent every moment with his words. After an afternoon of one too many drinks and an impromptu fully clothed jump in a lake, Nick opens up to Jack about his unhappy and uninspiring marriage to Anne. In spite of Jack’s advice to seek counseling, he will ask her for a divorce. Nick’s desire for emotional support takes a hit when Jack doesn’t validate his feelings, but instead considers Anne’s well being over Nick’s.
By summer, they’re boating in the Caribbean on Jack and Kate’s new sailboat, but the dynamic has an uncomfortable air with Anne’s “replacement” by Nick’s new (and young) girlfriend Ginny (Bess Armstrong), who brings Nick the excitement he’s been craving. Her genuine pleasantness can’t help but confuse Jack, Kate, Danny and Claudia’s feelings towards her and their guilt over Anne. On one hand they’re skeptical of Nick’s attempt at a new life (with a tinge with envy over his and Ginny’s sex life), but on the other they really have nothing to dislike Ginny for. They understand and empathize with the need to keep things alive in a marriage, and as a group accept Nick’s new path. But by the time Autumn comes around, Ginny’s new place in their friendship takes a hit when they travel to a college Parents Day to see Nick’s daughter and Jack and Kate’s daughter and encounter Anne. She puts on a brave face around the “friends” that cut her out of their lives, lives that were more intent on keeping the group’s good times going rather than being there emotionally for a friend in need. Claudia and Kate open up to Anne and admit it was wrong and unfair of them, but promise to see her more and help with her career.
No spoilers here. Each season brings new challenges to the dynamic of the group’s friendship, and a greater awareness of their personal emotional states. The Four Seasons has a great script and direction by Alda with cinematography by Victor J. Kemper (Dog Day Afternoon, And Justice for All, National Lampoon’s Vacation) and editing by Michael Economou. Alda’s cast of actors are so in tune with their characters and in sync in their scenes they have no problem convincing an audience of their friendship, even when that friendship doesn’t keep up with their own personal progressions in life. Each character is given their “moment” in the film to vent their frustrations with life, marriage and sometimes each other, which makes The Four Seasons feel a little too “talky” at times. But Alda’s script keeps the audience engaged, maybe because as we get older we recognize some of the less comfortable conversations and situations represented in the film. The Four Seasons reminds us that friendships can fade over time, but the ones that endure do so because true friends can drive each other crazy and still stick by each other at the end of the day.
Next Up: Fante’s Inferno continues its retrospective with the films of June 1981, the month that started the first (and possibly the best) summer movie season.
Release Date: April 10, 1981 (US) Starring: Nigel Terry, Nicol Williamson, Nicholas Clay, Cherie Lunghi, Helen Mirren, Paul Geoffrey Directed by John Boorman; Written by John Boorman and Rospo Pallenberg (based on Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Artur); Cinematography by Alex Thomson; Edited by John Merritt
John Boorman’s classic Excalibur is one of a handful of films that has had a profound effect on me from the first time I watched it (in case you’re curious, the others are Richard Donner’s Superman: The Movie and Giuseppe Tornatore’s Cinema Paradiso), and to say this film hit me at the right time is an understatement. I missed out on seeing Excalibur on the big screen at my local movie theater in April 1981, but the day the film launched on cable television I was hooked to the point where I noted each screening listed in the monthly cable guide to watch it every chance I could. Excalibur is an incredible film on all levels, especially the production design and costumes that make earlier films of the genre look too polished (the look of the film was said to be influenced by Roger Christian’s lost but ultimately rediscovered 1980 short film The Black Angel). Excalibur also came in my life as my interest in Dungeons & Dragons developed, opening my mind to a world of imagination and creativity that extended to storytelling and art (I’ve lost count of how many knights, wizards, thieves and rangers I drew back then!). So Excalibur is a very personal film for me because with each screening, even forty years later, I’m transported back to a time in my life when a group of us would meet up Saturdays for a marathon D&D game that would last into the night.
Excalibur begins with a night battle of armored knights thundering through the forest on their armored, snorting horses. Merlin (Nicol Williamson) surveys the field as the armies of Uther and Cornwall face off in the fog, swords clanging against their heavy plate mail. Uther (Gabriel Byrne) confronts Merlin about the sword he was promised, but Merlin will only give it to him if he wages a truce. The next morning, the arm of the Lady of the Lake rises from still waters to produce Excalibur. With Excalibur in hand, Uther offers his enemy Cornwall (Corin Redgrave) the lands to the sea if he enforces Uther’s will as King. As they feast to celebrate their truce, Uther can’t keep his lustful eyes off of Cornall’s wife Igrayne (Katryne Boorman), and casts the newfound peace aside to wage a war for another man’s wife.
As his army lays siege to Cornwall’s castle, Uther requests Merlin’s magic as an advantage. But Merlin will only oblige in return for the product of Uther’s lust. Uther pulls his army back, and that night Merlin uses the Charm of Making to draw in the fog, which pulls Cornwall’s men out to battle Uther’s army. Merlin transforms Uther into the form of Cornwall so he can enter the castle. Meanwhile, Cornwall is killed when he is thrown off of his horse and impaled. At that moment his daughter Morgana senses his death, but Uther arrives in the form of Cornwall and tricks Igrayne into giving herself to him. She is in disbelief the next morning when the real Cornwall’s dead body is brought back to her.
Nine months later, Igrayne has given birth to Uther’s son. But his joy as a father is short lived when Merlin arrives to receive his end of the bargain: their baby. Igrayne now realizes it was Uther that arrived in Cornwall’s place that night during the battle, screaming as Uther rips their child from her arms and hands him to Merlin, who leaves under the creepy eyes and silver tongue of Cornwall and Igrayne’s daughter Morgana. The next morning as Uther rides through the forest to get back his child, he’s ambushed and severely wounded. He staggers through the mud with Excalibur in hand to keep it from his enemies. He declares that no one will wield Excalibur but him, thrusts the sword into a stone with the last of his strength and dies.
Years later Arthur (Nigel Terry) serves as a squire to his father Ector (Clive Swift) and brother Kay (Niall O’Brien). A joust is held to give victorious knights the right to try to draw Excalibur from the stone and be named king, but the sword does not free itself for the unworthy. Arthur forgets his brother Kay’s sword back at their tent, but by the time he gets to it, it’s been stolen. Arthur chases the young thief to retrieve it but soon loses him in the woods. In desperate need of a sword he’s faced with Excalibur glowing in the stone and innocently pulls it free. Kay finds Arthur holding Excalibur, and Ector orders him to put it back in the stone so the people can see him free it. Uryens (Keith Buckley) forces his way to the stone to attempt to free it. But the sword won’t move for him and the worthy Arthur easily pulls the sword from the stone again to be declared king. Ector confesses to Arthur that Merlin brought him as a baby to them to raise as his son. Merlin appears to tell Arthur he is the son of Uther and the new king, but Uryens and his men declare trickery by Merlin and sides are drawn.
Arthur escapes the crowd to follow Merlin into the woods, questioning his ability to be king. Merlin tells him as king he will be one with the land and the land one with him. The next morning as Arthur starts to get a feel for the sword, he follows Merlin to his destiny: Leondegrance’s castle at Cameliard is under siege and Arthur leads his new allies to defend him.
Arthur and his new army arrive to the castle of a severely outnumbered Leondegrance (Patrick Stewart), who can barely hold Uryens’ men from scaling the wall. His daughter Guinevere (Cherie Lunghi) sees the brave squire turned king scale the castle walls and single-handedly fight his way save Leondegrance. He then jumps into the moat, knocking Uryens off his horse and forcing him to swear faith to him as his king. Uryens refuses to swear faith to a squire, so Arthur hands him Excalibur to knight him to the surprise to everyone around him. Uryens is overtaken by Excalibur and knights the young king, swearing his undying loyalty. After the battle, Guinevere stitches up Arthur’s wound and wins his heart.
Fast forward to an older, confident Arthur who is faced with a single knight that his army cannot defeat: Sir Lancelot. Each of his knights defeated handily by the lone knight, Arthur faces Lancelot on a bridge and commands him to move for them to pass. The coolly confident Lancelot, burdened with the curse of not finding a worthy match that can defeat him, challenges Arthur to a joust. Arthur is knocked off of his horse but refuses to yield. Lancelot has the advantage but accepts hand to hand combat, making it look too easy as Arthur’s rage gets the best of him. Lancelot draws blood and Arthur is knocked onto the rocks of the falls below them. Arthur calls on Excalibur’s power and by his rage the sword breaks in half as it knocks out Lancelot. Disgusted with himself and his treatment of the worthy opponent Lancelot, Arthur throws the broken Excalibur into the water, ashamed of his vanity destroying the sword of his father. The Lady of the Lake appears with a mended Excalibur, and at Merlin’s prodding Arthur takes it from her hands in disbelief. Lancelot, finally bested and having given up his castle and land, pledges himself to the king. Time passes, and after a successful battle that ends a war Arthur calls his knights together, pledging to build a round table to tell their deeds, a castle around the table, and to marry a queen to bear an heir.
But the future the Arthur hopes for is thrown off course when Lancelot is tasked with escorting Guinevere to the wedding, and their hearts are brought together. Lancelot’s loyalty is pledged to the king, but his love to Guinevere, keeping that love in check by spending much of his time away from Camelot and the new queen. This arouses the suspicion of the now adult Morgana (Helen Mirren), who pushes Sir Gawain (Liam Neeson) to accuse Guinevere of infidelity with Lancelot. Lancelot successfully defends her honor, but they ultimately give in to their temptation. Arthur discovers their infidelity and thrusts Excalibur into the ground between their sleeping bodies. Guinevere and Lancelot wake up, horrified by the sight of Excalibur. A king without a sword will lead to a land without a king, plunging the kingdom into despair and hunger for years to come.
No spoilers here. Each scene in Excalibur is reminiscent of a pre-Raphaelite painting (see John William Waterhouse’s 1888 painting The Lady of Shalot and Sir John Everett Mills’ Ophelia), with director John Boorman (Deliverance, Hell In the Pacific) filling the screen with imposing armor designed by Terry English and the lush greens of the production’s filming locations in Ireland (Cahir Castle in County Tipperary was the location of Leondegrance’s castle). The young cast is a Who’s Who of today’s dramatic royalty which includes Gabriel Byrne, Liam Neeson, Patrick Stewart and the amazing Helen Mirren. I was a surprise to me that many critics in 1981 were dismissive of the film. While Boorman’s and Rospo Pallenberg’s adaptation deviates from Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Artur, Excalibur truly stands on its own as a pure fantasy film for its sincere, uncomplicated story. And that sincerity is unmatched by the more recent Arthurian fantasy films that with all of their flash never had the heart of Excalibur. Boorman’s direction, the cast, production design (especially the armor!) and locations are magic on the screen, critics be damned. And one magical sword gave us one timeless classic.
Knightriders
Release Date: April 10, 1981 Starring: Ed Harris, Tom Savini, Gary Lahti, Amy Ingersoll, Patricia Tallman, Christine Forrest Written and Directed by George A. Romero
The other (kinda sorta) Arthurian themed film released on a crowded April 10th weekend was horror director George A. Romero’s Knightriders, starring Ed Harris as the king of a traveling renaissance fair complete with knights competing in jousts on motorcycles. The film is a deviation from Romero’s better known horror films (Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead) as a heartfelt but exciting drama representing the dynamics and social structure of the film’s renaissance fair troupe and the king trying to keep them together. But it’s the motorcycles that set the film apart from what could have been a straightforward drama, lending an authentic cool factor to the story. Like Excalibur, Knightriders was also a favorite of mine when it debuted on cable TV in the early 80’s. That was a time in my life when we spent our Saturdays playing D&D and Sunday mornings riding our Honda on dirt trails with our friends.
The film begins with Billy (Ed Harris), also known as the troupe’s King William, waking up with his Queen Linet (Amy Ingersoll) in a lush forest, absorbing the serenity and sounds of nature. But Linet’s watchful, concerned eye sees the crown weighing heavily on the king’s head. After his morning routine which includes self flagellation, Billy dons his helmet, starts his motorcycle and hits the road with the royally garbed Linet holding on to him. In Bakersfield, the renaissance fair is under way as locals partake in the food and trinkets, but the real show is on hold as two local deputies hassle the troupe for a bribe in spite of their legal permit. Morgan (Tom Savini) wants to pay them off and be done with it, but Billy won’t allow them to be strong armed, holding the line and daring the deputy to stop their show. Principles intact, the games begin.
Emcee Pippin (Warner Shook) introduces the motorcycle riding knights of the day’s jousting tournament as they draw lots for their opponents. Lances are sawed down to break easier, but the contact and falls are real. Morgan has his eyes on William’s crown and to get there has forged an all too real mace that outweighs the fake weapons, drawing concern from Alan (Gary Lahti) who predicts someone will get seriously hurt. That prediction nearly comes true when William is forced to defend his crown against Morgan. Already recovering from a shoulder injury that hasn’t fully healed, William stands up to the challenge and his duty as king even if he’s not fully healthy. When knocked off his bike and close to losing his crown, his knights led by Alan and Rocky (Cynthia Adler) save William from defeat and he’s brought to Merlin’s converted bus for medical treatment.
As he receives treatment from Merlin (Brother Blue), Alan gives him an earful about how he’s taking unnecessary risks that could jeopardize his health and the group. Billy gets back enough strength to return to the games, and when a young boy asks him to sign his picture in a motorcycle magazine, Billy disappoints him by declining the autograph due to the article painting him as the type of rider he refuses to be. Morgan happily signs the boy’s magazine as “the next king.” Another successful fair completed, the troupe cleans up the field, hangs up the weapons and hunts wild turkeys for their dinner as a community, each with their own roles (including Friar Tuck’s distillery).
But their night’s sleep is broken up by a nighttime raid by Bakersfield Deputy Cook (Michael P. Moran), who plants marijuana in a member of the troupe’s camper but offers Billy another chance for a payoff. Morgan practically begs him to pay Deputy Cook off so they can make their next gig, but Billy refuses and gets hauled to jail along with Ban (Marty Schiff). Billy orders the troupe to stay put until he’s back but Linet takes charge and goes against Billy’s orders, having the group pack up and get a head start to their next town. Alan gets his new girlfriend Julie (Patricia Tallman) to hit the road with him, getting her away from her drunken father and her abused mother. As Ban gets beaten up by Cook in the Bakersfield jail, Angie (Christine Forrest) and Pippin find the troupe’s lawyer Steve (Ken Hixon) who gets Billy and Ban out of jail and back on the road. But for Billy, the fight with Cook is not over.
Billy catches up with the troupe but is incensed they went against his orders. For Billy the troupe is a community and an extension of his ideals, which begins to come apart when smarmy promoter Bontempi (Martin Ferrero) attempts to sign Morgan and his knights away for a bigger and more lucrative act. Infighting and conflicts between Billy and the troupe take a toll and Billy starts to question himself as king. Lines are drawn, and one true fight for the crown must take place.
No spoilers here. George A. Romero’s Knightriders is a beloved film that forty years later still has loyal fans, myself included. The motorcycle sequences are still fantastic, making you wish they expanded the battle scenes, and Ed Harris delivers a performance that unquestionably establishes Billy’s principles and values. His heart is in this role, with no less commitment from the supporting cast that brings out the camaraderie of the troupe in their scenes. It would be unfair to dismiss the motorcycle themed plot and action sequences of Knightriders as gimmicks because Romero crafted a near perfect film on all levels. Could you imagine a drive in double feature of Excalibur and Knightriders? This is a film that lives up to the amazing image on the movie poster. Long live the king.
Fante's Inferno 