Category: 1983

Reel 39: You Can Like Both, Part 4

Even if they haven’t seen it, most people know a little something about The Big Chill, the film released in 1983 that was directed and co-written by Lawrence Kasdan: a bunch of thirty-something types get together and stuff happens. And of course that’s true, but it’s also true that it goes a little deeper than that.

But what most people don’t know is that The Big Chill had a predecessor with a similar theme going on: 1980’s Return of the Secaucus 7, written and directed by John Sayles. This one deals with a slightly younger crowd, perhaps just on the cusp of turning 30, as they gather for a weekend event.

Now, if you’re a film buff you probably know that Secaucus 7 is a little more dramatic and The Big Chill is a little more comedic. But both groups have some old baggage that they need to work through. And for the most part we feel some resolution at the endings, even if they’re not necessarily the ones we thought the characters were going to have.

And, of course, there are plenty of people who vastly prefer one film over the other (as in, it’s not even close). But the fact is, You Can Like Both. The other fact is, we do like both. And at least this time around we can understand why there’s a comparison to be made (still looking at you, Reel 37).

Our recent decision to release an episode in two parts proved to be rather popular, since we’ve been getting into Epic Length shows lately. So what you’ll see in the future is more of the same: both halves will be released back-to-back, so that you can listen to each segment at your leisure. Plus it should make the downloading go a little bit more quickly.

Now, over the next couple of episodes we’ll still be talking as though there’s going to be a break and then immediate resumption of the show, unless Claude can get clever about patching in some new audio (as he was–nearly–for this one). Then once we’ve used up that backlog of episodes (three more, I think), we’ll be speaking more conventionally about the whole Part 1 and Part 2 of it all.

So if you listen through your podcatcher, you should still get stuff in order. And if you listen here, you’ll see that there are two links to click on (rather than one) in order to get the entire episode.

Reel 24: Foreign Correspondents

It’s a fact. With some films, all you need to do to enjoy it is shut up and eat your popcorn. With other films you need to be able to buy into the story. And when you’re dealing with films that take place during real events, verisimilitude is where it’s at. If the viewer doesn’t buy some element of the film, then the suspension of disbelief will break down. And that’s bad because they stop engaging.

So with that, we bring you Under Fire, from 1983 and directed by Roger Spottiswoode. This film takes place during the Nicaraguan civil war of the 1970s. From there we jump a few years to 1997’s Welcome to Sarajevo, which was shot on location and feels realistic partly because the rubble and ruined buildings were still there from the war just a few years earlier. In fact, in my usual fusing two different images from the films for the cover picture, this time I used a real photo of Sarajevo from the war. That guy on the right isn’t an actor; he’s just some guy in the street. (A very similar shot appears in the film, so I’m sleeping well tonight.)

COMING ATTRACTIONS:
Reel 25 takes a look at two conspiracy thrillers from the 1970s: First is The Parallax View, from 1974, followed by Winter Kills, from 1979 (and again a few years later). Be warned: if you like to watch the films before listening to the show, Winter Kills will be tough to find. 

As promised, here’s a supercut of Wilhelm Screams from a bunch of movies and TV shows: