Vintage 1983
Saturday, March 16, 2013 at 11:29PM 
With nothing new in theaters worth getting excited about my head has been all over the (time) map of cinema. I picked this year somewhat arbitrarily to discuss.
Were you alive in 1983? Even if you weren't do you think of it fondly? To give you a little context for the year: Ronald Reagan was POTUS and Nancy had just contributed "Just Say No" to the vernacular; M*A*S*H ended its lengthy run on television; Michael Jackson's "Thriller" was all anybody listened to; Cheers and Hill Street Blues were the Emmy champs.
Let's savor 1983's cinematic crop for a moment. Are these movies (and people) and things aging well? Is there much left to savor?
Best Movies According To...
Oscar: The Big Chill, The Dresser, Tender Mercies, Terms of Endearment, and The Right Stuff were the best pictures nominees but they also loved Cross Creek, Fanny & Alexander, Educating Rita, Silkwood and Zelig
Golden Globe: (drama) Reuben Reuben, The Right Stuff, Silkwood, Tender Mercies, and Terms of Endearment* (comedy/musical) The Big Chill, Flashdance, Trading Places, Yentl*, and Zelig
Cannes: The Ballad of Narayama
Box Office: 1) Return of the Jedi 2) Terms of Endearment 3) Flashdance 4) Trading Places 5) War Games 6) Octopussy 7) Sudden Impact 8) Staying Alive 9) Mr Mom 10) Risky Business
Nathaniel: The King of Comedy, Monty Python's The Meaning of Life, Pauline at the Beach, The Return of the Jedi, The Right Stuff, Silkwood, Terms of Endearment, The Year of Living Dangerously and Yentl. I'm holding a spot in my top ten open for Fanny & Alexander or Zelig which are weirdly movies I never get around to seeing even though I am likely to worship both given the time frame in their auteur's filmography in which they land...
Adorable '83 Babies after the jump...
Born in '83 Mix Tape
Mika, Amy Winehouse, Miranda Lambert, Cheryl Cole
The Three, The Proud, The Oscar Nominees
Jonah Hill, Gabourey Sidibe & Jesse Eisenberg
Directors
David Gelb (Jiro Dreams of Sushi), Drake Doremus (Like Crazy), Brian Crano (Bag of Hammers)
Tveit, Kunis, Cavill
Perfect Physical Specimens Created in Lab To Make Everyone Else Feel Ugly
Alice Braga, Reeve Carney, Henry Cavill, Ronnie Kroell, Mila Kunis, Christopher Russell, Xavier Samuel, Adrianne Palicki, Daniel 'Cloud' Campos, and Aaron Tveit
Whatever Happened To...?
Joseph Mazello (I guess he's mostly on tv now? but was such a great child actor in the 1990s) & Leelee Sobieski
Recently Caught Scene Stealing...
Utkarsh Ambudkar (rapping in Pitch Perfect), Noah Segan (f***ing up in Looper), and Rafe Spall (Prometheus and Anonymous... but dear god, no one got a worse supporting role than he did last year as the interviewer in Life of Pi)
Trudy Campbell!
Alison Brie
Spawn of Streep / Sister of Rooney
Mamie Gummer and Kate Mara
Meh
Kate Bosworth, Chris Hemsworth, Felicity Jones
(though i reserve the right to change my mind in the future)
10 Most Awesome Movie People Born in 1983*
This post is dedicated to any TFE reader turning 30 this year. Happy Birthday!
*for now... some legendary people don't reach fame until their 30s so this list will change dramatically in next few years.
10 Aaron Tveit
Because surely casting directors worth their salt have noticed him by now? Will his dreamy but-no-time-for-nonsense-romances revolutionary in Les Misérables bring him big roles? It better. If not, I'll happily take him back on Broadway where he already shined in the DiCaprio role in a musical of Catch Me If You Can.
09 Zoe Kazan
Because, whatever one thinks of her output so far, she's obviously in it for the long haul what with prolific appearances in film, television, and on stage. And now there's screenwriting (Ruby Sparks). True to form she's got three more movies in post coming our way in 2013.
08 Gabby Sidibe
Even if Hollywood never figures out what to do with her (which is sadly likely) she'll always have Precious.
07 Mélanie Laurent
This French beauty held the camera forcefully in Inglourious Basterds and then followed it up in the much warmer and surprisingly more complex 'girlfriend' role in Beginners. More please.
06 Andrew Garfield
Yeah, yeah. He should be higher but we broke up a little during The Amazing Spider-Man. And to think of the future years he'll be wasting with it when we need more performances like Never Let Me Go and The Social Network instead.
05 Louis Garrell
Because if there's a French movie, he's in it. It's a fact. And how perfect was that recent cameo in Heartbeats?
04 Greta Gerwig
I'm only placing her here so she has room to move up. Everything I've read about Frances Ha suggests it's the movie in which all her various promises to become a major singular star fully coalesce. I cannot wait.
03 Jesse Eisenberg
I kept worrying his range was too limited until I realized how many times he's been doing his thing and it's been totally enjoyable. Sometimes the greats aren't versatile in the classic sense but they're still great. And he's added playwrighting to his gifts now. Up next: Five films are coming in the next two years so now's the time to become whatever he's going to be to the movies.
02 Ari Graynor
I'm sad she's leaving the cinema for tv (taking on the Cameron Diaz role in a sitcom version of Bad Teacher) but the cinema deserves to lose her. How have they not given her a proper showcase by now? She's the kind of screen actress that deserves major comic vehicles built entirely around her. Like Babs had in the 70s or Julia Roberts had in the 90s.
01 Emily Blunt
Is she living up to her true potential? I'd argue absolutely not. But even when she doesn't seem to be trying to become a bonafide movie star, she's still pretty captivating (Looper). Someone light a fire under her. Don't we all want her to be a movie star in all caps?
Reader Comments (41)
Blunt was not only fabulous in Looper, she was surprisingly amazing in Your Sister's Sister. It's from the director of Humpday, who is becoming one of my favorite directors period - Lynn Shelton. Definitely worth checking out.
Here's hoping Eisenberg and Garfield hit the right notes and someone finds Sidibe the right roles. Tveit is about to happen in a big way, I think. They all need to take lessons from Laurent, who is brilliantly selecting her roles.
And yes, see Fanny and Alexander immediately. :)
I love this!!! Please do this for other years.
Nathaniel, have you read Emma Forrest's memoir 'Your Voice in My Head'? Emma Watson (ugh) was previously attached but Blunt is now taking on the lead role. She'll be co-starring with Stanley Tucci and it's a REALLY meaty role (and, more importantly) a LEAD role. Like, the movie is about her. David Yates dropped out of the director's chair last year but if the novel's tricky tone is handled correctly, this could potentially be a career-defining role for Emily! I totally disagree about Felicity Jones. Even though her performance in 'Like Crazy' didn't merit Oscar buzz, it did demonstrate (at least, to me) that she's infinitely watchable and a charismatic romantic lead. I'm very excited for Ralph Fiennes' 'The Invisible Woman'. However, Bosworth's buzz in the mid 2000's was always perplexing to me too and Chris Hemsworth should totally be replaced by Channing Tatum in all of his no-Thor roles. Also, Ari Graynor is the poor man's Anna Faris lol... TOTALLY OVERRATED!
Me and Anne Hathaway are exactly alike. Shared date of birth is November 12, 1982. 1983 is a straight blur for the both of us old man. Love you.
Tveit is starring in some shitty looking USA Network cop show. I'm sure he'll be good in it, I'm sure he's happy for the job, and I won't mind not having to pay to see his pretty face weekly, but its still kind of disappointing.
Laurent, Blunt and especially Garfield should have been Oscar nominees by now. I hope we get to see something worth their talent soon and often.
You've never seen Fanny & Alexander? Oh Nathaniel, you're really denying yourself a wonderful movie. It's one of those films that just fills you with joy as you watch it. Easily my favorite Bergman.
While disappointing, seeing my future husband Aaron Tveit in a cop uniform-solid.
Emily Blunt is the spitting image of Katy Perry in that picture...for a second I was wondering when Perry became a film actress.
Ah, Joseph Mazello! Seriously, he could've been much bigger. He was a really great child actor, you're right. I still see him here and there (i.e. Social Network and some Emmy miniseries that was nominated a year or two ago), but not enough.
Also, LeeLee Sobieski! What happened? She was one of my favorite actresses as a child, alongside Kirsten Dunst and Drew Barrymore, but she just disappeared. She could've been much better.
Also, I'm sad Mila Kunis can't be included on that Oscar-nominated list ... I wish she could've gotten in over Hailee Steinfeld. But I know Jacki Weaver was actually the one who pushed her out, so that makes me okay with it. She's one of those people that you would never think Oscar-nominee, even when you see the film (though when she kept getting attention, I realized how good she is in the movie), and then when it seems to be turning into a reality, you start to really root for them. And then it didn't happen. Oh wellz. I was just thinking about it randomly the other day, that's the only reason I bring it up.
In 1983 I was 16. Scary to think I now have 2 daughters older and one the same age I was in 1983.
Of the movies you listed above I clearly remember seeing Jedi, Trading Places, Flashdance, Silkwood, Educating Rita & Octopussy in the cinema. Cheers and Hill Street Blues were must watch TV in our family and I taught myself to play the HSB theme on the piano- surely up there with the best TV themes of all times. Come to think of it so is the Cheers theme.
Of your top 10 Most Awesome Emily Blunt is probably the most likely to get me into the cinema so I'm with you in your call to make Ms blunt a "Movie Star".
UUURRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH YOU JUST ME REMINDED MIKA EXISTS.
If Emily Blunt keeps at it and has that one Incredible role she is bound to be an Oscar favourite , she is talented, classy, pretty and British. I don't mind Garfield doing Spider-Man now if it means it will give him freedom to do daring projects in his 30s
Just for the record, Andrew Garfield was a*w*f*u*l in Never Let Me Go.
But yes, more Emily Blunt please.
If you're gonna see Fanny & Alexander, go for the theatrical version, which is shorter and better focused, instead of the miniseries version Bergman edited later. It is the opposite of Scenes of a Marriage, which is better seen in episodes than in a single movie.
Speaking of dates a birthdays... I was surprised you didn't mention something about Isabelle Huppert turning 60 the other day!
I'm excited to see Frances Ha too, but June seems like years away.
I would love to see Gabby find a great starring role, and soon!
In 1983, I was eight years old and the ONLY movie that mattered at the time was Return of the Jedi, of course. I do remember seeing Octopussy in the the theater as well though. Not particularly great films, but definitely the seeds of a lifelong film obsession :)
carlos -- i notice birthdays so randomly and awhile ago settled on 25/50/75/100 as the way to go. otherwise you're just constantly saying "happy birthday you!" ;)
I feel like I read Emily Blunt also talked about among the actresses for the big role on short-lists that pop up. She was a finalist for the Selina Kyle/Catwoman role in TDKR, as one example. It's like she is in the conversation for these big parts but other actresses who get that part offer something a little extra. Her role in Looper was a pleasant surprise which hopefully gets her notice.
Last time I saw Leelee Sobieski is her very minor role as one of the female acquaintances of John Dillinger in Public Enemies.
Ari Graynor seems to be suffering the same fate as Anna Faris except she stopped the further reduction of her talents much quicker when she was just being given the sidekick roles. Wish her luck, and being a TV star would not be too bad. I just wished it was more of a cable show just because network TV version of raunchy is unwatchable.
I really do not get Andrew Garfield, or at least the American accented Andrew Garfield. His role in The Social Network was so whiny and at times there is this look on his face that appears to be him hearing himself and concentrating on that being right than his actual scene. And Amazing Spiderman was never going to really win me over just because they made big hay about bringing it back to the HS setting and proceed to hire a 29 year-old actor for Peter Parker. He has too much of a Anthony Perkins unease about him, that I think works to a certain extent in Never Let Me Go, that I feel like has not been really capitalized. This reminds me that Red Riding Trilogy is on my Netflix queue.
And doesn't Jesse Eisenberg have OCD? I feel like on some level that explains why he has the certain tics and does not really branch himself out of the certain type he plays.
Drake Doremus not being 30 makes me more comfortable in his vision (as opposed to a really older man), although him taking down Felicity Jones in the process is not winning me over either.
Rafe Spall outside of the Edgar Wright fare seems to be getting the short end of the stick supporting roles (One Day, especially). He went through all of that trouble losing weight (check him out in Shaun of the Dead and then look at him in Hot Fuzz) and nobody has given the right role even in terms of the sidekick role. Also reminds me that I need to check out his show Pete Versus Life.
That's me! I turn 30 in a few weeks. 1983 was a great year for film :D
Leelee Sobieski! Sigh. Before I realized that I prefer my partners with penises, I had a huge crush on her. And (though she's not a 1983 baby) Mara Wilson, another "What happened to her?" type.
I was T-minus four years in 1983, but I echo the Leelee Sobieski sentiment. The last couple films I've seen her in were terrible straight-to-DVD horror flicks. Shame to see a young talent squandered.
I think Mila Kunis has a lot of promise. She's always a welcome presence, even in bad movies or under-written roles. All she needs is the right showcase to come along. Same thing for Emily Blunt; she steals a lot of scenes in smaller roles but hasn't quite broken out on her own yet.
As for the cinema of 1983... I'm kinda meh on the entirety of the early '80s. The prestige films from that era are all so bland; the same hackneyed style of dialogue; the same muted cinematography. Some of the comedies (Trading Places, King of Comedy, Monty Python, Tootsie and 48 Hrs. from '82, Blues Brothers from '80) have held up well.
1983 is my birthyear too.
In your 80s post, I commented on my (somewhat mistaken) impression that the 80s were a bum decade for movies. So much of my early education came from Inside Oscar, and 1983 is definitely one of the years that harbored that impression. Tender Mercies? The Dresser? Terms of Endearment? These titles did not excite young Mike in Canada.
But looking a little closer now... There's a lot from this year that I really want to see! Like you, this includes Zelig and Fanny; and maybe I should see Terms of Endearment, too.
I was 19 in 1983 and it was a memorable year because I had finished high school and moved away from home for the first -- far away -- northern Manitoba to work as a radio broadcaster and there was one little teeny weenie movie theatre where I saw "Return Of The Jedi" and countless other movies. It was a good year for movies ("Terms Of Endearment" remains a true all time favorite and I think Debra Winger should've shared Oscar glory - its one of the all time great performances imho). It was a GREAT year for music -- "Thriller", "Synchronicity", Duran Duran, Culture Club, Prince, the first time I ever heard Madonna and, of course, my one true love who was never to be, Corey Hart. It feels like yesterday.
One of my favorite French movies came out in 1983, Francois Truffaut's last film, Confidentially Yours (Vivement Dimanche) with the to swoon for pairing of Fanny Ardant and Jean Louis Trintignant. (You've recently seen him when he's old, take a look at him when he's younger and sexier). Like many French films, it's based on an American hard boiled roman policier, this one by Charles Williams - the early Nicole Kidman movie Dead Calm was based on another Williams novel. This film is quick, witty, and utterly amusing.
Looking at the wiki list of 1983 movies, there's also another French gem, Entre Nous, Diane Kurys' film of a friendship between two women, Isabelle Huppert and Miou-Miou.
Besides the excellent ones you've mentioned, good ones include El Norte, Local Hero (Bill Forsyth), Heart Like A Wheel, The Hunger (Tony Scott, with vampire lovers Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon), Heat and Dust (Merchant/Ivory with Julie Christie).
For kids: A Christmas Story, Mickey's Christmas Carol, The Wind in The Willows, Something Wicked This Way Comes (Ray Bradbury).
Ones I haven't seen yet but sound good: A Nos Amours (Pialat), L'Argent (Bresson), Le Bal (Scola), Prenom: Carmen (Saura), The Dead Zone (Cronenberg and Walken), The Honorary Consul (another Michael Caine movie based on a Graham Greene novel), The Osterman Weekend (Peckinpah).
Andrew Garfield: I think he gave one of the greatest performances ever in Boy A. Loved him Never Let Me Go and The Social Network. Like Nathaniel, I'm gutted that he's stuck with Spider-Man for the forseable future. That unease CMG mentioned is why I like him so much. A much different leading man then what we're used to.
1983 baby here.
Nathaniel, why does the silver screen suck when it comes to comediennes?
1983 is a weird year for me. There is a lot going on that I really wanted to just love but wound up feeling completely under-whelmed by (I really thought that ‘Scarface’ was supposed to be some great big heap of awesome but it wound up being a well acted heap of sloppy, and ‘The Year of Living Dangerously’ seemed to squander all its potential in a predictable love story) and yet, my personal Best Picture ballot is an odd mix of films I never expected to remotely enjoy. We have a foreign language family drama from Ingmar Bergman (ok, so I really expected to slobber all over ‘Fanny and Alexander’ and I did), an engaging and provoking collection of home movies (‘Sans Soleil’ is just utterly astonishing), the conclusion to George Lucas’s science fiction epic (say what you will, but ‘Return of the Jedi’ is just as perfect as the previous two efforts were), a comedy by Martin Scorsese (‘The King of Comedy’ changed the way I looked at Martin Scorsese as a director) and 'Zelig', the BRILLIANT faux-documentary by Woody Allen.
Garfield is overrated - don't think he'll do much else to keep him on this list in the future. Although, I'll give you that he was good in Never Let Me Go.
Totally agree with your write-ups on Blunt & Eisenberg - I'm excited/nervous to see what will come but know they have greatness in them.
You give Hemsworth a meh!? He was surprisingly hilarious in Thor - without him that movie would have been SO much worse. Out of everyone born in 83' I don't think he belongs to the group of 3 that gets categorized under 'meh', as he's not bad (Bosworth) and he's not overrated for his acting (Jones).
I turned 3 in 1983.
Leelee Sobieski- I couldn't even remember who she was until I looked her up.
As for the films of 1983, I'm not a huge fan of any of the Oscar nominees, and I think it's a letdown year after 1982 (E.T., Tootsie, Sophie's Choice, Missing, etc.) But, yes, Fanny and Alexander is amazing. See it now!
Andrew: I like your Best Picture nominee choices!!
Nathaniel: You must see Fanny and Alexander and Zelig. F&A is lovely, warm, complex, scary, literate, sumptuous, austere. And Zelig is amazing, eye-popping, and very funny. Watch it and I guarantee you'll be 'doing the chameleon'!
I was 8 in 1983. Octopussy, Return of the Jedi and (to a lesser extent) Never Say Never Again were where it was at. I saw them all in the cinema. My brothers went to see Superman III but for some reason I didn't join them. I must have know that it is only worth seeing in its extended TV version, which thankfully premiered in the UK on ITV two years later! (I still have it somewhere on Betamax...)
As for the Oscars, well, it's not a bad bunch of Best Picture nominees. And I have a soft spot for Tender Mercies. But surely Fanny and Alexander, Return of the Jedi, Scarface, Silkwood and Zelig would have been a better crop? It was, I guess, wishful thinking for Octopussy to have been included...
I think Zelig was Woody's big comeback as an auteur, no? Mia was already along but A Midsummer Night's Sex comedy and a couple of other duds really made Zelig stand out just for being clever and inventive on a mini-budget. I think it's also the first time I saw Mia doing something other than "being Mia."
Fanny & Alexander is amazing and I saw it at the cinema more than once. 1983 was an important year for me since I had come back from my mission at the end of 1982 and was starved for movie images. I saw The Big Chill, Tender Mercies, Terms of Endearment, The Right Stuff and Risky Business several times in the movie theater - each!
Pauline At The Beach - I was just beginning my lifelong love of Eric Rohmer movies but I think I saw this at the International Cinema at BYU a couple of years after 1983.
I'm amazed that Terms of Endearment was the second highest grossing movie of the year. A fairly long dramedy about a mother and daughter and aging and cancer? Wow, the American audience has kind of gone downhill since then. ;-) I remember the shock in the movie when Debra's rich friend brought the cordless phone (which was enormous) out to the pool. And to think, now I can type away in California and have it posted worldwide in a micro-second. That's 25 years of some kind of progress.
You haven't seen Zelig?!?! I don't know if I can some to this site anymore! See it as soon as possible. I promise, you'll be dancing The Chameleon for weeks afterward.
Corey - I've seen all the wood u'd in theaters since my first one (Broadway Danny Rose
) but before then I'm hit and miss (mostly hit though)
Dave -- Yeah, what basically happened is that the adult audience started staying home with TV when TV upped its game. And then when what you can watch on the screen at any time at home kept exploding, the audience splintered so much that you just can't have a Kramer vs. Kramer or Terms of Endearment anymore (true blockbusters. as big as any superhero films today). It's sad. But today people get their drama at home instead of at the movie theater. The closest we've come recently is Lincoln with that rather astounding for today $181 million for a talky drama without special effects.
Arkaan -- i do not know. Maybe it all goes back to the romantic comedy and how it used to be a respectable genre?
Adri -- oh i LOVED Something Wicked This Way Comes when I was a kid. Forgot about that one when I was doing this post
I was born in 1984, and seeing this list of ridiculously successful people who are shockingly only one year older than me (Gabby Sidibe is OLDER than me?!?!?! Henry Cavill and Emily Blunt are ONLY A YEAR older than me?!?!!?!?) suddenly made me question my life choices.
Poor Leelee Sobieski. It really seemed like she was going to be a great actress back in the 90s, didn't it? She was smart, talented, striking... but none of her films were huge hits, and then she started only getting cast in schlocky genre stuff (Joy Ride, The Glass House) and then disappeared for four years before coming back to mostly small supporting roles. I hope she gets to flex her acting muscles again soon. Maybe she should go to the stage.
I love how your blurb for Blunt suggests there's all these amazing leading roles for women in her age range (or any age range) floating around Hollywood and she's sitting back on a chaise, eating bon-bons and rolling her eyes at one offer after another.
I mean that as a playful tease, not a criticism, but yeah, I'd assume she has the fire and there's only so many roles/opportunities that come her way. The number of factors that all have to come together to put a talented actress in a great role in a good movie is staggering. I'm surprised it happens at all, really.
I was just contemplating the fact this morning that I'll be 30 in a few months. Where does the time go?
I was born in 1983, so I guess I think of the year fondly. For movies, though, it was a bit bleak -- at least from Hollywood's corner. I like to think they were waiting for me to grow up a little.
hepwa, Corey Hart's It Ain't Enough--he kills me softly with that one. Sigh.
I was 15 way back in 1983, a turbulent year for the family, as we were transferred from St. Louis to New Orleans. Return of the Jedi and "Thriller" and "The Big Chill" soundtrack were everywhere, as 60's nostalgia fought with the New Romantics of Duran Duran, ABC, and Dexy's Midnight Runners. And everyone, but everyone, was saying "Go ahead. Make my day." I do recall talking to people in school about that sexy new teenage movie Risky Business, and how you could, um, see things, but to my closeted self, I was much more curious if those... things you see included Tom Cruise. (He's not even remotely my type [Kevin Costner], but the closet was a desperate time back then. And while the movies were showing all those adult movies, we were at home watching MTV, which played, get this, music videos then. Ah, memories!