Randomness... 1983

by Nathaniel R

RETURN OF THE JEDI

As noted last week we’ve been feeling some 1980s nostalgia of late. So we’re indulging in the "Totally Awesome 80s" this month. Most cinephiles I know keep their own top ten lists (those that don’t – weirdos! I kid I kid. To each their own.)  Sometimes these lists aren’t beholden to the Oscars or release dates but to copyright dates or first screenings somewhere even if they weren't "premieres"  (i.e. following  letterboxd, imdb listings). We stick to calendar year of US releases when we can just because it’s more fun for us to compare to the Oscars. In the event that the release was spread over years and confusing or maybe never got a US release we pick a year (usually the premiere year).

Herewith a 'top ten list' from 1983 which was made in the early Aughts based on childhood memories and some adult screenings. It’s occasionally been updated or altered by rewatches or first time viewings since. So let’s keep that 80s party going and talk 1983...

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Dennis Quaid Still Has "The Right Stuff"

by Nathaniel R

Dennis Quaid as "Gordon Cooper" in THE RIGHT STUFF (1983)

Have you noticed how many movie stars are doing audiobooks these days? (I have a friend who keeps raving about Armie Hammer's reading of Call Me By Your Name.) But it's not just current movies with complimentary audiobooks. There's a new audiobook out this week for Tom Wolfe's 1979 nonfiction bestseller "The Right Stuff" about the astronauts of the Mercury Space Program in the 1940s and 1950s. Dennis Quaid is doing the audiobook honors this time and he famously co-starred in that book's Oscar-favored adaptation in 1983.  The Right Stuff (1983) won four craft Oscars in its year (splitting the below-the-line prizes with Ingmar Bergman's Fanny & Alexander) and if you haven't seen it you really should. It's quite good.

Here's a little bit of Dennis's familiar comfy gravel voice reading the book... sadly it's not a scene about his character but a scene involving Fred Ward's character Gus Grissom.

Sam Shepard (1943-2017)

by Eric Blume

Sam Shepard in the early days of fame

Although it’s been well over a decade since we’ve had a major contribution from Sam Shepard, his death yesterday at age 73 feels momentous.  He’s our only American playwright to have won a Pulizer Prize as a writer and then gone on to an Oscar nomination for his acting.  He was a symbol of masculinity and a man of great mystery...   

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