Summer movies

The new batch of summer movies are about to hit. I'm looking forward to Pirates of the Caribbean 2, Superman Returns and X-Men 3. They represent what I think is best about summer movies since Star Wars in 1977... movies that really should be seen on the big screen and better yet, fantasy based. The stuff I could not wait to see as a kid reading and re reading every issue of Starlog or Fangoria long before the internet.
I'll always remember the summer of 1982...that was a kick butt year for summer movies...and really influenced and inspired my creative side . Those movies that summer were:

Conan the Barbarian
Mad Max 2 : The Road Warrior
Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan
Poltergeist
ET: The Extra-terrestrial
Bladerunner
The Thing ( John Carpenter's )
The Secret of Nimh
Tron
Pink Floyd:The Wall


Yea, go ahead and read that list again...it's true, all those now geek classic films were in one summer between May and August of 1982.

That was a good summer...and seeing Pheobe Cates remove her bikini top in Fast Times at Ridgemont High was a rite of passage for my generation. Yes, they came out that summer too. A classic Sean Penn line from the movie, I still quote ..."it's OK, my Dad has an awesome set of tools".

What also made it a cool summer was the release of my Dad's one and only movie, Fighting Back, starring Tom Skerritt and Patti LuPone. He was the co producer. It was loosely based on a "60 Minutes" segment he produced and directed about the leader of a New Jersey neighborhood watch that walked a fine line. He was labelled a vigilante.

Fighting Back was far from a hit that summer but in all fairness it was released the same weekend as: The Road Warrior, Annie and Dead Men Don't wear Plaid. It never stood a chance.
But it did make more money than Monty Python's : Live at the Hollywood Bowl.

4 comments:

  1. Hey, that's an excellent article; glad I found it. But what an awesome Summer for movies!! Though I've always heard about the "Secret of Nihm," but never watched it. Is it worth an hour+ of my time?

    Thanks.

    -Sam

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  2. I think so. The Secret of Nimh is not the greatest of movies but is a beautifull quality film at the time when animation was dead. Long before the late eighties comeback.
    Don Bluth directed. It's also a very dark films and shy on the standard cute and funny gags. Thanks for your comment.

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  3. Thanks for sharing your 1982 list of summer movies...that's pretty cool perspective.

    --RC of strangeculture.blogspot.com

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  4. Yeah..that was a COOL summer...mostly cause we were best friends back then. Ahhh...the bars of Iona College....

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