Turning 40 in '23 (Part III)
Films (The Bus 4.17)
Welcome aboard The Bus!
The Stop
Today’s Stop is the third and final instalment in the Turning 40 in ‘23 miniseries, focussing this time on films. Though there were many good ones released in 1983, including Return of the Jedi, Risky Business, Bad Boys, Octopussy, Flashdance, The King of Comedy and the brutal Scarface, these are five other films that deserve a look ….
The Big Chill. Directed by Lawrence Kasdan, The Big Chill is a comedy-drama about a group of baby boomer university friends who reunite after 15 years when their friend dies by suicide. An exploration of what is and what might have been, the film is notable for both its soundtrack of 60s and 70s soul, pop and R&B tracks, and its stellar ensemble cast: Tom Berenger, William Hurt, Jeff Goldblum, Glenn Close, Kevin Kline, Mary Kay Place, Meg Tilly, Don Galloway and JoBeth Williams create a believable group of reunited friends.1 Nominated for multiple awards - including three Oscars - the film is a testament to a ‘generation’s growing ennui’ - and that’s not a bad thing.
Educating Rita. Directed by Lewis Gilbert from a screenplay by Willy Russell (adapting his 1980 stage play), Educating Rita - starring Michael Caine, Julie Walters and Maureen Lipman - is a British fish-out-of-water comedy-drama. It’s the story of a 26-year-old working class hairdresser who decides to better herself by attending an Open University course in Literature, and is assigned a jaded alcoholic as her tutor. Slowly, his love for the subject is rekindled by his new student’s enthusiasm, but he is equally dismayed by her adoption of the pretentious university culture. The winner of three BAFTAs and two Golden Globes, the film was released to mostly favourable critical reviews, and remains a popular favourite.
The Outsiders. A coming-of-age crime drama directed by Francis Ford Coppola from an adaptation of the 1967 novel of the same name by S. E. Hinton, The Outsiders was released to mixed reviews, but performed well at the box office. The gritty, violent story of two rival teenage gangs - the Greasers and the Socs - is a time-honoured plot line, but the film is best remembered for its ensemble cast of up-and-coming young actors, some of whom you might recognise: C. Thomas Howell, Patrick Swayze, Matt Dillon, Rob Lowe, Ralph Macchio, Emilio Estevez, Diane Lane, and … Tom Cruise.
The Right Stuff. Directed by Philip Kaufman from a screenplay based on the eponymous book by Tom Wolfe, The Right Stuff is an epic historical drama about the test pilots and astronauts involved in Project Mercury, the United States’s first human spaceflight missions. Starring yet another ensemble cast including Sam Shepard, Ed Harris, Scott Glenn, Fred Ward, Dennis Quaid and Barbara Hershey, the film was a box-office bomb but nevertheless received widespread critical plaudits and won four Oscars. In 2013, it was selected for inclusion in the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry for being ‘culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.’
Silkwood. Directed by Mike Nichols from a screenplay by Nora Ephron and Alice Arlen, Silkwood - starring Meryl Streep, Kurt Russell and Cher - is a biographical drama based on the life and death of Karen Silkwood. A whistle-blower who exposed unsafe working conditions and other issues which were putting the lives of her co-workers at a plutonium plant, Silkwood was killed in a car crash that many believed wasn’t an accident. A dramatisation of the investigation into this true-life incident, the film was released to critical acclaim, ultimately receiving five Oscar nominations.
The Detour
Today’s Detour is to Maestro, a short (1:43) animated video from Illogic Studios in which a group of wild animals gather in a moonlit garden to form a choir - conducted by a red squirrel. At under two minutes, it’s worth the time.
The Recommendation
Today’s Recommendation is William Golding’s Lord of the Flies (1954) - included because 1983 was the year Golding was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
The novel - Golding’s first - tells the story of a group of British schoolboys who become stranded on an uninhabited island. Their attempts to create a sense of order results in a sort of primitive society which quickly divides into ‘warring factions, one marked by decency and willingness to cooperate, the other by worship of force, lust for power and violence.’ Big themes run throughout the book - the inherent tensions created between groupthink and individuality, questions of morality and immorality, and the clash between reason and emotion - and the novel is a clear example of Golding ‘inveigh[ing] against those who think that it is the political or other systems that create evil.’ By setting up a scenario in which schoolboys quickly turn on themselves to deadly results, he explores the logical outcome of his belief that ‘evil springs from the depths of man himself – it is the wickedness in human beings that creates the evil systems, or, that changes what, from the beginning, is, or could be, good into something iniquitous and destructive.’2
Lord of the Flies is classic novel in every sense, and remains well-known today mostly because of its ubiquity in English classes. If you haven’t read it, I’d suggest giving it a try, and if you have - read it again without the pressure of an exam looming over the experience. It’s worth the time.
Remember: you can find Lord of the Flies in your local new and used independent bookstores, charity shops and - of course - your local library. Try there first - you never know what you’ll find!
The Sounds
Today’s playlist is a selection of five tracks from 1983:3 ‘Church of the Poison Mind’ (Culture Club, Colour By Numbers), ‘Borderline’ (Madonna, Madonna), ‘Dr Heckyll & Mr Jive ‘ (Men At Work, Cargo), ‘In a Big Country’ (Big Country, The Crossing) and ‘Oblivious’ (Aztec Camera, High Land, Hard Rain). Enjoy!
The Thought
Today’s Thought is from Lord of the Flies, when some of the boys are wondering why their attempt at creating order was falling apart:
‘We did everything adults would do. What went wrong?”.’
If you have a thought on this Thought - or any part of today’s issue - please leave a comment below:
And that’s the end of this Stop - I hope you enjoyed the diversion!
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Until the next Stop …
Fun fact: Kevin Costner was cast as Alex, the guy who committed suicide, but all of his scenes were cut - except for ‘nondescript’ bits of him being being dressed in a casket. Which means this is probably his best film.
From the Nobel Prize in Literature (1983) press release: William Golding.
I’ve enjoyed road testing this list - more than I thought I would. They’re all good tracks, but I was especially surprised by the quality of the Madonna song. In my mind, it’s forever linked to the swimming pool radio the summer before 8th grade - nothing more than background music, really. But, actually ….
'The Day After' gets my plug as the most important film of 1983. Linked to this, Big Country's 'Fields of Fire', which was released with an inspired music video, was the song of the year for me. To nod to Golding, who was a moralist to be sure, 'King of Pain' by The Police was likely the best piece of pure pop song-writing in 1983. But the most important event for me by far that year was the birth of my wife! I wish I had known it at the time.
Haha, yes, thank you - her birthday back in May but still. And 'she is safe' in the good way, wearing her own uniform which fits her perfectly, to nod to the song.