Welcome to an exciting year-long project here at The Nerdy. 1984 was an exciting year for films giving us a lot of films that would go on to be beloved favorites and cult classics. Imagine a world where This is Spinal Tap and Repo Man hit theaters on the same day. That is the world of 1984.
We’re going to pick and choose which movies we hit, but right now the list stands at nearly three dozen.
Yes, we’re insane, but 1984 was that great of a year for film.
The articles will come out on the same day the films hit theaters in 1984 so that it is their true 40th anniversaries. All films are also watched again for the purposes of these reviews and are not being done from memory.
This time around, it’s Sept. 14, 1984, and we’re off to see All of Me, The Evil That Men Do, Places in the Heart, The River Rat, Until September, and Windy City.
All of Me
Body swap comedies are a dime-a-dozen, so it’s rare when one changes things up enough to not only make you take notice, but succeeds at what it’s attempting.
Edwina Cutwater (Lily Tomlin) has been sick her entire life, but she believes she has made a plan to live on in someone else’s body thanks to mysticism. Unfortunately, her soul gets transferred to her new lawyer – whom she had just fired – Roger Cobb (Steve Martin). While she is in her body she controls the right side, and him the left. Not only that, but both of them have the ability to fall asleep while the other is awake changing off who controls the entire body.
All of Me really could have just been a ho-hum body swap comedy, and instead, it comes off as an inventive farce that keeps you amused throughout nearly it’s whole run time. While Tomlin is good and funny, Martin has to carry a lot of the load as Tomlin only appears in mirrors or as a voice in his head.
Martin can easily be “too much” at times in certain roles, but he is perfection here, and it’s hard to imagine any other working comedians at this time pulling off this film.
A high recommendation for this one if you’re journeying through the 80s.
The Evil That Men Do
I really would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when this film was being thought up.
Clement “The Doctor” Molloch is a man working with various governments to torture people to death. Because… who knows. His crimes become so heinous that people go and pull Holland (Charles Bronson) out of retirement to take him down because… who knows. Molloch’s crimes are enough to spur Holland into action, though, and leave a trail of dead bodies behind him.
The Evil That Men Do feels so low-brow in concept that it feels almost like some friends got together on a weekend to make a film with the family 8mm. Some of the photography is nice, but the plot is just so silly that you just don’t care what is going on. Bronson turns in his usual performance of being Charles Bronson, so if you enjoy his work, you’ll probably enjoy this. Otherwise, it is just a completely skippable, low-budget waste of your time.
Places in the Heart
The Great Depression is always a great bed for character pieces, and Places in the Heart runs with it until its legs simply can’t carry it any further in the best ways.
Edna Spalding (Sally Field) was married to the sheriff of Waxahachie, Texas, in 1935. He is accidentally shot and killed by a young drunk man. Immediately there are questions about how Edna will carry on. Thanks to Moses (Danny Glover) passing through town looking for work, Edna turns to growing cotton, although she has no experience with it. At the same time, as a favor to the banker, she takes in his blind brother-in-law, Mr. Will (John Malkovich), as a lodger to help with bills.
Throughout the story, the perils of the time period, small-town gossip, and infidelity all rear their ugly heads.
Field turned in an Academy Award-winning performance, and it was clearly worthy of it. There really is no one in the film that doesn’t turn in an awesome performance.
My only real nitpick with this film is the affair storyline of Wayne Lomax (Ed Harris) doesn’t seem to add that much to the plot. There was a lot more time that could have been spent with Edna and her growing found family. It may have also added to the eventual climax of Moses’ storyline if we had seen more of his interactions with the town.
Even for that small nitpick – and it is small – it is still an engaging and fulfilling watch. It had been years since I had seen it, and while I remembered the broad strokes of the story, it kept me engaged from beginning to end.
The River Rat
While I wouldn’t put this film way up my list of pleasant surprises during this project, it does deserve some praise.
Jonsy (Martha Plimpton) is a girl who’s father, Billy (Tommy Lee Jones), went to prison years ago for murder. Now, he has been unexpectedly paroled, and the two have to learn how to relate to one another when they know absolutely nothing about one another. Add on a layer of Billy being manipulated by his therapist, Doc Cole (Brian Dennehy), and you have the making of a family drama mixed with a thriller.
There are some very awkward moments in The River Rat, such as when Jonsy goes skinny dipping and decides to lecture Billy that if he is having incestuous thoughts about her, it’s natural. It’s not a come-on, and she is most definitely not trying to seduce him, but it is very much a “what is happening?” moment for the viewer.
The film does a good job of keeping you guessing throughout its runtime as to what exactly is happening, but it eventually gets you a satisfying answer to each moment.
A low-cost thriller that keeps you guessing somewhat as it moves along is always welcome.
Until September
… I hate everyone in this movie so much.
Mo (Karen Allen) misses her flight to stay with her tour group when they depart Paris. Luckily, a woman she went to college with lives in the city, so she thinks she can crash at her apartment. Sadly the friend is gone, but her neighbor, Xavier de la Perouse (Thierry Lhermitte) takes pity on her and tries to help her out. Xavier is, of course, married with children, but his family is out of town while he finishes up some business. Xavier and Mo slowly fall for each other, despite her knowing he is married, and they eventually begin a romance.
While I’m getting very tired of the affair trope in 1980s films, this one in particular went too far. Toward the film’s end, his family returns to Paris, and his wife quickly figures out what is up. Mo decides to leave town. While she is on her way to the airport, Xavier is having dinner with his wife and children and… decides to stand up and leave them to go catch Mo at the airport and tell her she is who he wants to be with.
Apparently I’m supposed to be thrilled he knows what he wants, but to watch a man stare at his children and go, ‘Nope, think I’ll go chase the woman I’ve known only a couple weeks,’ is a heck of a storytelling choice.
A really poor film with completely unlikeable characters makes for an unpleasant viewing experience.
Windy City
Windy City seems to ask a simple question: What if we did The Big Chill, but the reunion happens in the final days of the person who dies?
Danny Morgan (John Shea) is a writer in Chicago who is finding some success, but is preoccupied by the impending death of his childhood friend, Sol (Josh Mostel). With it clear Sol only has a limited amount of time left, Danny keeps trying to gather the old group of friends – a club that had named themselves the Rogues in childhood – to give Sol the send-off he deserves. Meanwhile, Danny is also trying to win back his old girlfriend, Emily (Kate Capshaw), who is about to marry someone else.
Windy City is fine. It’s passable, but it just feels so paint-by-numbers. Absolutely nothing in this movie happens that will surprise you in the least. The friends finally pull it together. Sol dies. Danny finally fins his way back to Emily a year or so later. It is just a film that happens that has a heck of a time holding your attention.
For those of you keeping track, yes, this is Kate Capshaw’s fourth film released in 1984 – Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Best Defense, and Dreamscape – and all of them came out in a span of four months. You couldn’t escape her.
1984 Movie Reviews will return on Sept. 28 with The Bear, Body Rock, Heartbreakers, Impulse, Irreconcilable Differences, and The Wild Life.
