Welcome to an exciting year-long project here at The Nerdy. 1982 was an exciting year for films giving us a lot of films that would go on to be beloved favorites and cult classics. It was also the start to a major shift in cultural and societal norms, and some of those still reverberate to this day.
We’re going to pick and choose which movies we hit, but right now the list stands at nearly four dozen.
Yes, we’re insane, but 1982 was that great of a year for film.
The articles will come out – in most cases – on the same day the films hit theaters in 1982 so that it is their true 40th anniversary. All films are also watched again for the purposes of these reviews and are not being done from memory. In some cases, it truly will be the first time we’ve seen them.
This time around it’s April 30, 1982, and we’re off to see Next of Kin and Partners.
Quick side note: Since we launched this series this year, we’ve discovered that Vintage Video Podcast is doing the exact same project with two differences: First, it’s audio (naturally), and second, they are doing every major film. We’ve listened to numerous episodes and it’s fun checking off their thoughts against my own. Check them out over at Vintage Video Podcast.
Next of Kin
Next of Kin harkens from the same New Wave of Australian cinema that gave us the likes of Mad Max. While the two films occupy entirely different genres, it feels as though they share a significant amount of DNA as well.
The film follows a woman returning to her family home that has been converted into a retirement home. Almost as soon as she arrives strange events begin to occur including the deaths of some of the residents. I won’t spoil anything else as you really are left guessing throughout the film as to what is happening. But I will say that up until the reveal I still wasn’t quite sure what was happening.
I wrestled with my thoughts on this film a bit more than most of the 80s films I review. It’s unique, but how unique? And this is where putting yourself into the time period it was released helps. While I have seen other films like this in the years since 1982, I have to see this one as influencing those others at this point.
Next of Kin is nothing that you expect, but in all of the best ways possible.
Partners
I normally try not to use poster artwork in these reviews, but after suffering through Partner I couldn’t bring myself to care to find anything better.
I have no recollection of this movie ever even being advertised. It’s not on any streaming services, so I had to pay for it to watch this one, and I think it should just go back to being an unknown film no one remembers.
After two murders in the gay community of Los Angeles, the LAPD comes up with a plan to send a detective undercover with a homosexual partner so they can pose as a couple. Ryan O’Neal plays the heterosexual cop who has a lot to learn, and John Hurt the officer who thinks he has everyone in the police force fooled that he isn’t gay.
Honestly, it’s a comedy – and I use that term VERY loosely – made in 1982 based around homosexuals. You know how this goes. It’s just offensive ‘joke’ after offensive ‘joke.’ And considering it was directed by James Burrows who would go on to be one of the most prolific sitcom directors in history, it’s just mind-numbing how bad this film is.
Feel free to forget this film even exists; I know I will be.
1982 Movie Reviews will return on May 7 with Diner, Forbidden World, and Paradise!
