Here is the last in a series of looks back at summer movie releases through the years. This article will cover 1984 which was one of the most successful summer movie seasons in movie history. Movies that hit, hit big. Movies that failed seem to fail miserably. Four of the top five grossing movies of 1984 were summer releases. In all there were 34 movies released that summer as multi-plexes continued to pop up seemingly as much as Wal-Mart does today. Drive-ins were still doing reasonably well all over the country as well.
Interestingly the summer of 1984 had only two movies made specifically for children and even then it’s a bit questionable. There was only one animated film (a Walt Disney re-release of The Jungle Book) nor was there anything new from Disney. As is the case with so many releases there were several box office flops to go with the smash hits and six of the films would be remembered at Academy Award time, though none of them would vie for any award of the top five.
1984 was also the birth of the PG-13 rating which was brought about by a few of the summer movies released early in the season.
Sit back and relax, keep your feet off the seats, hold on to your valuables and please turn off all cell phones as you read this article. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoy researching it and having quite a few memories re-awakened.
I will see you with lists of the same year’s films Christmas releases later this year.
BACHELOR PARTY (20th Century Fox; Director – Neal Israel) This film was sitting on the shelf at Fox for almost one year before it saw the light of day. Apparently execs at the studio hated the film and didn’t want to put any money into marketing but then a funny thing happened. A movie released in spring of that year called Splash became a smash hit and suddenly Fox had a change of heart when it turned out the star of that film, Tom Hanks, just happen to be the star of their film that was gathering dust. So Fox marketed the film with Hanks all over the place and when it was released it became a sleeper hit. Basically it’s just a low brow Animal House with after college men instead of during college. The men are together for the title party and audiences had a blast with it. Critics dismissed the film (most calling the title party, “unimaginative,” and properly so) but the film made an impressive $38.4 million at the box office. Not bad for a movie that was this close to never seeing the light of day.
BEAT STREET (Orion; Director – Stan Lathan) The first hip hop movie was also considered one of the best and one of the most successful. The film is about the hip hop life in a hip hop world with parties and dance contests wall to wall in the film. Critical reaction was mixed and the film made a disappointing $15 million at the box office while its soundtrack was one of the most popular of that time.
BEST DEFENSE (Paramount; Director – Willard Huyck) This was a can’t miss comedy that turned into a major box office flop. How could the comedy teaming of Dudley Moore and Eddie Murphy fail? One look at the credits will give you the first hint. Murphy is billed as a “strategic guest star.” Of course you don’t find out until you have seen the movie that the definition of “strategic guest star” is nothing more then a cameo appearance. Murphy’s role encompasses the entire film but his total amount of screen time is no more then 10 minutes. On top of that he shares not one single moment of screen time with Moore. The film tells the story of an engineer (Moore) who is creating a targeting defense system for soldiers. Murphy appears in scenes in the future as a soldier actually using the equipment. The first cit of the film was deemed so bad the Murphy was brought in after the fact but it doesn’t help much. According to Wikipedia.com, Moore and Murphy did film a scene together that was cut out of the film which begs the question of why? Why put your two big stars together so briefly and then cut it? It couldn’t possibly have been any worse then anything else in the film and if it ruined story pacing or continuity it might have made for some unintentional laughs, which would have then outnumbered the intentional ones that were achieved. Critics had a field day with this film as they lined it up for their “worst” lists at year end but the film did make almost $19 million at the box office thanks to its leads. Unfortunately for the studio the film cost almost $20 million to make and thus became a dud.
CANNONBALL RUN II (Warner Bros; Director – Hal Needham) This film landed smack dab in the middle of Burt Reynolds’ ‘I am throwing my career away with crap films’ era. Was there really a reason for there to be a sequel to Cannonball Run? The only reason is so Burt could collect another giant paycheck and work with his buddies, script be damned. Here are but just a few of the atrocities of this horrible movie: Shirley MacLaine parades around as a nun in her first screen performance since winning the Academy Award for Terms of Endearment (a film Reynolds turned down, by the way, so he could make Stroker Ace.) Frank Sinatra appears in one scene is a scene that is obviously a trick. Sinatra shot his scene talking to the camera and then later Reynolds and Dom DeLuise shot their reactions facing the camera and then it was edited together to make it look like they were all in the same room but weren’t. And lastly, the much ballyhooed race is a failure. Most of it is animated and followed on a chart. In other words this movie is a rip-off from start to finish. Reynolds fans turned out in droves for the first week but business tailed off fast and the film finished with a $28 million gross.
CHATTANOOGA CHOO CHOO (April Fools Productions; Director – Bruce Bilson) In 1978 Barbara Eden starred in a box office sleeper hit, Harper Valley P.T.A., based on the hit song. Six years later a small studio decided to see if lightning would strike twice in this comedy based on the hit song from the swing era with a movie set in modern times. In it Eden co-stars as George Kennedy’s love interest in which Kennedy is a football team owner who stands to inherit one million dollars if he can get the title train from New York City to Chattanooga in 24 hours. Should be no problem until Kennedy invites Eden and his football team along which then results in more invites and unwanted stops. Joe Namath and Melissa Sue Anderson co-star in this light comedy that was overlooked by critics and audiences alike.
CHEECH AND CHONG AS THE CORSICAN BROTHERS (Orion; Director – Thomas Chong) The comedy duo’s sixth film in seven years is easily their worst as they essentially play themselves and play the title characters in a send up of the classic novel. Critics hated the film (as they did all of C&C;’s films) but this time audiences stayed away and the pair had their first outright flop with a gross of just over $3 million.
CLOAK AND DAGGER (Universal; Director – Richard Franklin) E.T. star Henry Thomas plays a young man whose mother has recently died and whose father (Dabney Coleman) can’t relate to him. He soon begins envisioning a world of cloak and dagger and, with the help of an invisible spy (also played by Coleman) he uses his imagination to escape the realities of his life. But soon he and his female friend get caught up in a real game of espionage with real spies and killers. This light comedy/adventure received some very strong reviews but still only managed to gross $10 million at the box office.
CONAN THE DESTOYER (Universal; Director – Richard Fleischer) Arnold Schwarzenegger returned to the role that started his climb as a superstar, this time teaming with Grace Jones and Wilt Chamberlain in another action adventure. This version was toned down in its sex and violence with the belief a PG rating would bring in more money then the original’s $40 million take. Unfortunately director Fleischer raised the humor quotient and its level of silliness rose as well. Despite poor reviews the film still made an impressive $25 million at the box office, enough to plan a third film in the series, Conan The Conqueror, which ended up never being made.
DREAMSCAPE (20th Century Fox; Director – Joseph Ruben) Dennis Quaid stars as a man with psychic abilities who has thrown his gifts away in favor of fun and booze. He returns to his mentor who has help the government to fund a project which allows psychics to enter a person’s dreams and make the outcome favorable for the person asleep. Soon Quaid realizes this gift is valuable to more then the government and becomes a target for danger especially after word spreads that an assassin may be hired to enter the dream of the President to kill him there and make it look like a heart attack on the outside. This was an enthralling, exciting thriller (and just the third film released with the PG-13 rating) with a good supporting cast including Max Von Sydow, Christopher Plummer, Eddie Albert, George Wendt and Kate Capshaw. Critical reaction was mixed but surprisingly the film didn’t do well at the box office, grossing just $11 million.
ELECTRIC DREAMS (MGM/UA; Director – Steve Barron) Possibly the oddest film of the summer came from first time writer/director Barron, best known back then as a director of top videos including Billie Jean, Money For Nothing and Take On Me. Here he tells the story of a nerd who buys a computer and after accidentally spilling champagne in it seemingly brings the machine to life. The machine talks and soon appears to love the young man who also has eyes for his next door neighbor thus creating one of the oddest love triangles in movie history. The film is told in MTV style with lots of music and crazy edits which is where Barron’s roots are. Critical reaction was surprisingly mixed for this type of movie but the film flopped at the box office, earning just over $2 million.
FIRESTARTER (Universal; Director – Mark Lester) Based on the enormously popular novel by horror writer Stephen King, this lackluster adaptation stars David Keith and Drew Barrymore as father and daughter, both psychically enhanced, being pursued by the government who want to study and then kill them. Martin Sheen and George C. Scott co-star as the villains of the piece with Art Carney and Louise Fletcher showing up too late to do anything but collect a paycheck. There are no thrills to the piece unless watching Drew Barrymore squint until fireballs are shot at stunt men excites you. Reviews on the film were poor and its box office showing was below expectations with a gross of $15 million.
FLASHPOINT (Tri-Star; Director – William Tannen) Perhaps the best film of the summer that no one knows about stars Kris Kristofferson and Treat Williams as border patrol guards who come across a buried jeep in the desert and soon find a body, a rifle and almost one million dollars in cash. The two men keep the money but continue to investigate everything else and begin to piece together what may be a solution to the assassination of JFK. The problem is that the FBI has come into the area and soon anyone with any involvement of the two men start turning up dead. This was a well written and excitingly taut thriller that, sadly, came and went and seems to have disappeared as few people have heard of it. IF YOU FIND THIS MOVIE I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT. Critics were mixed in their reviews but the film was a huge flop making just over $1 million in what turned out to be a llimited release throughout the country.
GHOSTBUSTERS (Columbia; Director – Ivan Reitman) The number one film of the summer (and of 1984) was this epic special effects extravaganza starring two of the biggest comedians of their day, Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd (along with Harold Ramis, Sigourney Weaver, Rick Moranis, Annie Potts, William Atherton and Ernie Hudson). The film tells the story of three scientists who become ghost hunters and soon become famous when mysterious paranormal happenings begin to occur all over New York. This crowd pleasing comedy was nominated for 2 Academy Awards for its Song and Visual Effects. Despite mixed reviews the film went on to gross $239 million and would spawn a much lesser sequel five years later.
GRANDVIEW U.S.A. (Warner Bros; Director – Randal Kleiser) The director of Grease brings this Midwest slice of life comedy/drama starring C. Thomas Howell as a young man with collegian dreams who has a summer fling with the owner (Jamie Lee Curtis) of a drag racing track. Patrick Swayze co-stars as a driver also sleeping with Curtis and the film is filled with a multitude of smaller characters and sub-plots that keep coming together. This is a nice little movie that was also overlooked that summer. Critical reaction was gain mixed but the box office take was only $5 million.
GREMLINS (Warner Bros; Director – Joe Dante) Another of the summer blockbusters was this demented version of Executive Producer Steven Spielberg’s E.T. about a high school student whose father brings him home a gremlin for Christmas. This cute furry little animal (known as Gizmo) has a strict set of rules that must be followed to take care of it. It cannot be exposed to sunlight, you can never get it wet and it can never be fed after midnight. Naturally the rules are broken and soon there are less lovable and quite ugly gremlins taking over first the family house and then the whole town. It was because of the violence of this film and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom that the PG-13 rating would be born. Some parents, expecting another E.T. were more then a little shocked. This word of mouth only made the film more popular. In the end the film would gross $149 million despite mixed reviews and was the fourth biggest hit of 1984.
INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM (Paramount; Director – Steven Spielberg) The most anticipated movie of the summer of 1984 was this sequel to the classic Raiders of the Lost Ark which would prove that more is not always more and that sometimes less is more. Director Spielberg makes the mistake of trying to out-gross and out-excite the first film over and over again. While there are some truly spectacular set pieces (the opening in the nightclub which leads to a pilot-less airplane) the gore quotient is raised and the complaints of parents helped to lead to the creation of the PG-13 rating. In the end critics mostly raved about the film and the blockbuster hit took in $175 million and was the third highest grossing film of 1984. The film was nominated for its Musical Score and would win the Oscar for its Visual Effects.
THE JOY OF SEX (Paramount; Director – Martha Coolidge) What was originally going to be a blockbuster-like casting of superstars in a sex comedy based on the popular book was soon restricted by budgetary reasons and would become a lifeless and stupid teenage sex comedy (of which there were dozens per year) about a teenage girl who mistakenly believes she is going to die and wants to lose her virginity. Director Coolidge is known as one of the most capable female directors (Valley Girl, Real Genius, Ramblin Rose) but here she is out of her element, reportedly because of an ever changing script. It shows here as the film has no focus and, worst of all, no laughs. This dud was met with a critical thud and would gross only $3.6 million.
THE KARATE KID (Columbia; Director – John G. Avildsen) The true movie sleeper of the summer of 1984 came from the director of Rocky and starred Ralph Macchio as the new kid in school who immediately becomes the victim of harassment from the local toughs and especially the leader of the group, whose girlfriend Macchio has eyes for. After a particularly brutal attack Macchio goes to join a karate school only to learn the owner trains the same punks. Enter Pat Morita as the landlord of the apartment complex Macchio and his mother live in. Soon Morita is training Macchio for an upcoming karate event that leads to some of the sweetest moments in a movie. The film makes you laugh, cry and cheer – all elements of a box office hit. Critics generally praised the movie which unexpectedly would gross over $90 million making it the 5th highest grossing movie of 1984. The film would receive an Oscar nomination for Morita’s genuinely affecting supporting performance.
THE LAST STARFIGHTER (Universal; Director – Nick Castle) Another odd summer movie was this adventure about a trailer park high school kid who gets away from his problems by playing a particular video game and soon beats the game, much to the delight of his friends and neighbors. Enter the creator of the game who takes the young man in a spaceship, one that the young man soon discovers is very real and that the creator of the video game is an alien being. The young man is taken to another planet where he is asked to fight off an impending alien invasion with the rest of the soldiers of the planet. This was a fun and exciting mix of science fiction that received some high critical praise and made an unexpected $29 million. In the years since the film’s status has reached cult levels and a possible sequel or remake may be in the works for 2011.
THE NATURAL (Tri-Star; Director – Barry Levinson) Robert Redford made his first screen appearance in over four years in this adaptation of Bernard Malamud’s popular novel about a future great baseball player whose life is met with tragedy and by the time he reaches the major leagues he is at an age when most men are retiring. Another crowd pleaser if there ever was one it is considered by most the best baseball movie ever made and it is hard to argue that point. One of the best supporting casts ever assembled includes Robert Duvall, Glenn Close, Wilford Brimley, Richard Farnsworth, Kim Basinger, Darren McGavin, Joe Don Baker and Barbara Hershey. The film was met with mostly positive reviews though some critics who loved the book really detested the movie (especially the changed ending) and the film grossed an impressive $48 million which is amazing in a summer filled with effects and explosions. The film would be nominated for 4 Academy Awards (Best Score – now a classic; Art Direction, Cinematography and Supporting Actress for Glenn Close) but took home none.
THE NEVER ENDING STORY (Warner Bros; Director – Wolfgang Petersen) Another odd summer movie was this tale (based on a popular book) of a young school boy who “borrows” a book from a store owner and soon finds himself transported into the world unlike anything anyone has ever seen. The film was filled with wondrous special effects but the subject matter was a nit dark. Nevertheless the film received mixed reviews and while it did make just over $20 million, its budget was $25 million. Still, the film would spawn a less successful sequel almost a decade later.
ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA (The Ladd Company; Director – Sergio Leone) In the near future I will be doing a full article on this movie and the amazing events that occurred just prior to the release of this film. Italian director Leone, best known for his Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns and his epic Once Upon A Time in the West, crafted an epic gangster film to end all gangster films. At three and a half hours in length and spanning forty years, we follow the lives of four men from young adults to late in their lives and how they became involved in the world of gangsters. Starring Robert DeNiro, James Woods, Tuesday Weld, Treat Williams, Joe Pesci and Burt Young, the film’s epic scope followed these lives in flashbacks and flash forwards with some of the most memorable set pieces ever put on film, leading to an ending whose meaning is still debated today. Unfortunately producer Alan Ladd, Jr. was not thrilled with previews screening results and took the film away from Leone and cut over an hour from the film and restructured it so the action was told chronologically. The result is a mess. Characters come and go without explanation. Scenes make no sense because actions referenced in other scenes are gone. Critics, especially those who had seen Leone’s cut, were dismayed by this new, shorter cut and ripped the new version apart. The film was an absolute bomb at the box office making just $5.3 million. Later that year Leone’s un-cut version screened in several big cities to wide acclaim and hopes for Academy Award nominations. Shockingly the film received none.
OXFORD BLUES (MGM/UA; Director – Robert Boris) Once upon a time Rob Lowe was one of the most popular young actors in films. Here Lowe plays a young man trying to save money to follow the woman of his dreams to Oxford. Upon his arrival he joins the rowing team and becomes the proverbial fish out of water. Ally Sheedy co-stars as an American student who helps Lowe in this lightweight and forgettable comedy. Critics dismissed it and the film made only $8 million.
THE PHILADELPHIA EXPERIMENT (New World; Director – Stewart Raffill) Michael Pare (then hot off of Eddie and the Cruisers) starred in his second movie in the summer of 1984 as a naval officer in 1942 who, along with a friend, are assigned to a ship in a harbor in Philadelphia not knowing they are being used as guinea pigs for an experiment. When this experiment goes awry the two jump ship and enters a time vortex that takes them to the Nevada desert in present day. With the aid of Nancy Allen as a woman who knows how to drive standard transmission, the three try to put the pieces of the puzzle together to send the two officers back to 1942. This is an intriguing premise that fails to generate any excitement because it stretches credibility beyond belief. Characters act in ways they never would for real and soon nothing in the film is worth following. This was a major missed opportunity. Critics dismissed it and the film made an under whelming $8 million. A straight to video sequel was made in 1993 that generated far less interest.
THE POPE OF GREENWICH VILLAGE (MGM; Director – Stuart Rosenberg) Mickey Rourke and Eric Roberts star as two small time hoods recently fired from their jobs at a restaurant. Roberts gets a tip about a safe filled with cash at a local business. Needing the money, Rourke agrees to go along and all goes smoothly until a cop is accidentally killed. Rourke then learns that the safe was mob protected and people are going to pay for the robbery. This is a gritty look at the seedy side of life with terrific performances by the two leads and also Burt Young and Geraldine Page (who was nominated for Best Supporting Actress). This was the only film on the resume of director Rosenberg that measured up to his debut film, Cool Hand Luke. Critics were enthusiastic about the film but its adult nature apparently turned mass audiences off as it only grossed $6 million.
PURPLE RAIN (Warner Bros; Director – Albert Magnoli) Unexpectedly one of the best reviewed films of the summer and not unexpectedly one of its biggest hits starred musical sensation Prince as a rebel trying to make it in the rock business while juggling a love life and a violent home life thanks to an abusive father. The film has terrific music and the look of one long video with some funny and seriously sexy (thanks to female lead Appallonia) scenes along with a vivid story that keeps you interested. Prince leapt to the world of super stardom with this terrific film (other never confirmed it is widely believed Prince directed a good portion of the film as well. This is not hard to argue when you consider that Magnoli, the credited director, went on to direct only one more film and that was the awful American Anthem). The film was a big success critically and made an astounding $69 million at the box office making it the 9th highest grossing film of the year. Purple Rain would go on to win the Academy Award for its only nomination, Best Song Score.
RED DAWN (MGM/UA; Director – John Milius) This film takes a frightening premise and makes it a reality. Writer/Director Milius asks what would happen if the Russians invaded America to start World War III. The film follows a band of teenagers (including Patrick Swayze, C. Thomas Howell and Charlie Sheen) as they head to the hills with weapons and food to defend themselves on their home soil. Some of the material is far fetched or just downright silly but Milius does create characters we care about and we follow them through this nightmare. Red Dawn was the second film given the PG-13 rating but the first to be released (the first was the Matt Dillon comedy, The Flamingo Kid, which was pushed back to a Christmas release). The film’s reviews were generally negative but the film made a respectable $36 million.
REVENGE OF THE NERDS (20th Century Fox; Director – Jeff Kanew) Another sleeper hit of the summer of 1984 was this farce about a group of nerdy college kids who have to battle against the jocks and cheerleaders for every little right they can gain. The film features many funny and memorable set pieces (love the college Olympics) and the characters are well rounded and believable – something that helped the film click with audiences as everyone seemed to identify with one of the characters. Reviews were mixed but the film made a surprising $41 million and would spawn several lesser sequels.
RHINESTONE (20th Century Fox; Director – Bob Clark) This film had an interesting premise. A bar singer (Dolly Parton) bets her pig of a boss (Ron Liebman) that she can turn anyone into a country singing sensation and if she loses she has to sleep with the boss. The boss chooses an obnoxious cab driver (Sylvester Stallone) and Dolly gets to work but Sly has other ideas. While the premise could have gone in many different interesting directions but director Clark (Porky’s; A Christmas Story) chooses to continually take the road of predictability and the meeting of two such screen oddballs turns into a comedic disaster. Despite the horrendous reviews the film did carve out $21 million at the box office but was far short of expectations.
SHEENA, QUEEN OF THE JUNGLE (Columbia; Director – John Guillermin) Tanya Roberts, from TV’s Charlie’s Angels,plays the title role as a female version of Tarzan who was raised in the jungle after her parents are killed. Ted Wass plays a journalist in Kenya who stumbles across Sheena and realizes he may have the story of a lifetime. This silly adventure film had a whopping budget of $25 million and despite an inordinate amount of female nudity in a PG rated movie, the kids stayed away and critics dismissed it. The film’s final tally was only $6 million.
STAR TREK III: THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK (Paramount; Director – Leonard Nimoy) One of the lesser films in the series follows the Enterprise tangling with a vicious Klingon (memorably played by Christopher Lloyd) while embarking on a mission to find Spock’s body to transfer it to Vulcan after it is discovered that some of Spock’s essence is now in Dr. McCoy. Not as action packed as The Wrath of Khan, this film relied more on story and visuals. The film had mixed reviews but still grossed a healthy $67 million and was the 10th highest grossing film of the year.
STREETS OF FIRE (Universal; Director – Walter Hill) An action, comedy, drama musical that the ads proclaimed was a “rock and roll fable” tells the story of a soldier of fortune (Michael Pare – starring in his second film that summer) who comes back home to track down his singer/ex-girlfriend (Diane Lane) who has been kidnapped by the leader (Willem Dafoe) of a rogue motorcycle gang. The film is filled with wall to wall action and music but the story is thin and unoriginal. Pare was ear marked for stardom after his starring film debut in 1983’s Eddie and the Cruisers but he unfortunately made the decision to take on the lead roles in two big summer movies (the other being The Philadelphia Experiment) and had the bad luck to watch them both flop badly. This was to be the first of a trilogy and Universal expected this to be a blockbuster but it ended up only making $8 million on a budget of over $14 million. Needless to say any plans for a sequel were quickly scrapped.
TOP SECRET (Paramount; Directors – Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker) Four years after the ZAZ directing team brought the unexpected smash Airplane! to theaters came their next venture, a take off on war and spy movies with a mixture of musicals and 60’s beach movies thrown into the mix. A then unknown Val Kilmer heads a largely unknown cast (with brief appearances by Omar Sharif and Peter Cushing) in this funny caper that isn’t as good as Airplane! but is still a funny movie in its own right. The reviews were mixed but apparently the audience wasn’t expansive in regards to watching the genres in this film being lampooned as the final box office results were a disappointing $19 million.
THE WOMAN IN RED (Orion; Director – Gene Wilder) After directing two less then successful comedies, actor Gene Wilder returned to acting but was somehow talked into helming another comedy after a seven year rest and came up with yet another missed opportunity. In this remake of the French smash hit comedy, Pardon Mon Affaire, Wilder plays a man who becomes obsessed with a model he sees in a parking garage. With the help of his friends (all losers of some sort) a date with his dream woman is set up. Wilder’s then wife, the brilliant comic Gilda Radner, is completely wasted in a throwaway role any extra could have played. Unfortunately the only reason to watch this is for Kelly Le Brock in her film debut. Her towel disrobing is a wonder and provided the film with one of the earliest PG-13 ratings. Reviews for the film were dismal and the film made an unremarkable $25 million and would win an Academy Award for Stevie Wonder’s hit song, I Just Called To Say ‘I Love You.’
