This year’s summer movie season is coming to an end. What movies will we be talking about in 10 or 20 years? I’m talking about the big summer blockbusters from the studios. I’d bet that many, if any, will be remembered.
If there were contenders, “Furiosa” had its fair share of admirers. The same was true, to a lesser extent, of “Longlegs,” which turned out to be overhyped by brilliant marketing. Perhaps “Inside Out 2” will be streamed by kids and parents alike. Otherwise, it was a mediocre summer movie season for quality blockbusters, and it must be mentioned that it was marred by last year’s strikes.
All this leads me to Chris Nashawaty’s “The future was now: Madmen, Mavericks and the epic sci-fi summer of 1982,” a new book that makes the case that 1982 was the best summer movie season ever.
Nashawaty focuses on eight groundbreaking films that were released in a single summer movie season 42 years ago: Conan the Barbarian, The Road Warrior, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, Poltergeist, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Blade Runner, The Thing from Another World and Tron.
It should be noted that the book does not focus on four other important titles from the summer of 1982: “Diner,” “An Officer and a Gentleman,” “I Think I’m Standing in the Woods,” and “Porky’s.”
So is any other summer movie season comparable? These days, the biggest summer movies between May and June tend to revolve around franchises: superheroes, intellectual properties, animation, reboots, sequels, etc. Compare that to, say, 1998, the summer of Saving Private Ryan, The Truman Show, There’s Something About Mary, Out of Sight, Bullworth, and Negotiators. All originals.
I dusted off the archives, delved deeply into the subject and, after much thought, came to the conclusion that, contrary to popular opinion, the title of 1982 as the best year of all time could face serious competition in the form of 1999…
“The Sixth Sense”, “The Matrix”, “The Blair Witch Project”, “Eyes Wide Shut”, “The Giant from Space”, “Election”, “Bowfinger”, “South Park: More Than Ever”, “Dick”, “Summer of Sam”, “American Pie”, “The Mummy”.
Now it’s your turn. Is Nashawaty right? Did 1982 have the most iconic summer movie titles?
