by Michael Lyons
The 1980s was a "Golden Age" for summer movies. During that decade, some of the most popular movies of all time, many of them involving the names Spielberg and Lucas, were released.
An "epicenter" of sorts for this "Golden Age" was the summer of 1984, when a number of movies were released that were not only blockbusters then but continue to send ripples through our pop culture to this day.
This is the final part of a three-part article that looks at three different and significant summers that changed the movie landscape. All of them happen to be celebrating anniversaries this year. The last two weeks revisited the summer movie seasons of 1994 and 1989. Now, we celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the summer movie season of 1984.
As it did for many years, Memorial Day Weekend kicked off the summer movie season, and in 1984, it did, and in a big way, too, with a prequel to one of the most popular movies of all time, Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom brought back Harrison Ford as the iconic titular character, everyone's favorite adventuring archeologist. Both director Steven Spielberg and creator/producer George Lucas returned as Indy, along with Short Round (Ke Huy Quan) and Willie Scott (Kate Capshaw), find themselves trapped in the temple from the title.
While there, they attempt to free themselves and kidnapped children from an evil cult. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was a tremendous hit and was the biggest opening weekend of the year. In the process, chilled monkey brains and hearts were pulled out of chests in scenes so intense that the MPAA rating system was changed to include a new rating - PG13.
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom wasn't the only movie in the summer of 1984 to influence the ratings system, and it wasn't even the only Spielberg movie to impact ratings. Just several weeks later, Gremlins, which Spielberg produced, and Joe Dante directed, contained intense, albeit cartoony, scenes that also led to the PG13 rating.
The story was of a young man named Billy (Zach Galligan) gifted a Mogwai as a Christmas present. The little creature is oh-so-cute, but there are rules, and if they are broken, the little creature turns into a malevolent little monster who winds up getting unleashed on a small town.
A fusion of Looney Tunes and classic Christmas movies, Gremlins was, and still is, unlike anything ever seen, with creatures and scenes that remain imprinted on our pop culture.
Another stamp on our pop culture, Star Trek, returned to theaters with number III: The Search for Spock, the follow-up to the popular comeback sequel, The Wrath of Kahn. The third film marked Leonard Nimoy's directorial debut, and its solid story and emotion, not to mention box-office success, cleared the way for more movies in the franchise.
Somewhere after Spock and the same day as Gremlins, the summer movie season 1984 was turned upside down, or should I say, slimed, when Ghostbusters opened. In a summer crowded with big titles and names, no one saw Ivan Reitman's supernatural comedy starring Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramos, and Ernie Hudson coming. But, the humor and the all-out fun of seeing it in a crowded theater, with everyone laughing so hard they drowned out dialogue on the screen, made Ghostbusters one of the most surprising blockbusters in movie history.
The film became a phenomenon. Ghostbusters was everywhere, with radio stations constantly playing Ray Parker, Jr.'s theme song and everyone quoting the oh-so-quotable film. The summer of '84 belonged to Ghostbusters. It became the highest-grossing film of 1984, spawned sequels, and remains as popular today as it was 40 years ago.
Just as music was a part of Ghostbusters' success, music also played a significant part in the success and impact of another film released in the summer of 1984, during the height of the MTV era. Prince's Purple Rain remains the musical for a generation.
The summer of 1984 also brought director Michael Cimino's epic crime saga, Once Upon a Time in America, and director Walter Hill's original Streets of Fire; and there was the outrageous Airplane follow-up, Top Secret!
The Karate Kid, with Ralph Machio and Noriyuki "Pat" Morita, taught us to "wax on/wax off," in a story that still lives on today in the streaming series Cobra Kai; Sylvester Stallone and Dolly Parton tried to make beautiful music together in Rhinestone, and pre-double Oscar winner Tom Hanks starred in Bachelor Party.
Arnold Schwarzenegger returned in Conan the Destroyer; computer effects got a test run by The Last Starfighter; New York got invaded when The Muppets Take Manhattan, and generations got traumatized by The NeverEnding Story.
It was an excellent week to be a geek when Revenge of the Nerds debuted, and one of the last films of the summer, Red Dawn, which centered on a Soviet invasion of America, was the first film to be rated PG-13.
Forty years ago. What. A. Summer. If you were there for the summer of '84 (as this writer, who graduated high school that summer was and remembers it vividly), you knew it was special.
All of the summers revisited in this three-part series - 1994, 1989, 1984 - reflect a time when anticipation built for movies and excitement overflowed into crowded movie theaters (still and always the best way to see a movie). And, amid the relaxation of poolside, the heat of sand at the beach, the fragrance of suntan lotion, the welcome chill of air conditioning, and the freedom of days without school and work, movies are one more welcome escape during this time of year.
No matter how movies may shift and change, through peaks and valleys, three words will always be magic to movie fans everywhere:
Summer Movie Season!
My new book, Magic Moments: Stories, Lessons and Memories from a Twenty-Year Career at Walt Disney World is now available at Amazon!
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