From Jaws to Dirty Dancing: Summer Movie Blockbusters of the GenX Era, Supersized Edition

Kristin Nilsen 0:00

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Carolyn Cochrane 0:53

Welcome to another super sized edition of one of our past episodes. Today we're adding some extra value to Episode 78. From jaws to Dirty Dancing summer blockbusters of the Jennex era. And you know what you guys are thinking I realized we were so lucky to grow up when we did I think that we had some of the most amazing movies debuted during the summers of our youth. I mean, truly. Yeah, that are classics to this day. Oh, for sure. And some of them were like a couple in the same summer. It's not like they were you know, a few years apart. They were some just just saturated with summer Sizzler.

Michelle Newman 1:31

Yeah, no, they're so good. I remember when we did that episode. The list is just it's just one after another. It really is. And movies, like you said, that are so great. But also, I think almost all of them hold up today, too. Oh, for sure. People still watch

Kristin Nilsen 1:47

them today. I mean, these are the movies that come to your theaters in the summertime. If you think about this. Those are the ones that people are lining up around the block to see. Yeah, nobody is lining up for the movies in the theater right now. But when they put Jaws at the local theater, people show up and lineup around, right. Yeah.

Carolyn Cochrane 2:06

And I mean, there's a ton of reasons why people aren't lining up around the block today. But believe it or not this last summer season, so they consider Memorial Day that kind of kickoff for the summer season. And this past Memorial Day weekend marked that worst start to a summer movie season in 40 years. So they had expected more out of Furiosa or whatever that is a mad mad nappy. Yeah. And the fool got. Okay, let me let's talk about the fog. I do that. I will say that. That pulled a little online nostalgic heartstrings. I agree. Yeah. And it has two of my favorite people. Emily Blunt, and Ryan Gosling. So I'm given this like a lot of hope. Now granted, I haven't seen it. So I can't really say that it was good or bad, I guess. But it didn't do near as well as they thought it would would do at least during this, you know, kickoff weekend. And that just made me kind of sad. But at the same time, I thought well, maybe you're just not making the same good kind of quality movies that we made. I don't know

Michelle Newman 3:06

because I thought I have not again, I'm like Carolyn, I haven't seen the fall guy. I would it's just but think about that. Why haven't I Why haven't I gone to the movie to see it. They actually had the kind of the old school big fun movie premiere for it to you guys. You see images from it. Were they in the stock man and it looks like a lot of fun. And I I do know some friends who have seen it that really enjoyed it. So that's that's the type of movie that I'm kind of surprised isn't doing? Well. I will say though, it might have been about a month ago. We have some really great like everybody does now great movie theaters. And I haven't gone to the movies on forever. And I said to my husband, I really want to go to the movies this weekend. Let's see what's playing. You guys. I could not find one movie that I either knew what it was, or that I had any interest and see

Kristin Nilsen 3:55

that is the problem. Yeah. And the problem that the reason you don't know them, this is the whole problem. I'm gonna name it. Okay, please do eat. They don't advertise places where we are right it used to be that you would sit down to watch Happy Days, and then there would be advertisements and they would get you excited for all these movies that were coming in the summertime. The only movie I know about is the fall guy because they actually did a little bit of old school advertising on the shows that I watched but not that much I just know about it I just know of it. That's it but I have not seen an advertisement for a movie whether it's on TV or social media or any I haven't seen it any way

Michelle Newman 4:37

you're right a lot of people don't really watch live TV network TV anymore but my gosh, think how many ads we scroll past every you know I scroll Instagram all day long. And it's ads for face cream and now it's like for dog toys and whatever. If I scroll scroll scroll. If it was movie, the old kind of like movie ads Get me my way. Yeah, like a trailer, I would stop that would stop me. I don't care what movie it was for. I love movie trailers, why aren't they advertising on social media, think about

Carolyn Cochrane 5:09

the way we heard about movies. Another way would be, we would see the coming attractions before a movie that we were actually going to see, you know, big on the big screen where it's going to be shown. So you get excited for that. And again, we talked about, you know, going and looking for times in the newspaper. And so you'd maybe see the movie you were going to watch you wanted to see but next to it is, you know, another ad for another movie that showing with a cute movie poster and all the reviews

Kristin Nilsen 5:37

of another movie on the next page. And so sadly, the reviews of movies that you didn't know about because it's right there on the next page exact now if you want to see a movie review, you kind of have to go get it, it might landing in your feed. And here we live in a society which we have to go get all the information, except for the pardon my French, the shite that is in my scrolling feed.

Michelle Newman 6:00

She's also basically

Kristin Nilsen 6:03

Yes, French and Irish and Irish. Speaking

Michelle Newman 6:05

of movie trailers, and I know we've talked about this in a previous episode, it could be one of many, but how much we loved movies like previews and, you know, coming attractions and I don't even know if they make them like that anymore. I will say that I had to go find the full length trailer for wicker that's coming out at Thanksgiving. And I had chills. I had tears in my eyes. I was it's like they made a small movie. It's like the trailer. So they did it right. I cannot wait to see that in the theater. That's probably the next movie I'll see in the theater. And we'll

Kristin Nilsen 6:39

see that trailer. Did you have to go find it? Yes.

Michelle Newman 6:42

So I follow a few different Broadway performers that I've either seen in a show or just that I think have beautiful voices, whatever. And one of them is currently playing Elphaba on Broadway. She used to be a mean girls. And it was her Instagram post of her and her green team. They call them the people that put her makeup on watching the trailer. It was like their reaction video and they're crying and they're holding hands. And so I'm like, what are they all doing? And I read the caption and then I like, Oh my God, wait, the trailer for wicked is out. So then I have to go to YouTube and find it. Okay, so that's how I was aware. That

Kristin Nilsen 7:18

seems like a barrier to entry. Like that was probably part of your campaign like, oh, we'll show them watching the trailer. No, just show me the trailer. Don't make me go get the trailer. Right now. There'll be five steps and what if my Wi Fi is bad? And?

Carolyn Cochrane 7:32

Well, Michelle, I think you maybe need to put a link to the wicked trail.

Michelle Newman 7:38

So you guys, it's so good. But but because they can't show the full length trailer on Instagram, right? So but as you're scrolling, it could be an ad that it's the first minute. And then there's a link right there. Um, you know how they have the Shop Now, or whatever, maybe a one minute

Kristin Nilsen 7:53

trailer that would make a trailer, it's just not that hard. And

Michelle Newman 7:58

going back to this episode that we're about to rerun on our summer blockbusters of our youth. Always remember when there were so many good movies playing at the same time, you couldn't decide which one to go see. And those are the summers of our youth where you would say, I don't have to I want to see this one or this one. And then you think well, next week, we'll go see this,

Kristin Nilsen 8:19

or close encounters. Well,

Carolyn Cochrane 8:22

and so I did a little research to see what summer movie season ranks as the best ever. Okay, so according to Rotten Tomatoes, the number one spot goes to the summer of 1982 with box office revenue, and this has adjusted for inflation. So 3,531,699,214 feel like I'm an elementary school. One of those big numbers. I mean, that is huge. And I just want to talk a little bit I know what you T that's the year of

Michelle Newman 8:57

E T, isn't it?

Kristin Nilsen 8:58

Do we talk in this episode about those movies and we

Carolyn Cochrane 9:02

talked about some of the blockbusters. But what I like to talk about this was a particularly amazing summer with some movies that will stick with us forever that I'm sure we discussed in this episode. But for me when I saw them all in one place, I thought all of those were 1982. And because there are a couple of them, like poltergeist and ET, okay, that I have a certain like feeling in my body that I was young, like I was a younger, like I was maybe 10 or 11 or 12 like I was a child with an adult that it taken me but that can't be

Kristin Nilsen 9:37

the trills as now because I was in junior high, right? We'll see. But then

Carolyn Cochrane 9:41

it's the same summer as Officer and a Gentleman and Fast Times at Ridgemont High which I feel so much older when I roll like reflect back on those movies. Like oh yeah, it was in high school. I got it and not Richard Gere. What a guy. But my poltergeist II T memories, which is so interesting to me are you know that I was younger? Which obviously I wasn't. And I don't know if it was who I went to see it with, like maybe I saw at with my family, and maybe the same with Poltergeist, and then the others, I went with friends. I don't know, but it was, and those were just four that struck me there were a bunch more movies of that during that summer as well. But yeah, it was just kind of interesting to sit to maybe how I felt about the movie in relation to who I maybe saw it. That's how

Kristin Nilsen 10:26

memory is not completely and utterly reliable. We make 100%

Carolyn Cochrane 10:30

It has to be because I was, you know, a kid maybe wanting those little Reese's Pieces or whatever, you know, was eating or whatever. And I don't know if it was also the way the movie made me feel. I mean, maybe I felt just more kid like watching those two. Yeah, so I totally agree with how memory is not reliant, because I would have lost a bet if you said, Carolyn, you were 15 years old when you saw poltergeist and et I wasn't, I was like,

Kristin Nilsen 10:59

10. And it would be funny. And here we are talking about those same movies. And now think about your children and are in in 40 years. What movie that will they be talking about?

Michelle Newman 11:13

Yeah, I don't know if there's as many as we remember,

Kristin Nilsen 11:17

well, particularly to your point at this moment in time. And I've also heard people say that part of that is because they've become so reliant on franchises to make big busts. And they're not coming up with anything unique anymore, right. And everything that is not a franchise is an independent movie that doesn't have a PR budget.

Michelle Newman 11:36

Right? Right. Right, because the movies that my kids will also always remember seeing for the first time in the theater, or the Harry Potter movies, and all the new Star Wars movies.

Carolyn Cochrane 11:45

Yeah. But some of these franchises like you said, Kristen, like Disney movies is too much effort, like, I don't know, the storyline. So why would I even go to that, you know, it's like, I don't need to know that. Oh, he's, you know, died in this thing. But now he fought this guy who had this, and now he's this, and he's alive again. And, you know, Grace knows all that stuff. And I'm like, That's too much work to do. I just want to go to the movie, and have it be like, self contained. Like, I'm presented with a problem. It gets resolved at the end. I don't need cliffhangers. I just want it to be a movie that

Kristin Nilsen 12:18

this is what bothers me a movie sitting in the movie theater that ends with a cliffhanger.

Michelle Newman 12:24

No, no, no, that's, that's for TV. That's a TV. Next week, you're

Kristin Nilsen 12:27

gonna give me the answer next week. Exactly. That's not a movie, a movie has an ending. Exactly. Why, but I do think that audiences are tiring of that. That's what they're learning. And that could be one reason that this Memorial Day weekend was the lowest grossing opening summer weekend of all time, because 40

Carolyn Cochrane 12:45

years. But there's

Michelle Newman 12:46

just not as many movies like big blockbuster movies that you waited that you knew were coming. I mean, I just mentioned wicked. And now like, I'm going to be waiting, you know, excitedly until Thanksgiving. But that's how it used to be with many, many, many movies. And I just don't think they're making a lot of the big movies that we get really excited about go straight to streaming. So they just don't make these big movie theater movies anymore. It's kind of sad. That is sad, really sad.

Kristin Nilsen 13:16

I do think this is a solvable problem. I think that they that the pendulum can swing back. And when people stop making money, they'll figure out how

Carolyn Cochrane 13:25

well yeah, and maybe it doesn't have to all I mean, obviously, it's business, you want to make money. But if you were not making these huge multi, that cost you that much, you're gonna get the whole studio by budget, right? You could make small, you know, less budget intensive movies that tell a story that would make people want to go to the theater, and you have more to go around. You can experiment with some different genres or whatever. And like you said, those are all you know, these independent movies that sometimes will catch on or other times, it's like playing in selective, you know, cities only and you're like, Yes, coming to Minneapolis. No, right. Exactly.

Kristin Nilsen 14:08

We sound like grandma's this well.

Carolyn Cochrane 14:10

And we probably continue to do that in this in today's episode, but

Kristin Nilsen 14:15

certainly the legitimate. This is a legitimate topic of conversation because we've lost something that was very

Michelle Newman 14:21

day.

Carolyn Cochrane 14:25

All those movie producers are listening. So. And speaking of listening, we want you all to enjoy, Episode 78. From jaws to Dirty Dancing, summer blockbusters of the Gen X era,

Kristin Nilsen 14:38

the experience of seeing Star Wars that first time in the theater, implanted something in me so that when I see a Star Wars movie today, and the yellow word start scrolling on the screen, I start to cry. The weirdest thing

Unknown Speaker 14:58

is a song that we're saying is Come on get

Unknown Speaker 15:09

we'll make you

Kristin Nilsen 15:13

welcome to the pop culture Preservation Society. The podcast for people born in the big wheel generation who knows the best prizes and a box of Cracker Jack. It's the ring for the tattoos.

Michelle Newman 15:23

It's the tattoos. We believe our GX childhoods gave us unforgettable songs, stories, characters and images. And if we don't talk about them, they'll disappear like Marshall will and Holly on a routine expedition.

Carolyn Cochrane 15:36

And today, we will be saving a phenomenon that was birthed in our generation, almost like a gift to young Gen Xers, the summer blockbuster movie. I'm Carolyn.

Kristin Nilsen 15:48

I'm Kristen.

Michelle Newman 15:49

And I'm Michelle and we are your pop culture preservationists.

Carolyn Cochrane 16:03

Okay, you guys, I have to share a little something and kind of debrief myself and you guys about my experience last Friday evening, I went to the movies for the first time in years, you guys to the movie theater, and I saw Top Gun too. And I bawled. I had no idea what was happening. But I by the end of the movie, I was almost doing the

Michelle Newman 16:32

like you didn't know why you were crying. That's when you say you didn't know what's happening in that motion just took over.

Carolyn Cochrane 16:37

The emotion took over. It was kind of throughout the whole movie kind of building up building up until the end, and it just rushed over me. I mean, I went with Andy and grace. And Grace is looking at me like, oh, what on earth like let's just wait in our seats until everybody's left. Because not anyone else seems to be harrassing you so I've had now almost a week to kind of process. One of the things I think that happened that I was Manolos so many times during this movie, because they do have these flashbacks in the movie, obviously so we do go back and see what goes died. Oh, that's not a spoiler. Yeah. Yes.

Michelle Newman 17:26

Goosebumps and my armpits right now it was bumps haha.

Carolyn Cochrane 17:35

And of course, no spoilers, but I'm sorry. If you really want to see this. I might say a few things. So just skip. I haven't seen it yet. Well, you kind of know the premise though. Don't you a little bit.

Michelle Newman 17:48

Well, if it like it's like a son or something? I don't know. Yes.

Carolyn Cochrane 17:51

Yes. So gooses son, whose name right, right. I knew then he looks a lot like goose. Yes. And there are some scenes

Kristin Nilsen 18:04

that a swan and his name's Gosling?

Michelle Newman 18:12

What if it was played by Ryan Gosling?

Carolyn Cochrane 18:15

Well, he probably doesn't look enough like Anthony Edwards. Because it continues. With his little moustache. It's crazy. They did but like, so there are some recreated scenes of perhaps we see Miles Teller playing the piano and everyone's singing, you know, Great Balls of Fire. Now, but it looks a lot like then. And so I'm like, Man a load because they're kind of going back and forth between the two scenes. So that was, I don't know, that was hitting me hard and kind of the nostalgia of the moment, like all the things from then, and the passage of time until now. And I'm sitting next to my daughter who's going to college in a couple of weeks. And I'm having like that moment of, you know, young Carolyn in college just starting to date, Andy when she sees the first house. And now I'm sitting next to Andy, who I've been with since then. And this youngest daughter who's about to fly the coop is flying the coop. Yes. And so that was hitting me really hard. And then there were many moments from the original movie that they either spliced in or again like recreated so you see, Tom Cruise, and by golly you guys I wish I mean, think what you think about Tom Cruise? He it's alleged? Well, yeah,

Michelle Newman 19:38

I know. But I think there's some sort of like hocus pocus going on.

Carolyn Cochrane 19:44

But it's Hollywood and I'm gonna go with it

you guys movies obviously can leave an indelible mark on our lives. And I am ready to chat. about some of those films from the summers of my youth. Are you guys ready? Yes.

Michelle Newman 20:04

So ready.

Carolyn Cochrane 20:05

Let's get on with the episode. You guys, I don't think that there was a moment quite like the summer movie experience for me when I was growing up, especially in Houston, Texas on a scorching 100 plus degree day to get dropped off at a movie theater with you guys a $5 bill that would not only get me into the movie, but also popcorn probably a drink, maybe some sweet tarts because that was my candy of choice. Because you could suck on those little sweet tarts for a long time. It was like you could make that candy last a really long time. So that and then a quarter at the end to call my parents are probably a dime actually signing that. Yeah. To call my parents to come pick me up at the end

Michelle Newman 20:52

and movie and a strange.

Carolyn Cochrane 20:58

But your phone? Yeah, there was nothing quite like that experience, and often because of how hot it was in Houston. And if you went early enough, you could get that early like matinee price. I would sometimes get to go and see two movies. Wasn't that? Imagine? Oh, my gosh, and

Kristin Nilsen 21:17

pay for two movies? Or did you? Well, we'll

Carolyn Cochrane 21:19

get to that later. No matter what it was at the movies with maybe yeah. But yes. And then there was that moment of my movie theater that I went to was outside so it wasn't attached to them all or anything. So as soon as you kind of came out and went to the payphone oh my gosh, the sun and the heat. It was just like you couldn't see anything. You thought you had gone from heaven to hell? I don't know. It was just that

Kristin Nilsen 21:46

alternate universe, exactly born or something.

Michelle Newman 21:50

I still when I come out of a movie theater, I kind of stumble around a little bit like what happened? Exactly

Carolyn Cochrane 21:55

what what memories do you guys have from summer movie

Kristin Nilsen 21:58

The heat is is a significant factor in the summertime and we didn't have air conditioning. And so that was often that was sweet relief. That was yesterday going to a movie, right. And oftentimes these would be neighborhood outings for us where all the moms would get together and we take three cars to the Roseville for theater, and we go see a double feature, sometimes like with Pippi Longstocking and Phar Lap or something like that. And I remember I remember the first time we saw a double feature, and I, and we came out of the theater and we went to the lobby, and then we didn't leave. And I'm like, why are we leaving? Oh, my God, there's another. We're going back. It was like the sweetest joy. Yeah.

Michelle Newman 22:40

Did you get to get to double snacks? For both know,

Kristin Nilsen 22:44

oh, my god, yeah. What

Michelle Newman 22:44

did we say money well, and so much sugar? Well, as usual, I really don't have specific memories of a certain theater, or the first time I saw a certain movie, other than maybe two, which I'm going to share later. But what I do still have with me is that glorious feeling of going to the movies, especially in the summer, when school was out. And that whole movie going experience just added to the freedom you already felt. But like so many experiences from our childhood, it's sadly just gone now. And I mean, sure we still go to the movies. But it's just not the same. We have way too many choices now. And I'm not saying that's a bad thing, necessarily. I mean, lord knows I love being able to watch almost any movie I can think of, from my own home. And I remember only about 10 years ago, imagining such a day with almost like Jetson like, Ah

Carolyn Cochrane 23:41

ha, yeah. So

Michelle Newman 23:43

I'm not complaining about that, necessarily. But all of these choices have taken away from the simplistic anticipation and joy ultimately, of the whole movie going experience, I think, well,

Kristin Nilsen 23:54

and movies just can't get as big. There will never be another Star Wars. They're just Well, I mean, this Top Gun is probably as close as we're gonna get, and it's gonna be gone in a couple of weeks. It's

Michelle Newman 24:04

just to me, I'd almost rather a lot of times rather pay 20 bucks to watch it at home. And that's sad, because I will never

Kristin Nilsen 24:11

give up the movie theater experience. It's never going to be the same for me. It's the experience alone that I

Michelle Newman 24:17

need. I need to I need to remind myself of that, that

Carolyn Cochrane 24:20

piece. That I'm sadly I think, well obviously the pandemic did that to us. I mean, exacerbated what was already happening with removing these communal experiences. And I will

Michelle Newman 24:31

say not to get I don't want to get into this topic on this podcast, but one reason if I'm being truthful that I don't sometimes go to the movie theater or the malls anymore is because I'm kind of scared. I agree. So I sometimes I just especially if I'm going to see a really big movie that's like top gun or something that might have violence in it or that other people know that the that the theater is going to be packed with people I would just assume stay home. Well,

Carolyn Cochrane 24:56

obviously the experience of going to a movie during the summer I left a mark but also so did some of those movies. The actual movies are huge for sure.

Michelle Newman 25:10

The very first true summer blockbuster was Jaws, which was released on June 20 1975. And that movie, it was just a perfect marketing storm, the 32nd TV ads, the creepy and haunting score by John Williams, the unforgettable movie poster, a Shark Eating people at a beach in the summer. People couldn't look away, they had to see it for themselves. And they did. Jaws became the first movie to earn $100 million at the box office in 1975. I did not know that.

Carolyn Cochrane 25:48

Wow. Wow. I wonder what 100 million would equate to today? That's

Michelle Newman 25:52

a good question. Yeah. And what people

Kristin Nilsen 25:54

forget is that like the word blockbuster is a literal term. And so when we heard from people on social media, many people talked about standing in line for JAWS in a line that wrapped around the block. It busted the block. Right? And that is not something that happens anymore. Wow.

Carolyn Cochrane 26:14

No, first of all, can we just say I never knew that. What? I had no idea. That's why it was called a blockbuster. Yes,

Kristin Nilsen 26:22

it busted the block in the line. Now. I thought that was your job. Michelle. was right here to finish it. Wow, I

Michelle Newman 26:32

did not know that Buster was not yet, I guess,

Carolyn Cochrane 26:35

oh my god,

Kristin Nilsen 26:36

it went around the block. And people mentioned that that's not an experience that we have any more we don't stand in line at all. Because we have 19 ticket takers, and we don't have any access to the outside anymore. Theaters aren't on blocks, right? They're at the mall. Eat all of that is gone. And JAWS certainly made its mark on our generation, even if people were too little to see it, which just freaks me out. So when we asked our followers about their summer movie memories, not surprisingly, a ton of them were about jaws. I didn't see it in the theater, but my parents did. And that alone made me afraid to go in the water. We went swimming the next day after my parents went to see it. And we were jumping off of a boat into a lake. It was freshwater for God's sake. And I knew that I was like sharks can't be in freshwater sharks can be freshwater, and I remember treading water and the sensation of my feet in the water. And I keep thinking I'm picturing Dawn, Dawn, Dawn, Dawn, Dawn. I'm writing a shark coming up to grab my legs and I just couldn't take it anymore. I had to get back in the boat

Michelle Newman 27:42

because she'd seen the commercial.

Kristin Nilsen 27:44

Yes, yes. Don't Don't Don't don't it was too much and I didn't even see it. We got so many comments from people about jaws. Stella Dora. Oh 721 said jaws would definitely be one of my most memorable movies. I just turned 10 And my parents sister and I went to see it at the Rio alto theater. I absolutely fell in love with Roy Scheider. heart eyes. I also remember someone throwing their popcorn behind them when the eyeball pops out of the bottom of the boat. My friends and I went to see it several times that summer because of Ray sheIter. After one showing was over we'd hide behind seats and stay to watch the next showing. I still enjoy watching it but I hate being in the water. I mean they scarred us. Thank you Spielberg scarred us lady beaver house and says my parents actually took I know I'm sorry.

Michelle Newman 28:32

I just love her name. Every time I see it. I just chuckle we see you

Kristin Nilsen 28:36

lady Bieber housing. My parents actually took me to see this when it came out. I was just five. Yes, I was five years old. I threw up when I saw the head underwater with a missing eyeball. I showed them. I showed they were probably like I we really want to see this movie and we don't have a babysitter. So what are we supposed to do? They weren't like she's gonna really enjoy this

Carolyn Cochrane 29:00

probably that she'd fall asleep or something and yeah, I'm hoping

Kristin Nilsen 29:02

see it. Oh, Hatfield. Oh, seven dot Nicole says when I was five. I love this so much. Our 13 year old next door neighbor came over to tell us about this wild movie about a shark. He acted it out including the music Gosh, JAWS is still one of my favorite movies. And I have to watch it every summer. And I think that's a great summer tradition. Watches Joe.

Michelle Newman 29:29

I haven't seen that movie in decades. And I understand.

Kristin Nilsen 29:34

Really, this summer you're gonna see it you're gonna see theater. And if you think about it, the summer blockbuster really belongs to us Generation X because of jaws. It was born when we were coming of age and just starting to go to movies. Sometimes on our own with our with our friends, and perpetuated by us because we didn't have anything to do in the summer. We didn't have back to back camps or traveling soccer. So So our summers were gifted with these iconic movie experiences when we were both off of school, completely unscheduled, and approaching the age when we could get dropped off at the theater by ourselves

Carolyn Cochrane 30:11

right age for it. And I gotta say to that I'm not all of my favorite summer movies were actually even blockbusters, some of the most memorable ones, for me, probably only earned a fraction of what those blockbusters did, but they were certainly no less entertaining. Kind of like, I like to call them popcorn films, just you know, the ones that were fun and go to with our friends.

Kristin Nilsen 30:32

Sometimes the movie you saw in the theater, they weren't actually summer releases. We kind of talked about this with the multiplex thing a little bit, because movies stayed in the theater so much longer. Or maybe it took a long time for the for the movie to get to your town. You just had to wait. Like for me in the summer of 1976, we were at the mall with my parents, probably to get out of the heat. When they surprised us with the news that we were gonna go to the mall theater and see the bad news bears. And that was an April release, but maybe not in Minnesota. Maybe we didn't get it until summertime. So we're standing by the movie poster. So I think my parents were like, Hey, we're not ready to go home because there's no air conditioning at home. Let's go see this movie, which would have been a really huge deal, because I

Carolyn Cochrane 31:15

like Walter Matthau or something like yeah, he's a great actor. We might as

Kristin Nilsen 31:19

well go see it. And my mom was so upset about the sassy Tatum O'Neal. Oh, I want to and she should have been because I was like, Yeah, sassy, like her Sass mouth. But my brother, who was probably four or five at the time, no, yeah, five. Anyway, he was so stressed out. They're like, we're going to see the bad news bears. He's like, because he didn't know it was a movie. And he thought my parents were breaking some bad news about bears. Like, what happened to the bears? It was just really heartbreaking. Like the Chicago Bears. Grizzly. Bear, how

Michelle Newman 32:01

do you have these memories? Still? How do you remember that? I don't know. Well, I feel like all the movies from my personal best of movie reel were summer blockbusters. And for me, they all began with Greece, which I'm going to talk about in a little bit. But I can't talk about summer movies that impacted me without mentioning one that our listeners already know I had feelings about. And that is the blockbuster, the Blue Lagoon, which was released on July 5 1980. And if you listened to our episode devoted to a rewatch of that movie, you know, my feelings are a little bit different now than they were then. But you'll remember that back in 1980, when little Michelle was just 11 years old. That movie was magical to me. Was it because I was swept up in the island romance between two underage cousins? Probably. Nick, was it that tension not knowing if or how they'd get off the island? I'm sure that was part of it. Or was it pausing and rewinding when Christopher Atkins walked around and a loincloth or swam with his puppy visibly floating around in the water? Yes, naked 100%. But for whatever the reason, historically great or currently cringy the Blue Lagoon will always hold a special place and my summer movie memories. And as we said in our Blue Lagoon episode, it being a summer release certainly helped with its popularity. That movie made $58.8 million at the box office. And we mentioned that like as we're going wow, this is really bad acting and the story is horrible. Why? Why was it so popular? Because people kept going back to see Christopher Atkins his puppy. Listen to that episode listeners. When we say puppy, you know are referring to and there's a reason we call it a puppy. You're gonna have to go back to that episode. And listen, it's a really funny conversation. We all basically watched did a watch party of Blue Lagoon and then immediately had a reaction. Oh, conversation about it. So definitely worth a listen. Well,

Carolyn Cochrane 34:07

like you said, Michelle, so many of the movies that I remember from growing up were ones that were released in the summer. And again, probably because we went a lot more in the summer. That was just movie time. I think if I ever went during the other times of the year, it was a really for a really special event or something. So oftentimes, there were great movies included in just one summer. So just listen to this. I'm going to read to you a list of movies that came out after we defined what the summer blockbuster was in 1975. So from 1976 Jaws, yeah, post jaws. Thank you. And we're going to chat and see if we remember them what they meant to us and you'll see why the summer movie experience really made an impact on us. Okay, so

Kristin Nilsen 34:51

here are the movies that came out in the summer of 1976 Post Jaws Logan's Run the Outlaw Josey Wales Bugsy Malone. When the Omen owed to Julie bow to Billy Joe, I'm gonna need my dog Julie bow. Silence. Me and lifeguard. Did you see any of

Michelle Newman 35:12

those? Well, no, not that summer. I mean, I was I was just seven years old and Bugsy Malone. Scott Bayeux was not on my radar yet, because I just got back. Well, it's pre 73 for free happy days. Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. And it's

Kristin Nilsen 35:27

definitely a really cute, really tiny Scott bayeaux. And I really wanted to see it was all children. And you know, you can only beg so much, but I didn't have a driver's license or a car. So right. Wait, but no credit card.

Carolyn Cochrane 35:39

I don't think you know what I do remember, a lot are the movie posters from some of those movies. Like, I can remember. I think I even remember the lifeguard one. But I remember the silent movie one.

Kristin Nilsen 35:52

I do, too. He's gonna like this. Yeah, at my fingertips.

Carolyn Cochrane 35:56

And I was an omen. I remember this was still the era of my parents would go to movies, or my mom would go with her friends. And you know, say I'm going to go see the omen. And I would just think, Oh, that was so grown up. Grown up. Yeah, that to me. 76 was kind of the, the last year of when I would go with my parents, because 1977 That was the year that I will probably remember the most in terms of a summer movie experience, because this was when I was dropped off at the theater. And with my friends. And my parents were like, Yeah, you can even see a PG movie with LTE. I know. And boy did I see

Kristin Nilsen 36:39

since parental guidance, title. Hey, I

Carolyn Cochrane 36:41

guess that I could do it. So. And let me tell you it PG was what I did. Okay, so, yes, so the only movie that I remember from 1976 that I'm sure I saw with my mom and my little sister was the Disney movie, Gus.

Kristin Nilsen 36:57

About the donkey. The donkey that could kick the Yeah, he was on a football team. That's so funny. That's the only one I remember seeing. Well, and

Carolyn Cochrane 37:06

I think for me, it was kind of the end of that kind of childhood. For me, I think, you know, we talked about 1976. And I think in a lot of ways, I'm just reflecting now is probably a real turning point in my growing up between 76 and 77. How I was viewed from my parents lens, like maturity wise, what I could handle what I could do, and 1976 was kind of the last year of maybe my innocence. Oh, gosh, right. So um, but like I said, 1977 this is the year for me. And I look at this list of movies that I'm going to read to you and kind of share some experiences and oh my gosh, they hit hard. Here are movies from 1977. We have Smokey and the Bandit one on one, the deep roller coaster. Which by the way was Helen Hunt's first movie role, Orca, Orca, the killer whale, the rescuers and Star Wars

I will start with one of my favorites that I probably saw three or four times Smokey and the Bandit. Oh, I love this movie. So so much. Probably because yes, it was one of the first PG movies I saw. But you guys had had it all. It had a love story. It had Sally Field who up until then was The Flying Nun for me. I mean, that's all I remember her from and Burt Reynolds. And he was kind of hot. Yes. And kind of had what I liked in a guy or when I'm starting to like guys, it was like he had this sense of humor. And but yet he had this great ability to drive and he was willing to take chances. And so that was really cute. And believe it or not, this movie debuted on a summer weekend Memorial Day of 1977. I won't tell you the other movie that also released that weekend. We'll get to that in a minute. But this movie Smokey and the Bandit was the second highest grossing domestic film of 1977. It was not just the summer of the entire Yes. And it's also where Bert and Sally kind of met and started dating remember that love affair breaks my heart because I guess I always thought Sally Field is this kind of goody two shoes. I mean, she's good yet. Yeah. For me,

Kristin Nilsen 39:27

right. But

Carolyn Cochrane 39:28

at the same time, I'm like, Oh, you can be as a good girl and still get the sexy Burt Reynolds like this. And this wasn't just in the movie. This was in real life. I loved their their relationship and just made me sad when they broke up because they were together a long time. Yeah. And you also might remember and maybe Kristen while your brother remembers that a lot is from the the theme song from the movie which Jerry Reed wrote which was called Eastbound and Down. You remember are we going to do my face I can see we've got so that might be another reason that it's one of those movies that transcended just the theater. We have that song on the radio and just that, you know, lifestyle of the ECB. Euro. Okay, so first PG movie that Oh, I was so this is why PG is PG, the deep. I saw the deep scary Yeah, whatever. I don't really remember that part. I remember seeing Jacqueline besets breast and nipples through her white t shirt. Like this was my first exposure to kind of nudity in quotation marks in a movie, like, oh, boy, this is again titillating because I've never seen this before. But it was my again, my first exposure to something beyond.

Kristin Nilsen 40:52

Did you think you're gonna get in trouble seeing her nipples in her breasts in her way?

Carolyn Cochrane 40:56

I thought I was gonna get in trouble. But I thought like, oh, I mean, I remember having a feeling. And I think my mom knew I was we were seeing the deep, so I don't think I thought I would get in trouble. I know my mom had had the book. I remember seeing the book on our bookshelf along with JAWS, which I would just flip through in jaws to read the scene of the naked girl swimming when she gets his describe what she looked like. So yeah, I guess I was kind of in the nudity or something. I don't know. Where we were. And you felt kind of grown up? Yeah, I think that was the movie that kind of I went, you know, sat a little straighter and stood up a little taller and was like, Yeah, I've made that made that leap.

Kristin Nilsen 41:38

Okay, and saving the best for last. Let's talk about Star Wars. So this was a neighborhood outing for me again, I had never heard of this movie. And she's called me and said, We're going to Star Wars and I'm like, whatever. Okay, I'm coming, but I had never heard of it. And she was so excited. And she's still a sci fi person to this day. I remember I got lemon drops and I spilled them all when I I don't know what happened. Something scary happened to Stormtrooper came around the corner and I spilled my lemon drops and they all rolled down the movie theater in here. They're rolling, rolling, rolling. And I remember my uncle standing in line and going. It's Adobe. Adobe, you guys. Dolby. But I didn't want to look stupid. So I was just like a Yeah, Dolby. But still to this day, and I am not. I'm gonna say this. So many times. I always preface it this way. I'm not a Star Wars geek. I'm not a star. I don't mean to classify you as a Star Wars person. But the experience of seeing Star Wars that first time in the theater, implanted something in me so that when I see a Star Wars movie today, and the yellow words start scrolling on the screen, I start to cry. I did the weirdest thing.

We also obviously got tons and tons of comments from followers about the summer that Star Wars came out. Amy Cecilia says, This is so sweet. You guys. My dad never went to or took us to the movies. But I remember standing in a line that wrapped around the building to see this movie with him.

Carolyn Cochrane 43:19

I have that same exact memory. It is one of the most special memories probably like top five memories of my entire life so far. Yeah, because my mom did not go with us. So it was just my sister and my dad and myself. And honestly, up till that point, I think maybe I've gone to the movies once with my dad, we saw the sound of music like when it came on the big screen when I was really young. But otherwise, this was the only time that I'd gone and we stood in a line. First time I'd ever stood in a line for a movie. It was a block. He was so excited. Yeah. He was like a little kid. And sadly back then all I wanted to do was like make my dad happy and stuff. So I was like, Oh, he's so happy. And he's so glad his daughters are here. And when we were in the movie, he was guilty. He was a giddy child. It was so it was so memorable. So yes, that will always be I mean, I love the movie.

Kristin Nilsen 44:11

But it wasn't you and Amy Cecilia? Yes. Again. Me. Yeah,

Michelle Newman 44:15

I totally know. And i i This is only one of, of maybe two or three movies of my entire life that I know I have a memory of going to the movie theater to see. I always wonder did I see that? And did I see that on at a birthday party did I see that EHS later but Star Wars? I was in fourth grade and I remember I went with my sister we went with our neighbors. Tim and David Tim was a girl and

Kristin Nilsen 44:39

I will throw that out there like no big deal. Tim

Michelle Newman 44:43

was Temperley but I remember going to the movie theater because it was the big deal movie and we had to see it. And I can remember sitting there I was in fourth grade. And the beginning of the movie I was all in. I was like this is great and probably about 25 minutes into that movie. I was completely confused. I was like, I don't understand what identity there I don't like, this isn't my kind of movie. I'm not liking this, but it's a big deal. And I remember convincing myself that I liked it. And I remember acting like I was all into Star Wars and, and maybe even seeing the second movie because that was the big deal. And I finally became an adult and realized I don't have to be a Star Wars person.

Kristin Nilsen 45:25

I think I was attached to and this holds true today, whether it's a book I'm reading or a moving movie I'm watching. I was attached to the characters. I had no idea what was going on. But I love see Threepio and yes, loved Princess Leia and I loved our two and so I had the little and I love yours and everything.

Michelle Newman 45:43

Yeah. 100% Yes. 100% Kristen, that was how I felt about the characters all about the characters and all about maybe we played it. Maybe we played Star Wars all the time. By the time I didn't know what I was doing. My sister

Carolyn Cochrane 45:57

and I would go around saying Obi Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope. Like whenever we needed something from the other one. Obi Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope. I'm

Kristin Nilsen 46:06

seeing you like in bed with a walkie talkie like Obi Wan Kenobi?

Michelle Newman 46:09

Did you guys know that? You know, we talked earlier that Jaws was the first blockbuster because it was the first movie to earn $100 million at the box office. This was only two years later, Star Wars surpassed Jaws with $775.8 million. So not just surpassed it. I mean $675 million more than jaws. And so that's when really it was in 1977 that these really big budget films became really popular because then that resulted in a surge of summer film drops throughout the 80s and 90s. Big budget ones like Alien Indiana Jones Jurassic Park Back to the Future.

Kristin Nilsen 46:46

Okay, we have a couple more comments here because people were really into Star Wars Marvel and says I had read some snippets about Star Wars in dynamite magazine and could not wait for it to come out. Our whole family went to see it including my grandmother who named her vacuum cleaner, r two d two after I saw it as many times as I could that summer. I thought the music was incredible. And I still have the double album I received for Christmas that year. I got it for Christmas.

Carolyn Cochrane 47:16

I can still see it and we played in band and music to

Kristin Nilsen 47:18

the Here's a comment from mom to stitch love which is not necessarily about Star Wars, but it is Star Wars related. She said dad wanted us to see close encounters. Mom thought we were too young, but Dad overruled us, my brother and I loved it and spent the rest of the weekend humming and singing that tune over and over and over again through to

Carolyn Cochrane 47:41

play that on the clarinet. Fingers, wiggling your fingers.

Kristin Nilsen 47:45

Raiders of the Lost Ark was another big movie for us and true to form. As soon as we got home. We were out in the yard trying to create whips out of old rope and singing the theme songs. Da da, da, da. And then this is the important part. She says seriously, John Williams wrote the background music for our entire childhood, our entire lives really. And so that relates back to the double album, The Star Wars double album that we all got for Christmas and we're going to talk about even more movies as we move forward. They're all John Williams and they're all stuck in our heads. So

Carolyn Cochrane 48:19

obviously 1977 was a big year for a lot of us 1978 Let's move to there we had heaven can wait. Animal House Parana jaws to and grease man

Michelle Newman 48:39

Greece was the summer movie blockbuster that started at all for me, I think. So I was nine years old. I was enamored and I spent hours that summer and many many subsequent summers current summer included singing and dancing to the soundtrack. You guys I would act out the entire movie and I love to be good sandy, which I think might be the title of my memoir. And I was I would love to like realize all the girls are making fun of me you know like I would act like they when when look at me on Saturday would be playing and then I would draw my knees up under my chin you know when I sing the reprise and then you know nine little nine year old Michelle all of a sudden was like pretending to like smash out her cigarette with foreigner learn with their high heel and when she told me about instead and and I would be up on my tippy toes twisting you know and it was just I just feel like and I know I'm preaching to the choir here I know everybody lives most people listening did the exact same thing with the shout tribe. It meant so much to us in that movie.

Kristin Nilsen 49:40

It spoke to a lot of people. I mean, I knew I was carnival Sandy. I'm still carnival Sandy. Grease was. It's still today for me holds my record for the number of times I saw a movie in the theater and it is nine. I saw it nine. Wow. In the theater. Yes.

Carolyn Cochrane 49:57

How old were you then you were When I was 1010, yeah, I

Kristin Nilsen 50:01

was 10 years old. And it was a lot of getting dropped off at Harmar mall with my friends. And I stopped with a bunch of different friends. And it was such a thing for us to go home. You know, because it lasted into the whole school year, right? You'd go home after school. What's one of your friends? And what do you do? Well, which one are we going to act out right now? Are you John Travolta? Are you Sandy? I'm going to be Sandy. No, you were Sandy last time. I mean, then you have to fight and decide who's going to be John Travolta who's going to be Sandy. And it

Michelle Newman 50:26

changes with every song because when we get to beauty school dropout, I was funny. I mean, yeah, always changed. You know, I was never Rizzo though, because she terrified me. And that's just I know, but that's so in character for me. It's funny, it's showing your

Kristin Nilsen 50:39

injectable, aren't we?

Carolyn Cochrane 50:40

Yeah. Right. And when you think about it, this movie, and maybe Star Wars for a lot of people. But this lasted with us far after we left the movie theater, like you said, we went home. And we sang it and we acted it out. And again, we have the double album, which if you remember, didn't have like a scrapbook II looking thing with I still have a year. But yes, yes, it was so great. And for me, the very first time I saw it was in Atlanta, Georgia with my cousins, we were doing our first road trip, come to think of it from Texas to New York. And then when we got to New York, my other cousins we were visiting, they had already seen it. And we were singing the songs all the time. And I distinctly remember my grandmother being there, and all of her grandkids were in one place at the same time, which rarely happened, if ever, I think that was maybe the only time that we were ever all together in the same place. They lived in New York, we lived in Houston. And we sang the heck out of that soundtrack. And we acted it out. I just remember her sitting in a chair. And really, in my mind thinking, this is a gift you give to your grandparents. And it was very important to me that my mom had those moments and Andy's parents were all of their grandkids were together at the same time. And Greece gave us the opportunity to have this shared experience no matter that we lived halfway across the country from each other, and that we got so excited about so those are my two super fond Greece memories.

Kristin Nilsen 52:04

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Carolyn Cochrane 52:58

And now we're at 1979 We've got the Amityville Horror The Muppet Movie Monty Python's Life of Brian alien Apocalypse Now rocky to Dracula, Patrick, and more American Graffiti. Oh, that's some of those kind of traitor. I don't know. Well, I looked at the thing for that. It's looks really creepy. It was some kind of creepy movie kind of a thing. But I gotta say 1979 The Amityville Horror, my first R rated movie. My best friend, Debbie's dad took us and I still have the ticket stuff. It's in my scrapbook. That's how monumental, my first R rated movie was. And then, of course, the fact that this was based on a true story, and could maybe really happen made the movie all that more intriguing and frightening to me. But it will always it will always be my very first R rated movie.

Kristin Nilsen 53:50

And so here's a hard turn to the left of the movie was a huge movie for my whole family. Because like you said, Carolyn, it was something that we could bring our whole family to, which was hard because my sister was like four years old, and I was 14. So what movies would encompass all of this, all of these people and the Muppet Movie did that my dad was the music teacher at my school. And he was so enamored with the Muppet Movie that he used the Muppet Movie soundtrack is the theme of our spring concert that year. My dad still loves the Muppets one time. One time you went in for a hug with my mom. And he's just like embracing your any goes I just love the Muppets

Michelle Newman 54:46

Oh god, I

Kristin Nilsen 54:47

love the

Carolyn Cochrane 54:49

the music honestly from that movie, that's what made an impact on me. And I also saw that movie with my friend Debbie. And she played the piano so we love the music so much. We went to the music next door and we bought the songbook with the piano music from it. And she would play and I would sit next to her and I couldn't sing. So God bless her mom for listening to us like me singing the rainbow connection and all that. But oh, I loved that the music is what I remember from that movie.

Kristin Nilsen 55:15

I loved learning because when you have sheet music, you get to see what the actual words are. So I loved learning that the were actual words were moving right along Dukka Dukka Dukka Dukka Dukka. Dune, here's what they do. Good, dude.

Carolyn Cochrane 55:32

We'll learn. All right, you guys. Now I think we really hit our sweet spot for Gen X summer movies were in the 80s and Jamie Loevy, who's the host of everything. 80s podcast wrote about the significance of summer movies in the 80s saying this, the 1980s set the stage for what summer at the movies would become the summer movies of the 80s were able to capture a unique tone and spirit that we still feel today when watching them. And I think you guys will agree when I review the list of films that we saw during the 1980s The summer of 1980 we get Caddyshack Friday, the 13th airplane, The Empire Strikes Back The Shining Mad Max and Michelle's favorite.

Kristin Nilsen 56:22

Okay, Caddyshack. First of all, I have still not seen this movie. I've never used it and it's

Carolyn Cochrane 56:29

it's this movie is this baby. Yeah, that's all I know.

Kristin Nilsen 56:33

I don't even know. The very first words that I ever spoke to my husband. I was gonna say my now husband, but that implies that he's temporary. He's not temporary. The very first words I ever spoke to my husband were Caddyshack themed embarrassment, because again, I had not seen the movie. I still have not seen the movie. And his last name is Noonan. And he introduced himself to me and I said, my boyfriend always goes Noonan. And I was. He's like, Yeah, I've heard that before. Well, first of all, I'm talking about my boyfriend. And then I'm saying something that he's like, everybody knows that.

Carolyn Cochrane 57:14

It's up to you. I don't know it. Okay.

Kristin Nilsen 57:16

And then Friday through Friday, the 13th. I would like to dedicate this to the Stein girls. Of course, of course, because I saw so many of these movies with the Stein girls whose mom was so much more permissive than mine. They went to our movies all the time. No big deal. There was big enough to have a discussion about it. And plus, they were twins. So they have so much power in their household. I was only one voice in my house and I would have to like get a campaign going to go see somebody but if the Stein rose wanted to go see a movie, we went to see the movie. And so we went to see Friday the 13th and I'm pretty sure that was my very first horror movie.

Michelle Newman 57:52

That's a bad one too. I mean, bad I mean, like that's scary.

Kristin Nilsen 57:57

But I oh the Stein girls quite a debt because a lot of we all do. I never cast does I know.

Michelle Newman 58:07

Well, aeroplane is a movie for me that I don't think. I don't think I knew how delightful stupid comedy was until I saw airplane. And that became then just a classic sleepover movie, right for everybody. You always had to show airplane. But you guys can I just mention, Vicki from The Love Boat when her IV gets yanked out by the guitar. That's an Oscar worthy performance. Her face is all contorted and just sing. And she's like pulling your cheeks in and like her hands.

Kristin Nilsen 58:43

That is seventh grade humor

Michelle Newman 58:44

at its finest. That entire movie from the very beginning. It's just a nonstop ride. It's just pure joy. And I think it definitely holds up. I haven't seen it in decades and just doing the research for this episode. I made a list of some things and that I want to rewatch an airplane is one of them. It's so good. It's so funny.

Carolyn Cochrane 59:03

Another one of those things that I love like Battle of the network stars where there were so many stars that you knew from other

Michelle Newman 59:09

agents heard Barbara Billingsley from Beaver and she like, doesn't she like talk like, it's really speaks. But so

Kristin Nilsen 59:21

funny Mrs. Cleaver speaking Jive is yes.

Carolyn Cochrane 59:23

Yeah, that made us chuckle. Oh, gosh, well, and then in 1980, we got the Empire Strikes Back and again, my dad was beside himself that here we get the next Star Wars movie. So again, he was thrilled to take us to see this one. And I think my mom was always thrilled when like for Star Wars on this because she got like a day to herself. You know, that's how I

Michelle Newman 59:46

feel every time my entire month for my kids and anytime they want to see the tiny Star Wars movie, and some of them have come out like on Christmas Eve or something or right and they'll they'll say, Oh, we feel so bad. We're leaving you for a few and I'm I go have fun Have fun why I love this day if

Carolyn Cochrane 1:00:03

you want to. Alright, so we've got now 1981 We've got Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark The Evil Dead Porky's and Mad Max to the road warrior.

Michelle Newman 1:00:15

And Porky's is you talk about like Friday the 13th Amityville Horror Porky's is the first movie that traumatized me. Oh, not a horror movie. But Porky's. I saw it way too young. I'm sure I don't I have no memory of that. I saw it in the theater that summer. I don't even know what it was rated. I just I think are I'm gonna get theater, but I probably saw it very soon after somehow. Asleep over maybe I don't know. But I was shocked. I was grossed out. I was completely intrigued, but I was, it was it's one of those movies that I like, couldn't look away from, if that makes sense. Like, I didn't like it, but like, I couldn't stop watching it. And I have images and scenes from porkies to this day that are tattooed on the inside of my eyelids I swear like Beulah pulling Tommy's penis through the poke hole with all her might, in our shower. Oh, there and then just just the characters and meat. Like I can just picture what meat looked like, I just, it's not a good it's not like a good memory. Like, I don't not want to rewatch that because it's like, I've seen it enough. Like, yeah,

Kristin Nilsen 1:01:25

that's funny, because I have the same feelings about Porky and I never saw it the stump but the stunning girl saw it, and they told me all the things you're talking about. They told me about and I think I was like, I'm gonna stay home.

Carolyn Cochrane 1:01:38

Yeah, yeah, that was a little much. I agree. All right. Now I'm gonna move on to 1982 and we've got rocky three. Poltergeist at. Blade Runner, the thing, Tron and Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

Kristin Nilsen 1:01:56

Okay, you guys, this was my year. I mean, talk about Stein girls. I should just call them up right now. Let's just bring them on. Yes. Although this first one I saw with Christie bougie shout out to Christie bougie rocky three you guys. This seems so unlikely. I don't like sports ball types of things. I don't like things that are super testosterone any this this? This pairing does not match. But I have feelings about rocky three big feelings. I had a crush on this movie. Not Sylvester Stallone. I had crushed like feelings for the movie itself. And when Rockies coach Mickey dies, played by Burgess Meredith. I was destroyed. And I just watched it again on YouTube. Not the movie, just the part we're making. And I sobbed. I sobbed like it was 1982 for two minutes and 32 seconds. Watching Virgin America Burgess Meredith die again. And then rocky rises from the ashes of his grief. And let's not forget, this is where we get the eye of the tiger.

And this whole soundtrack okay, I was gonna say it was really good. That's not true. This whole soundtrack I was obsessed with. That's different. It's not the same, but it even had an instrumental called Mickey Burgess Meredith I know Okay, and here's a fun fact about I have the Tiger I am the tiger was recorded at the request of Sylvester Stallone. When Queen would not give him permission to use another one bites the dust is the theme for Rocky three.

Carolyn Cochrane 1:03:55

Oh, well. I'm glad they didn't speak I knows I have the tiger it's that can be the only thing

Kristin Nilsen 1:04:03

It's legendary. It's it was nominated for an Oscar for Best Song from a movie and it lost to Up Where We Belong from Officer and a Gentleman which should be on this list also saw with the Stein girls and The World According to Garp should be on this list. Also. I loved it

Carolyn Cochrane 1:04:25

when I fell in love with Richard Gere, oh my totally

Kristin Nilsen 1:04:27

when he puts the he carries around the factory and puts the hat on her flashing. Et Okay, let's talk at shall we? A lot of people have a lot of feelings about et and this is from one of our followers from my Luna lapdog June 1982. I never cried more in a theater before or since the ending destroyed me. Years later, I learned Steven Spielberg loved John Williams music so much he re edited the ending to fit the film shots to the me Music. I watched it soon after, and I was destroyed a second time. Earlier this year, I was fortunate to watch John Williams perform music from his movies live at Carnegie Hall. He played flying theme from et. It was so emotional and I was destroyed a third time. The lesson here is there are movies and music that move us even 40 years later, it transports me back to a simpler time and place a fond and strong memory, where a boy says goodbye to his best friend, a weird, ugly alien turd. I'm going to stop here before I'm destroyed for the fourth time.

Michelle Newman 1:05:37

I love that I remember when I read that on Instagram, and I thought that's what that's what the PCPs does too, though is it connects all this nostalgia and it makes it it makes it important again. I also love how she calls at a weird alien turn weird alien. It's like a perfect way.

Kristin Nilsen 1:05:53

Perfect description. It's so true. I saw et in the theater with my whole family in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. We were Yeah. When

Michelle Newman 1:06:04

your memory is.

Kristin Nilsen 1:06:08

Well, but there's, we have a real marker. There was no way I was going to forget this because we were out east visiting relatives. And my grandma wanted to go visit her cousin sick and her husband sick, sick and sick. They were cigarette and cigarettes, they were sick and sick. She had to go see sick and sick. And it must have been obvious that we were so effing bored. That eventually a plan is hatched that we need to go do something we're going to leave my grandma was sick and sick. And we're going to go do something. So sick says singer says there's a movie theater just down the highway. So we get the phone book out and we call the movie theater. And they're playing et This is awesome. So but we don't know how to get to the movie theater. So sick. Sigurd says, I'll drive and you can follow me. So Sigurd is old, and his glasses are about an inch thick. And it was not enough. And that was a hellscape we our whole family is scarred by this drive to the movie theater. He It was like he didn't see any of the cars on the highway. It was like he was the only one on the highway. And we're all like, oh. Watch out. So when he says he'll come back to get us we're like, nope, we'll just buy a map. We'll just buy a map. But et was magical. For all of us. Again, ages four to 14. The whole family was just totally enraptured with this movie. And I think it was my sister's first movie. I think it was the first one she ever saw.

Michelle Newman 1:07:44

And that's the summer of Fast Times at Ridgemont High, which left a mark on me for sure. I mean, I was I loved that movie. It was so scandalous, and so many grown up issues. That it was it felt. I felt like it was wrong to watch it. But it was one of those movies that we all felt like we're getting away with something by watching it. That's true. That's another good rewatch, but that movie that movie left a mark on me for sure.

Kristin Nilsen 1:08:09

Yeah, for sure. Well,

Carolyn Cochrane 1:08:10

let's see if any did from 1983 We've we got Trading Places Return of the Jedi Superman three National Lampoon's Vacation,

Kristin Nilsen 1:08:20

which could be the most iconic summer movie of all time. So talk about it. It's not a road trip movie that we just mentioned. Yes, we Yes, totally. I mean, it was about summer, it was a totally relatable thing that everybody had experienced that everybody has a love hate relationship with the cross country road trip. And there are scenes from this movie that we in my family still act out are lines that we say today both my family of origin and the family that I made when Liam's feet smell. We all go Russ, Russ, your feet, your feet, press your feet. When something happens, and we don't know what the causes we say, I know what happened. It didn't come in. I don't know if I have to explain any of this or people just know when someone orders food in a restaurant that looks a little too healthy. They say what no meat in this. And somebody will always say you get plenty of meat at home 100% of the time, and we live in a place where we cross the Mississippi River all the time. We if you are going from Minneapolis to St. Paul, you are going to cross the Mississippi River it could be every single day. And when you do Samara, the car is going to go do River.

Michelle Newman 1:09:36

Oh yeah 100% of the time when our kids were little Brian would always just say see that kid. That's the Mississippi mighty mess. Oh

Kristin Nilsen 1:09:44

man, man.

Michelle Newman 1:09:47

Man. Oh Man River. Yeah, we still do.

Kristin Nilsen 1:09:51

River I once paid Liam $20 to do to wrap I'm serious because this is how important it was to me to wrap it shirt around his head and run aimlessly in the desert of Joshua Tree National Park so I could get a picture. And I was like, will you please take off your watch and throw it? And he was like, No, that's 20 I was like, fine. You don't have to throw your watch, you know, through watch. This movie will live on in my family forever. And here are a few fun facts about it. So Michael Anthony Hall was going through full on puberty during the filming of this movie. And he grew three inches during the film. No, yeah. So he looks dramatically different from the beginning of the movie to the end. And again, once you know that you can't unsee it. And the gas station scene worse Chevy Chase is looking for the gas cap. And he's pulling, he finally just starts pulling on the license plate and he pulls it off and it goes flying. Not only was that unscripted, it was accidental. So when he throws the license plate that was by accident, and when he the look on his face is like oh shit, he's really concerned. He's gonna hit the woman behind him. Like that extra that they're paying 20 bucks an hour. Right. Anthony Michaels halls

Michelle Newman 1:11:03

voice also drops by It does. Yeah.

Carolyn Cochrane 1:11:05

Well, in 1984 We had some real classics. We got Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Star Trek three. The Search for Spock, Ghostbusters. Gremlins, the Karate Kid The Muppets Take Manhattan Revenge of the Nerds, and Purple Rain.

Michelle Newman 1:11:33

Nice 84 is definitely going to be when I'm starting to come in to all the summer movies as almost everything you read. I'm like, yes, yes. Yes. Not a lot on that list. Because a lot of them are the genre of movies. I don't see. But one that you mentioned that I was all about was the Karate Kid. And that had everything to do with just the romance of that movie. And, you know, I'm 15 years old and deeply into that teen romance. And I mean, so what's more romantic basically then the very cute, you know, underdog, literally fighting the bully? Girl pretty much. So I that movie holds a special place in my heart for sure. And I of course, I've kept watching it. What? I've never seen Karate Kid. Oh, it's so good.

Kristin Nilsen 1:12:15

Can you believe it? So it was at the Anoka theater forever. And somehow I missed it. Well, 1984 was a big year for me too, especially with two of the movies on the list that you mentioned. And that is Ghostbusters, and Purple Rain. And the two of these movies are related in my mind. And I will explain. Yeah, please. So to be 16 in Minneapolis, in 1984, when Purple Rain is released, is hard to describe it, it was electric. It felt like the movie was personal. And this is how this is how it's related to Ghostbusters. So Ghostbusters. In the summer of 1984, I inadvertently accidentally found myself dating two people at the same time. I don't know exactly how it happened. And I didn't mean for it to happen. And so the first date that I had with one of these people was Ghostbusters. And he grabbed my hand and we were holding hands, which I was very uncomfortable with because I hardly knew this guy at this point. And I'm I think that's holding hands is very intimate. And so I was like, Oh God, what do I do? The other person I was dating was somebody that I had broken up with and had come back. And I just couldn't seem to manage this very well. And it was really torturous. And when I went to see Purple Rain, there's a scene in the movie where he's singing a song called the beautiful ones on stage. And it's really quite excruciating. It's a super emotional song. And there's a part in the song where he says he just screams Do you want him? Or do you want me? Because I want you. And when he's seeing this prince is looking right at me. We're making eye contact. I think that we're having a personal conversation, and he's shaming me and destroying me and I am crying and crying and crying and still to this day when that song comes on. I get down on my knees because I it was the first time I realized that I was being an asshole. I was hurting people. And it was Prince who made me feel that and know that. And I swear to god you guys there's that there. It's like the ghost of Prince can speak to me right now through this song. It's still visceral, it still makes me feel

Carolyn Cochrane 1:14:49

well now we're moving on to 85 and we've got a View to a Kill Fletch Back to the Future The Goonies Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. National Lampoon's European Vacation Pee Wee's Big Adventure. Follow that bird Weird Science Teen Wolf. St. allmost. Fire.

Kristin Nilsen 1:15:06

What is follow that bird

Michelle Newman 1:15:08

I want to talk about follow that bird has such an impact. I'm just kidding. It's a street movie.

Kristin Nilsen 1:15:16

Oh, okay. That's what I didn't see it. I was a teenager.

Carolyn Cochrane 1:15:19

Yeah. Okay, so back to the future just obviously left a mark. And I mean, I was who didn't love Michael J. Fox. Right. And to see him to make that leap from family ties to the big screen. And this was kind of the summer of Michael J. Fox, because he also had Teen Wolf out on the

Kristin Nilsen 1:15:38

under my radar. Yeah, because of maybe because of Back to the Future. Yeah,

Carolyn Cochrane 1:15:42

I didn't want to see him turn Harry and stuff. That was not something I wanted to see. But back to the future. I mean, that's nostalgic in and of itself, just the whole premise of that movie. But gosh, did I love that and say I cried and I loved it.

Kristin Nilsen 1:15:58

You're my density is just I

Michelle Newman 1:16:02

just missed that whole movie as magic.

Carolyn Cochrane 1:16:04

That really is loved it I will just say that St. Almost fire put that brat pack. Really? My mind. I mean, we did have breakfast club. But now we've got Rob Lowe in the pack. And yeah, I'm gone for the bros So

Michelle Newman 1:16:18

adults st almost fire was so exciting for me because I loved so many of them and they're I had such a crush on Andrew McCarthy. But they were all adults in that movie. And that's that's where it was different than the Breakfast Club or the pretty pinks. They were grown up and it was kind of cool to aspire to have those friends and live in the city. Well, let's

Carolyn Cochrane 1:16:36

rock on into 1986 We've got alien Ferris

Kristin Nilsen 1:16:41

Bueller's Day Off. Wait, aliens. That's a big difference.

Michelle Newman 1:16:44

Yeah. Okay, what is

Carolyn Cochrane 1:16:46

aliens? is the sequel to alien.

Kristin Nilsen 1:16:48

SQL title ever is really bad. I

Michelle Newman 1:16:52

didn't even know that ID when I just knew that aliens. Okay, aliens.

Carolyn Cochrane 1:16:57

Ferris Bueller's Day Off Top Gun Stand By Me the fly Laborat helped

Kristin Nilsen 1:17:04

me lab rat Burnett labyrinth. David Bowie,

Carolyn Cochrane 1:17:07

Labyrinth flight of the Navigator Howard the Duck Transformers The Movie. And about last night. And oh, I

Kristin Nilsen 1:17:16

love that.

Michelle Newman 1:17:17

That's a great one. That's the one. I just rewatched that a couple months ago. That was the blueprint track soundtrack Sheena Easton so

Carolyn Cochrane 1:17:34

Oh, I had it on a cassette meet.

Michelle Newman 1:17:37

And after I rewatched it a couple of months ago or a few months ago. I put that song on like for playlists and I love it.

Carolyn Cochrane 1:17:43

I love that movie. Truly. It informed what my life after college was going to be. Sexy movie

Michelle Newman 1:17:49

too. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I didn't realize it when I watched it the first time but watching it again a few months ago. Yep. My husband and I are like whoa, whoa, you don't feel like you have to look away anymore though.

Carolyn Cochrane 1:18:00

But that was going to be my life. I don't know about the sex part. But I was definitely going to have this cool group of friends. I was going to live by Lake Michigan. I was going to play softball I was going to have you know meet people at bars. shockers. Oh, yeah, I mean, that was what I aspire to. So that was a big deal for me. Now Top Gun. I've already shared a lot of my feelings about that in our host chat. But I do want to say that for months and months I aspired to have my hair looked like Kelly McGillis. Oh, I wanted Kelly McGillis hair. I was original hair. And boy did I invest in that Aussie scrunch spray? I mean, I was really I mean, I can still feel myself trying to get that perfect kinky triangle ish.

Michelle Newman 1:18:43

Sticky your hands and

Carolyn Cochrane 1:18:45

the smell. I can't Yes. smell smell.

Kristin Nilsen 1:18:48

Just the smell of my dorm.

Michelle Newman 1:18:51

So much. Oh, yeah, yeah, well that night Chase six go by without just mentioning and giving a huge shout out to Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I'm not gonna go into it. We all know why. It's fantastic. We all know why we loved it. We all know why it's iconic. But that movie definitely is one that I think for all of us. is unforgettable. Yeah, yeah.

Carolyn Cochrane 1:19:11

Another iconic one. Now we're gonna move on to 1987 where we've got Beverly Hills Cop to Ernest 87 Rules

Michelle Newman 1:19:18

sorry.

Carolyn Cochrane 1:19:22

Just because why the

Michelle Newman 1:19:24

80s no show you graduated you know when you get every time when graduation you everything was like 8786 rules. Yeah, no, we didn't say that. Every time someone says 87 or 1987. I can't let it go by with us. Okay,

Carolyn Cochrane 1:19:39

well, I just read it from college in 87. So okay, so it rules when we see predator and Spaceballs and Full Metal Jacket and Revenge of the Nerds to and Robocop and summer school and Lubanga, and masters of the universe and back to the beach, who's that girl and the iconic, Dirty Dancing Okay, and

Kristin Nilsen 1:20:00

you forgot you've got lost boys. This was a big one for Amy Mahoney. She's one of our commenters and Amy said, You guys, this is a good story buckle up. It's it's more than a comment. It's a story and I'm gonna read you the whole thing, but it's good. Okay, so Amy says, In the summer of 1987, my friends and I hopped into my red 1968 VW bug and drove to the hickory Ridge Mall in Memphis, Tennessee to see the Lost Boys. We were all so excited and it did not disappoint. Big hair, great music, Sam's dog, Nanak and vampires. I secretly wanted to be star minus the whole needing to drink blood scenario. It had everything we wanted in a scary movie, maybe too much. Even right out of the gate. A couple was killed by the vampires while they were reading comic books in their VW Bug. We went to the last showing of the day. So in the movie led out the mall was already closed. The parking lot was practically empty, and dark, very dark. None of us wanted to admit it. But the long walk across the dark parking lot was a bit scary. We may or may not have been on the lookout for vampires with every step. Once we were safely in the car with doors locked and windows rolled up. I tried to start the car so we could honestly get the hell out of there. Only it didn't start. I tried again. Nothing. He were stranded helpless vampire bait

Michelle Newman 1:21:22

at a mall at

Kristin Nilsen 1:21:26

1987. We had no cell phones. The only way we could call for help was to walk back across that empty dark vampire filled parking lot to use a payphone outside of the mall. We did get help. We did all survive. But to this day, we all love that movie, not only because it's vampire perfection, but because of the memory surrounding it. And how we were almost all killed by vampires that summer night in 1987.

Michelle Newman 1:21:51

God it's such a good story. My favorite. I remember when I read that saying vampire bait just starting out was so funny. We were stuck there. A vampire bait. Amy we love that story. Literally rates are so great. Well, for sure. The summer blockbuster that had and has had the most that has had the most impact on me is dirty dancing and Christian like you said earlier that you have crushed like feelings on a movie I had crushed like feelings on Dirty Dancing. I know this is one that I can remember I saw it in Scottsdale, Arizona, I had graduated. And by June, so I'm 18 years old and I'm not 95% positive is with my best friend Lisa. But we were shocked we were instantly obsessed with baby with Johnny the setting the wardrobe, the soundtrack, the dancing, and I mean it when you're 18 years old, and you feel like you're kind of awkward out of place and never really had a real boyfriend. And you see Patrick Swayze who's this older, sexier man who can fall in love with this awkward, quirky kind of out of place girl that leaves a mark and it was just, you know, we were all about the dance anyway, we my friend Lisa and I were dancing were dancers. And so that part was exciting. I couldn't get enough of it. I couldn't get enough of that I must have worn out my cassette tape. And it was just it was it was thrilling. It was I feel like 18 years old was the perfect age for this movie. But what I feel like is really funny is now if I come across that movie, and I own it, like in all forms, but I don't bother to watch it if I come across it. And I think it was honestly because I oversaturated myself with it in 1987 and 1988 so I know that movie by heart the same with Pretty in Pink. I know these movies so much by heart that I really don't choose to watch them the soundtrack however I will listen to all the time. Yeah, there's so much goodness in that movie. Yeah, that is a movie that is in my top movies of like the most important movies I think in my life. I think

Kristin Nilsen 1:23:57

I've grown to love that more as time goes on. I think I was strangely indifferent to it when it came out. And now I adore it.

Carolyn Cochrane 1:24:05

Alrighty, so 1988 We've got a few sequels that come to us this year we've got young guns Crocodile Dundee to Rambo three big Who Framed Roger Rabbit coming to America short circuit to cocktail diehard A Fish Called Wanda Big Top peewee Caddyshack too, and makin me that is a long to great

Michelle Newman 1:24:27

list too. And these are like I said before we're all now coming into all my summers right? So big, obviously. I mean, gosh, that is a movie that holds up to the only thing I will say about big you guys that I can never in my whole life. Get over. I love love love this movie, but to this day, the part where he sleeps with Susan Elizabeth Perkins. No, no. Well, I don't care that his body looks big. He's a 12 year old boy inside and he has sex with Olivia penis. It's just Even though he isn't, well a man and I don't kiss them, but he's a 12 year old boy. But I wanted to just mention shout out to cocktail because that was the first movie I saw with my now husband. We weren't even dating yet. We were kind of in that flirty stage. All

Carolyn Cochrane 1:25:13

right, you guys, we're gonna move on to 1989 we have Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Dead Poets Society, no holds barred Batman Ghostbuster to me, I Shrunk the Kids. Love Weekend at Bernie's, the Karate Kid part three, license to kill Turner and Hooch parenthood, Uncle Buck, I know I'm missing some because it got chopped off. It doesn't matter. I feel like I saw most of those. I want to share this memory that one of our followers Laura shared on Facebook because I thought it was really special. She said she was raised by a single mom and money was tight. They didn't really go on vacations very often. So she remembers this particular week where they went and saw three movies, Indiana Jones, Batman, Dead Poets Society. And she said it was such a big deal because her mom didn't even really like going to the movie theater. But that is one of her favorite memories of all time. So sweet. So that's so sweet. So that 1989 Summer of movies made a real impact on Lara. Oh,

Michelle Newman 1:26:16

yeah. Well, and I got you know, you can't you can't read that list without just giving a shout out to Dead Poets Society of Laura, When Harry Met Sally, obviously, and parenthood classic the OTO Yes,

Kristin Nilsen 1:26:28

this conversation has been really very inspiring for me, you guys because it makes me so appreciative for those experiences that I had. But it also makes me really appreciative of the fact that I'm faxed and boosted. And most of the people around me are vast and boosted so that we can go to the bar again. I really, I really, really missed that, especially in the summertime. But you know, what might be an even better idea. For you, listeners, I'm talking to you. I think you should plan a summer blockbuster film festival, with your families or with your friends do it in the garage or do it in the backyard. And on the last night. You show jaws.

Carolyn Cochrane 1:27:09

Great idea. Yes, I can't wait to come over Kristen. Just let us know. All right.

Michelle Newman 1:27:16

Carolyn, I was saying this thinking the same thing like well, I guess we're going to Christians house. I'll bring the candy. If she thinks this is such a good idea.

Carolyn Cochrane 1:27:27

Oh, good, isn't it?

Kristin Nilsen 1:27:28

Do it, listeners do it. We love you guys. Thank you so much for listening. And we'll see you next time. Yes, please

Carolyn Cochrane 1:27:34

join us next time. We've got lots of fun things to share on this nostalgic roller coaster that we're on. And we look forward to doing that with you.

Michelle Newman 1:27:42

And we want to thank all of you for still being with us on this episode. And listen, if you made it to the end of our entire summer blockbuster movie anthology, thank you. But also thank you so much for your support for sharing our podcast with others. And by clicking those stars and leaving a nice review. We say it all the time. But honestly, it's important. We go back we read the reviews on Apple podcasts from time to time to boost our confidence. And to remind ourselves that people are loving our silly conversations, and that they're more meaningful than we sometimes realize. You guys they like us. Really, really. And for those of you who take your support to the next level on Patreon, a huge thank you. Honestly, you guys are what is quite literally keeping us truckin and keeping us talking. And today we're giving a special shout out to some of our newest patrons. carmy Jen, Ashley and Colleen, thank you all so much. And if you'd like to explore our Patreon page and see all the fun, exclusive perks our patrons get, just go to patreon.com pa t ar e o n.com and type our name up in the search bubble. Or you can find links on our social media and in the show notes.

Kristin Nilsen 1:28:58

In the meantime, let's raise our glasses for a toast courtesy of the cast of Three's Company to good times, to Happy Days to

Carolyn Cochrane 1:29:08

Little House on the Prairie.

Kristin Nilsen 1:29:12

The information opinions and comments expressed on the pop culture Preservation Society podcast belongs solely to Carolyn the crush ologists and hello Newman, and are in no way representative of our employers or affiliates. And though we truly believe we're always right, there's always a first time the PCPs is written produced and recorded in Minneapolis, Minnesota, home of the fictional WGN studios and our beloved Mary Richards Nananana. Keep on truckin and may the Force be with you.

Speaker 1 1:29:36

We don't travel together, spread of love and hate looking for. Something always happens we'll never weave together again.