Rewinding the '80s by John Malahy
'Rewinding the '80s' by John Malahy
The ‘70s have been called Hollywood’s second golden age. In Rewinding the ‘80s, John Malahy argues that the ‘80s were just as good, different, but just as conducive of excellence as the previous decade. Of course, he has no lack of first rate ‘80s titles to cite, from On Golden Pond to Gandhi, The Empire Strikes Back to The King of Comedy. He can point to ‘80s innovations, albeit much of the new technology was nurtured by star producer-directors such a George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola who emerged in the ‘70s. But even as he chronicles the decade’s memorable films, Malahy can’t help but comment on an industry whose CEOs were became less interested than ever in filmmaking and more concerned with profitability.
Malahy concedes the point, writing that “the priorities of studios were shifting in the ‘80s, partly because the studios themselves were in flux. The industry was being reshaped,” he continues, by a string of corporate takeovers. Also, “blockbusters were beginning to overshadow more challenging work.” The author tends to disparage the auteur theory but many of the directors he features in Rewinding the ‘80s—Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Brian De Palma, even John Hughes—produced bodies of work with the thematic and stylistic consistency characteristic of auteurs.
Quibbling aside, Rewinding the ‘80s is a brightly illustrated, fun to read look back at the decade, the era when home video (primarily VHS) and cable provided new production channels for filmmakers and new ways for audiences to watch. Music videos proliferated, multiplexes mushroomed despite competition from home entertainment and “the robust market for soundtrack albums” changed the way music was used in movies.
Malahy, a TCM staffer, also points to a factor less recognized. Rising interest rates as the ‘80s began made studios reluctant to borrow money to produce “nonsurefire hits.” And there was a problem growing out of the ‘70s golden age—the egos of directors (cue Michael Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate) who spent millions on elaborate cinematic dreams shared by almost no one. By the time an actor from a previous golden age, Ronald Reagan, became president, the mood abated for asking profound questions through film. Masterpieces were still being made and found audiences, think Sophie’s Choice, but the comfort food of Back to the Future was a better fit for the multiplexes.
Rewinding the ‘80s is valuable not only for ranking the hits and listing the Oscar wins but for looking beyond Hollywood to Europe and Asia, even including one of the best World War II films ever made, Russian director Efrem Klimov’s Come and See.
Rewinding the ‘80s: Cinema Under the Influence of Music Videos, Action Stars, and a Cold War is published by Running Press.
