1982: The Greatest Geek Year Ever

Technically, there was a superhero movie this year, but it takes a while to get to it. As it happens, Clint Eastwood, whose most likely final film was just unceremoniously dumped into theaters, had two films release this year. Genre fans were truly spoiled this year, but we didn’t know how good we had it growing up in the 1980s. Looking back, most viewers will agree with the general enthusiasm of the commentators in Roger Lay Jr.’s 1982: The Greatest Geek Year Ever, which releases Tuesday on DVD in a feature-documentary cut.

It will not take long to convince readers of 1982’s cinematic merits. Just look at the highlights: E.T., Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Rocky III, Creepshow, Poltergeist, and Conan the Barbarian. Amongst the “flops” were universally beloved classics like John Carpenter’s The Thing and Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner. Plus, there were “minor” hits like The Swamp Thing (the lone “superhero” movie) and Tron, which scratched out its profitability for Disney through video game tie-ins.

There were several historic firsts, like Friday the 13^th, Part III, which was the first film in which Jason wore the iconic hockey mask. Sadly, Halloween III: The Season of the Witch became the first and last installment of the Halloween franchise not featuring Michael Myers, but in retrospect, it was one of the best. Filmmakers took risks, which sometimes paid off, as with Jim Henson’s brilliant The Dark Crystal.

All of the above films are covered in considerable detail during Greatest Geek Year Ever—and rightfully so. However, some of the omissions will leave you scratching your head, like Jean-Jacques Annaud’s Quest for Fire and Alan Parker’s Pink Floyd: The Wall, which were shoot-for-the-moon movies if ever there was one. Weirdly, nobody mentions this was the first year Disney faced serious competition for theatrical animation, from Don Bluth’s The Secret of NIMH, and Rankin-Bass’s The Last Unicorn.

They cover some of the “prestige” films as well, while lamenting the Best Picture Oscar for Ghandi over so many other films that have become a part of our lives (yet, it is not as egregious as Kramer vs. Kramer winning in 1979, which stands as another incredibly deep year for movies). Appropriately, Lay and company spend a good deal of time on Eastwood’s Firefox, which arguably represents the very first “techno-thriller,” whereas Eastwood’s much more personal Honkytonk Man is ignored. Perhaps one of the most glaring oversights is An Officer and a Gentleman, which is only mentioned it passing, but still holds up and its military cred ought to buy it more screen discussion.

Frankly, some of the most entertaining segments focus on more idiosyncratic selections, like The Beastmaster, which became a hit on video, and the Roger Corman-produced Forbidden World, mostly because it is always fun to hear the low-budget mogul reminisce. Yet, nobody is more tongue-in-cheek than Barry Bostwick looking back on the goofiness of Hal Needham’s Megaforce.

In fact, Lay assembles quite a cast of interview subjects, including Bostwick, Corman, Adrienne Barbeau (Creepshow, Swamp Thing), Keith David (The Thing), Dee Wallace (E.T.), Sean Young (Blade Runner), William Shatner (Star Trek II, Airplane II), John Dykstra (Firefox), Don Coscarelli (Beastmaster), Nicholas Meyer (Star Trek II), Henry Winkler (Night Shift), Amy Heckerling (Fast Times at Ridgemont High), and Lisa Henson (of the Henson Company).

There are plenty of film critics offering commentary too, but, wisely, they mostly avoid annoying buzzwords like “patriarchy.” In fact, one even gives Pres. Reagan credit instilling the optimistic mood that made many of these films possible—albeit grudgingly. Honestly, this documentary provides even more evidence the 1980s were a great decade for both movies and politics. Recommended for the nostalgia and the pop culture history, 1982: The Greatest Geek Year Ever releases this Tuesday (11/5) on DVD.