There are a few decades in film history that have been as scrutinized as the 1980s, but to really understand the decade and its movies, it's going to take a couple of someone's who were there for it the first time around.

Drew McLean and Scott Weinberg are ready to review every major film of the decade, one month at a time. The look at what worked then, what endoers now, and how it felt to be there when it all went down. Turn back the calendar with us. It's the 80s all over. I'm gonna have to go back to the hotel.

I'm gonna have to go back to the hotel.

I'm gonna have to go back to the hotel. It's the 80s all over. IBM released DOS 2.0 for the PC, which is sorta like saying English began. OPEC cut oil prices for the first time in 23 years. Ronald Reagan introduced the Star Wars Strategic Defense Initiative and coined the charming phrase evil empire to describe the Soviet Union. And for the first and only time in their entire publishing history, Time Magazine was forced to recall a cover for a typo when they spelled the word control, C-O-N-T-O-L. That is one hell of a boners. We kick off our discussion on March of 1983 and speaking of boners, here's my co-host, Scott Weinberg. Hello, Drew McQueenie. How are you? I'm recording on new equipment. I'm going to pretend like, congratulations, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry,

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, cannot thank you enough for. If you are a Patreon subscriber already then you know

about the incredible bonus content you get and if you're for. If you are a Patreon subscriber already, then you know about the incredible bonus content that you get, and if you're not, man, you are missing out on House to Show because I really feel like the bonus episodes have become just as interesting, if not more varied and different. So really, you guys are missing interviews, commentaries and mail bags and all sorts of extra stuff. Bill Haters, been a guest, Paul Sheer has been a guest. Leah Thompson, Barbara Crampton is coming up. Thank you deeply. We truly appreciate it. I've been a part of a lot of good teams and a lot of good projects over the years. And this is one of the best things I've been a part of. So it means a lot that people like it so much. What are the fun of doing this show is the enormous amount of research and energy that we put into it.

One of the things that doing this show is the enormous amount of research and sort of energy

that we put into it.

One of the things that I'm really enjoying is as we go back and we look at these months

coming up against a lot of the reissues because that is something we just don't have anymore.

We have, you know, revival screenings or we have repertory screenings.

But it's just not the same thing as when the whole nation gets a movie for three weeks again of course smart parents will introduce their children to animated classics and not just is knee but uh... all any kind of family classics uh... but there is was something cool about being able to go see uh... the aristocrats or uh... the film that we're about to discuss right now this sort of stone which i would never have seen on the on the big screen. And because Disney did these reissues, you know, a whole generation of kids were able to see them. The magic research and so did the fun. Why do I have a wizard? Well, Disney's timeless classics, The Sword and the Stone. It's the immortal tale of young King Arthur, together with an all-new Winnie the Pooh feature at A Day For Yor. Walt Disney's classic The Sword in the Stone and A Day For Yor. Catch him before they disappear, rated G. Now playing at a theater near you. Check local listings. It's a minor Disney classic, you call it Disney classic, right? Yeah, it's still like that age of all the great animators and the guys who sort of define what we think is Disney style. And it's a lot of fun to watch. It's a weird adaptation of what's in Future King though because it's like seven pages right in the middle of the book where he's a little boy that they're dealing with. They don't deal with anything else. And it makes me wonder if there would have been more King Arthur movies if Disney continued

or if he'd lived long enough to maybe put... with, they don't deal with anything else. And it makes me wonder if there would have been

more King Arthur movies if Disney had continued or if he'd lived long enough to maybe push more of them into production. I would have liked to have seen that Arthur in that mirlin again. For me, I think it's a great little gateway movie. It's certainly not among the upper echelon of Disney classics. But like Robin Hood, which also has a place in a lot of people's hearts. I think these are great little intros, you know, I imagine a five-year-old boy or girl

watching the sword in the stone and not maybe falling in love with it, but with that we'll spark in them the interest in the King Arthur legend and therefore maybe the classics and other reading other books, you know, that kind of thing. It cracks me up because I just mentioned when I was watching on Twitter the other day. I mentioned that one little, the one scene he's changing Arthur and all the animals and he leaves that little girl squirrel heartbroken

and it's amazing how many people immediately replied because that traumatized them when they saw when they were young. And how about the other reissue, Drew? Would you recommend the other reissue? I'm not sure what it was. Well, you know, if you have a chance to go to a movie theater and see raiders of the Lost Ark Holy Christ Yes. the Marheiros. Some of them are enemies and all of them are returning. They are all the greatest of the lost Ark. It's the greatest adventure film of all time. George! You're gonna blow up the arc for me! And it will always be fun. Trust me. Greatids. At the Lost Ark. But Drew had only been out like 16 months earlier. Well, in considering it played over a year in most places, it really had just left theaters when they did this reissue. But that's what I loved back then. And it did feel like, especially with the Lucasfilm stuff and the Spielberg stuff, it was the new modern Disney because it came back so often. And I think that's part of what helped reinforce it as these are our biggest titles for me. A lot of times I think Hollywood learns the almost learns the right lesson, but doesn't. And the lesson is not, oh, people want 30s throwback adventures. No, people want that passion and that energy. That's what they want. So if a sci-fi movie's where you're passionate, go embrace it and infuse it with your own DNA and make it something new. Oh, right, already rambling and we haven't even started the month proper. Drew, what do you have to say about A-Tore? In an age of innocence before the dawn of fear. Two special people found each other. Miles O'Keefe is A-Tore. Sabrina Sianne is room 80s fantasy films that I would see in the theater and this is kind of that moment where it all started to blend for me and I can't tell them apart anymore. You could watch these films in a row with that of coffee and not be able to tell them apart later. Yeah. And that's one of the reasons that when Lord of the Rings was in production, I think I was so worried because nobody had really treated

fantasy. Well, the few times they tried Conan, there's a couple of attempts here in the 80s that we'll get to. But for the most part, it was done like this. Super, super cheap and super crappy. And what bugs me though drew about these moves is that like they are kitschy and likable in some ways. But in a lot of other ways, they're also just a bait in Switch. Because what the Italian producers in this case were doing was, oh, you like

Conan, you like high fantasy. Here's a great... but in a lot of other ways, they're also just a bait and switch. Because what the Italian producers, in this case, were doing was,

oh, you like Conan, you like high fantasy.

Here's a great poster.

Here's a slightly interesting trailer.

And then you would just be bored to tears.

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