Re: A question for all those who remember 1981...

Posted by Michaelson from em12-686.utsi.edu on July 30, 1999 at 07:55:07:

In Reply to: Re: A question for all those who remember 1981... posted by Goodsport on July 29, 1999 at 11:32:26:

: : Different time, different things going on when the movies were out. In '81 we were just recovering from the Iranian hostage crisis. Reagan was new in office, and things were pretty dicey with the Soviets at that time. In every showing of Raiders I attended, there was a cheer (though "politically incorrect" now, being the warm and cuddly creatures we've become here in the US of A (grins)) from every crowd whenever Indy shot the swordsman, as that was the mood that prevailed in the US just after the hostages were released. We also had problems going on in Central America that had Reagan position a battleship just off the shore to keep the peace. I still have a great political cartoon from that period, showing the battleship just offshore of the country in question, a radio man sitting a small table saying, "Mr. President, we're in postion", and Reagan replying, "never mind, I'm going in alone!" He was wearing a Wested leather jacket, had a whip in hand, his pistol belt on, and was putting on a fedora on his head and walking out into the jungle. Priceless. 1981 was a darker period, not a whole lot of great memories to couple with Raiders other than the movie itself. Regards. Michaelson

:
: You're totally right! I remember the early 1980's (up until maybe '83 or so) as a pretty dark time - totally opposite of the late 1980's (bright and full of hope... at least it was for me), and that's part of what contributed to the more darker mood of Raiders as opposed to the more upbeat mood of The Last Crusade.

: As much as it would have been better for Harrison Ford's age issue (as opposed to making an Indy film now, since Harrison is pretty old now), I'm glad that they didn't make an Indiana Jones film in the early 1990's - for that was also a very dark time (particularly 1992, although in a somewhat different way than from the early-1980's). With all the militant political-correctnes running rampant then, it would have been difficult for Indy to do anything Indy!

:
: -G

Totally agree. Another thing in the timing of this release of Raiders was it came at the end of a period of time that movie makers thought that the public wanted to see more "realistic" endings in movies, such as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, where the main characters in the movies were killed. The first movie to break this spell was The Sting, but Raiders really kicked the door in when we were offered a hero who once again beat the odds and got the girl. Something we hadn't seen in many years. Granted, StarWars was on the same track too, but a lot of folks who werent into SciFi didn't see it when it was released in '77, so Raiders was their reentry to the world of movie entertainment. It's all in the timing. Regards. Michaelson

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: : : Different time, different things going on when the movies were out. In '81 we were just recovering from the Iranian hostage crisis. Reagan was new in office, and things were pretty dicey with the Soviets at that time. In every showing of Raiders I attended, there was a cheer (though "politically incorrect" now, being the warm and cuddly creatures we've become here in the US of A (grins)) from every crowd whenever Indy shot the swordsman, as that was the mood that prevailed in the US just after the hostages were released. We also had problems going on in Central America that had Reagan position a battleship just off the shore to keep the peace. I still have a great political cartoon from that period, showing the battleship just offshore of the country in question, a radio man sitting a small table saying, "Mr. President, we're in postion", and Reagan replying, "never mind, I'm going in alone!" He was wearing a Wested leather jacket, had a whip in hand, his pistol belt on, and was putting on a fedora on his head and walking out into the jungle. Priceless. 1981 was a darker period, not a whole lot of great memories to couple with Raiders other than the movie itself. Regards. Michaelson

: : 
: : You're totally right!  I remember the early 1980's (up until maybe '83 or so) as a pretty dark time - totally opposite of the late 1980's (bright and full of hope... at least it was for me), and that's part of what contributed to the more darker mood of Raiders as opposed to the more upbeat mood of The Last Crusade.

: : As much as it would have been better for Harrison Ford's age issue (as opposed to making an Indy film now, since Harrison is pretty old now), I'm glad that they didn't make an Indiana Jones film in the early 1990's - for that was also a very dark time (particularly 1992, although in a somewhat different way than from the early-1980's).  With all the militant political-correctnes running rampant then, it would have been difficult for Indy to do <i>anything</i> Indy!

: : 
: : -G

: Totally agree. Another thing in the timing of this release of Raiders was it came at the end of a period of time that movie makers thought that the public wanted to see more "realistic" endings in movies, such as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, where the main characters in the movies were killed. The first movie to break this spell was The Sting, but Raiders really kicked the door in when we were offered a hero who once again beat the odds and got the girl. Something we hadn't seen in many years. Granted, StarWars was on the same track too, but a lot of folks who werent into SciFi didn't see it when it was released in '77, so Raiders was their reentry to the world of movie entertainment. It's all in the timing. Regards. Michaelson

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