THE BIG 4-0

Today we're blowing out 40 BIG candles for Steve Martin's absurdist romcom THE LONELY GUY and Woody Allen's talent manager farce BROADWAY DANNY ROSE; both of which were released on January 27, 1984. We'd also like to dedicate this episode to Peter's long-time friend (and BIG 4-0 fan) who passed away unexpectedly a few days prior to recording. Please remember to Rate, Like, and...

It's January 13th, and there are no movies worthy of celebrating their BIG 4-0's at the 1984 box office, so even though it's only our second episode of the new year/season, we're already doing a bonus episode. Last September we celebrated the BIG 4-0's of DEATHSTALKER and REVENGE OF THE NINJA, the sequel to 1981's ENTER THE NINJA. So, this week we're taking a look at th...

Happy New Year, Everybody! Happy Season Two of THE BIG 4-0!! And Happy BIG 4-0 to our first two films of 1984: The "high school student by day/hooker at night" thriller ANGEL, and the ski-resort-set sex comedy HOT DOG... THE MOVIE; both of which opened on January 13, 1984. It's a new year, but the same Ron and Peter (for better or worse...); and the same request that you guys all ple...

We've come to the close of 2023, which means we've also reached the end of 1983 here on THE BIG 4-0; as well as the end of our first full season. Ron and Peter count down their TOP TEN films of 1983 and reminisce on the good, the bad, and the ugly of the year. Thank you so much to everyone for listening and supporting our fledgling little podcast this year. Please remember to rate, like, a...

Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas, 1983! And a very happy BIG 4-0 to the iconic gangster classic, Brian DePalma/Oliver Stone/Al Pacino/Michelle Pfiefer's SCARFACE; and Clint Eastwood in the fourth and MAKE-MY-DAYiest Dirty Harry flick, SUDDEN IMPACT! We invited our buddy Casey (who helped us kick-off our '83 series earlier in the year on our VIDEODROME ep) back to help us close out the year in s...

Happy Thanksgiving to our beloved BIG 4-0 listeners! Today, November 23, 1983 saw the release of James L. Brooks' debut film AND multiple Oscar-winner, TERMS OF ENDEARMENT - a film Ron and Peter had been avoiding all these years due to its tearjerking, cancer subject matter; so we felt we needed a big action-comedy as an emotional palate cleanser to follow, so we decided to tackle the Sylveste...

We apologize for the sound quality on this episode. We had four special guests on to celebrate THE BIG 4-0 of the family holiday classic A CHRISTMAS STORY - special thanks to a handful of our daughters who all did a great job in their podcast debuts - so we all just shouted into our computers' built-in mics. But we're back to normal volume and sound quality for our kid-free discussion of s...

It's World Series time, and the 1983 movie calendar is offering nothing of worth for the second week in a row, so here at THE BIG 4-0 we decided to do another bonus episode, this one focusing on two baseball comedies, separated by a decade, but similar (and in many ways dissimilar) in spirit and tone: David S. Ward's seminal 1989 comedy MAJOR LEAGUE and South Park creators Trey Parker and...

It's Halloween time (!!!) and here at THE BIG 4-0 we didn't have any solid 1983 movies worth reviewing this week, so we decided to take advantage of the opportunity to discuss two seminal horror flicks we otherwise wouldn't be able to review within the parameters of this podcast's timeline: The arguable granddaddy of the slasher genre, John Carpenter's HALLOWEEN, and the other...

This week we wish a happy big 4-0 to Tom Cruise in his second breakout role AND second big movie of 1983 after RISKY BUSINESS, which we reviewed just a few weeks ago (third if you count THE OUTSIDERS), in the high school football drama ALL THE RIGHT MOVES; and Christopher Walken in THE DEAD ZONE, also in his second film of the year, as well as the second adaptation of a Stephen King novel of the y...

This week we blow out the 40 birthday candles on Sean Connery's one-off return as James Bond in NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN and Frances Ford Coppola's second film of the year, the mostly forgotten curio RUMBLE FISH. Please rate, like, and subscribe, and we'll be back next time to celebrate THE BIG 4-0's of Tom Cruise in ALL THE RIGHT MOVES (his second film of 1983, as we trace his trajec...

This week on THE BIG 4-0, we welcome our third guest to the podcast, the lovely Ms. Ron, Kate. The three of us discuss how well the generational angst of THE BIG CHILL and the grimy slasher PIECES have aged. Please remember to rate, like, and subscribe, and we'll be back next week to celebrate the BIG 4-0's of Sean Connery's one-and-done return to Bond in NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN, and Fra...

Another flaccid week at the 1983 box office, so this week THE BIG 4-0 looks back at two 1990's Ice-T classics, RICOCHET and SURVIVING THE GAME. Peter and Ron also discuss the career of Ice-T and their rap influences. Please remember to rate, like, subscribe, and tweet @finallevel - We genuinely love that guy! We'll be back next week celebrating the BIG 4-0's of THE BIG CHILL and PIECES...

In maybe our most 1983 episode yet, we celebrate the BIG 4-0's of two mostly forgotten trash-action flicks we instantly fell in love with: The bonkers this-is-what-you-get-for-making-Conan-a-hit, sword and sorcery adventure DEATHSTALKER; and the Golan-Globus Hey-it's-the-'80s-and-Ninjas-are-hot?-Well-here's-our-Cannon-Films-take-on-that-shit baller REVENGE OF THE NINJA!! As always,...

It's August 26th, 1983, and unfortunately there just wasn't much at the box office celebrating its BIG 4-0 this weekend. So, Peter and Ron take the opportunity to look back at two of their favorite Buddy action flicks of all-time: Clint Eastwood, Charlie Sheen, and Raul Julia in THE ROOKIE, and Bruce Willis and Damon Waynes in THE LAST BOY SCOUT. We feel these are seminal entries in the ge...

August 19th is the BIG 4-0 of Rodney Dangerfield's EASY MONEY, so this week THE BIG 4-0 becomes DANGERFEST as we also look at his 1980 classic CADDYSHACK, which Peter had never seen before. Come for our awful Rodney/Pesci impersonations, stay for Ron's terrible singing, and you may want to leave for *someone's* shit take on a perfect film - or just because (as sometimes - ok, often - h...

It's August 5th 2023, so we're celebrating the BIG 4-0 of Tom Cruise's breakthrough role in RISKY BUSINESS (feel free to fast-forward through Ron's Tom Cruise rant), as well as an early happy birthday to Stephen King's rabid dog CUJO, who celebrates his BIG 4-0 next week, August 12. Please remember to rate, like, comment and subscribe, and we'll be back in a couple weeks wi...

We're going from our shortest episode ever last week to our longest episode ever this week celebrating the BIG 4-0's of two '80s staples, the Chevy Chase franchise starter NATIONAL LAMPOON'S VACATION and the Phobe Cates teen sex comedy (yep, another one in 1983!) PRIVATE SCHOOL. This episode somehow makes room for a lengthy Bruno Mars discussion, and we sing more than we have in an...

July 22nd we celebrate THE BIG 4-0's of two of 1983's biggest hits: JAWS 3-D and MR. MOM. Find out how we feel about the much-maligned shark sequel and if our fond memories of Michael Keaton's breakthrough star vehicle have changed since we were kids. As always, please rate, like, and subscribe; and we'll be back next time to wish a Happy BIG 4-0 to NATIONAL LAMPOON'S VACATION...

This week on THE BIG 4-0, JULY 1st 1983 yielded a dearth of quality films, so Ron and Peter use the gap as an excuse to look back at the 1997 Keanu Reeves/Al Pacino thriller THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE and the 1993 Tony Scott/Quentin Tarantino/all-star cast modern classic TRUE ROMANCE. How do we think these two films have aged over the last 30 or so years? Tune in to find out! And please remember to...

It's June 24, 2023. THE TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE and PORKY'S II were released on this day, 40 years ago. So, you know what that means... We're putting on our party hats and entering another dimension. A dimension not only of sight and sound, but of mind. A journey into a wonderous land of imagination and film criticism. Next stop: THE BIG 4-0.

It's June 10, 2023, which means its June 10, 1983, here on THE BIG 4-0. This week we're grilling out and cracking a few beers in honor of TRADING PLACES and OCTOPUSSY's BIG 4-0's; and we even get a little chat in about the 1986 Sly Stallone junk-classic COBRA. Come for our deep thoughts on how TRADING PLACES explores race relations and how it's still relevant today but stay for...

It's June 3rd, 2023, which means we're wishing a Happy BIG 4-0 to Steve Martin in the under-sung comedy classic THE MAN WITH TWO BRAINS and Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy in the ridiculous, but still-mostly-a-good-time Cold War-paranoia family thriller WARGAMES; both of which opened in theaters today in 1983! We also contemplate a BIG 4-0 after-hours discussion show spin-off (feel free...

Today, May 25th, is RETURN OF THE JEDI's BIG 4-0! Opening this week in 1983, the third STAR WARS movie went on to become the highest-grossing movie of the year. The same weekend, Linda Blair tried her hand at the women-in-cages genre with CHAINED HEAT. Find out how one of us who never much cared for STAR WARS feels about JEDI 40 years later, and how we think a movie like CHAINED HEAT fairs out...

This week on THE BIG 4-0 we're wishing a happy 40th to the bizzarro Richard Geere romantic drama BREATHLESS and the bizzarro Roy Scheider helicopter cop actioner BLUE THUNDER. Hear how BREATHLESS links to Quentin Tarantino and how BLUE THUNDER surprised us by being a completely different movie than we expected. As usual, by the end we're kinda flying by the seat of our pants (read: a *tad*...