THE BIG 4-0

This week Ron and Peter celebrate THE BIG 4-0's of two comedies opening May 18, 1984: MAKING THE GRADE staring Judd Nelson and FINDERS KEEPERS starring Michael O'Keefe, Beverly D'Angelo, and Louis Gosset Jr.; as well as a belated BIG 4-0 to Mel Gibson and Anthony Hopkins in THE BOUNTY. Please remember to Rate, Like, and Subscribe; and we'll be back next week to kick off the summer...

This week we blow out 40 big ones for little Drew Barrymore in Stephen King's FIRESTARTER and Robert Redford heading an all-star cast in the seminal baseball pic THE NATURAL. How do these films - released today, May 11, in 1984 - hold-up on their BIG 4-0s? Ron and Peter find out.

Time to wish a BIG 4-O to John Hughes' SIXTEEN CANDLES and the beach-sex romp HARDBODIES; which got us wondering, "why did we skip SPRING BREAK" last year??". So, a belated HBD to Sean S. Cunningham's (FRIDAY THE 13TH) SPRING BREAK as well! Please remember to Rate, Like, and Subscribe; and next week we'll be back with THE NATRUAL and FIRESTARTER

This week on THE BIG 4-0, there are no new 1984 films of note, so Peter and Ron look back at the first two DIRTY HARRY sequels, after reviewing the third DIRTY HARRY film, SUDDEN IMPACT last December: 1973's MAGNUM FORCE and 1976's THE ENFORCER. Please remember to Rate, Like, and Subscribe, and we'll be back next week to celebrate THE BIG 4-0's of John Hughes' SIXTEEN CANDLES,...

It's a Friday the 13th in the mid-1980s, so chances are there is a FRIDAY THE 13th film opening in theaters (ironically, this is also our 13th episode of the season - hope it's not cursed!). This week Ron and Peter celebrate THE BIG 4-0 of FRIDAY THE 13th PART IV, very accurately subtitled THE FINAL CHAPTER. We also close the loop on the first four FRIDAY'S by review FRIDAY THE 13TH PA...

Celebrating their BIG 4-0's on March 30th and April 6th, 1984, respectively, are the Michael Douglas/Kathleen Turner/Danny DeVito/Robert Zemeckis breakout hit ROMANCING THE STONE, and yet another teen-sex-spring break-beach comedy, WHERE THE BOYS ARE '84 (so titled because it is a remake of a 1960 film of the same name). Will this be one of the few good and memorable entries in its genre,...

It's March 23, 1984. POLICE ACADEMY is celebrating its BIG 4-0, so naturally Ron and Peter are taking look back at this surprise '80s cultural phenomenon. We're also were finally able to wish THIS IS SPINAL TAP! a belated BG 4-0 from a couple weeks ago. Please remember to Rate, Like, and subscribe; and we'll be back next week to blow out 40 candles for ROMANCING THE STONE and WHERE...

It's March 16th, 1984. No great movies at the '84 box office celebrating their BIG 4-0's today, so Peter and Ron take a look back at two underrated, early-1990s ensemble dramas from big directors: Lawrance Kasdan's turn-of-the-decade Los Angeles race/class relations exploration GRAND CANYON, starring Danny Glover, Kevin Kline, and Steve Marting among others; and Ron Howard's ch...

It's March 9th, 1984. Birthed on this day are Ron Howard's SPLASH, the Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah breakthrough fish out of water comedy, and a just-pre-TERMINATOR Linda Hamilton in the Stephen King adaptation CHILDREN OF THE CORN. Join us as we celebrate their BIG 4-0's!! Please remember to Rate, Like, and Subscribe, and we'll be back next week with a bonus episode looking at two f...

THREE new releases celebrate their BIG 4-0's this week, as March 2nd, 1984, saw the release of AGAINST ALL ODDS, REPO MAN, and the comedy classic THIS IS SPINAL TAP. But SPINAL TAP is not available on any streamer at the moment and, surprisingly, neither Ron nor Peter own it on any physical media. At press time, the DVD has been purchased and delivered and we will remedy the situation on a fut...

THIS WEEK it's a bitter-sweet BIG 4-0 as Ron and Peter celebrate 40 trips around the sun for the cultural classic FOOTLOOSE and the legitimately insane BLAME IT ON RIO, but we also bid a fond farewell to one of our favorite 80s icons, Carl Weathers. As always, please remember to Rate, Like, and Subscribe, and next week we'll be back with a trifecta of BIG 40's: AGAINST ALL ODDS, REPO M...

This week on THE BIG 4-0, Ron and Peter wish a happy birthday to the surprisingly fun Duddly Moore/Natasia Kinski/Armand Asante/Albert Brooks farce, UNFAITHFULLY YOURS (a movie neither of us had ever heard anything about until this pod) and, inspired by BROADWAY DANNY ROSE a few weeks ago, we also look back at Woody Allen's seminal ANNIE HALL, a first-time watch for Ron. And as a bonus, at the...

Only one new film to wish a Happy BIG 4-0 this week - the Aiden Quinn/Daryl Hannah teen drama RECKLESS - so we also dip back into 1983 for a belated Happy BIG 4-0 to the Troma camper-sex farce THE BIG TURN-ON!, which we somehow missed last year. As always, please Rate, Like, and Subscribe; and we'll be back next week to wish a Happy BIG 4-0 to Dudley Moore, Natasia Kinski, Armand Asante, and A...

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...