Willie Nelson sang about traveling with his song “On the Road Again” in 1980. There is something romantic about traveling down the road in a car, not exactly sure about what comes next. I always preferred to know where I was going, even if I had never been there before. On June 12, 1984, Margaret, my wife, and Joy, my ten-year old daughter, set out from Matteson, IL, south of Chicago, just off I-80 and Highway 30, the Lincoln Highway, headed for the east coast and the Atlantic Ocean. We had seen the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California, the year before. We were going to take I-80 east. I had always wanted to take Route 30, but there were too many small towns to slow us down. Interstate 80 is an east–west transcontinental freeway that crosses the United States from San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area. I-80 highway was designated in 1956 as one of the original routes of the Interstate Highway System, but its final segment was only opened in 1986, a couple of years after our trip. I-80 runs close to many major cities running east, including Chicago, Toledo, Cleveland, and New York City. It is the northern route through Indiana and the industrial areas of Ohio. I had driven this many times on my way from Chicago to New York. We had also taken I-80 west through Illinois and Iowa on our way to South Dakota. We were going to stop that Tuesday night at the Holiday Inn in Brookville, Pennsylvania, because it was hot and we wanted to go swimming. Brookville was 70 miles northeast of Pittsburgh in central Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 census, the population was 3,933 in three square miles. Founded in 1830, it is the county seat of Jefferson County, so that it qualified as a small town. However, they had a hotel off I-80, which was just north of Brookville. Thus, I-80 stimulated the local economy with access from exits 78 and 81, in between 20 miles east to DuBois, and west 60 miles to Mercer. Punxsutawney, the home of the groundhog Punxsutawney Phil is about 19 miles south of Brookville. This area was initially settled in the late 1790s. Brookville’s main source of economic development throughout the 19th century was the lumber industry. The town enjoyed great economic success during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, serving as home to several factories, and breweries, as an important railroad stop for local coal and timber. Now I-80 kept them alive as a tributary of the Allegheny River. We did not do any sightseeing here. Have you ever been to central Pennsylvania?
A trip to the East Coast, June, 1984
It was time for another vacation. In 1983, we had flown out to California and spent all our time there. This year, 1984, I thought that we should go in another direction. If we went west in 1983, why not go east in 1984? I had some sense of the east coast having lived in New York City and northeast New Jersey. This time, I was going to be more patriotic and visit the historic great cities of Boston, New York, and Washington DC. Well, you guessed it, we would make a lot of stops in-between. Besides those three large cities we would drive to Bushkill Falls in the Pocono Mountains in eastern Pennsylvania, and Old Sturbridge Village, in western Massachusetts. We would also visit the American revolutionary sites at Lexington and Concord, as well as Plymouth Rock, all in Massachusetts, around Boston. Further south, we were going to stop at Newport, Rhode Island, and Mystic Seaport, Connecticut. Then, we would hit Carteret, New Jersey as a base of operations for New York City and Atlantic City, New Jersey. Finally, the southern leg of our east coast trip would be to Philadelphia, Baltimore, and colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, around Washington, DC. This would be a world-wind tour in our own car from June 12-28, 1984, about sixteen days. Margaret and Joy should be ready to go after they finished school at St. Lawrence O’Toole. Yes, I have a scrapbook with everything in it to help me remember what happened. Have you ever visited the major cities on the east coast of the USA?
A trip to the Amana Colonies in Iowa
Usually when we drove to Dell Rapids, South Dakota, to visit Margaret’s relatives, we took I-80 west from Matteson, I 35 north to Albert Lee, and then west on I 90. Thus, we had often driven past the Amana Colonies in Iowa. At Easter, 1984, I decided to take a mini vacation at the Amana Colonies and spend a night and a day at the Holiday Inn in Amana, Iowa, right off I-80 at exit 225. There are seven villages on 26,000 acres located in Iowa County in east-central Iowa that make up the Amana Colonies, Middle Amana, Amana, South Amana, Homestead, West Amana, High Amana, and East Amana. We took a road tour of these small-time colonies. These Amana Farms are home to Iowa’s largest privately held forests. They were okay, nothing spectacular. These villages were built and settled by German Radical Lutheran Pietists, calling themselves the True Inspiration Congregations. They had originally settled in West Seneca, New York, but were seeking more isolated surroundings, so that they moved to Iowa, near present-day Iowa City, where they lived a communal life until 1932. They settled on the name “Amana” because this biblical name means “remain faithful.” Under Iowa law, the Community had to incorporate as a business, so the Amana Society was founded as the governing body in 1859. By 1908, the Community had grown to 1,800 people and owned over $1.8 million in assets. In March 1931, in the wake of the Great Depression, the Great Amana Council disclosed that the villages were in dire financial condition. At the same time, Society members were seeking more personal freedom. The Society agreed to split into two organizations. The non-profit Amana Church Society oversaw the spiritual needs of the community, while the for-profit Amana Society was incorporated as a joint-stock company, the Amana Corporation. The transition was completed in 1932 and came to be known in the community as the “Great Change.” The most widely known business enterprise that emerged from the Amana Society was Amana Refrigeration, Inc. I was aware of them from my work at Montgomery War. In 1947, Amana Company produced the first commercial upright freezer. Two years later, the Amana Company sold off the Electrical Department, and renamed it Amana Refrigeration, Inc. The Raytheon Corporation purchased Amana Refrigeration in 1965, although the Amana division was mostly autonomous. Amana produced the first practical commercial microwave oven in 1967. This division was sold to Maytag in 2001, and then to Whirlpool Corporation in 2006. Amana continues to manufacture Amana, JennAir, KitchenAid, Maytag and Whirlpool refrigerators at the plant, built in 1940, under a long-term lease agreement. Today, heritage tourism has become important to the economy of the Amana area. We were an early part of that. The Seven Villages of Amana have restaurants, museums, and craft shops, listed as a National Historic Landmark in 1965. We visited Hahn’s Bakery, the Woolen Mills, and Bill Zuber’s Restaurant, who had played in the MLB from 1934-1948, as a former New York Yankee, Cleveland Indian, Washington Senator, and Boston Red Sox. Have you ever been to the Amana Colonies?
Oprah Winfrey arrives in Chicago in 1984
In 1984, Oprah Winfrey (1954-) relocated to Chicago at the age of thirty. She hosted a local WLS-TV low-rated half-hour morning talk show, called “AM Chicago.” Dennis Swanson (1938-), the WLS station manager, hired her after she had worked at television stations in Nashville and Baltimore. The first episode aired on January 2, 1984. Within months, this show went from last place in the local ratings to overtaking “The Phil Donahue (1935-2024) Show (1967-1996)” as the highest-rated talk show in Chicago. The movie critic Roger Ebert persuaded Oprah to sign a syndication deal with King World. Ebert predicted that she would generate 40 times as much revenue than his current TV show, “At the Movies.” Thus, on September 8, 1986, the first episode of the one hour long renamed “The Oprah Winfrey Show” was broadcast nationwide. Winfrey’s syndicated show brought in double Donahue’s national audience, displacing Donahue as the number-one daytime talk show in America. At one point, she had about 14 million viewers per day. In 2008, Winfrey’s show was airing in 140 countries internationally. An estimated 46 million people in the USA saw her on a weekly basis. In a field dominated by white males, she was a large black female. As interviewers go, she was no match for Phil Donahue. What she lacked in journalistic toughness, she made up for in plain spoken curiosity, robust humor and, above all empathy. Guests with sad stories to tell often brought a tear to Oprah’s eye. They, in turn, often found themselves revealing things they would not imagine telling anyone, much less a national TV audience. Her talk show was like a group therapy session. She was big, brassy, loud, aggressive, hyper, laughable, lovable, soulful, tender, low-down, earthy, and hungry. She was a black heavy-set woman, and she never let you forget that. She recognized her own cultural and religious roots, so that many white women were engaged in the same problems that she was facing. Credited with creating a more intimate, confessional form of media communication, Winfrey popularized and revolutionized the tabloid talk show. By the mid-1990s, Winfrey had reinvented her show with a focus on literature, self-improvement, mindfulness, and spirituality. Though she has been criticized for unleashing a confession culture, promoting controversial self-help ideas, and having an emotion-centered approach, she has also been praised for overcoming adversity to become a benefactor to others. Winfrey also emerged as a political force in the 2008 presidential race, with her endorsement of Barack Obama, estimated to have been worth about one million votes during the 2008 Democratic primaries. In the same year, she formed her own network, the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN). In 2013, Winfrey was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama. The Oprah Winfrey Show, broadcast from Chicago, ran in national syndication for 25 years, from 1986 to 2011. She became the voice of Chicago for the world, known as “Queen of All Media.” She became famous for the “Oprah Effect,” if she liked something, it became successful. She became the richest African-American of the 20th century, once the world’s only black billionaire, perhaps the most influential woman in the world. I met her in person in 1996. Have you ever heard about Oprah Winfrey?
The Super Bowl ad of 1984
It might be hard to believe, but the Super Bowl was not always such a big deal as it is today. About 24 million people watched Super Bowl XVIII as the Los Angeles Raiders defeated the Washington Redskins 38-9 with the MVP Raiders RB Marcus Allen. At that time, the ads cost $38,000 for a half minute slot, not 8 million like today. In 1984, Ridley Scott directed a television commercial, “1984”, to launch Apple’s Macintosh computer during Super Bowl XVIII on January 22, 1984. This ad stated that 1984 would be not like 1984. This introduction of the Apple Macintosh personal computer was a revolt against the corporate “Big Brother,” IBM. Many consider it the most important Super Bowl commercial of all time. Apple’s iconic Macintosh ad was based on George’s Orwell’s novel 1984. This ad featured David Graham as Big Brother addressing hordes of subjects from a giant screen and a woman, English athlete Anya Major, as the unnamed heroine, who escaped riot police to smash the Big Brother screen with a hammer. Those watching the football game saw an industrial setting in blue and grayish tones, showing a procession of stern men marching through a tunnel, monitored by a string of telescreens. This was in sharp contrast to the full-color shots of the nameless runner (Anya Major). She looked like a competitive track and field athlete, wearing an athletic outfit, red athletic shorts, running shoes, and a white tank top with a cubist picture of Apple’s Macintosh computer, with a white sweat band on her left wrist, and a red one on her right. She was carrying a large brass-headed sledgehammer. As she was chased by four police officers, presumably agents of the “Thought Police,” wearing black uniforms, protected by riot gear, helmets with visors covering their faces, and armed with large night sticks. This female runner raced towards a large screen with the image of a Big Brother-like figure (David Graham) giving a speech about how our enemies shall talk themselves to death, and we will bury them with their own confusion. “We shall prevail!” At that point, the female runner hurled the hammer towards it, with a flurry of light and smoke, the screen was destroyed. The screen faded to black, and the rainbow Apple logo appeared. Then the commercial concluded with a portentous voiceover by actor Edward Grover, accompanied with a scrolling black text that read, “On January 24th, Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. You will see why 1984 will not be like 1984.” Back then in 1984, it was unlike any commercial America had ever seen. Looking back, it was pure 1980s with voiceovers and long hair and a big TV screen. I remember watching it and thinking that it was odd. Apparently, they sold $150 million worth of Macintosh computers in 100 days. The whole ad industry just stopped in their tracks, “What just happened? How did that happen?” This was the only USA national airing, during a break in the third quarter of the telecast of Super Bowl XVIII. The Macintosh computer was going to save humanity from the conformity of Big Brother, IBM. Originally a subject of contention within Apple, it has subsequently been called a watershed event and a masterpiece in advertising. Steve Jobs loved it, but his Board of Directors did not. In 1995, The Clio Awards added it to its Hall of Fame, and Advertising Age placed it on the top of its list of 50 greatest commercials. There have been many parodies of this ad. Obama used this ad motif against Hillary Clinton in 2008. Do you remember this “1984” ad for Macintosh?
Who is George Orwell? (1903-1950)
Eric Arthur Blair (1903-1950) was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic, who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterized by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to all totalitarianism and support of democratic socialism. Orwell is best known for his allegorical novella Animal Farm (1945) and the dystopian novel 1984 (1949). Orwell’s work remained influential in popular culture and in political culture. In fact, the adjective “Orwellian” describes totalitarian and authoritarian social practices. It has become part of the English language, like many of his neologisms, such as “Big Brother,” “Thought Police,” “Room 101,” “Newspeak,” “memory hole,” “doublethink.” and “thoughtcrime.” In 2008, The Times named Orwell the second-greatest British writer since 1945. Eric Blair was born in India, but grew up in Oxfordshire, England. He traveled a lot to Burma, London, and Paris. Blair wished to publish Down and Out in Paris and London under a different name to avoid any embarrassment to his family over his time as a traveling tramp. He finally adopted the pen name George Orwell because it was a good round English name. George was the patron saint of England, and Orwell was based on the River Orwell in Suffolk, one of his favorite places. His first book, Down and Out in Paris and London, was published in 1933 and received favorable reviews, even a comparison with Charles Dickens. In mid-1933 Blair developed pneumonia, so that he never returned to teaching. He worked in a book store for a couple of years before he published the novel A Clergyman’s Daughter in 1935 and Keep the Aspidistra Flying in 1936. In 1937, he published The Road to Wigan Pier. The first half of this book documented his social investigations of Lancashire and Yorkshire, including an evocative description of working life in the coal mines. The second half was a long essay on his upbringing and the development of his political conscience, which included an argument for socialism. He then got married and went to Spain to find out about the Spanish Civil War. In 1938, he wrote Homage to Catalonia. During World War II, he wrote The Lion and the Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius in 1941. In 1945, Orwell/Blair published his most important and most successful work Animal Farm, a satirical allegorical novella, in the form of a beast fable. This story was about a group of anthropomorphic farm animals who rebelled against their human farmer, hoping to create a society where the animals could be equal, free, and happy. Ultimately, the rebellion was betrayed. Under the dictatorship of a pig named Napoleon, the farm ended up in a state far worse than before. He continued in bad health, as his wife also died. He remarried in October, 1949, but died in January, 1950, right after his most famous novel came out, 1984. Some of his critics have said that his uncompromising intellectual honesty made him appear almost inhuman at times. He pierced intellectual hypocrisy wherever he found it. He was the saint of common decency with a homespun empiricist outlook, sometimes an enemy of the Left. He was against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism, while others saw him as a simple-minded anarchist. Basically, he was a product of his time. Have you ever heard of George Orwell?
1984
1984 was a cautionary novel by English writer George Orwell, published in 1949. However, it was a big deal in the year 1984. Thematically, it centered on the consequences of totalitarianism, mass surveillance, and repressive regimentation of people and behaviors. Orwell’s novel modelled Britain under an authoritarian socialism, loosely based on the Soviet Union in the era of Stalinism but also on very similar practices of both censorship and propaganda in Nazi Germany. More broadly, the novel examined the role of truth and facts within societies and the ways in which they can be manipulated. This 1949 story took place in an imagined future of 1984, 35 years into the future. In the decades since the publication of 1984, there have been numerous comparisons to Aldous Huxley’s (1894-1963) Brave New World, which had been published in 1932. In this Orwell novel, Great Britain, known as Airstrip One, had become a province of the totalitarian superstate Oceania, which was led by Big Brother, a dictatorial leader supported by an intense cult of personality manufactured by the Party’s Thought Police. This Party engaged in omnipresent government surveillance. The Ministry of Truth issued constant propaganda and persecuted individuality and independent thinking. During the Cold War of the 1950s and 1960s, this book was used as an example of how communist dictatorships might take over England in the next twenty to thirty years. 1984 became a classic literary example of political and dystopian fiction. It also popularized the term “Orwellian” as an adjective, with many terms used in the novel entering common usage, including “Big Brother,” “doublethink,” “Thought Police,” “thoughtcrime,” “Newspeak,” and the expression that “2+2=5.” Parallels have been drawn between this novel’s subject matter and real-life instances of totalitarianism, mass surveillance, and violations of freedom of expression, among other themes. Orwell described his book as a “satire,” and a display of the perversions to which a centralized economy was liable, while also stating he believed that something resembling it could happen. This narrative opened on April 4th, 1984, as the world has been ravaged for decades by global war, civil conflict, and revolution. “The Party” and its mysterious leader “Big Brother” brutally purge out anyone who does not fully conform to their regime, using the “Thought Police” and constant surveillance through two-way telescreen cameras, and hidden microphones. Those who fall out of favor with the “Party” became “unpersons,” disappearing with all evidence of their existence destroyed. Meanwhile, there was a human love story of individuals within this British society. By 1970, over 8 million copies had been sold in the USA. In the year 1984, it topped the country’s all-time best seller list. It has been adapted across many media outlets, with a film, 1984, released in 1984, starring John Hurt, Suzanna Hamilton, and Richard Burton. This book was among the best-selling books in the USA in the year 1983. Time included this novel on its list of the 100 best English-language novels published from 1923 to 2005. In 2003, it was listed at number eight on The Big Read survey by the BBC. In 2019, the BBC named 1984 on its list of the 100 most influential novels. The New York Public Library listed 1984 as number three on the list of “Top Check Outs of All Time.” I actually never read the book, only excerpts. I was not that concerned about it, but others obviously were. Have you ever heard about the novel 1984?
TV in 1983
The following new cable channels came on board in 1983: the Disney Channel; the Country Music Television (CMT); (BET) Black Entertainment Network; and the Nashville Network (TNN), now known as Paramount Network. Besides the final episode of the TV series “M*A*S*H,” there were other popular shows on TV. 140 million viewers watched parts of ABC’s “The Winds of War,” based on the novel by Herman Wouk, making it the most watched miniseries at that time. Also interesting was the mini-series “The Thorn Birds,” that I watched. An estimated 100 million people watched the controversial made-for-TV movie “The Day After on ABC,” depicting the start of a nuclear war, that I did not watch. Marvin Gaye performed a soulful rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the NBA All-Star Game at The Forum in Los Angeles. VH1 would later use it as the very first video when they premiered on January 1, 1985. ABC aired a made-for-television biographical film about the life of Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco, starring Cheryl Ladd. PBS broadcast “The Operation,” a live telecast of an actual open-heart surgery, which I did not see. The first televised USFL football game (Los Angeles Express vs. New Jersey Generals) was broadcast by ABC. “The Morning Show,” hosted by Regis Philbin and Cyndy Garvey, premiered locally on WABC in New York City, that would eventually make its move to national syndication in 1988 with Philbin and Kathie Lee Gifford as his co-host. MLB agreed to terms with ABC and NBC on a six-year television package, worth $1.2 billion. Vin Scully made his debut as NBC’s new lead play-by-play announcer for their MLB telecasts. Whitney Houston made her national television debut when she performed on “The Merv Griffin Show.” PBS’s series “The MacNeil/Lehrer Report” became “The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour,” the first to expand from a half-hour to one hour in length. Tom Brokaw became the sole main anchor of the NBC “Nightly News,” while Peter Jennings became the sole anchorman of ABC’s newscast “World News Tonight.” NBC had the least successful new autumn show roster for any network in history. Vanessa Williams, the first African American Miss America, was crowned in a nationally televised event on NBC. The nighttime syndicated edition of the NBC daytime game show “Wheel of Fortune” premiered. Several networks simultaneously aired the 1951 version of A Christmas Carol. There were many new shows in 1983, including “Jim Henson’s Fraggle Rock,” the “A-Team,” “Press Your Luck,” “Reading Rainbow,” “Peanuts,” “Alvin and the Chipmunks,” and “Love Connection.” Besides “M*A*S*H,” other popular shows ended in 1983, “Little House on the Prairie” (1974-1983), “Laverne & Shirley” (1976-1983), “CHIPs” (1977-1983), “Taxi” (1978-1983), and Quincy, M.E. (1976-1983). What do you remember about TV in 1983?
Music in 1983
1983 was a great year for Michael Jackson with his album Thriller, with “Billie Jean,” “Beat It,” “Human Nature,” and “The Girl Is Mine.” However, there were some great hits for Irene Cara with “Flashdance…What a Feeling,” The Police with “Every Breath You Take,” and Bonnie Tyler with “Total Eclipse of the Heart.” Men at Work had two hits with “Down Under” and “It’s a Mistake.” Daryl Hall & John Oates had three hits, “Maneater,” “One on One,” and “Family Man,” as did Laura Branigan with “Gloria,” “Solitaire,” and “How Am I Supposed to Live Without You.” Billy Joel had a couple of hits with “Allentown” and “Tell Her About It.” Prince had two hits with “Little Red Corvette” and “1999.” There were some great duets like the movie song from An Officer and a Gentleman, “Up Where We Belong” with Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes. Then there were the duets of Eddie Rabbitt and Crystal Gayle, with “You and I,” as well as Kenny Rogers and Sheena Easton with “We’ve Got Tonight” and Peabo Bryson and Roberta Flack with “Tonight, I Celebrate My Love.” Then there were the songs that still resonate like “Affair of the Heart” by Rick Springfield, “Maniac” by Michael Sembello, “Sweet Dreams Are Made of This” by the Eurythmics, “She Works Hard for the Money” by Donna Summer, “Let’s Dance” by David Bowie, “Always Something There to Remind Me” by Naked Eyes, and “Straight from the Heart” by Bryan Adams. There were a lot of other songs that I remember, like “Never Gonna Let You Go” by Sérgio Mendes, “I Know There’s Something Going On” by Frida, “Back on the Chain Gang” by The Pretenders, “Puttin’ on the Ritz” by Taco, “Sexual Healing” by Marvin Gaye, “You Can’t Hurry Love” by Phil Collins, “Stand Back” by Stevie Nicks, “Dirty Laundry” by Don Henley, “Is There Something I Should Know?” by Duran Duran, “Making Love Out of Nothing at All” by Air Supply, “I Won’t Hold You Back” by Toto, “All Right” by Christopher Cross, “Heart to Heart” by Kenny Loggins, “My Love” by Lionel Richie, ”I’m Still Standing” by Elton John, “I’ll Tumble 4 Ya” by Culture Club, “Your Love Is Driving Me Crazy” by Sammy Hagar, “Heartbreaker” by Dionne Warwick, “I’ve Got a Rock ‘n’ Roll Heart” by Eric Clapton, “You Got Lucky” by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and “Fall in Love with Me” by Earth, Wind & Fire. What is your favorite song of 1983?
Movies in 1983
One of my favorite movies of all time was Peter Billingsley, Melinda Dillon, and Darren McGavin in A Christmas Story about a boy who wanted a BB gun. He had a lot of misadventures with his mom and dad. Another of my favorites was Cher, Kurt Russell, and Meryl Streep in Silkwood, about whether there was a contamination in a plant or not. Then there was the gangster movie with Al Pacino as Scarface, a determined criminal-minded Cuban immigrant who became the biggest drug smuggler in Miami, but was undone by his own drug addiction. The feel-good movie of the year was The Right Stuff, with Ed Harris, Lance Henriksen, Dennis Quaid, Scott Glenn, Sam Shepard, Charles Frank, Scott Paulin, and Fred Ward, about the astronaut Mercury 7 crew. I did not like War Games with Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy. I was a little disappointed in The King of Comedy with Robert De Niro and Jerry Lewis. I expected it to be better. The comedy that I really loved was Vacation, with Chevy Chase, Beverly D’Angelo, and Christie Brinkley. I saw a little of myself in Chevy Chase, as the Chicago Griswold family traveled across the country to the Walley World theme park. On the other hand, I kind of liked The Outsiders with Tom Cruise, Matt Dillon, Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Patrick Swayze, and Ralph Macchio, about a small Oklahoma town in 1964, with the rivalry between two gangs. I liked Shirley MacLaine and Debra Winger in Terms of Endearment, about a mother and daughter trying to get along with Jack Nicholson as the older love interest. I also like Trading Places with Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd, and Ralph Bellamy because it was about the futures market in Chicago. I really liked Tom Cruise and Rebecca De Mornay in Risky Business, because it was about a high school kid who had a party while his parents were on vacation. I loved the scene of Cruise driving at night on Lake Shore Drive. He wanted to get into an Ivy League school, but his backup college was the U of I at Champaign. Another of my favorites was the The Big Chill, a reunion of former college friends who gather for a weekend reunion at a South Carolina vacation home after the funeral of another of their college friends with Tom Berenger, Glenn Close, and Jeff Goldblum. I just liked the interaction of these so-called friends at a funeral. I liked The Star Chamber with Michael Douglas and Hal Holbrook about judges and justice. I also liked Mr. Mom with Michael Keaton and Teri Garr. I did not see a lot of the popular movies of 1983. I did not see Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi, with the usual cast of characters, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, and James Earl Jones. I did not see the James Bond Octopussy with Roger Moore or the James Bond Never Say Never Again with Sean Connery. I did not see Monty Python’s the Meaning of Life, because I knew that it would be a little ridiculous. I did not see Uncommon Valor, nor The Year of Living Dangerously. I did not see All the Right Moves with Tom Cruise and Craig T. Nelson, nor Cujo, about a dog gone mad. I did not see Twilight Zone: The Movie, since I did not like the TV show. I did not see Valley Girls nor Flashdance. What was your favorite movie of 1983?
Gene Finnegan Remembers Living Eighty Wonderful Years 