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Cocoon (1985)

 
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 10, 2016 2:12 pm    Post subject: Cocoon (1985) Reply with quote




Ron Howard figured that a movie about glowing, floating aliens on a rescue mission to resurrect stranded colleagues who were left behind when they fled Earth because Atlantis sank, would go well with a group of charming elderly folks who yearn for new thrills, eternal life, and interstellar travel.

Damn, now why didn't I think of that?

Ron Howard needed an exceptional cast, so he rounded up a group of Hollywood legends with so much talent they actually made up for Steve Guttenberg's less impressive acting. Wink

Nobody had to make Tahnee Welch look good (no surprise there), and the other ladies in this delightful movie (like Gwen Verdon and Jessica Tandy) are just as adorable in their own special way.

The senior gentlemen (Don Ameche, Wilford Brimley, Hume Cronyn) have all the charm and panache of The Three Musketeers.

The bottom line here is that this movie did lots of new things in lots of new ways, using lots of old people who had lots of good old fashion talent. And the late great James Horner serenaded us throughout the film with one of his best scores ever.


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__________________ Cocoon (1985) - Trailer


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


Last edited by Bud Brewster on Sun Dec 17, 2017 6:16 pm; edited 2 times in total
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MetroPolly
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 16, 2016 9:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, geez, Bud. Happy Birthday!!!! Very Happy
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 17, 2016 2:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

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Thank you! I'm determined to live long enough to still be here when the mother ship from my home planet comes back to rescue me. Very Happy

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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Pow
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 17, 2016 1:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Always thought if they ever got around to making a Fantastic Voyage sequel that it should have both Tahnee & her mother, Raquel, in the movie as mother & daughter.

Raquel, reprising her role from the '66 film, would be in charge of the scientific/medical part of the mission.

Tahnee would be one of the mission specialists being shrunk & sent on the mission.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 13, 2017 6:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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Wow, what a great idea! Very Happy
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Apr 29, 2018 11:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

I posted a fan-made trailer for The Last Starfighter (1984) on the thread for that movie, and the trailer had this amusing message at the beginning.






I wondered just how true the claim at the bottom was, so I made a list of 1980s science fiction films that I thought were good, just to see if that decade really did produce a significant number of “the best” sci-fi movies.

This movie is on the list I made. I know what I like about the film (and a few things I don’t like), but I’d like to hear the pros and cons from the rest of you folks.

So, what do you think, guys? Cool

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 26, 2018 4:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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IMDB has 23 trivia items for this movie. Here’s a few of the ones I found the most interesting, in the blue text. Very Happy
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Hume Cronyn was a Golden Glove boxer and lost sight in one eye. In the scene where he hits the young orderly, without depth perception, he actually hit the young man and knocked him out.

Note from me: "And the winner, by a knockout, is Killer Kronyn . . . the new Extremely Lightweight Champion of the World! Several worlds, in fact!" Cool

According to Ron Howard, several members of the cast liked to get into hypothetical discussions about the chance their characters were offered in the film. Maureen Stapleton was dead against it, while Don Ameche said he'd be the first in line.

Note from me: Interesting choice of words to describe Ms. Stapleton's feelings about living longer. She was dead against it! Shocked

The Boca Ciega Bay house of Dr. Chester and Doris Babat was rented by the production and renovated for filming of the pool scenes with a makeshift temporary structure built over their outdoor pool. The houseowners later built a permanent pool house based on the film's exact design, where they still relax many years later.

Note from me: I wonder if Mr. and Mrs. Babat asked them to leave the cocoon props in the pool, just in case they really had the power to rejuvenate. Even if they didn't the Babats could charge big bucks to folks who wanted the swim in the pool! Very Happy

Robert Zemeckis was originally going to direct the movie, but was denied after a poor test screening of Romancing the Stone (1984)

Note from me: Fortunately for Robert, his next movie, Back to the Something-or-Other, did fairly well. Rolling Eyes

Nicolas Cage was considered for the role of Jack Bonner.

Note from me: This might have been an interesting bit of casting, since Steve Guttenberg was sort of the "weakest link" in this strong cast. But Steve was totally believable as a goofy guy with low self-confidence. Nicholas might not have done so well in that respect.

Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy playing the old married couple Joseph and Alma Finley had, in real-life, also been married to each other for many years.

Note from me: These two wonderful actors make * batteries not included an absolute joy to watch. And even though the character dynamics for their roles in Cocoon is very different, but they nailed those performances, too.

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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Bogmeister
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 27, 2019 4:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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A story of alien visitation: this concerns a trio of retirees (Wilford Brimley, Don Ameche, Hume Cronyn) in a retirement home who make a habit of sneaking into a deserted estate to relax in the large swimming pool over there.

The property is suddenly purchased by a group (Brian Dennehy and Tahnee Welch, among others) who are aliens in disguise. These aliens used to live on Earth 10,000 years ago in the fabled Atlantis.

They're here to retrieve some of their brethren, who were left behind when Atlantis sank, and they're incubating in alien cocoons. These cocoons are deposited to the bottom of the swimming pool and, when the old guys take their usual swim, they feel highly rejuvenated — even recharged as far as their sex drive.

Even more, one of them goes into remission from his cancer!

Steve Guttenberg also stars as the local loser charter boat captain who is hired by the aliens to take them out to the spots on the ocean where the cocoons are waiting.

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The film is pretty lightweight, directed by Ron Howard before he got enough experience to create complicated films.

The cocoons, for example, look pretty creepy and alien, and might be toxic in that swimming pool for all that the old men know, but they don't really give it another thought when they first see these things, enjoying the pool without much delay — maybe they're too old to care?

The old wives are played by Jessica Tandy and Maureen Stapleton.

Both Guttenberg and the old men quickly find out that they're dealing with aliens, but their astonishment is very short-lived — Guttenberg especially overcomes his fear quickly because he just seems too dense to fully grasp the revelations. The aliens themselves are very benign, almost absent of much personality — which was unusual for Dennehy, who is known for fierce, bulldog characters.

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Overall, the film doesn't ring true and is downright ludicrous.

A 4th old guy played by Jack Gilford rejects the entire notion of the rejuvenating pool and is too cantankerous to appreciate such advantages, even for his ailing wife. He ruins things by opening his mouth at the wrong time, and soon all the rest home occupants barge over to the pool, draining the "life force" so that things go badly for the cocoons.

Yet, the aliens later invite the old people to accompany them even though they caused permanent damage to Dennehy's friends. The old guys want Gilford to come along — but why would they want this stupid troublemaker to go with them?

Many things don't make sense by the end, and there's some bad acting by a daughter of one old couple, as well as a grandson who also almost ruins things.

I think director Howard tried to copy some of the success of E.T. (1982), and in a sense he did succeed, because this was a modest box office success, spawning a sequel in 1988.

BoG's Score: 5 out of 10


___________________ Cocoon (1985) - Trailer

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Cocooned Trivia: the daughter of Brimley's character is played by Linda Harrison, who will always be best known for her role as Nova in the first 2 Planet of the Apes films (1968 & 1970).

~ Her son is played by Barrett Oliver, from The Never-Ending Story (84) and D.A.R.Y.L. (85). Both of them also returned in the Cocoon sequel.

~ Tahnee Welch is the daughter of famed icon Raquel Welch (One Million Years BC/1966).





BoG
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Last edited by Bogmeister on Sun May 19, 2019 12:14 pm; edited 3 times in total
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 27, 2019 5:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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Well, I'll be damned. Sad

This well-written (but surprisingly pessimistic) appraisal of this movie confirms what I'd begun to suspect about the late Mr. Andrew Bogdan.

If a movie is optimistic and upbeat . . . the virtues of that movie tend to sail right over Andrew's head! Shocked

In spite of his brilliant ability to analyze a motion picture and describe its pros and cons, he has a blind spot when it comes to the stories which portray life in general — and people in particular — as warm-hearted, generous, and unselfish.

Movies like Aliens, Blade Runner, The Thing, A Clockwork Orange, and The Terminator (the latter of which he rated at 10 out of 10), accurately portray Andrew's dark vision of reality.

However, movies like E.T., Cocoon, The World, the Flesh, and the Devil, and The Space Children, present stories which Andrew has little praise for, and he rates them low on his 1-to-10 scale.

It's obvious to me that our late friend Andrew Bogdan and I have very different taste in movies . . . and very different views of life.

Poor Andrew passed away at the tender age of 54 — which is 15 years younger than I am today. But when I was his age in 2002, I was the same optimistic person I am now at 70!

So, his gloomy outlook on life, and his preference for the kind of dark films which tend to put me off, is an indication that — in spite of our very successful collaboration as site admins here on All Sci-Fi — we shared certain opinions about science fiction which allowed us work remarkably well as a team. Very Happy

Life is funny that way, ain't it? Cool

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 10, 2020 5:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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Thinking Outside the "Plot"!
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~ A Question for the Members: After this advanced race of aliens has learned that mankind can be noble and worthy of their help, wouldn't they eventually expand their benevolence and offer longer lifespans to other members of the human race who could help guide mankind into a brighter future?

~ My Theory: If we take this story as reality rather than fiction, we can surmise that the aliens might report back to the home world that Earth has some mighty nice folks! Very Happy

In fact, the aliens would determine that the most admirable of our race deserve the gift of longer lifespans, so they can guide our troubled world into a more enlightened and benevolent age.

If these angelic beings informed mankind that every individual who demonstrated sincere humanitarian devotion to the human race would receive the gift of long life, I predict that our truly good people would be inspired to battle the elements of mankind who want to crush it beneath their evil domination!

_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


Last edited by Bud Brewster on Sun Nov 06, 2022 2:43 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 26, 2023 6:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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I'm surprised that nobody has commented on this. Confused


Bud Brewster wrote:
If these angelic beings informed mankind that every individual who demonstrated sincere humanitarian devotion to the human race would receive the gift of long life, I predict that our truly good people would be inspired to battle the elements of mankind who want to crush it beneath their evil domination!

Admittedly, the gift of a longer life wasn't offered to mankind as a whole, but I'm sure the main characters in this story would have pleaded with the benevolent aliens to offer the same gift they received to other member of the human race!

After all, if these aliens have studied mankind for centuries and appreciate the finer points of mankind, wouldn't they be willing to reward certain deserving humans with health and longevity, the way they did the elderly people in this movie?

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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