1982: GREATEST GEEK YEAR EVER! is an epic documentary about the greatest geek year in films,1982, featuring stars, directors, writers, producers and pop culture historians sharing their insights about such legendary movies as E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Blade Runner, John Carpenter’s The Thing, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Poltergeist, Creepshow, Night Shift, The Dark Crystal, 48 Hours, First Blood, Tron, Conan The Barbarian, Cat People, Fast Times At Ridgemont High, The Road Warrior, and much, much more.
1982: Greatest Geek Year Ever! takes viewers behind- the-scenes to a time when fandom was in its infancy, featuring eye-opening interviews with Ron Howard, Paul Schrader, John Sayles, Amy Heckerling, Henry Winkler, William Shatner, Sean Young, Joanna Cassidy, Keith David, Cameron Crowe, Michael Deeley, Lisa Henson, Dean Devlin, Bruce Campbell, Dee Wallace, Felicia Day, Susan Seidelman, Roger Corman, Barry Bostwick, Marc Singer, Bryan Fuller, Leonard Maltin, Mike Medavoy and more, in front of and behind the camera, from some of the biggest and most influential movies ever made!
What We Thought:
1982: The Greatest Geek Year Ever! is a documentary that tries to make the case that 1982 was the greatest year for geek cinema ever. And I couldn’t disagree more. The case it should be making is that it’s the greatest year for cinema, period. Never mind genre films and stuff for nerds, 1982 could very well be the greatest year for movies.
You want horror? Poltergeist, The Thing, Creepshow, Friday the 13th Part 3 with Jason wearing the hockey mask for the first time. Sci-fi? Blade Runner, E.T., Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Tron. Action? The Road Warrior, Conan the Barbarian, The Beastmaster, First Blood. Comedy? Fast Times At Ridgemont High, Night Shift, 48 Hours. Non genre films? Gandhi won Best Picture and there’s also Diner, Sophie’s Choice, Tootsie, An Officer and a Gentleman, The Verdict, The Year of Living Dangerously. If a decade put out all these movies you’d call it the greatest decade of all time, but this was just one year!
This roughly 3 hour long documentary is a dream come true for Gen Xers. It was quite the nostalgic trip down memory lane seeing some of my favorite films of my youth. E.T. was the biggest film in the world and Spielberg was also helping with Poltergeist while doing E.T. The character of Rambo was established in First Blood. Spock dies next to Captain Kirk in the gold standard for Star Trek films Wrath of Khan. Kurt Russell and Keith David might both be the alien or neither the alien at the end of The Thing. Sean Penn made a name for himself in the era defining Fast Times. Despite not being the blockbuster it was expected to be Blade Runner became a Mt. Rushmore Sci-Fi film. Action flicks made stars out of Mel Gibson and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Sly Stallone fought Mr. T in Rocky III. White, black, male, female, it didn’t matter 1982 had something for everyone.
It is absolutely absurd to look back and see all the films that came out in 1982. You had blockbuster versus blockbuster every weekend during the summer and E.T. set the box office record for years. There were some box office duds that eventually became classics or cable mainstays (The Beastmaster was on TV pretty much any day of the week in the mid 80s) and the year helped launch the careers of many big name stars. Although the best part of the entire documentary is Barry Bostwick talking about his work in Megaforce. I legit howled at his honesty towards that film. If you grew up in this era this is must watch gem.
Bonus Features:
- High Definition (1080p) presentation of the feature length, unedited main feature in 1.78:1 Aspect Ratio
- Audio: English LPCM 5.1 Surround
- Optional English Subtitles
- Audio commentary with Director/Producer Roger Lay, Jr. and Writer/Producer Mark A. Altman
- Audio commentary with Producers Scott Mantz, Thomas P. Vitale & Writer/Producer Mark A. Altman
- Deleted / Extended Scenes (HD, 40:49)
- The Fans Speak: Fans Favorite Films Featurette (HD, 16:51)
- 2022 San Diego Comic-Con Panel (HD, 28:19)
- Trailer
The Nerds Templar 