1980s Movie Firsts
CGI, the birth of indie cinema, rampant blasphemy - what more could you want?!
The Last Starfighter (1984)
Computer-generated spacecraft - surely we’ve the Star Wars or Star Trek series to thank for those? You might imagine so but it was actually this, Nick Castle’s charming albeit not terribly well realised kid-friendly slice of science-fiction that birthed CGI. As for the first completely computer-generated character, look no further than another should’ve-been-better-than-it-was children’s fantasy picture, Barry Levinson’s Young Sherlock Holmes (1985).
The Last Temptation Of Christ (1988)
”Jesus Christ, it’s only a movie!” cried level-headed moviegoers. But when Martin Scorsese’s daring adaptation of Nikos Kazantzakis’ novel took blasphemy to new heights (at least, in the eyes of some), the fundamentalist reaction was explosive. Promoting the movie at the |Venice Film Festival, Scorsese was accompanied by eight bodyguards - one for each of the death threats he’d received. That the film was arguably more spiritual than any of Hollywood’s previous takes on the Greatest Story Ever Told was neither here nor there.
sex, lies and videotape (1989)
Bored with the over-hyped dross pumped out by Tinseltown, moviegoers were ready for the sort of punk revolution that had shaken up the music business a decade before. But while Quentin Tarantino became the face of the 1990s indie movement, it was Steven Soderbergh who broke the mold. The sensational Palme d’Or success of sex, lies and videotape sent a shiver through the halls of Hollywood. And afterwards? The auteur was resurgent and most every studio boasted its own in-house indie operation.