So I’m testing out the WordPress app for iPhone, and figured this tidbit was as good as any to share in the process.

While looking at box office totals for each year of the 80s to jog my memory, I found myself struck by the top 6 films of 1981. The first 5, in order:

Raiders of the Lost Ark
On Golden Pond
Superman II
Arthur
Stripes

Number 6 that year? The Cannonball Run. $72 million. MILLION!

Even sadder…I know I contributed to that figure. At least twice. To be fair, Adrienne Barbeau’s boobs figured…prominently…in my actions, I’m sure.

“You see, this profession is filled to the brim with unrealistic motherfuckers. Motherfuckers who thought their ass would age like wine. If you mean it turns to vinegar, it does. If you mean it gets better with age, it don’t.”

Marsellus Wallace, Pulp Fiction

Marsellus is talking about boxers in the above quote, but he could just as easily be talking about Hollywood or film in general.  Whether it is failing to utilize “actresses of a certain age” until they really need someone to play old old, or in a more technical light going back and touching up effects to erase wires and boom mikes that would otherwise be visible in the shot, film works very hard to facilitate an illusion.  Some of these sleights of hand hold up well no matter the number of years that have passed.  Others…not so much. Continue reading →