tavm
After about 30 years of reading and hearing of this film, I finally watched this directorial debut of John Sayles on DVD that I borrowed from a local library. A reunion of several college buddies from something they were arrested for when they were demonstrating on some issue, we witness how some are broken up, some are trying to make something of themselves, and some are now settling with a family. Sayles' dialogue makes many pertinent points of life and how things don't always go in directions that satisfy our ideals or dreams though one keeps trying to enjoy things while they still can. There's also some fine humorous exchanges of whatever they're going through that abound. Nothing more to say except that I highly recommend Return of the Secaucus Seven. Oh, and I also recommend Sayles' commentary track I listened to afterwards.
niohc
Some of the comments about "Return" are amazingly vitriolic and appear to have been written by people who hate independent films in general, or who hate "reunion" movies, or who hate low-budget movies, etc., etc., etc. If your comfort zone is Hollywood films with predictable plots and pretty, more or less interchangeable faces you've seen over and over, why watch this film at all? There are also some misstatements of fact among the comments--it is amazing that someone thinks that "The Big Chill," a blatant piece of Hollywood plagiarism, preceded and inspired this film--but particularly off base is the remark that few of the actors in the film have many additional credits. Yes, there are several actors with only one to three credits. But more than half of them have numerous credits, some as many as 90, and some as writers and producers as well as actors. Furthermore, many of the credits are excellent--most of the TV credits, for example, are for series that are critically acclaimed. In addition, four or five of the actors are well known and respected in the business, whether they are household names or not. If you can use IMDb well enough to make comments, you can also check the accuracy of such statements before making them.The film may not seem gripping now, since the reunion thing has been done to death. But it is a very important movie, in terms of advancing the popular acceptance of independent films and, of course, launching John Sayles' brilliant career, one which has contributed in a major way to the culture of this country and indeed the world. And it is still good watching for those who do not expect all films to be about action.
bald_tony
After watching the extras on The Big Chill DVD you know the idea for Big Chill was created in the late 1970's. 1983 is simply the release date of Big Chill, not that it was actually put together from concept through release in 1983. There are similarities, old college friends reuniting and reminiscing, but Big Chill seems a bit darker to me. Probably a combination of the characters being slightly older, coming together because of a suicide, and the conversations they have. RETURN however more than holds its own as a movie with good dialouge, genuine situations, and the low budget actually helps the feel of the film. Even as I get older than the characters in both movies, I am still reminded of the friendships, casual and lifelong, made during college, as there is something about each character in both that reminds me of someone from the good old days. RETURN may be a bit hard to come by, but look for it, it is worth the search.
Inserts
Return of the Secaucus 7 is one of the primary harbingers of the excellence which can be found in modern independent film making. It was thoroughly entertaining and original, and I feel that "The Big Chill" was a tepid remake of this original vision. Thank you John Sayles.
AD
