Hi, I'm 16 and my autistic brother is 13, when he hears Jobeth start to play ""You Can't Always Get What You Want "" on the church organ he just goes crazy, in a good way,,, we've watched at least 10 times,, those people are like a family to us,,, Thank you Jobeth and Tom ❤🌴🤗
Tom Berenger was a Flight Attendant 50 yrs ago for Eastern Airlines. He was based in San Juan PR. We all loved him. He looked like a young Paul Newman. So nice and sweet. Then he was seem in a soap opera, then became a huge movie star. What a great guy.
It's interesting you mention him resembling Paul Newman, being that he played Butch Cassidy in the prequel Butch and Sundance: The Early Days (Newman played Butch in the 'sequel' Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid). Both films are excellent.
It's something that he can be so nice in person because he SCARED THE SH*T OUT OF ME in Platoon. When someone can completely inhabit a character very different from their normal self--that's acting...
Loved seeing Tom Berenger in this. I'm a GenXer but the Big Chill was a movie I loved in the 80s. It made me want to be a baby boomer so bad. But I guess I got my generation's Big Chill with Breakfast Club.
He could play anything from a mad scientist to a not very bright lawyer to an obsessed general. I read where he was a pretty weird guy in his private life (he suffered from bi polar and it definitely shows in Altered States!)
Jobeth Williams has gotten rather creaky/shaky in her old age. It's ironic how she often played mothers when in reality she never had kids (she adopted two boys)
@@chiefscheider I’m so glad to read this- my husband and I were 21 and 25 when we saw it and we loved it from the beginning. We had this neighbor couple who was about 8,9 years older than us who condescendingly told us that we wouldn’t like the movie because we were too young to appreciate it. That always irked us. We still love the movie to this day and it’s great to hear that you, too liked the movie when you were young also! Everybody can relate to true friendship…
The Big Chill feels like a combination of a Howard Hawks hang out comedy and a tense Tennessee Williams Play. That takes a great Cast and Director to blend them perfectly. Lawrence Kasdan made a bonified classic. I only hope one day we can finally see the cut scenes of Kevin Costner, who apparently was channeling James Dean in his performance. Thanks for the interview, Ben Mankiewicz and TCM!
@@barbararussell9757 Respectfully, I disagree that the whole movie was about how they remembered Alex, it was what brought them physically back together.
This movie represents that time in our lives when we remember when we felt this way. When we felt we were with people we knew, who knew us at a time when you felt this high of love and friendship. Whether it be with family or friends, it feels like a feeling of wonderful kinship and freedom that you can revisit as a great memory. This movie was written beautifully, acted perfectly, and casted perfectly. This is one of my most favorite of all movies because of how relatable it is. I own a copy of this movie and I watch it every so often and I don’t own very many movies. It’s an all time great.
I feel the same. I actually lived in a big house with 5 other young women after college and we had guy friends who were all living in the same house. We hung out together and played guitars. Your words resonate with me "When we felt we were with people we knew, who knew us at a time when you felt this high of love and friendship." We all live around the country and rarely see each other but the few times I connect with one of them it just starts right back from where we left off.
I have met people who absolutely did NOT like it. My fave line in the movie was (paraphrased) you can't go through a day without at least one juicy rationalization.
Despite having seen it dozens of times and knowing most of the dialogue by heart, there are scenes that still make me laugh out loud. So well written & perfectly cast, it remains one of my all-time favorites.
I'm 65 and I've seen this movie about 7 or 8 times. I just watched it the other night. It definitely hits home when you attend a funeral of a friend, no matter what the cause. It makes you reflect on your life, and how you spend it. The sound tract was awesome because it was the music I grew up on.
Exactly, the characters were all around 35 in the movie, so this would be your exact generation. I was just starting college and it meant a lot to me too just to see what questions I'd have in the next 15-20 years.
One of my favorite movies ever. A true Timeless classic ❤❤❤ 40 year's ago 🤨 seems like yesterday in another lifetime. I'm remember being annoyed when my elders would say they don't make music or movie's like that anymore. Our generation did have the best music 🎶🎶🎶
Both American Graffitti and The Big Chill used period soundtracks to brilliantly evoke a time and place. Unfortunately that also gave us films like 'The Wedding Singer.' Let's have a sequel where Mary Kay Place's child (now 39) finds out the truth about their parentage. 😀
The Big Chill, Someone To Watch Over Me, Platoon, Shoot To Kill, Betrayed, The Field, Shattered and Inception are among my best movie memories thanks to Tom.
I'm so glad I came acoss this! I Loved Tom Berenger right from the get-go and so many yrs ago. And yet, it still feels like Yesterday.. And I've Always enjoyed watching Mary Jo too! So very Gd to see them and Ty So much for this.. ❤
@@chiefscheider I know it still bothers me also. Everytime I see Tom Beranger that's what I think about, and that was forty years ago. Thank you for your commitment.
I was in one of the people in charge of test screenings at Columbia Pictures for The Big Chill. We had many, many test screenings for the film and we worked hard on the picture's release. Two things became obvious from those test screenings: 1) one pretty much had to be a baby boomer to understand and love the film (so that's where the advertising was aimed) and 2) Larry Kasdan had written a final sceen that was a flashback to the characters' college time. The test audiences hated it (and personally I hated it as it was a let down from all that had been built up in the film and, also, it was ridiculous - especially Jeff Goldbloom in a silly long haired wig - bad, very bad). Kasden finally allowed that scene to be cut so that the last shot is Glenn Close gazing out of the kitchen window remembering. So much better. Oh, and by the way, Larry Kasdan was kind enough to make sure that many of us at Columbia got those tapes of that great music. I took mine to Russia in 1987 on the American-Soviet Peace Walk where it was stolen. Even back then, some Russians were very adept at appropriating what belonged to other people.
Well been 40 years! Still one of my favourite movies. First saw in Brisbane Australia early 1984. Awesome soundtrack, still got on vinyl. Going to watch again . Cheers
Was in my junior year of college when the film came out. As a late baby boomer, or generation jones as some call it, I would consider the characters portrayed in this film to be an older generation. Good movie however, same house used in the Great Santini a few years before and know Bufort very well. The only negative aspect of the movie was the music - afterwards with all the radio stations doing the Motown format to death. I feel that this film has aged well and regardless of the style of clothing and appearances has changed considerably since, still works.
This was my generation and I absolutely loved the movie. It really speaks to people of my age. I have watched it over and over again through the years and it still holds up.
I must've seen The Big Chill 50 times because it was evoking MY ERA. When the movie debuted I had a group of friends that I thought I'd have forever. We all started out so hopeful about the future but the movie prophetically mirrored the fact that my era and those friends were moving on. The world in which we live now is very different and a lot less hopeful.
My favorite channel. How fortunate we are to see movies from the past in all their glory. And The Big Chill. What a cast. Everyone was on top of their game and you felt you were there. And when you thought it couldn’t possibly get better the music took you to a place of comfort and peace. You can’t always get what you want…..
This was the very first VHS 📼 movie I bought. I loved it when it was in the theaters and to this day it is in my top ten movies of all time. Forty years hard to believe, still a great movie. Greetings from Canada 🇨🇦
The SAME generation of us watching The Big Chill were also watching Platoon with Tom Berenger and he was excellent in both. Diametrically opposite characters for sure. The movies were deeply moving and created life long fans. Both films seemed to deal with overlapping subject matter. (i'll let you decide which themes overlap)
83 was a great year for movies. I saw this, Risky Business, The King of Comedy, Local Hero, and a bunch of others...the only one I regret not seeing on the big screen was The Right Stuff.
Hi.still rewatch " The Big Chill " That movie sent me back to the time of the group of friends I had. It was the best of times. And still be friends many years later.The actors all my favorites, seemed like it was all natural as if it was a real life they were living.The best of the best were the perfect choices for all parts.❤👍
I was privileged to know JoBeth Williams while attending Jesse H. Jones Senior High School in Houston, Texas where she and I were in Drama class together. She was a Sophomore when I was a Senior and we used to talk about how we loved the movie "Lawrence of Arabia" and Peter O'Toole. She signed my yearbook with "dear Larry" (my nickname then because I read every book about the character and even the one he wrote "7 Pillars of Wisdom.") Had the good luck to be a minor cast member in a one act play, JoBeth had the lead role, a competition between our Drama teacher's classes. She played the witch who created a fake man named "Feathertop." It was great fun playing a maid who had no lines but was required to pantomime a performance and she was a GREAT witch. I knew then that she'd go far in the acting profession and she has. "The Big Chill" is one of my favorite films but she is also memorable in "Kramer vs Kramer."
Oh, I'm so glad I stumbled on this interview. I was a kid in high school when this movie came out, and my parents told me often they went to high school with Jo Beth Williams.
Terrific film, with a cast to die for. Not being a Costner fan I didn't miss him at all. Interesting to note that his part was completely cut from the finished production, which doubtless caused him considerable angst. At the post production screening of ' Robin Hood, Prince of thieves ', he insisted that Alan Rickman's Sherriff of Nottingham role be severely cut. The audience were booing Robin, and cheering Rickman, and that was yet more angst for him. Rickman still stole the film, however. 😄
It was the music of my generation and I identified with everyone in The Big Chill because I had friends who were like each character... one of the top 10 movies of my lifetime.
If thats the MC that used to use a Southern accent, I did a show with him, he fkd the whole crew and didn't pay us, think the show was called Joe Bob Briggs Saturday Night
The Big Chill is a wonderful movie, easily one of my top ten. I remember seeing it for the first time. I went out and bought another ticket, and watched it a second time. Bought the soundtrack too. Every time I see it on tv, I watch it and enjoy it just as much as the first time. Excellent cast, wonderful use of music, witty, funny script. I wish I could see the footage including Kevin Costner, which wound up being cut during the editing process (does everyone know the only time Costner appears on screen in the finished film is as a corpse, being prepared for funeral?). Anyway, I enjoyed this interview with Tom Berenger and JoBeth Williams, thank you.
Always a favorite film. I'm so thankful to have been a young woman at this time in our history. You relate to it all just like when watching Forrest Gump. ✌️❤️
I just turned 40, I've watched it 2 times over the years, my first time was when I was like 18, my other time was last summer, and I always thought it was great. It holds up great, it's weird to think that I was like over 15 years younger than the characters when I watched it my first time but probably 5 years older when I watched it last summer. It's a really well-done movie that will stand the test of time and you don't have to be the same age as the characters or a baby boomer to connect with it.
I was born the same year that this movie came out and I actually don't find it dated at all. Everything in the movie is very relatable for anyone over 30.
one of my all time favorite movies. i was young when i saw it, too. but i loved it. i watched it many times. jobeth is such a talent. i love her performance in Poltergeist. And she was fabulous in this, the Big Chill. the BC was perfectly cast, written and directed. I am a stage actor and no wonder I love this. It is inherent when you rehearse. So important to do to get into the groove of the character and your co-actors. The whole thing and everyone in it is a perfect orchestration.
I remember reading the gossip column in the Chicago Tribune in 1984, and it mentioned that a movie was currently being shot in an abandoned suburban high school's library, and it said (this is quote from memory), "Word is that it's going to be THE BIG CHILL for high school kids." Yes, that's the movie that the column was talking about.
Three friends and I decided to move to Hawaii in the early 80’s. We moved on February 6th but planned the move 5 months in advance. To stay bonded and not back out of the adventure we would go to the only one of us who had an apartment and we watched this movie every single night (sometimes twice) all the way until February 5th. We all memorized every line of the film. What a great time in life it was 😊
I was a teenager when this movie came out, but it became a fast favourite of mine, and I have watched it every couple of years since 1983. In fact, I watched it again just last weekend in honour of 40 great years.
Interesting of that photo early in this video of all 8 of them sitting in a gazebo with the lake as the background, and Kevin Kline (far right) is wearing bowling shoes.
Have sets of school friends from as way back as elementary school through college . Used to be we could be ourselves and say anything . Sadly politics have narrowed our group tremendously . Have to now watch what we say . Very few likeminded friends left . Shame . THAT IS THE REAL BIG CHILL
i first saw this film when i was 13 in 1992, i knew it wasnt supposed to be a film for my demographic, but it still resonated with me. it always felt in spirit, like the adult version of stand by me. still one of my favorite films.
