Themes: Breakups and Divorces, Twentysomething Life, Class Differences
Main Cast: Bruce MacDonald, Maggie Renzi, Adam Le Fevre, Maggie Cousineau, Gordon Clapp, Jean Passanante, Karen Trott, Mark Arnott
Release Year: 1980
Country: US
Run Time: 114 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
College friends reunite for a New England summer weekend in this low-budget first feature by accomplished independent filmmaker John Sayles. A predecessor of the well-paced, character-driven films in Sayles' future, Secaucus Seven also looks ahead to the 1980s ensemble movies that it inspired, most notably Lawrence Kasdan's The Big Chill, which arrived in theaters three years later. As each friend arrives at the house (or travels to the house), characterizations build, dialogue expands, and the house (and film) are full of people getting reacquainted and re-examining themselves and each other. Sayles builds the plot by testing the characters' connections: Will these former radicals accept the uptight boyfriend of the well-loved politico? What happens when a couple splits up? How does the educated set treat the local blue-collars? Many critics cited Secaucus Seven in their decade-end list of the best films of the 1980s. ~ Norm Schrager, All Movie Guide
Review
Iconoclastic writer-director John Sayles made his first impact in 1980 with this less commercial predecessor to The Big Chill (1983). Both films are about a group of radical friends from the 1960s who get together for a reunion some years later. In Lawrence Kasdan's 1983 hit, the principals are sliding into Yuppiedom. In Sayles's low-budget account, the characters are more realistic, their quandaries somewhat less dramatic, and the politics and dialogue less trendy. As would be his habit in future films, Sayles plays one of the parts himself. Thoughtful and rich in characterization, like his films to come, Return of the Secaucus Seven made few concessions to mainstream commercial movie-making, focusing instead on a low-tech, realistic, improvisational mood of affection mingled with regret. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
David Strathairn - Ron; John Sayles - Howie; Carolyn Brooks - Meg; Nancy Mette - Lee; Betsy Julia Robinson - Amy; Marisa Smith - Carol; Steven Zaitz - Singer; Brian Johnson - Norman; Jeffrey Nelson - The Man
Credit
John Sayles - Director, John Sayles - Editor, Mason K. Daring - Composer (Music Score), Austin de Besche - Cinematographer, William Aydelott - Producer, Jeffrey Nelson - Producer, John Sayles - Screenwriter
