Few film critics or movie pundits could have pre-
dicted the impact that Lawrence Kasdan’s 1983 film
The Big Chillwould have on the generation that came
of age during the 1960’s. Kasdan and Barbara Bene-
dek wrote the movie, which tells the story of a group
of thirty-something former University of Michigan
college friends who gather together to attend the fu-
neral of one of their own, dead from suicide.
The opening title sequence features a corpse (fa-
mously played by Kevin Costner) being dressed for a
funeral while the Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always
Get What You Want” plays in the background. In-
deed, the words to this song prepare viewers for the
rest of the movie: None of the members of this group
of friends has found exactly what he or she wants in
life; coming together again after twenty years, how-
ever, gives many of them what they need. For Karen
(JoBeth Williams), this means coming to terms with
her life as a homemaker and mother rather than as
the writer she thought she would be. Nick (William
Hurt) must quiet the ghosts of the Vietnam War and
find love with a young Chloe (Meg Tilley). Meg
(Mary Kay Place), who has spent her life since col-
lege pursuing a high-powered career as a lawyer,
needs one of her male friends to impregnate her be-
fore her “biological clock” stops ticking. In all, the
group who gather at the home of Sarah (Glenn
Close) and Harold (Kevin Kline) need one another
to reaffirm who they were when they were young, so
they can at last become fully realized adults.
The large ensemble cast featured actors destined
to be among the most important in their generation.
Nearly every member later received Academy Award
nominations for other endeavors (including Cost-
ner, whose scenes inThe Big Chillwound up on the
cutting-room floor). In addition, the soundtrack of
the movie became an immediate best seller, and it
strongly influenced the trend toward creating highly
marketable, evocative soundtracks for motion pic-
tures that was to continue throughout the decade
and beyond.The Big Chillwas nominated for three
Academy Awards, as well as for a Golden Globe
award and a host of other honors.
Impact It is difficult to overestimate the impor-
tance of this film to an audience composed of those
who attended college from roughly 1963 through
1974 and who were in their early thirties at the time
of the film’s release. Many members of this group
struggled with issues of meaning and mortality dur-
ing the early years of the 1980’s, as they attempted to
make the transition from their college years to adult-
hood. Kasdan’s film poignantly and incisively tar-
geted many of their greatest fears and desires, in-
cluding the loss of idealism, the need for love, the
fear of growing old and dying, and the desire to leave
something lasting for the next generation.
Further Reading
Carey, Melissa, and Michael Hannan. “Case Study 2:
The Big Chill.” InPopular Music and Film, edited by
Ian Inglis. New York: Wallflower, 2003.
McGilligan, Patrick.Backstor y 4: Interviews with
Screenwriters of the 1970’s and 1980’s.Berkeley: Uni-
versity of California Press, 2006.
Troy, Gil.Morning in America: How Ronald Reagan In-
vented the 1980’s.Princeton, N.J.: Princeton Uni-
versity Press, 2005.
Diane Andrews HenningfeldSee also Academy Awards; Beattie, Ann; Close,
Glenn; Costner, Kevin; Film in the United States;
Hurt, William;thirtysomething; Yuppies.The Eighties in America Big Chill, The 109
Clockwise from front left: Director Lawrence Kasdan and actors
Tom Berenger, Jeff Goldblum, Kevin Kline, and William Hurt on
location during the filming ofThe Big Chillin 1983.(Hulton
Archive/Getty Images)