Diamonds in the multiplex rough: 13 great Hollywood movies from the dog days of August
Late August is usually a dumping ground for bad Hollywood movies, but these films begged to differ
Film Features Michael Mann
Prestige movies usually come out in the autumn, the better to position themselves in the award-season conversation. The biggest blockbusters are often released in early summer, to help fill the needs of idle moviegoers ready to kill some time with fights, chases, and huge explosions. In between these two lucrative periods on the movie calendar lies a dead zone maybe even more barren than the frigid wasteland of January: the final couple of weeks of August. Historically speaking, Hollywood treats this stretch of dates like a dumping ground for projects that are neither likely hits nor prospective awards contenders. They are the forgotten, the unwanted, the filler indifferently released into theaters nationwide with the near certainty that America will choose one final gasp of beach time over whatever they offer.
And yet, every once in a while, a genuinely terrific studio movie crops up during this period of box-office poison, going on to accrue the status of a classic. What follows are 13 great Hollywood films released after 1975, all of which opened in theaters just before Labor Day in their respective years, bringing unexpected quality to the junkyard of late summer.
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I watched Barton Fink for the first time last year and it is so damn good. The corridor on fire scene is something that should be considered an all-time iconic cinema moment, but I suppose the rest of the movie is just so idiosyncratic that it never garnered enough of an audience.
it’s their best and one of the best movies of all time if you ask me. absolute masterclass filmmaking
“What do you need, a road map?” and “I’ll show you the life of the mind!” are two lines that enter my mind constantly when dealing with people.
I always think of Tony Shalhoub as Ben Geisler: “Jesus, throw a rock in here, you’ll hit one. And do me a favor, Fink: throw it hard.”
He’s the greatest in that movie.
On its own, Barton Fink is a great, great movie. But I can never think of it without also imagining Milhouse and friends speeding away in a car, thrilled to see their first-ever R-rated movie, chanting “Barton Fink! Barton Fink!”
or nelson’s disappointment after seeing “naked lunch.”
Just the utter nonplussed faces they have on exiting the cinema.“I can think of at least two things wrong with that title.
“I can think of two things wrong with that title”
The thing that I love about Barton Fink is that it avoids the pitfalls of too many Hollywood films about Hollywood, which is that the protagonist is almost always some would-be auteur who we’re supposed to feel sympathy for because they’re purely in it to create art, as opposed to all those, you know, hacks that they have to deal with. (The Big Picture is a great example of this; the movie that the guy wants to make seems like the most boring Oscar-bait ever, and it’s my least favorite thing that Christopher Guest has ever done.) Hail Caesar avoids this, as does Steve Martin’s Bowfinger. Barton Fink himself is not that great of a guy; he doesn’t deserve the monstrous acts of John Goodman’s character, but that character is right about how rude Fink was.
I love Bowfinger. Throughout the whole thing, you can see how badly everyone just wants to be in/make a movie, of any kind, and it looked fun, not sad.
I also saw it only in recent years, liked it fine and want to see it again. It was funny that most people who I asked about it who had seen it could not really convey to me what the movie was about and did not really try; after seeing it, I knew why.
This list is completely worthless without “The Fugitive.”
The Sixth Sense also. I remember reading/ hearing that it was causing Hollywood to reconsider August
Another August 6th release, though.
And the same day that opened, so did The Iron Giant — one reason why IG flopped, but certainly not the only one. (The Iron Giant is one of the only movies I was absolutely alone in the theater for, at least by the end; a mom and her kid walked out at the 2/3rds mark.)
What a terrible parent.
August 6th isn’t really “the last two weeks of August”. Although this list kind of cheats on that premise anyway with five films released on or before August 15th…
Okay, I guess I glossed over the “late August” qualifier. Which the list is apparently breaking itself anyway.
Dog Day Afternoon should be an honorary inclusion, even though it wasn’t relased until late September.
Inglourious Basterds had me looking at my watch, Christoph Waltz aside.
It had me wondering how a couple of reels of Hogan’s Heroes got spliced into a tense, adult wartime drama.
I enjoyed it but it’s very overrated and their plan is such a mess. For such a competent group of killers they really come off as comically stupid. They basically win by complete accident at the end, and because Waltz changes his mind.
So interesting thing. Back in the 90s and early 2000s at least we were still in the period of not getting major blockbusters often until weeks or months after the rest of the world.So August/September was often when we got the big June/July movies which came out around the September school holidays. They’d bet the holidays you’d generally expect to see great movies. For example – in 1997 we didn’t get Men in Black, Hercules and George of the Jungle, among others, until September that year.
In Ireland for a long time we’d get US movies a YEAR or so after they’d been released , by the 90s it’d shrunk to maybe six months ,but it was only with a combination of digital cinema systems and online piracy that we’d get movies at the same time as the US .( in fact in the nineties I used to order regional 1 dvds and be able to watch movies that wouldn’t hit cinemas here for another 2-3 months.
Ah yes, the days when you had to wait for physical film reels to make their way out of the major metro areas. I have family in a couple of small towns and would often see a movie at home in Atlanta and then again a couple of months later when off visiting.
BART-ON FINK! BART-ON FINK!
https://www.redohome.in/
Logan Lucky is pure dross. It’s only rescued for three minutes. The three minutes it takes Adam Driver to say cauliflower. Daniel Craig’s accent isn’t fun. It’s jarring. Every moment that Seth MacFarlane is on the screen is time I could have been getting a colonoscopy, which would have been more fun.Logan Lucky – D+Barton Fink and Buckaroo Banzai are great movies and I’m still hoping we get Buckaroo Vs. The World Crime League. Fun facts – Peter Weller was locked in for sequels to Buckaroo Banzai, but not the unexpected hit Robocop. Jeff Goldblum turned down the role of Egon in Ghostbusters to be in Buckaroo Banzai.
Daniel Craig can do no wrong and his accent is weirdly perfect. Agree about Buckaroo Banzai, though.
i don’t think Goldblum would have (appreciated) the Ghostbuster notoriety as much as Harold Ramis.
Brian Cox’s Lecter is still the best Lecter. Completely believable, seemingly normal on the surface and not a trace of having handsful of scenery for lunch.
Agreed. His call to the secretary to get Graham’s home address is so scary in how normal and affable he can be in executing his evil plans. You could easily see how he could be a normal psychiatrist by day and a cannibal serial killer by night.
Someone made a really cool supercut of showing/comparing the same scene played by different Lectors – Cox in “Manhunter,” Hopkins in “Red Dragon” and Mads Mikkelsen in “Hannibal.” And Hopkins’ performance was easily the worst of the three, just so hammy compared to the other two.
And Hopkins is actually a really good actor. (In other roles.)
Well, yeah. But the more they tried to milk “Silence” by his subsequent appearances, the worse the movies (and his performance) got.
Hopkins first appearance in Silence is iconic for a reason, but he just got hammier each time he returned to the role. Hannibal is supposed to be a supporting character, but because he got so popular they just kept increasingly emphasizing him.
Yeah he got lead for Red Dragon when he wasn’t in the book a whole lot. I get why, but it just made it into a Silence of the Lambs prequel (also the events of that movie aren’t right before Silence IIRC.On another note Will Petersen as Will Graham is much better in Manhunter, he really feels like someone who could become a killer himself at the drop of a hat, and he’s barely keeping control. You don’t really get that from Norton
Excellent observation about Petersen vs. Norton. Spot on.
Norton seems like he’s just doing it for a paycheck and doesn’t care to put in any effort. Hugh Dancy did put in effort, but he also doesn’t seem believable as someone who was a homicide detective.
Exactly.
Especially by RD Hopkins Flanderized his portrayal of Lecter so much. Or the writers did. I like that Mads actually sounds like he’s from Continental Europe (even it it’s Denmark)unlike the British ones. Hannibal is Lithuanian
He’s the version who seems most likely to actually kill you.
Yeah, Hopkins’ Lecter comes off as someone you would instinctively know to just stay the hell away from.
He’s performing for someone who doesn’t already know him. Cox’ version already knows Will and doesn’t need to put on any such performance.
A fair point, he’s obviously trying to get under Clarise’s skin.
I love Married to the Mob so much. I went through a Matthew Modine period in my youth, and have always found his weird but weirdly charming performance here anything but bland, especially the odd chemistry he has with both Oliver Platt and Michelle Pfeiffer. Such a strange movie that always makes me laugh (the tiny twin bed, the handshake, the hair wash at the end…) . And that Chris Isaak cameo. So very weird and wonderful.
Birdy?
More like endless rewatches of MttM and Memphis Belle.
I just watched Married to the Mob for the first time in ages a couple of weeks ago. God, it’s good. Super charming, and I agree that Matthew Modine is not bland – just very dry. As mentioned, Mercedes Ruehl, steals the show. Add in young Alec Baldwin for eye candy, and the Burger World jingle, and you have a winner on your hands.
Caught the movie a couple years ago. A little too protracted for my tastes.Also, while Mercedes Ruehl is a good actress, Connie was way too loony. The scene where she threatens Angela in the grocery store, for example. Connie punctuates her threats by smashing up Angela’s eggs. Angela can just get another carton of eggs and your hands are left dripping. Ooookay.Really liked Pfeiffer and David Byrne’s music, though.
She was super loony, which is why Tony was terrified of her finding about him screwing around on her.
Connie is loony as fuck, but in total fairness I think the purpose of crushing the eggs was less literal and more symbolic — as in, it’s more about the threat of “I’m gonna crush your ovaries” rather than ensuring she can’t make any souffles.
Soundtrack was awesome, too. Demme used Goodbye Horses to a very different effect then he would in Silence of the Lambs.
No Guardians Of The Galaxy?
Yeah I expected that too, maybe because it came out August 1 it doesn’t count
I don’t see why. August 1st is just as much of August as August 15 or August 31.
THAT TRAILER FOR BUCKAROO BANZAI IS TERRIBLE. IT’S FUN FOR THOSE OF US WHO ARE FANS, BUT IF YOU WERE TRYING TO DECIDE ON A MOVIE, KNOWING NOTHING ABOUT IT, YOU GET ALMOST NOTHING HELPFUL. BUCKAROO IS AN ACTION COMEDY AT HEART, THAT SHOULDN’T BE TOO HARD TO GET ACROSS.
I need to watch Manhunter again. Been a long time. I had already seen Silence of the Lambs at that point, and remember thinking that the earlier movie actually pulled me inside the story much more effectively. Not saying it’s a better movie overall, but I remember the psychological tension being off the charts. I love Michael Mann’s work. I had always loved movies, but Heat is the movie that really turned me into a movie lover. Or maybe it was just that winter. I remember going to see Goldeneye on opening day, then Heat, Casino, and 12 Monkeys in that order in the space of about a month. And then Broken Arrow, Happy Gilmore and Fargo not too long after. Not a bad stretch.I remember it well, I was a freshmen in college and had a bit of a hard time adjusting at first. I was not a big partier, so I discovered quickly that a movie could take the pressure off of Fri/Sat night (at least when X-Files wasn’t on) if I didn’t feel like “going out.” Somebody would always want to come along, and it absolutely contributed to some great friendships (and a lasting love of the cinema).
Other Great 80’s August Movies: The Abyss, Real Genius, Sex Lies and Videotape, Fright Night, Risky Business, Tucker: Man And His Dream. And of course, The Beastmaster.
I’m going to have to insist on ‘A Fish Called Wanda’, even though it was officially released 29 July 1988.
I wonder how Fast Times would have fared if it had been released earlier in the year? I can’t believe it made less money than: On Golden Pond, Porky’s, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, and Firefox.Ditto An American Werewolf in London. It made less than: Stripes, the Cannonball Run and The Four Seasons.
Fast Times was lucky to get a national release at all; initially Universal only brought it out on the West Coast because they didn’t think the flyover states or NYC would get it!
I always thought Porkys was a cheap, pervy knock off of Fast Times… I guess not. Porkys and its ilk though definitely worsened the culture…
Porkys actually shows a (hidden) culture that even persists today.
It was just the most ridiculous of a whole slate of 80s raunchy sex comedies…Hardbodies, Goin All the Way, Hot Dog…just a golden era for naked schlock.
Bite your tongue: I never would have got to experience the gut punch of “The Last American Virgin” without that early 80’s atmosphere…
Also in August 1986, the 22nd alone had Stand by Me (after some one-night-only preview screenings two weeks prior, back when that was still a thing), Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, and Night of the Creeps. Truth be told, that whole month was a beast when it came to genre titles especially — the front half of the month had Friday the 13th Part VI, The Transformers the Movie, Flight of the Navigator, and Howard the Duck. Even the bad movies were more interesting back then! (Also: She’s Gotta Have It, over on the indie scene)
With all due respect, and setting Stand by Me aside, that list looks EXACTLY like what you’d expect to see released in late August.
I legit loves TCM2. I know it’s not the horror or sheer greatness of the original. But man, as an 80’s styled horror comedy/satire it’s fucking perfect. And Dennis Hopper…he’s just perfect in it.
It feels like such a weird miracle that The Fly was as big a hit as it was, especially given how vicious some of the reviews were. For all the raves it received (Gene Siskel, normally no friend to horror films back then, loved it), there was no shortage of critics who were aghast at how disgusting it was. (Personally, I think it’s an incredibly beautiful film, and it’s become a comfort movie for me over the years.)
“Comfort” movie? Jesus.But yeah, it is such a hideously disgusting film that it’s pretty amazing how financially successful it turned out to be.
it was ahead of its time (for critics). The Fly was probably very different that all the other current films at that time. the critics just weren’t ready.
Did they not know it was supposed to be disgusting? Wasn’t his transformation in the film supposed to be a metaphor for AIDS? Seems like they missed the point.
David Edelstein wrote a fabulous piece about the film for Rolling Stone that chided the critics who missed the point of the grue. (One of the wittier asides: “The critics who warned, ‘Don’t go on an empty stomach!’ seem to think culture should be planned around meals.”)
Buckaroo Banzai is a fun fantastic movie that is way funnier the second watch. There are tons of loyal fans that love this movie still. I am one of them.
One of best known and acclaimed films that was essentially dumped into theaters in August, Unforgiven (rel. 8/3/92) Hugely commercially successful ($159M on a $14M budget), winner of Best Picture and Best Director Oscars
I’m so old I actually saw Schlock at the theatre as a child, but have had zero luck tracking it down in any format since then…
…he says, then goes and checks at Amazon. There it fucking is!!
Manhunter is such an underrated movie. Better adaptation of Red Dragon than Red Dragon was
Oh, I thought this was movies SET in the dog days of summer, not released. So, I guess, Streetcar Named Desire or maybe The Mean Season.
This is kind of wild—I would have sworn up and down that I saw “Inglourious Basterds” with a friend right before we deployed in June 2008; I definitely remember her saying “I didn’t know that’s how Hitler died! Why didn’t we learn that in school?”
I guess maybe we saw it right after getting home in late July/early August 2009.