The Big Chill (1983)

A group of seven former college friends gather for a weekend reunion at a South Carolina winter house after the funeral of one of their friends.

Director:

Lawrence Kasdan

Writers:

Lawrence Kasdan, Barbara Benedek

Stars:

Tom Berenger, Glenn Close, Jeff Goldblum

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 3 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tom Berenger	...	Sam
Glenn Close	...	Sarah
Jeff Goldblum	...	Michael
William Hurt	...	Nick
Kevin Kline	...	Harold
Mary Kay Place	...	Meg
Meg Tilly	...	Chloe
JoBeth Williams	...	Karen
Don Galloway	...	Richard
James Gillis	...	Minister
Ken Place	...	Peter the Cop
Jonathan Kasdan	...	Harold and Sarah's Son (as Jon Kasdan)
Ira Stiltner	...	Running Dog Driver
Jake Kasdan	...	Autograph Seeker (as Jacob Kasdan)
Muriel Moore	...	Alex's Mother

Storyline

A seminal Thirty-Something movie in which a group of old college friends who are now all grown up and hardened by the big wide world come together for the funeral of Alex, a barely glimpsed corpse, who was at one time the brightest and the best of them, and yet who never managed to achieve half as much as any of the others. The friends use the occasion to reacquaint themselves with each other and to speculate as to what happened to their idealism which had been abundant when they were younger.

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Plot Keywords:

funeral | group of friends | woman in shower | fictional television show | man wearing glasses | 

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Taglines:

How much love, sex, fun and friendship can a person take? The story of eight old friends searching for something they lost, and finding that all they needed was each other.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Certificate:

R

Details

Official Sites:

Sony Movie Channel [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 September 1983 (USA)

Also Known As:

Reencuentro

Filming Locations:

USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$3,662,152, 2 October 1983, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$56,200,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Corporation,Carson Productions,Delphi Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Writer-director Lawrence Kasdan didn't want all of the songs to necessarily be an obvious commentary on every scene but rather something more subtle. He wanted it "in some oblique way to support the feeling of the movie."

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Goofs

Karen's hair on the dock with Sam.

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Quotes

Chloe: Alex and I made love the night before he died. It was fantastic.
[pause]
Nick: He went out with a bang, not a whimper.

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Connections

References Perry Mason (1957)

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Soundtracks

Gimme Some Lovin'
Written by Steve Winwood, Muff Winwood (uncredited) and Spencer Davis (uncredited)
Performed by Spencer Davis
Courtesy of UK Single Label

User Reviews

Great cast, great music, great entertainment

It took a little while for me to really get into the film, but in the end, I was hooked. Once I got to know a little about each of the characters, I found it hard not to care about each and every one of them. Yes, it was dialogue-heavy, but once I liked the people on-screen, the conversations became rather engrossing. Even if lots of talking doesn't sound too appealing, I still think you should give it a look, because it isn't too often that a film has a cast that is so hugely talented. And of course, this film has one of the greatest soundtracks in movie history, and these songs seem to fit the mood perfectly. I had high expectations for this film, and although it wasn't quite what I had expected, this film did not disappoint.