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25 years ago - September 14, 1990

Postcards from the Edge
Carrie Fisher wrote the screenplay for the movie based on her semi-autobiographical novel. Meryl Streep stars as an actress trying to break a drug addiction despite the stress of dealing with her overbearing mother (Shirley MacLaine). Dennis Quaid, Annette Bening, Gene Hackman, and Richard Dreyfuss costar. Director Mike Nichols and Meryl Streep had previously worked together on Silkwood and Heartburn. Critical response to the film was very good. Streep was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar, and Shel Silverstein’s song “I’m Checkin’ Out” was also nominated. Postcards from the Edge opened at #1 with $7.8 million on 1,013 screens, more than doubling the average on Ghost’s 1,766 screens in its 10th week. Postcards eventually earned a strong $39 million domestically.

Death Warrant
This martial arts action flick was written by David S. Goyer when he was a film student and was his first screenplay sold. Jean-Claude Van Damme stars as a cop undercover in prison. Patrick Kilpatrick plays the villain. Van Damme was making a name for himself among action fans, having starred in Kickboxer, Cyborg, and Bloodsport in the previous two years, and Death Warrant was his best box office performer to date (though not on the same level as genre rival Steven Seagal). Death Warrant opened at #3 with $5.0 million on 1,089 screens and eventually grossed $16.8 million.

Hardware
This moody, post-apocalyptic sci-fi thriller stars Dylan McDermott and Stacey Travis as a scavenger and a sculptor who come under threat from a deadly robot. The film’s level of violence initially earned it an X-rating, which was trimmed back to an R for release. I can actually remember the seat I was in when I saw this movie in theaters, and its style at least made an impression, even if the movie isn’t one I feel like watching again. Critics were mixed about the realization of its potential. Hardware opened at #7 with $2.3 million on 695 screens, showing fairly strong audience interest. It eventually grossed $5.7 million.

Also debuting in limited release: Repossessed (Leslie Nielsen), State of Grace (Sean Penn and Ed Harris), and White Hunter Black Heart (Clint Eastwood, nominated for a Palme d’Or at Cannes).

30 years ago - September 13, 1985

With no new wide releases, Back to the Future once again led the box office in its 11th week with $4.1 million, followed by Teen Wolf, Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, Compromising Positions, and Volunteers.

Agnes of God
Opening in very limited release, this drama directed by Norman Jewison is based on the play by John Pielmeier. Meg Tilly plays a nun in a convent who claims to have given virgin birth, Jane Fonda plays a psychiatrist who investigates the claim while clashing with the mother superior, played by Anne Bancroft. The acting at least earned some praise from critics and both Bancroft and Tilly earned Oscar nominations. Georges Delerue received an Oscar nomination for his score, and Pielmeier’s screenplay was nominated by the Writers Guild of America. Agnes of God expanded to over 600 screens later in the month and eventually grossed over $25 million.

After Hours
Though director Martin Scorsese had earned a following with his films of the late 1970s and an Oscar nomination for 1980’s Raging Bull, the movie industry was clearly favoring blockbusters by the mid 1980s. Scorsese had tried but failed to produce the Last Temptation of Christ Scorsese responded by going going even more indie and lower budget with this dark comedy. The plot covers the late night adventures of a word processor (Griffin Dunne) in New York, with Rosanna Arquette, Teri Garr, John Heard, Catherine O’Hara, Linda Fiorentino, Cheech and Chong, Will Patton, and Bronson Pinchot in the cast (but not Robert De Niro). Critics responded favorably, and Scorsese won the Best Director Award at Cannes the following May. Opening in very limited release, After Hours later expanded and earned $10.6 million in the U.S.


Come back next week for another installment of Marquee History!

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