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25 years ago - September 28, 1990

Pacific Heights
Michael Keaton of course became big in the '80s with comedies and finished the decade with the record-breaking blockbuster Batman. In Pacific Heights, he plays a straight up nasty: a tenant becomes a couple’s worst nightmare when he refuses to pay or leave his apartment and then takes over their lives. Melanie Griffith and Matthew Modine costar. The movie has its tense moments but didn’t entirely win over critics. Still, it won the weekend. Pacific Heights took down Goodfellas for #1 with $6.9 million on 1,278 screens. It went on to earn $29 million.

I Come in Peace
This one is a sci-fi action film starring Dolph Lundgren as a cop investigating the drug trade who finds out there’s an alien drug dealer and an alien cop in his midst. About the only highlight of this movie was a nifty alien flying disc used as a murder weapon. Brian Benben, who had just started starring in HBO’s comedy Dream On during the summer, plays an FBI agent for comedic relief. Reviews were not good. I Come in Peace opened at #6 with $1.9 million and went on to earn $4.3 million.

Texasville
Back in 1971, Peter Bogdanovich directed Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges, Cybill Shepherd, Ben Johnson, Eileen Brennan, Ellen Burstyn, Randy Quaid, and Cloris Leachman in the drama The Last Picture Show based on Larry McMurtry’s novel. That movie was a big hit at the Academy Awards, earning nominations for Bridges, Burstyn, and Leachman (who won), as well as Picture and Director. Nearly 20 years later Bogdanovich and the major cast members return for this sequel. Shepherd was probably the biggest draw, having completed Moonlighting’s five-year run in the spring of 1989. Reviews of Texasville naturally didn’t live up to its predecessor’s accolades. In limited release, Texasville opened moderately at #12 on 354 screens. It went on to earn $2.2 million.

Also debuting in limited release: King of New York (Christopher Walken, David Caruso, and Laurence Fishburne).

30 years ago - September 27, 1985

Invasion U.S.A.
The first half of the '80s was the heydey for Chuck Norris action films. Not only did he have his biggest hit the previous year with Missing in Action, Invasion U.S.A. was his third movie of 1985, following Missing in Action 2 and Code of Silence. Invasion U.S.A. features a story (written in part by Chuck Norris) with a mix of Cuban guerrillas, Soviet agents, and terrorists in Miami. Norris plays former-CIA-agent-pulled-out-of-retirement Matt Hunter. Michael Dudikoff took over the role for the sequel the following year. Reviews were poor but audiences went to see it anyway: Invasion U.S.A. opened at #1 ahead of Agnes of God and Back to the Future with $6.8 million on 1,735 screens. The movie went on to gross $17.5 million, well ahead of Missing in Action 2 but short of Code of Silence.

Maxie
This one is a fantasy comedy about a couple whose house was once occupied by a 1920s flapper, and now the flapper’s ghost occupies the wife. This was almost a year to the day after Steve Martin and lily Tomlin’s possession comedy All of Me. Mandy Patinkin and Glenn Close play the couple. Close had earned her third Oscar nomination earlier in the year and later received a Golden Globe nomination for this movie. Patinkin’s previous movie was Yentl, for which he was also nominated for a Golden Globe. Maxie opened at #6 with $1.1 million on 778 screens and a week later was eclipsed by Glenn Close’s thriller Jagged Edge. Maxie went on to earn $2.5 million.

Also debuting in limited release: The Journey of Natty Gann (Meredith Salenger and John Cusack), Marie: A True Story (Sissy Spacek and Jeff Daniels), Code Name: Emerald (Ed Harris and Max von Sydow)

Come back next week for another installment of Marquee History!

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