The Big Chill [Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray]

Director: Lawrence Kasdan

Overview

A septet of former 1960s radicals reunite a decade later to mourn the suicide of a mutual friend, and find themselves firmly ensconced in the Yuppie movement (though technically not a remake of Sayle's fascinating Return of the Secaucus 7, The Big Chill owes more than a passing debt to that film). The reunion causes the seven to look at their present and past lives and work at resolving old conflicts. They also must deal with the haunting ghosts of old relationships. On a trivial note, Kevin Costner played the corpse of the dead friend. His body is seen at the beginning of the film being dressed for the funeral.

Product Details

Release Date:	07/29/2014
UPC:	0715515152013
Original Release:	1983
Rating:	R
Source:	THE CRITERION COLLECTION, INC
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono]
Language:	English
Time:	1:45:00
Sales rank:	8,963

Special Features

New interview with Kasdan; Reunion of cast and crew from the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival, including Kasdan and actors Tom Berenger, Glenn Close, Kevin Kline, Mary Kay Place, Meg Tilly, and JoBeth Williams; Documentary from 1998 on the making of the film; Deleted scenes; Trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Tom Berenger	Sam
Glenn Close	Sarah
Jeff Goldblum	Michael
William Hurt	Nick
Mary Kay Place	Meg,Peter the Cop
Kevin Kline	Harold
Meg Tilly	Chloe
Don Galloway	Richard
JoBeth Williams	Karen,Composer
James Gillis	Minister
Jon Kasdan	Harold & Sarah's Son,Autograph Seeker,Airline Hostess,Composer
Ira Stiltner	Running Dog Driver
Muriel Moore	Alex's Mother
Patricia Gaul	Annie
Kevin Costner	Alex
Craig Dunaway	Tight End
Aretha Franklin	Composer

Technical Credits

Barbara Benedek

Lawrence Kasdan

Michael Shamberg	Producer
Barbara Benedek	Screenwriter
Wally Nicita	Casting,Casting
Lawrence Kasdan	Executive Producer,Screenwriter
Marcia Nasatir	Executive Producer,Producer
Barrie M. Osborne	Producer
Lawrence J. Cavanaugh	Special Effects
James Winburn	Stunts
Raul A. Bruce	Sound Effects
Ida Random	Producer
Al Laverde	Key Grip
Gene Cantamessa	Sound Mixer

Scene Index

Introduction 3

1 Liberty and Revolution in the Atlantic World 14

2 Liberty in the Province of Quebec, 1776-1805 37

3 The Birth of Reform Movements in the Canadas, 1805-1828 54

4 "We, the people": Republican Liberty in the Canadas, 1828-1838 93

5 The Primacy of Rights: Modern Liberty in the Canadas, 1828-1838 128

6 Citizens, to Arms! The Rebellions of 1837-1838 160

Conclusion: Liberty as the Foundation of the Canadian State 185

Notes 187

Bibliography 237

Index 265

Editorial Reviews

A seminal baby boomer angst session, The Big Chill proved enormously popular with audiences who saw their own thirty-something anxieties brought to life with the aid of an impossibly catchy soundtrack. The film eulogized the lost ideals and enthusiasms of the 1960s and pondered what, if anything, had taken their place. The film begins with the funeral of Alex, long considered the best and brightest of the group of friends, whose death and burial symbolize the collective death of a relentlessly mythologized, sentimentalized era. The survivors are left to scratch their heads, smoke some pot, and dance around the kitchen in an effort to figure out what happened, and why. It is a testament to Lawrence Kasdan's strengths as a writer and director that, while the film does dip its toe repeatedly in the collective pool of nostalgia, it tends more towards melancholy reflection than sentimental excess. The friends question what happened to the promise of their youth, but they do so with an eye towards explaining their present state, rather than trying to recreate their past glories. It is little surprise that this sort of reflective meditation hit such a chord with its audience, many of whom were easing into the same sort of complacent, suburban lifestyle that they may have once claimed to abhor. Composed of equal parts mourning and acceptance, The Big Chill became an anthem for a generation trying to accept the fact that their present was not the future they had hoped it would be.

" … for today's young scholars, it is imperative to have a sense of the historical development of how society evolved in the New World so as to be able to compare and contrast what happened in the past with what is currently occurring in society. Indeed, Ducharme's valiant efforts do much to provide the necessary background for achieving this goal." American Review of Canadian Studies

"Ducharme writes clearly and lucidly; his presentation of the material is straightforward and accessible, and the work is refreshingly balanced. I was impressed with his ability to point directly to the sources of inspiration of colonial political writers. He presents readers with a considerable amount of original documentary material, much of it, especially for Lower Canada, relatively little known. We have learned a great deal from Greer's Patriots and the People about the struggles from below that lead to 1837. Ducharme offers a major advance in our understanding about struggles from above. This book will be agenda-setting." Bruce Curtis, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Carleton University

"This will be an unavoidable text in the literature on the history of ideas in Quebec." Ollivier Hubert, Département d'histoire, Université de Montréal

From the Publisher