Whenever I think of my movie-crammed childhood, I always come back to John Lithgow. He was in so many damn classic 80s' movies. As a kid, he was just "that guy who was in that other movie." I wore out many of his video tapes from Buck-A-Day Video. Here's a few classics.
1983 - Twilight Zone: The Movie
(My favorite was always the bulging eyes at the 4:20 mark)
The first time I saw this movie was on HBO at some point in the late 80s'. I came in about more than halfway through and the first image I saw was this one:
Now that sleepless nights were unavoidable, I had to keep watching. I then came upon the fourth segment of the film starring Lithgow. I remember sharing in the complete dread of the situation. I've seen the original Twilight Zone episode on which its based and it isn't nearly as frightening. His progression into madness is amazing to watch because you see it both in his acting and his appearance. On every flight I'm on, I still look out at the wing to check, you know, just to make sure.
1983 - The Day After
Ok, this was a TV movie, but I still count it. I watched it at some point when they ran it on television again. As a kid, I just wanted it to get to the part where the bombs go off. Lithgow doesn't appear until over an hour in as a college professor. Anytime I saw him as a professor or scientist, I always bought it. Kind of like James Cromwell always playing a politician. Lithgow keeps a check on the radiation levels from the college and tries to communicate with the U.S. from a radio. He even gets the very unsettling final line of the film.
1984 Feb. 17th - Footloose
It took me a long time to give this movie a chance. I only knew it as the movie the girls were swooning over while we guys were trying to figure which Goonie we were most like. I finally watched it one day and sure its cheesy, but it was the 80s, you could get away with it. John Lithgow is what you would consider the film's villain. The interesting thing about the film and Lithgow is that it would have been so easy to play his "reverend who bans rock music and dancing" as the atypical villain. Usually in films, the ultra conservative character is played in a more vile fashion with no sympathy. Most of your 80s' villains were very one-sided and they never learned anything and then someone threw them off a cliff.
Lithgow plays Rev. Shaw Moore as man so tortured by his past that he's unaware of the drastic nature of his solution. Before watching, I imagined I was going to hate his character. He ends up learning a valuable lesson by the end, without all the sap.
1984- August 14th - The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
I'll be the first to admit, this movie isn't for everybody. It's very bizarre and at times a little slow. I caught it on cable because it was science fiction and I had to see everything the genre had to offer. Lithgow reveals some of his comic brilliance we would see in many later films. He hams up every one of his scenes, in a good way mind you. You can tell he's having a lot of fun on this set this day. He essentially plays two different characters, Dr. Emilio Lizardo and Lord John Whorfin (the first is possessed by the other). The signature Lithgow yell is heard often in this one.
1984 - Dec 7th - 2010: The Year We Make Contact
1984 was a full year for him. 2010 wasn't really a blockbuster, but it did break about even and got nominated for 6 academy awards for its technical achievement. Lithgow had a supporting role as Dr. Walter Curnow, the man who designed the shuttle Discovery (from 2001; A Space Odyssey). He joins in the mission to investigate the events of the previous film. 2001 is a far superior film to 2010, but it is worth a watch. The scene that stands out for me the most is when Lithgow has to float from the Leonov to the Discovery to reactivate its systems. It's a very tense few minutes because of his fear of being in space for the first time. You really feel his claustrophobia and panic as it plays out.
1985- Santa Claus: The Movie
If you never saw this around Christmas as a kid, you missed out. I don't think its one you could watch for the first time now and think much of it. I always enjoyed it because Lithgow played his character, B.Z., as cartoonish as possible. If the villain in a kids' movie talks with a smarmy accent and has a cigar, you know he's the bad guy. I always thought candy canes that could make you fly would be fun, until the end of the movie when Lithgow finds himself in outer space (yet again).
1986- The Manhattan Project
Here's one you can actually watch in full online. Basic plot, teenager (Paul) steals plutonium in an effort to build a nuclear bomb for his science fair in order to expose the weapons laboratory hiding in his hometown. A bit of a drastic solution. Lithgow plays Dr. John Mathewson, a scientist who works at the laboratory and is also dating Paul's mother. Paul is the star, but it's Mathewson's character who has the most growth by the end. I won't ruin the ending if you haven't seen it.
1987 - Harry and The Hendersons
And finally, the list isn't complete without my favorite John Lithgow 80s' movie. It's the first one of his I saw in theaters. As a bigfoot fanatic, I loved the idea of finding one that was really nice and could basically be your pet. Lithgow plays the father in this one, with a lot more depth than you would usually see in a family film of this nature. I always got teary-eyed when Lithgow has to try and force Harry to return to the woods. I've seen this about a hundred times and its still as enjoyable as when I was a kid.
