Cocoon (1985) 20th Century Fox/Sci-Fi-Comedy-Drama RT: 117 minutes Rated PG-13 (suggestive content, sexual references, language, a drug reference, thematic material) Director: Ron Howard Screenplay: Tom Benedek Music: James Horner Cinematography: Donald Peterman Release date: June 21, 1985 (US) Cast: Don Ameche, Wilford Brimley, Hume Cronyn, Brian Dennehy, Jack Gilford, Steve Guttenberg, Maureen Stapleton, Jessica Tandy, Gwen Verdon, Herta Ware, Tahnee Welch, Barret Oliver, Linda Harrison, Tyrone Power Jr., Mike Nomad, Clint Howard, Charles Lampkin, Jorge Gil, Rance Howard. Box Office: $76.1M (US)/$85.3M (World)
Rating: ****
If asked what I remember most about 1985, I’d have to say the rise of the Brat Pack. The popularity of youth-driven movies like The Breakfast Club and St. Elmo’s Fire confirmed what we already knew to be true about contemporary cinema, that a majority of moviegoers fall into the under-25 demographic. It makes sense that they’d be drawn to movies starring their peers- e.g. Emilio Estevez, Molly Ringwald, Rob Lowe and Ally Sheedy. Call me crazy, but I don’t see teen couples flocking to The Trip to Bountiful on date night. So where does that leave older moviegoers not interested in teen drama?
One could say that Cocoon is like the old age version of a Brat Pack film with its cast of actors of a certain age. And what a grand cast it is! It stars greats like Wilford Brimley (Absence of Malice), Maureen Stapleton (Reds), Don Ameche (Trading Places), Gwen Verdon (Damn Yankees), Jack Gilford (Save the Tiger), Herta Ware (2010) and cinematic royal couple Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy (The World According to Garp). It co-stars Brian Dennehy (First Blood), Steve Guttenberg (Police Academy), Tahnee Welch (Raquel’s daughter) and Barret Oliver (The NeverEnding Story). Even at 17, I was mighty impressed with this line-up.
Directed by Ron Howard (Splash), Cocoon is a gentle but sad sci-fi tale about a group of Florida seniors who enjoy the benefits of a fountain of youth they discover in a mansion inhabited by visitors from outer space. They reside in the retirement community next door where they deal with issues like cancer, failing eyesight, impotence and senility. Three of them- Ben (Brimley), Art (Ameche) and Joe (Cronyn)- like to sneak into the mansion and swim in the indoor pool. They do this every day. Then one day, they find a bunch of large rocks at the bottom of the pool. They decide to go swimming anyway and that’s when their lives change. They feel young again, rejuvenated. They’re able to do things they haven’t been able to do in years. Health problems disappear. Also, they’re horny again.
The rocks are actually cocoons placed there by Walter (Dennehy) and his crew, extra-terrestrials from the planet Antarea. They contain the dormant bodies of their comrades left behind on Earth after the sinking of Atlantis, their outpost on Earth, 10,000 years before. It’s time for them to be brought home. With the help of nice guy boat captain Jack (Guttenberg), they retrieve the cocoons from the bottom of the ocean and put them in the pool containing water charged with “life force”. It’ll give them the energy they need to make the long trip to their home planet. It’s this life force that gives the oldsters and their wives (Stapleton, Verdon and Tandy) back their youthful energy. Not everybody is on board with going against the natural order of things. Their friend Bernie (Gilford), an old grump with an increasingly senile wife (Ware), thinks what they’re doing is wrong.
I watched Cocoon for the first time in over 30 years this past weekend. It was just as great as I remembered. The passage of three decades endows it with a strong note of pathos due to the fact that the main cast is no longer with us. All of the elder cast members and Dennehy are gone now. We can take comfort in the legacy that is their respective bodies of work. I can’t think of a better legacy than Cocoon, a wonderful movie that favors plot and character over special effects, a rarity when it comes to summer sci-fi flicks. It’s impossible to single out any one performance, but Ameche did take home the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his terrific performance. Although I know it’s the work of a stunt double, I still get a kick out of watching him breakdance before a crowd of impressed young clubgoers. In any event, it’s great seeing all of these screen vets in action in a film that should appeal to young and old alike.
Cocoon is more than a tale of old folks regaining their lost youth. It’s mostly that, but it never comes off as heavy-handed or morose. It has a sad scene or two, but it’s also very funny at times. There’s also a love story involving Jack and the lone female alien Kitty (Welch). He falls hard for her despite witnessing her (through a peephole, of course) taking off her human skin and revealing her true form, a glowing yellow being. It’s a sweet subplot that includes a scene of them making love Antarean-style.
The special effects in Cocoon are exceptional without being overused. Howard saves the spaceship until the end. Also, he avoids one of the biggest sci-fi tropes ever, governmental bad guys looking to capture the aliens. It comes as a relief actually. He does, however, give us a chase at the end with the police and Coast Guard attempting to thwart the departure of the aliens and their human passengers. It’s a bit of a cliché, but I don’t mind. Cocoon is so entertaining and touching, it’s easy to overlook what isn’t even a flaw or fault. Let’s just say it’s a fall-back on a tried and true convention.
Ultimately, Cocoon is an emotionally powerful drama that addresses old folks’ concerns in the context of sci-fi-fantasy. Wouldn’t we all love to be eternally young? Wouldn’t it be neat to find a fountain of youth? What would we do if we did discover one? I’d even say that Cocoon is beautiful. It never fails to put a huge lump in my throat.
