There are so many moments from my childhood that I have no recollection of. Being born in the early ’70s and growing up through the ’80s, I was able to experience several truly magical moments, thanks to my love of the movies. I remember the first time seeing Indiana Jones crack his whip, Pamela Voorhees slaughtering teens, and when Luke Skywalker first discovered the force. When my parents would take me to their friends’ houses with kids, there would always be an announcement that those kids had Star Wars toys.
I’d pack mine up and bond with these kids over those films. The influence these films had over a generation was unrivaled by anything up to that point (maybe even ever). So the coming-of-age drama/comedy 5-25-77 (the release date of the original Star Wars) tackles trying to capture the magic and frenzy that the first film unleashed. It does so in a nostalgic way; it inspires and gives you hope that your dreams could come true.
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The film follows Pat Johnson (John Francis Daley), a teenager who spends all his spare time watching and making movies in his backyard with his friends. He tries to make sequels to successful fantasy and horror films like Jaws and Planet of the Apes. His love for horror and sci-fi overshadows his ability to be a typical teenager. Often awkward, Pat tries the dating landscape, but things never go right until he meets a young girl reading 2001: A Space Odyssey in the cafeteria, then things begin to turn around. He and Linda (Emmi Chen) quickly fall in love, and she can see there’s something special in him.
Pat’s mom, Janet (Colleen Camp), is at times annoyed by his antics, but she can see something special, too. So much so that she makes a few phone calls that would end up offering him the opportunity to go out to Hollywood to follow his dreams. With the opportunity of a lifetime being handed to him, will his love for Linda keep him in the small Illinois town he grew up in, and keep him from realizing his dreams?
5-25-77 has such an interesting history. It was originally shot between 2004 and 2006. A preview cut of the film would be shown to an audience at the 30th anniversary screening of A New Hope on May 25, 2007, at the Star Wars Celebration IV. Additional photography would then take place in 2015 and 2016 (nine years after principal photography had been completed), with a 32-screen test screening taking place on March 25, 2017, the 40th anniversary of the original classic.
Here we are in 2022, and the film is finally completed, and thanks to MVD Visual, we can experience this film in its completed version. The disc itself looks amazing; the film is shot in a way that, for the majority of it, you really believe you’re watching a movie from the ’70s. My only complaint about the disc was that I was hoping for more supplemental material. I mean, the film did take nearly eighteen years to complete. There has to be more out there that could have been included besides just a Q&A and a commentary. With that being said, they do offer up plenty of info about the project and how it came to be.
I guess I should share my thoughts on the film, something I usually do right away, but I’m trying something a little different here. 5-25-77 is a film for dreamers, people who have these outlandish ideas of where they want their lives to go. The movie’s filmmaker, Patrick Read Johnson, lived this film. As a teenager, he was the first person to see an incomplete cut of Star Wars: A New Hope. This film chronicles his journey in a fantastical yet grounded way, that allows you to deeply care for and identify with the characters, especially Pat. Daley is perfectly cast as the lead and delivers a career-best performance.
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The young cast, as an ensemble, is so in tune with the material that you truly feel like a fly on the wall witnessing the ups and downs of the teenagers in the small town. Colleen Camp is absolutely wonderful as a mother who, at times, can’t stand that her son is so obsessed, but at the same time, can see the magic in him. Actually, so much care is given to all the relationships Pat has, whether it be his best friends, siblings, or girlfriend; each one is unique and impactful.
As a filmmaker, Johnson has mostly worked in the realm of fantasy and science fiction, having helmed Spaced Invaders (1990) and Baby’s Day Out (1994). 5-25-77 is a crowning achievement, a beautifully-crafted film that tugs at your heartstrings and inspires you to go after the things you’ve always dreamed of doing. It’s essential viewing for people like me, who have always felt most at home hiding in film.
Please don’t drag your feet on this one; it’s nearly perfect in every way, and it shows us that there’s nothing wrong with being a dreamer.
