GB and AJ host their first-ever LIVE show as they rewind Cocoon (1985) and ask – why has nobody seen this movie lately? Which Hollywood 80s legend was originally directing? And why the hell did Don Ameche win an Oscar for his role?

Plus, looking at the Oscar-winning VFX, which includes great fog but terrible aliens. You can listen to the full show below or watch the video version only over at Patreon.

This episode was first broadcast live on YouTube on Friday, September 26.

It followed a live Patreon hangout for supporters which was so much fun. Head over to the Patreon if you want to support the show and get extra content: http://patreon.com/c/RewindClassicMovies

Cocoon (1985): Aging, Aliens and a Surprisingly Emotional Heart-Punch

For our first ever live show, we rewound Ron Howard’s Cocoon (1985) – a gentle, human sci-fi that somehow includes diving, dolphins, Steve Guttenberg, and amorous OAPs. It was a big hit in its day (made for around $17m, grossed over $85m) and won two Oscars: Best Supporting Actor for Don Ameche and Best Visual Effects. Yet for many viewers, especially in the US, it’s become frustratingly hard to see. If you don’t still own a VHS, you may be hunting. Which is a shame, because revisiting Cocoon now reveals a film far richer than its “feel-good” reputation suggests.

How Cocoon Came To Be

The story started with an unpublished novel that caught a producer’s eye, but the real sliding-doors moment was behind the camera. Robert Zemeckis developed Cocoon for about a year. Then test screenings for Romancing the Stone went badly and Fox removed him from Cocoon. Zemeckis would go on to make Back to the Future the same year Cocoon hit cinemas. Fox’s loss became Ron Howard’s gain. Fresh off Splash, 30-year-old Howard stepped in and delivered a polished, warm, actor-first film that often feels like a cousin to Spielberg: big heart, ordinary people, and a touch of wonder.

Cast: Veterans, a Future Star and One Very Young 50-Year-Old

Cocoon thrives on ensemble chemistry. Wilford Brimley anchors the film with gruff tenderness as Ben; he was only 50 during filming but convincingly plays a decade or three older, aided by subtle ageing makeup. Ameche is charming as the newly revitalised Arthur, though his Oscar still raises eyebrows given the strength of the ensemble around him.

Then there’s Steve Guttenberg, pre-Three Men and a Baby, playing Jack, a down-on-his-luck charter captain who stumbles into an alien retrieval mission. He’s the audience’s way in, all bluff confidence and unexpected warmth. Brian Dennehy underplays beautifully as the Antarean leader: curious, humane, gently amused by us. Tahnee Welch (daughter of legendary Raquel Welch) brings luminous calm as Kitty, whose “sharing” scene with Jack remains one of the film’s oddest and most tender interspecies moments in 80s cinema.

Fun tidbit: young Barret Oliver (David) was already 80s-kid-movie royalty from The NeverEnding Story.

Fog, Light and… Those Aliens

The effects, led by ILM veterans, earned that Oscar not because they’re loud, but because they’re evocative. The practical fog sequences when the mothership arrives and departs are especially lovely: layered miniature tank work composited into ocean plates gives the encounters a soft, dreamlike quality that still plays. The dolphins are largely real, beautifully staged and filmed. The Antareans’ true forms – glowing, almost anatomical light people – are the one major element that now feels dated, but they fit the film’s tone: gentle, nonthreatening, more soul than spectacle.

James Horner At His Melancholic Best

James Horner’s score threads Cocoon together: a graceful weave of piano, strings and airy synths that balances optimism with ache. It’s sentimental, yes, but never syrupy, and it does heavy lifting in sequences that could tip into mawkishness. If you recognise shades of Aliens, Willow or Braveheart, your ears aren’t lying; this is peak Horner period, and Cocoon’s main theme stands tall among his most affecting cues.

The Human Story: Stay Or Go?

What sneaks up on you in Cocoon is how much it’s about mortality, love and choice. The sci-fi hook is elegant: aliens return to retrieve comrades preserved in cocoons on the seabed. The revitalising “life force” that leaks into the retirement-home pool gives its residents a last burst of youth. Then comes the pitch: leave Earth now, live indefinitely with us, free from illness and death.

Boats, Buoyancy and Believability

There’s a lot of water work here and it’s impressively managed. Daylight ocean plates for the charter sequences feel convincing, and the underwater material has clarity without that overlit aquarium look. If you’ve ever tried filming underwater, you’ll appreciate how calmly the actors move and how readable the blocking stays. Even the engine-room business has the grease under its nails; Jack’s life feels properly threadbare.

Lines, Laughs and Little Wonders

Cocoon isn’t a comedy, but it’s funny. Jack’s immediate “nope” leap overboard when he first clocks what he’s dealing with; the wonderfully awkward “sharing” scene with Kitty; the cheery frankness with which the rejuvenated residents rediscover intimacy. Then there’s the simple warmth: dancing sequences that feel earned, not ironic, and a late exchange where Joe tells his wife that eternity alone isn’t as valuable as a short life with her. It’s schmaltz done right because the film has been honest about sadness along the way.

Ending Without Easy Answers

The Coast Guard pursuit to the pickup point delivers scale without bombast, and the final beat – a boy looking skyward while the town mourns – lands like a promise rather than a goodbye. It’s hopeful, but not naive. The characters who go aren’t punished for leaving; those who stay aren’t scolded for choosing love rooted in time. For a Hollywood studio picture in 1985, that moral balance feels almost radical.

Can You Make This Film Today?

Studios release “originals” about adults, but a wide-release, elder-led fable with this much quiet humanity would be a tough modern pitch. That’s precisely why Cocoon is worth finding. It’s a movie about people first, spectacle second, and it trusts you to sit with uncomfortable feelings. The very thing that brings joy – the pool’s life force – also creates the crisis that nearly breaks the mission. That’s classic storytelling, almost Shakespearean in its irony, just told with sunlight, sea air and soft synths.

Verdict

AJ Rating: B | GB Rating: A

Not perfect, but beautifully human. The VFX are of their time yet poetic, the score is exquisite, and the performances – especially Brimley and Dennehy – carry real weight. Cocoon is less a “feel-good” film than a “feel-everything” film. If you can track it down, do. And if you can’t, lobby the rights-holders to bring it back. Stories this tender shouldn’t be lost to licensing limbo.

🗓️ Don’t miss the FAST FORWARD episode next week that looks at what came after Cocoon in ’85.

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