Where were you in 1991? Everyone will have a different story. I was, as they say, “a twinkle in my father’s eye” and stayed so for five more years, and maybe you might be the same. Wherever or whatever you were back a quarter of a century ago, you can still agree that there were some beyond notable films that were released into theaters in that year, and I think it’s a great time to look back at them and catch up on a movie that you might not have thought to take the time to watch. There’s ground-breaking animation, a sequel that surpassed its predecessor, a pair of films that broke barriers in a societal sense, and one that still swirls in controversy today. There may be some familiar names, but I hope you find one that you might have missed out on!
Beauty and the Beast
It’s so odd to think that back in 1991 a film partially created with a computer was such an unheard of project. Toy Story, the first feature film to be fully made with a computer, didn’t come out until 4 years after, and I can only imagine what people thought when that movie came out. With a romantic story, beautiful animation, and a track-list that just never gets old, Beauty and the Beast is in my opinion one of the best of Disney’s animated pictures. A live-action version will be released next year with Emma Watson as the titular Beauty, and I have high hopes!
Silence of the Lambs
Talk about a change in genre! From a family-friendly movie to a film that still makes my heart race and stomach turn, we now come to Silence of the Lambs. A movie that sets every viewer at the edge of their seats, Silence of the Lambs is an extremely well-done piece of cinema. It has the brilliant acting of Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins, a chilling plot, and the complementary visuals to top it off. It makes us scared out of our minds, and that is just what director Jonathan Demme came out to do. Seriously though, this is not a movie for the light-hearted or the easily deterred. I, an experienced movie-viewer, was watching through my fingers and never able to find a comfortable way to sit as the movie went on. If you have the stomach for it, this film is a masterpiece.
Point Break
A movie that never warranted a remake, Point Break is your quintessential 90’s action flick, and it does not disappoint. Featuring a pre-Speed Keanu Reeves, Patrick Swayze at the top of his game, and director Kathryn Bigelow 17 years before winning her pair of Oscars (Best Picture and Best Director) for 2008’s The Hurt Locker, this film is what we want in an action flick. When a FBI agent goes undercover in a gang of surfers who carve into bank vaults as successfully as they carve waves on their boards, he soon realizes that this isn’t going to be an easy operation. If you want extreme action and a cast that can take you to it, this film is what you need.
Terminator 2: Judgement Day
Considered by many to be the best second installment in a movie franchise of all-time, (with The Dark Knight, The Empire Strikes Back, The Godfather Part II, and Aliens heavily in the conversation as well), Terminator 2: Judgement Day gives us the action and energy that we craved after we watched the original Terminator. Going from bad guy to hero, this T-800 that was once trying to kill the infamous John Connor is now trying to protect him from the T-1000, a sort of next generation of killing machine. While the original didn’t give us much action to work with, this sequel gives us everything we missed, and that’s why we love it!
Boyz n the Hood
In our society now in 2016, the topic of racial tension and the treatment of African American people hasn’t been higher in decades, and this film is based around a similar topic. With a stern focus on the life of a trio of young men in the Crenshaw ghetto of LA, this film tackles the hot-topic issues that still stand at the tops of our news feeds, and it does it well. With a cast like Cuba Gooding Jr. Laurence Fishbourne, and Ice Cube, it has the talent, and writer/director John Singleton was at his finest point in this project, ultimately becoming the first African American to ever get nominated for a Best Director Oscar that year. It can be a hard movie to watch, but this topic is also a tough thing to talk about, and the cast and crew of this film made sure they told their side.
City Slickers
Billy Crystal has entertained audiences for years. Whether he was in heavy makeup in The Princess Bride as Miracle Max, sitting in a restaurant with Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally, riffing with Robert De Niro in Analyze This, or voicing Mike in the Monsters Inc. movies, Crystal is one of my favorite movie comedians. City Slickers is maybe a rung below the aforementioned films, but it still makes me laugh consistently. When a “yuppie” man in New York turns 40, he and two of his buddies sign up for a chance to play Cowboys for a few days as they join a cattle drive. As is expected in a comedy, everything goes awry and hilarity ensues. Featuring a good chemistry between the characters and a memorable and Oscar-winning performance by the veteran actor Jack Palance, City Slickers is a comedy that keeps the laughs throughout, and I thoroughly enjoy it.
Thelma & Louise
Showing that a couple of females can be just as bad-a** as the guys, Thelma & Louise follows two once-ordinary women who decide that the traditional life of a woman is not for them, and they take off in a ’66 Firebird as two friends ready to break the norm. Made when director Ridley Scott was mainly known for Alien and Blade Runner, which by the way are not bad films to be remembered for on their own, this movie shows us a glimpse of the director as he was on his way up the ranks of the best directors working in the industry. A sort of feminist film in that it shows that women can be equally as cool and adventurous as men, Thelma & Louise is now an iconic film that is still enjoyed today.
Hook
In 1991, director Steven Spielberg was in a transitionary time. He had made classics like Jaws, E.T., and the Indiana Jones trilogy, and he had made his dramatic turn with The Color Purple and Empire of the Sun. He was already an established talent, and he could have done almost anything. With Jurassic Park and Schindler’s List on the horizon, I assume he wanted to make something a little more light-hearted and family friendly first, and that’s what he did. Hook is a live-action addition to the tale of Peter Pan. The boy who would never grow up has actually done such a thing, and he has a family now. However, the evil Captain Hook is still on the loose, and he kidnaps Pan’s family and takes them back to Neverland. With that, Peter Pan, sans green tights, sets his course for the second star to the right and is ready to take back his family. With two legendary actors in Robin Williams and Dustin Hoffman in the lead roles, this film brings larger than life characters to the screen, and though it might be on the cheesy side, it still entertains us.
Cape Fear
Remember how I said that Silence of the Lambs makes you feel uncomfortable? Well this film has the same effect, but a different cause. Whereas Silence of the Lambs makes us scared of the murderous Dr. Lecter and Buffalo Bill, Cape Fear makes us creeped out by the sleazy and utterly revolting Max Cady, a convicted criminal fresh out of jail who has made it his goal to terrorize and punish the family of the lawyer who failed to defend him properly. Director Martin Scorsese is one of the best directors out there, and this film is one of his lesser-known projects. Very much unlike Goodfellas, which Scorsese made one year prior to this, Cape Fear does not give us the likeable dynamic between characters and it doesn’t wow us with smooth Steadicam one-takes. Instead, this film is a rugged and unflinching look at the life of a man who lost everything and is intent on making things even with the man he thinks did him wrong. Once again, very creepy and unsettling, but that’s just what it was made to do.
Maybe you like them, maybe you don't, or maybe you've never even heard of them. Whatever way you might see them, I think that these are the films that we should remember the most from the year 1991. Each film has something unique about it, and they led to more movies like them. Cape Fear and Silence of the Lambs makes us uneasy, Beauty and the Beast and Hook is something the whole family can watch, T-2 and Pint Break bring us that action we feel the need for, and Thelma & Louise and Boy n the Hood break barriers. 25 years later, we still see many movies like them with some better and some worse, but these movies still stand where they did a quarter of a century ago.
