The Big Picture · Draft

The 1982 Movie Draft

March 21, 2025/ 134 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins · Chris Ryan

A four-person snake draft of 1982 movies: Sean Fennessey, Chris Ryan, and Amanda Dobbins joined by returning champion Tracy Letts, each filling a six-category roster. Then a long run through the year's cult horror, exploitation, and comedy.

24 films across 1 segment.

AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.

The teams drafting the movies of 1982

Sean Fennessey

Drama

First Blood 1982

The Stallone Vietnam-vet character study, taken in drama on the argument that it isn't the later Rambo movies. The room half-accepted the call.

Comedy

The World According to Garp 1982

George Roy Hill's John Irving adaptation; Robin Williams playing low-key, Glenn Close and John Lithgow both Oscar-nominated.

Thriller / Action / Horror / Sci-Fi

The Thing 1982

The first overall pick. Carpenter's film, with Rob Bottin's practical effects, Kurt Russell, and Keith David's first film role.

Blockbuster

Poltergeist 1982

Tobe Hooper's haunted-suburbia hit and the year's 8th-highest grosser. Sean says the Spielberg-shadow-director rumor has been debunked.

Oscar Nominee

Das Boot 1982

Wolfgang Petersen's submarine epic; one of Sean's two West German picks.

Wild Card

Fitzcarraldo 1982

Herzog dragging a steamship over a mountain; Sean's favorite of a full Herzog rewatch, shot the same year as the making-of doc Burden of Dreams.

Tracy Letts

Drama

The Verdict 1982

The clear drama No. 1: Newman, Mamet's best screenplay, Lumet directing.

Comedy

Tootsie 1982

Pollack's cross-dressing comedy; Tracy on how the reveal played for minutes of screaming theater laughter.

Thriller / Action / Horror / Sci-Fi

The Road Warrior 1982

Miller's Mad Max 2, which Tracy calls the greatest action movie ever made.

Blockbuster

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan 1982

The film that saved the franchise; Montalbán eating the drapes. Tracy once projected it and let the screen go dark for 20 minutes.

Oscar Nominee

Missing 1982

Costa-Gavras with Jack Lemmon and Sissy Spacek; a Spacek appreciation follows.

Wild Card

Eating Raoul 1982

Paul Bartel's LA black comedy; Tracy tells of Bartel taking him to lunch years later after seeing his play Killer Joe.

Chris Ryan

Drama

The Draughtsman's Contract 1982

Peter Greenaway's period sex-and-class puzzle; Chris worked with its lead, Anthony Higgins, on a London play.

Comedy

Fast Times at Ridgemont High 1982

Heckerling directs Crowe's script; Chris argues it's about 70 percent drama under the comedy.

Thriller / Action / Horror / Sci-Fi

Halloween III: Season of the Witch 1982

The no-Michael-Myers entry (Silver Shamrock) that Chris and Sean rank as their second-favorite Halloween.

Blockbuster

48 Hrs. 1982

Walter Hill; Eddie Murphy's screen debut, a template for the '80s buddy-cop movie.

Oscar Nominee

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial 1982

Third overall, taken in Oscar partly for category scarcity.

Wild Card

Personal Best 1982

Robert Towne's track-and-field love story with Mariel Hemingway and Scott Glenn; a deep cut from a Towne rewatch.

Amanda Dobbins

Drama

Diner 1982

Barry Levinson's ensemble, the famous movie her father sat 7-year-old Amanda down for.

Comedy

Deathtrap 1982

The other 1982 Lumet, a whodunit sendup with Christopher Reeve and Dyan Cannon; Amanda's puzzle-box pick.

Thriller / Action / Horror / Sci-Fi

Blade Runner 1982

Ridley Scott; Amanda rewatched The Final Cut, her second-favorite Ridley after Alien.

Blockbuster

Annie 1982

The John Huston musical; one of Amanda's first movie musicals, Carol Burnett and Albert Finney and Tim Curry.

Oscar Nominee

An Officer and a Gentleman 1982

Taylor Hackford; Richard Gere, Debra Winger, and an Oscar-winning Louis Gossett Jr.

Wild Card

Evil Under the Sun 1982

Guy Hamilton's Peter Ustinov-as-Poirot Agatha Christie mystery; Amanda's favorite movie of the year.

Also mentioned raised along the way

In passing The King of Comedy The Year of Living Dangerously Halloween Big Trouble in Little China Alien The Blues Brothers Barry Lyndon The Sting Working Girl When Harry Met Sally...Avengers: Infinity War Avengers: Endgame The Martian Ford v Ferrari Terms of Endearment Coal Miner's Daughter Raggedy Man The River Kramer vs. Kramer The Cider House Rules The Great Waldo Pepper That's Life!S.O.B.10 Star Trek: The Motion Picture The Lovers The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover A Zed & Two Noughts The Belly of an Architect Casino Royale Skyfall Mr. Arkadin Kingdom of Heaven Napoleon Fight Club Death on the Nile Another 48 Hrs.Lethal Weapon Trading Places Coming to America North Dallas Forty Wake in Fright Fun with Dick and Jane The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz The Brood The Yakuza Ask the Dust Tequila Sunrise The Godfather The Parallax View Marathon Man Heaven Can Wait Reds Crimson Tide Armageddon The Music Man The Substance MaXXXine Good One Spartacus Inglourious Basterds The Dark Knight Emilia Pérez The Alto Knights The Odyssey Tin Men The Great Muppet Caper Aguirre, the Wrath of God Nosferatu the Vampyre Rescue Dawn 9 Songs The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads

TV Zero DayThe Gilded AgeOzarkEmily in ParisDas Boot (miniseries)The Executioner's SongThe Shadow RidersThe Member of the WeddingWho Am I This Time?Your Show of Shows

Podcasts The RewatchablesThe WatchGood HangJam Session

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