Blast from the Past
USA 1998
Reviewed by Robin Dougherty
Synopsis
Our synopses give away the plot in full, including surprise twists.
Los Angeles, 1962. After learning that Russian missiles have been sighted in Cuba, former college professor Calvin rushes his pregnant wife Helen into an elaborate bomb shelter under their garage. Calvin has stocked the shelter with every possible amenity, making it an underground twin of their ranch house. When a plane inadvertently crashes into the house, Calvin thinks the impact is a nuclear explosion. Fearing radiation fallout, he sets the shelter locks to stay shut for 35 years.
Within days, Helen gives birth to Adam, who grows up without ever living above ground or meeting anyone outside the family. The bomb shelter preserves Calvin and Helen's favourite aspects of a pre-rock 'n' roll US. Adam never learns about the Vietnam war, premarital sex or the urbanisation of the San Fernando Valley. After 35 years pass, the locks open and Adam goes above ground to find a wife. He meets Eve, who at first mistakes him for a rube. They fall in love and eventually build Adam's parents a new house above ground. Adam becomes a millionaire when he cashes in his father's IBM stocks.
Review
Blast from the Past puts a fresh twist on the fish-out-of-water comedy formula by throwing 35-year-old Adam - who has grown up in a bomb shelter - into the modern-day US which has, of course, changed drastically since 1962. Unfamiliar with such commonplace developments as urban poverty, credit cards and adult-video stores, Adam is able to see our world with fresh eyes. He can't believe people have computers in their homes. His guilelessness and honesty are unappreciated by the characters around him, but they make for comic scenarios. For instance, after emerging from his bomb shelter, he's mistaken for a god by the squatters hanging out in the hovel where his parents' house once stood.
Brendan Fraser played another time-travelling innocent in Encino Man, where he was a caveman defrosted in modern LA. Less prone to grunting this time round, he brings a puppy-dog charm to his character, virtually following Alicia Silverstone's Eve home before they fall in love. She saves him from selling off his father's vintage baseball-card collection for chump change, but remains suspicious of him because he's so nice. Naturally, they don't see that they're made for each other until the requisite complications bite in, but unfortunately, the screenplay strains at forestalling the final union, throwing synthetic obstacles in the couple's path. It is neither believable nor helpful that Eve embraces Adam's naiveté one day and tries to have him committed the next.
For that reason, the first half of the film, in which we watch Adam grow up in a bizarre parallel universe stuck in 1962, is the most compelling sequence. Here, director Hugh Wilson (The First Wives Club) punctuates the action with a deftness that eludes him once Adam goes above ground. He reveals details sparingly, showing us that Calvin has equipped the refuge with its own grocery store as well as a tank of fresh fish. The production design lovingly preserves every delicious period element, from the family's turquoise kitchen appliances to their swank moderne lighting fixtures.
It's this unabashed nostalgia for an earlier era that Blast from the Past is selling. (A childhood of dancing to his parents' records has conveniently prepared Adam for the swing-music craze of the 90s.) A running joke - in which Helen is shown to be slowly going mad from the stifling limits of a housewife's existence - is the one bit of subtlety the story allows itself. The film embraces the view that the wholesomeness we now associate with the early 60s was more than superficial. Anyone looking for a more sceptical reading of the time will be disappointed.
Credits
- Producers
- Renny Harlin
- Hugh Wilson
- Screenplay
- Bill Kelly
- Hugh Wilson
- Story
- Bill Kelly
- Director of Photography
- José Luis Alcaine
- Editor
- Don Brochu
- Production Designer
- Robert Ziembicki
- Music
- Steve Dorff
- ©New Line Cinema Corporation
- Production Companies
- New Line Cinema presents a Midnight Sun Pictures production
- Executive Producers
- Amanda Stern
- Sunil Perkash
- Claire Rudnick Polstein
- Co-producer
- Mary Kane
- Production Executive
- Erik Holmberg
- Executive in Charge of Production
- Carla Fry
- Production Supervisor
- Elizabeth Ervin
- Production Controller
- Paul Prokop
- Production Co-ordinator
- Diana Zock
- In-house Production Co-ordinator
- Emily Glatter
- Unit Production Manager
- Mary Kane
- Location Manager
- Boyd Wilson
- Executive in Charge of Post-production
- Jody Levin
- Post-production Supervisor
- Claire O'Brien
- Assistant Directors
- Louis D'Esposito
- Michael Viglietta
- Shari Hanger
- Script Supervisor
- Trudy Ramirez-Gyatso
- Casting
- Denise Chamian
- Associate:
- Kara Katsoulis
- Camera Operators
- Tony Gaudioz
- Dave Luckenbach
- Special Visual Effects
- Illusion Arts
- Syd Dutton
- Bill Taylor
- Special Effects Supervisor
- David Waine
- Special Effects
- Chris Walkowiak
- Charles Wolff
- Scott Lewis
- Ultimate Effects
- Effects
- Co-ordinator:
- David Waine
- Welder:
- Brian Robbins
- Technician:
- Mike Bartak
- Projection-FX
- H.E.I.:
- Billy Hansard
- Art Director
- Ted Berner
- Set Designer
- Colin DeRouin
- Set Decorator
- Michael Taylor
- Illustrator
- Mark Goerner
- Storyboard Artist
- Kevin MacCarthy
- Costume Designer
- Mark Bridges
- Costume Supervisor
- Robert Morgan
- Department Head Make-up Design
- Ben Nye
- Key Make-up
- Heidi Seeholzer
- Special Make-up Aging
- Matthew Mungle
- Prosthetic Technician
- Gustavo Sepulveda
- Hair
- Key Design:
- Robert Hallowell
- Stylists:
- Beatrice Dealba
- Jill Crosby
- Main Title Sequence
- Schluter Design, Inc
- Titles/Opticals
- Pacific Title/Mirage Studio
- Visual Effects Supervisor:
- Ariel Velasco Shaw
- Visual Effects Producer:
- David Taritero
- Digital Effects Supervisor:
- Jennifer Law-Stump
- Production Co-ordinator:
- Jeremy Smith
- 2D Artist:
- Jeff Wells
- Film Assembly:
- Greg DeCamp
- Imaging Supervisor:
- Tom Gorey
- Orchestrations
- Larry Herbstritt
- Music Supervisor
- Steve Tyrell
- Music Executive
- Paul Broucek
- Music Editors
- Chris Ledesma
- Additional:
- Richard Ford
- Score Recordist/Mixer
- Rick Riccio
- Soundtrack
- "Ac-cent-tchu-ate the Positive" by Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer, performed by Perry Como; "Memories Are Made of This" by Terry Gilkyson, Richard Dehr, Frank Miller, performed by Dean Martin; "That Old Black Magic" by Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer, performed by Louis Prima & Keely Smith; "Honeymooner's Theme" by Jackie Gleason, William Babcock Templeton, performed by Suburban Nites; "It's a Good Day" by Dave Barbour, Peggy Lee, performed by Perry Como; "Like Someone in Love" by Johnny Burke, Jimmy Van Heusen, performed by Perry Como; "It's Been a Long, Long Time" by Jule Styne, Sammy Cahn, performed by Perry Como; "Surf City" by Jan Berry, Brian Wilson, performed by Jan & Dean; "You Belong to Me" by Pee Wee King, Chilton Price, Redd Stewart, performed by Dean Martin; "Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe" by/performed by Barry White; "Happy Birthday to You" by Mildred J. Hill, Patty S. Hill; "Lunatics in the Grass" by Louis Freese, Jack Gonzalez, Eric Correa, performed by B Real, additional vocals: Jack Gonzalez; "Pretty Babies" by Scot Alexander, Rodney Browning, J.R. Richards, George Pendergast, Gregory Kolanek, performed by Dishwalla; "It's the End of the World As We Know It" by Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, performed by R.E.M.; "Round and Round" by Lou Stallman, Joe Shapiro, performed by Perry Como; "I Will Buy You a New Life" by Art Alexakis, Greg Eklund, Craig Montoya, performed by Everclear; "Honey Please" by Chris Karn, performed by Sonichrome; "Rhinoceros" by Jamie Block, performed by Block; "Out Here" by/performed by Lisbeth Scott; "Hell", "Trou Macacq" by Tom Maxwell, performed by Squirrel Nut Zippers; "So Long Toots" by Steve Perry, performed by Cherry Poppin' Daddies; "Mr. Zoot Suit" by Mark Cally, performed by Flying Neutrinos; "I See the Sun" by/performed by Tommy Henriksen; "Y.M.C.A." by Jacques Morali, Henri Belolo, Victor Willis, performed by Village People; "On the Street Where You Live" by Alan Jay Lerner, Frederick Loewe; "A Little Belief" by/performed by Celeste Prince; "Persian Melody" by Schubert Avakian, performed by Leila; "Political Science" by/performed by Randy Newman
- Choreography
- Adam Shankman
- Sound Design
- Lance Brown
- Sound Mixer
- Mark McNabb
- Re-recording Mixers
- Jeffrey J. Haboush
- Kevin Carpenter
- Michael Herbick
- Recordists
- Gary Ritchie
- Kathy McCart
- Supervising Sound Editor
- Bruce Stambler
- Dialogue Editors
- Donald L. Warner Jr
- Bruce Fortune
- Bernard Weiser
- Robert Troy
- Additional Sound Effects
- Gary Blufer
- Sound Effects
Co-ordinator - John Michael Fanaris
- Sound Effects Editors
- Glenn Hoskinson
- Kim Secrist
- Steve Nelson
- Jay Nierenberg
- Richard E. Yawn
- ADR
- Supervising Editor:
- Becky Sullivan
- Foley
- Artists:
- Chris Moriana
- Michael Broomberg
- Mixer:
- David Jobe
- Supervising Editor:
- Michael Dressel
- Editor:
- Steve Mann
- Stunt Co-ordinator
- A.J. Nay
- Animal Trainers
- Studio Animal Services
- Cast
- Brendan Fraser
- Adam
- Christopher Walken
- Calvin
- Sissy Spacek
- Helen
- Alicia Silverstone
- Eve
- Dave Foley
- Troy
- Joey Slotnick
- soda jerk
- Rex Linn
- Dave
- Deborah Kellner
- Miss Sweet
- Nathan Fillion
- Cliff
- Jenifer Lewis
- Doctor Aron
- Cynthia Mace
- Betty
- Don Yesso
- Jerry
- Carmen Moré
- Sophie
- Dale Raoul
- mom
- Hayden Tank
- Adam, aged 3 1/2
- Douglas Smith
- Adam, aged 11
- Ryan Sparks
- Adam, aged 8
- Scott Thomson
- young psycho
- Ted Kairys
- navy pilot
- Harry S. Murphy
- Bob
- Wendel Meldrum
- Ruth
- Richard Gilbert Hill
- guest
- Steve Bean
- Harold
- Ann Ryerson
- woman guest 1
- Donovan Scott
- Ron
- Hugh Wilson
- Levy
- John Roselius
- Atkinson
- Bill Gratton
- boss
- Bill Duffy
- Bill Stevenson
- workmen
- J. Bruce Eckert
- realtor
- Karen Geraghty
- woman buyer
- Christopher Holloway
- man buyer
- Harrison Young
- bum
- Jazzmun
- streetwalker
- Hannah Kozak
- drunken hag
- Dori Mizrahi
- Pakistani
- Fred Pierce
- bystander 1
- Annie O'Donnell
- woman
- Caroline Wilson
- child
- Julie Zelman
- mother
- Monty Ash
- old Jewish man
- Sheila Shaw
- bakery clerk
- Michael Hagiwara
- Japanese produce clerk
- Todd Susman
- butcher
- Rosalee Mayeux
- hotel registration clerk
- Danny Zorn
- bellboy
- Rod Britt
- hotel desk clerk
- Robb Skyler
- marine manager
- Todd Robert Anderson
- Jason
- Michael Gallagher
- Jonathan
- Mary Ann Hermanson
- Heather
- Jonathan Stockwell Baker
- broker
- Brian Blondell
- Mr Brown
- Sonya Eddy
- postal worker
- Mary Portser
- woman guest 2
- Hubert Hodgin
- bystander 2
- Gary Cruz
- low rider
- Robert Sacchi
- Bogart DJ
- [uncredited]
- Eddie Moore
- startled pervert
- Certificate
- tbc
- Distributor
- Entertainment Film Distributors Ltd
- tbc feet
- tbc minutes
- Dolby Digital/SDDS/DTS
- Colour/Prints by
- DeLuxe
- Super 35 [1:2.35]