Day 71 Cocoon (1985)

Science Fiction Thursday

A bittersweet mediation on aging, Cocoon gives us the kind of characters that are rarely featured in movies, old folks. They are not merely there for comic relief, although there is plenty of that. These are the main protagonists in the film and the thing they are fighting is ossification. It’s hell getting old and they are fighting tooth and nail against it, and out of the blue (both sky and sea) they get some unexpected assistance.

Art, Ben and Joe are three retirees, living in a complex that is a mixture of apartments, assisted living and nursing facilities. Next door is an estate that has a large enclosed pool that they trespass into to swim on a regular basis. Suddenly, a group of strangers, has leased the property at the same time they charter a fishing boat for the same month. The retirees seem a little uncertain about whetehr or not to continue poaching the pool. The new visitors are doing some underwater excavation and the nodules they are bringing up are being stored in the pool. Unusual things begin to happen and the story takes off.

Ok, there are aliens, but unlike most stories about folks from outer space, this in not an invasion film, and the aliens are not the main focus of the story. In a clever sequence, the three old guys demonstrate the impact the pool is now having on them by doing some diving board tricks. Is the new found energy a result of their daring at risking being caught, or is there something about the water now that the nodules are resting in it. Another unusual way that they demonstrate the influence things are having is by confronting the libidos of the geriatric set.

There is the parallel story of the mysterious visitors going on at the same time. Steve Gutenberg plays the captain of the chartered boat who suspects that something is not quite right with the four “cousins” and their recovery operation. He was still a star at this point and his charm fits with the story. Brian Dennehy is the leader of the aliens and he has a great deal of charm up to a point. There is a moment of frustration at one point where he blows a fuse, but even then he is a model of temperment.

As charming as the oldsters are with their invigorated physical conditions, there are complications. Another friend is suspicious of their conditions and he has always been a fearful man. When the group tries to convince him to join them, his fears come to fruition. One of the married couples has to deal with some infidelities and married couple Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy can deliver some dramatic goods. Wilford Brimley who plays Ben, was only fifty at the time this was shot and all he needed was a little hair dye to fit the part. He had cornered the market on cantankerous old guys for the next thirty years.

Everybody was great but the standout was golden age of Hollywood veteran Don Ameche. As an old Navy bachelor, his character gets to woo Gwen Verdon and deliver some of the most fun moments in the movie. It may have been sentimentality, but he ended up with an Oscar for Supporting actor without having been considered by other groups for any awards. Although he did not get an Academy nomination, Director Ron Howard was taking his first big step after making comedies, with a science fiction drama, and the DGA nominated him for their feature award that year.

Although there is plenty of science fiction storyline in the last half of the movie, the real story is about the older actors and their ability to entertain us at their age. So many younger viewers might have been turned off of the idea that the film focuses on characters in their seventies, but if a movie is made right, it doesn’t matter.

I watched this movie last year when Brian Dennehy had passed away. It brought back some warm memories then as it does now. Dee and I saw this with a group of friends down in Orange Country, which was not our usual stomping grounds. Dan Hasegawa and Steve Holland went with us, and it was near where Steve was living in Irvine, or what we liked to refer to as “the City by the Beige”.

The DVD I watched today is a Recorded Disc from My Laser Disc Collection, with a custom made enclosure shell.