The Return Of The Secaucus Seven

John Sayles, USA 1980, 110 minutes

Having written scripts for Roger Corman including Battle Beyond the Stars (starring John Boy from the Waltons) and Piranha, Sayles gathered enough money to direct, as well as write (and star in) his first solo venture. As a result, in 1978, he made Return of the Secauscus Seven (for the minuscule sum of $45,000 and over 25 days). The film is best compared to Hartley's The Unbelievable Truth, another first feature which uses strong plot and dialogue to compensate for lack of budget.

This was the predecessor to, or rather broke the ground for the later, larger and lusher Big Chill but, without argument, the Return of the Secaucus Seven proceeds with more authenticity and charm, characteristics of most Sayles' film making.

The story is set in the late 1960s when seven friends and radicals are arrested in Secaucus on their way to a march on the Pentagon.

The film then jumps ten years to the New Hampshire home of Mike (Bruce MacDonald) and Kate (Maggie Renzi) where the friends all meet and discuss how their lives, loves, aims and ideals have changed over the intervening decade.

The film uses inexperienced actors (so as not to detract from the message the film is trying to convey, as well as probably helping Sayles keep within his shoestring budget) and provides a compelling and intelligent study (see also Lone Star) of the dulling of ideals over years as compromise after compromise reduce one's revolutionary zeal. The stomach begins to sag and so do one's aims.

This is ground touched on in Big Chill and perhaps fleetingly in the excellent Metropolitan, but this is indeed the standard by which other films in the genre are set against. A welcome opportunity to see an often over-looked classic.

Review by Stephen J Brennan
Taken from EUFS Programme 1997-98