John Sayles in the 1980s: Part 1

On this episode, film critic and historian Edward A. Havens III begins a two-part look back at the 1980s films of one of cinema's truly gifted storytellers, John Sayles.

----more----

We talk about his beginnings in upstate New York, his college years, where he would meet several of his regular future collaborators, his early career as an author, his time as a screenwriter for the legendary film producer Roger Corman, and into the first three movies of his filmmaking career.

The movies discussed in this episode include:
Alligator (1980, Lewis Teague)
Baby, It's You (1983, John Sayles)
Battle Beyond the Stars (1980, Jimmy T. Murikami)
The Big Chill (1983, Lawrence Kasdan)
E.T. The Extraterrestrial (1982, Steven Spielberg)
The Lady in Red (1979, Lewis Teague)
Lianna (1983, John Sayles)
Piranha (1978, Joe Dante)
Poltergeist (1982, Tobe Hooper)
The Return of the Secaucus 7 (1980, John Sayles)