Nostalgia: Takes Place in the Summer of "The Empire Strikes Back" and "The Shining"

The axe murder around which the "true story" of Candy Montgomery revolves took place on June 13, 1980 -- Friday the 13th.

Both versions of the story point out that the parents in this Texas suburb were tasked with taking their kids to see the "new Star Wars movie" -- The Empire Strikes Back, which indeed opened in June of 1980. We get a scene of a PACKED audience watching that movie, and the nostalgia is palpable. Back then, ONE summer blockbuster ruled the roost.

But another famous movie came out in that summer of 1980, and "Love & Death" gives it consideration: The Shining.

I think that movie was out by June 13...it was definitely a "summer movie"(horror division) even if it had the "prestige Kubrick pedigree."

But as "Love & Death" points out, the key murder in The Shining is...by an axe. Just a coincidence, but a savory one.

I'm of an age that I was around in 1980, and I rememer where and when and with whom I saw both The Empire Strikes Back and The Shining. It was a long time ago, but yep...feels like yesterday. "Love & Death" brings it all back.

Too bad that horrible murder took place, because the Texas multiplexes in the summer of 1980 had plenty of light madcap comedies to show. in the wake of Animal House as a blockbuster two summers earlier, in 1978:

Caddyshack
The Blues Brothers.
Airplane
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