FROM AIN'T IT COOL NEWS REPORTER ELSTON GUNN…

To call 5-25-77 a coming-of-age story would be an understatement. To say it’s simply a comedy about STAR WARS would be wrong. To say it’s the journey of a seventeen-year old boy named Pat who yearns to one day be a filmmaker and who tries to share his love of films with the people in his life would be a good start.

Patrick Read Johnson (director of ANGUS, creator of DRAGONHEART) has written a script that will speak to film lovers and wannabe filmmakers across the board. The lead character, Pat, is a daydreamer, yet he makes things happen. He comes from a broken home with lots of siblings and goes to a school where, of course, popularity is power, and those who are openly passionate about movies are few and far between. When he was a boy, Pat would make little movies in his backyard for his parents and friends to see. His dad was his worst critic, but his mom was in awe. When Pat was older, his mom arranged for him to go to California to visit a movie set and meet a hero of his, who gave him an invitation to come back. Which brings us to the morning of May 25, 1977 where Pat wakes up--from a dream that only a sci-fi lover can have--with only one goal for the day: to see STAR WARS.

However, Pat didn’t just want to see STAR WARS, he wanted his girlfriend and best friends to see it as well...or anyone for that matter. It’s important for him to share what he knew would be a great experience with these folks. But, sadly, no one can go when he wants to see it. Thus, a long, wild journey across a small town in Chicago commences. Think along the lines of AMERICAN GRAFFITI and less of DETROIT ROCK CITY. Pat’s girlfriend has to work (for his nemesis, no less), there’s a mix-up with some money, a funeral to attend, some love to be made, a hand to get unstuck out of a girl’s mouth--a little Murphy’s law to say the least.

The script is funny. Heartwarming as it may be, it is a comedy after all. There are fresh jokes and great use of old ones. Not to spoil anything, but my favorite comes from a scene taking the parallels between sex and baseball to a hilarious new definitive level. Timing is everything and if it’s pulled off here, the scene will be a classic.

After some flashbacks, dream sequences, missed showings of STAR WARS and a wild party, Pat finally admits why he is obsessed with watching and making movies, and why he wants to escape his small town to live out his ambitions--a good moment. I don’t want to give anything away, but near the end of the script I wondered, "Will he ever get to see STAR WARS?" Surprisingly, I also asked myself, "Does it really matter?" What did matter were a couple of underlying messages: "family matters, friends matter, doing what you absolutely have to do matters." Pat didn’t want to be a filmmaker, he *had* to be one. Yeah, it may be cliche, but even this cynic was letting it sink in.

If I’m not mistaken, this script will be produced independently with hopes of distribution somewhere down the line. I don’t know. What I do know is if there is as much heart in the directing as there evidently was in the writing, 5-25-77 could be a cult classic. It’s all there: love, hate, high school, death, comedy, sex, friendship, family, confrontations, growing up and life decisions--not to mention a fresh soundtrack (finally, a 70s-set story without "Disco Inferno," "I Will Survive" or the Village People) and, of course, STAR WARS. I feel it’s almost a story tailored to the readers of Ain’t It Cool News or Dark Horizons or Cinescape or Coming Attractions or any website that devotes itself to movies and movie news. Geeks or not, we love the movies, that’s why you’re reading this--odds are you’ve dreamed of making them too. A friend of Pat’s told him, "To everyone else, movies are something to do when you’re tired of real life. To you, real life is something to do when you’re tired of watching movies."

Just be on the lookout for this one. It at least helps show some of you aren’t alone in cringing whenever someone says, "Hey, it’s just a movie." 5-25-77 was a good read and I anticipate it’s screen translation. I was compelled to think of movies that have excited me like 2001 or PLANET OF THE APES did for Pat--movies that also made me want to be on the other side of the process. It’s hard. For me, SUPERMAN started it all, I suppose. How about you?

Elston Gunn