The 1980 debut film “Return of the Secaucus 7” by director/writer John Sayles, turned 25 this year.
It’s known that Sayles has lived in Hoboken in the past, but why did he put Secaucus in the title of his film? The story centers on seven college friends who meet up again years after having been arrested in the 1960s off the New Jersey Turnpike on Rt. 3 by Secaucus Police while on their way to an anti-war protest in Washington.
Sayles went on to make many other independent films, most notably the experimental “Brother from Another Planet” (1984), “Matewan” (nominated for an Oscar for Best Cinematography, 1988), “City of Hope” (1991), and “Lone Star” (1996).Sayles also directed a Bruce Springsteen video anthology and has been involved with dozens of films. “Return of the Secaucus 7” was remarkable for its time because of a number of factors. It was made for a mere $45,000 (or $60,000 depending on which website you consult), in 25 days. The film also inspired other “remember the ’60s” movies including “The Big Chill,” made in 1983. Sayles’ directorial debut was considered groundbreaking because the characters were primarily developed through dialogue and plot, compensating for the tight budget. “Return” was selected by the US Library of Congress in 1997 to be preserved by the National Film Registry in Washington.
How does Secaucus figure in?
The group of friends remember that they had borrowed a car from another friend who left a rifle and some marijuana in the trunk.
When the police found the items after a supposed routine traffic stop (one of the characters said it was to prevent as many young people from getting to the demonstration), they were unimpressed with the rifle but “busted” the group on pot charges.
The name they gave themselves after the event, the Secaucus 7, refers to the Chicago 7, a notorious group of seven radicals accused of conspiring to incite a riot at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. The Chicago 7 trial lasted from 1969 to 1970. The group initially included an eighth person, Black Panther founder Bobby Seale, but he was later severed from the case.
The violence between police and anti-Vietnam war protesters in the streets and parks of Chicago and the resultant trial was a turning point for those incredibly turbulent years in America.
Chicago?
In 1968, escalating situations over assassinations (Martin Luther King, presidential candidate Robert Kennedy) and riots in New Jersey, California and Chicago set the tone for the country. Outside the official convention proceedings in Chicago, anti-war demonstrators battled with 11,900 Chicago police, 7,500 Army troops, 7,500 Illinois National Guardsmen, and 1,000 Secret Service agents over five days, according to news reports at the time.
The coordinators of the demonstrations were David Dellinger, editor of Liberation magazine and chairman of the National Mobilization Committee to End War in Vietnam; Rennie Davis, head of the Center for Radical Research and a leader of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Vernon Grizzard, a draft resistance leader, and Tom Hayden, also a leader of the Students for a Democratic Society. They were subsequently arrested and featured in the much publicized trail.
Youth International Party (YIPPIES) leaders Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman; Lee Weiner, a research assistant at Northwestern University, and John Froines, a professor at the University of Oregon, were also arrested in the roundup.
What about the film?
In Sayles’ period piece, the group reunites 10 years later in the New Hampshire home of two of the friends who have since married, their ideals are not as pristine as they once had been.
As the friends get reacquainted, they find their ideals vanishing under the strain of ordinary concerns.
In the film, everyone still has a cause. Some are VISTA volunteers, and one character helps addicts recover, but their concerns have become dulled with the passage of time.
Everyone has a go at “getting it on” with each other; there are breakups, and the major concerns are standard bar scene goals. There is a lot of gossipy talk about what the future will bring. The thirtysomething crowd is unconvincingly trying to hold on to the good old days of radical chic as it quickly fades into compromise and ordinary life.
Of note
Gordon Clapp, who plays the uptight boyfriend of one of the “radicals,” went on to have a 10-year run as Det. Greg Medavoy on NYPD Blue. David Strathairn of “L.A. Confidential” and “Missing in America” plays the bumpkin Ron who went to high school with the group.
The film was re-released on DVD in September of 2003 with audio commentary by John Sayles.