Plot Summary

Seven friends who were political activists are reunited during a weekend gathering. The changing course of their various lives provides insight into each of their personalities and evolving adult identities.

After spending several years writing B-movie scripts for Roger Corman's New World Pictures, John Sayles directed his debut feature, The Return of the Secaucus Seven, on a budget of $60,000. Because the budget dictated that the film employ few technical frills, Sayles decided to create an ensemble piece, like Robert Altman's Nashville, so that the characters' interweaving stories would carry the film along. Sayles's debut deals with seven friends who were political activists in the 1960s. Reunited in their mid-30s for a weekend gathering, the friends reveal their struggles with love, art, money, political commitment, and everyday life. Sayles made the film as an audition piece, not realizing that the film would become a hit in art houses. The success of the film inspired The Big Chill, which also depicts the reunion of a group of former 1960s radicals, though Sayles points out that the characters in that film are much more upwardly mobile. Made before the establishment of Robert Redford's Sundance Institute, Sayles's first film demonstrated the viability of independent filmmaking in the 1980s.

FEATURES:

Region 1
Keep Case
Full Frame -
1.33
Audio:
Dolby Digital Mono - English
Additional Release Material:
Audio Commentary -
1. John Sayles - DirectorFeaturette