The Big Chill

Posted to OGR on 01/10/2010

When I sat down to write this, “The Big Chill” was the first thought
that passed through my mind because it is COLD outside. But then I
remembered the 1983 film about a group of baby boomer college friends
who reunite after many years and explore the aftermath of the 1960s. The Big Chill was filmed entirely on location in Beaufort, South Carolina, and was shot at the same antebellum home used as a location for The Great Santini.
Beaufort is only a couple of hours from me and I have seen the home
overlooking the Intercoastal Waterway. It is beautiful location that
reminds me of some of the homes lived in by the wealthier side of my
family down in Jacksonville. The cold and ice of the winter of 2010
give way to warm memories of lazy summer days down by the river
surrounded by family and friends.

As good as the movie was, the soundtrack was even better. Marvin Gaye
-"I Heard It Through the Grapevine, The Temptations - "My Girl", The
Rascals - "Good Lovin'", Smokey Robinson and The Miracles - "The Tracks
of My Tears", Three Dog Night - "Joy to the World", The Temptations -
"Ain't Too Proud to Beg", Aretha Franklin -"(You Make Me Feel Like) A
Natural Woman" , Smokey Robinson and The Miracles - "I Second That
Emotion", Procol Harum - "A Whiter Shade of Pale", The Exciters - "Tell
Him", The Four Tops - "It's the Same Old Song", Martha and The
Vandellas - "Dancing in the Street", Marvin Gaye - "What's Going On"
and The Marvelettes - "Too Many Fish in the Sea". When I listen to that
album, scenes from my youth play like flickering vintage films across
the theater screen of my memory. One after another, the faces of my
friends present themselves as if to say, “I am here, I remember too
when we were young and were off in search of adventure!” Truly, for the
Baby Boomers, The Big Chill embodies the soundtrack of our lives!

Copyright 2010 Rick Wrigley