History Film / TheBigChill

* {{Bookends}}: The movie opens with Harold and Sarah's son singing the Three Dog Night song "Joy to the World" (more commonly known as "Jeremiah Was a Bullfrog") and ends with the actual song being played.

* ComfortingTheWidow: Michael repeatedly tries (and fails) to get close to Chloe.

* StartToCorpse

* ButIPlayOneOnTV: InUniverse; in the opening credits of ''J.T. Lancer'', we see Sam taking a running jump into his convertible, and landing perfectly in the seat. When the cop who pulls Nick over (see CorruptHick below) recognizes Sam, he offers to let the charge he's got against Nick slide if Sam will demonstrate that stunt for him; to everyone else's consternation, Sam agrees to do it. Naturally, since Sam is an actor and not a stuntman, he trips on the car door, falls, and hurts his arm (though not too badly).

* CorruptHick: Played with and subverted; Nick thinks the cop who pulled him over because he looks like a "Yankee drug dealer" is this, but he's willing to let the whole thing go when he recognizes Sam and asks him to recreate a stunt from his TV show (it doesn't go well). And then later, an angry Harold explains to Nick the cop had actually stopped the house from being broken into, and is a nice guy.
** Also, Nick ''is'' a "Yankee drug dealer".

* SpiritualSuccessor: While there was a (short-lived) direct TV adaptation called ''Hometown'', it could be argued that ''Series/{{thirtysomething}}'' is a better example.
** The film itself could be seen as one of these to Creator/JohnSayles' 1980 independent film ''Film/ReturnOfTheSecaucusSeven'', which similarly depicts a group of former Sixties radicals reuniting in the same house over a weekend.

** The film itself could be seen as one of these to Creator/JohnSayles' 1980 independent film ''Return of the Secaucus 7'', which similarly depicts a group of former Sixties radicals reuniting in the same house over a weekend.

* {{Expy}}: J.T. Lancer, the character Sam plays on his TV show, seems a lot like [[Series/MagnumPI Thomas Magnum]], complete with CoolCar and BadassMustache.

''The Big Chill'' is a 1983 {{dramedy}} film directed and co-written by Creator/LawrenceKasdan, featuring an EnsembleCast that's a veritable Who's Who of '80s actors, including Creator/TomBerenger, Creator/GlennClose, Creator/JeffGoldblum, Creator/WilliamHurt, Creator/KevinKline, Creator/MaryKayPlace, Creator/MegTilly, and Creator/JoBethWilliams.

''The Big Chill'' is a 1983 {{dramedy}} film directed and co-written by Creator/LawrenceKasdan, featuring an EnsembleCast that's a veritable Who's Who of '80s actors, including Creator/TomBerenger, Creator/GlennClose, Creator/KevinKline, Creator/JeffGoldblum, Creator/WilliamHurt, Creator/MaryKayPlace, Creator/MegTilly, and Creator/JoBethWilliams.

''The Big Chill'' is a 1983 {{dramedy}} film directed by Creator/LawrenceKasdan and featuring a veritable Who's Who of '80s actors, including Creator/TomBerenger, Creator/GlennClose, Creator/KevinKline, Creator/JeffGoldblum, Creator/WilliamHurt, Creator/MegTilly, and Creator/JoBethWilliams.

[[quoteright:299:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/80s_netflix_050514_big_chill.jpg]]

A group of people who knew each other as college students and friends during the 1960s end up getting back together some 15 years later, after their friend Alex commits suicide. All of them had gone along their separate ways, but now have reason to look back and wonder where their idealism went -- they were campus liberals who, in TheEighties, have basically become [[BourgeoisBohemian yuppie establishment types]] suffering the angst of entering middle age in the Reagan era, [[LampshadeHanging lampshading]] the fact that, as one of them puts it, "No one had a cushier berth than we did". But along the way they renew their friendships, and sometimes even more, as they try to understand why Alex, with all of his potential, worked at menial jobs and then, for apparently no reason, decided to kill himself.

* TradeYourPassionForGlory: None of the characters are living their youthful values, having cashed them in for steady, well-paying jobs; a fair bit of the film's angst is derived from this.

%%* PosthumousCharacter: Alex.

%%* ShellShockedVeteran: Nick.

** Michael mentions that his former business partner was similarly affected after his wife left him [[BiTheWay for another woman]].

* PosthumousCharacter: Alex.
* PrettyInMink: Karen wears a couple of fur coats.

* ShellShockedVeteran: Nick.

* MST: The others make fun of Sam's show this way, joking about the outlandish scenes in the opening credits.

** Michael mentions that his former business partner was similarly affected after his wife left him [[SuddenlySexuality for another woman]].

** Michael mentions that his former business partner was similarly affected after his wife left him [[SuddenSexuality for another woman]].

* WhiteCollarCrime: Alex mentions an offer he received for his company, and the ensuing rise in share prices, to Nick, in an attempt to help him find "a new line of work" (i.e. anything other than drug dealing).

This is considered to be one of the [[OverlyNarrowSuperlative finest]] films to show former [[TheSixties Sixties]] campus liberals who, in TheEighties, basically became [[BourgeoisBohemian yuppie establishment types]], suffering the angst of entering middle age in the Reagan era while [[LampshadeHanging lampshading]] the fact that, as one of them puts it, "No one had a cushier berth than we did".

A group of people who knew each other as college students and friends during the 1960s end up getting back together some 15 years later after their friend Alex commits suicide. All of them have gone along their ways and now look back and wonder where their idealism went. Along the way, they renew their friendships, and sometimes even more, as they try to understand why Alex, with all of his potential, worked at menial jobs and then, for apparently no reason, decided to kill himself.

* EverybodyLaughsEnding: After Michael's closing line to the movie.

* GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex: Many of the characters end up having sex with each other. Meg has considered getting pregnant, so [[spoiler:Sarah decides to lend Meg her husband, Harold, for this purpose (and also to balance the books for own infidelity years earlier)]].

* NothingButHits: The soundtrack contains literally nothing but huge hits from the '60s, including numerous Creator/{{Motown}} tunes and other favorites such as Music/ProcolHarum's "A Whiter Shade of Pale" and Music/CreedenceClearwaterRevival's "Bad Moon Rising".
* PosthumousCharacter: Alex

* ShellShockedVeteran: Nick

* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: invoked by Harold in his eulogy for Alex.

* YourCheatingHeart: Karen is married with children, and cheats on Richard with Sam despite the latter urging her not to leave the former. She decides to stay with Richard in the end, though. Sarah also cheated on Harold in the past.

* {{Expy}}: The character Sam plays on his TV show seems a lot like [[Series/MagnumPI Thomas Magnum]], complete with CoolCar and BadassMustache.