''Cocoon'' is a 1985 American

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

film directed by

Ron Howard Ronald William Howard (born March 1, 1954) is an American director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He first came to prominence as a child actor, guest-starring in several television series, including an episode of '' The Twilight Zone''. ...

and written by Tom Benedek from a story by David Saperstein. The film stars

Don Ameche Don Ameche (; born Dominic Felix Amici; May 31, 1908 – December 6, 1993) was an American actor, comedian and vaudevillian. After playing in college shows, stock, and vaudeville, he became a major radio star in the early 1930s, which ...

Wilford Brimley Anthony Wilford Brimley (September 27, 1934 – August 1, 2020) was an American actor. After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps and working odd jobs in the 1950s, Brimley started working as an extra and stuntman in Western films in the l ...

Hume Cronyn Hume Blake Cronyn Jr. OC (July 18, 1911 – June 15, 2003) was a Canadian-American actor and writer. Early life Cronyn, one of five children, was born in London, Ontario, Canada. His father, Hume Blake Cronyn, Sr., was a businessman an ...

Brian Dennehy Brian Manion Dennehy (; July 9, 1938 – April 15, 2020) was an American actor of stage, television, and film. He won two Tony Awards, an Olivier Award, and a Golden Globe, and received six Primetime Emmy Award nominations. Dennehy had roles i ...

Jack Gilford Jack Gilford (born Jacob Aaron Gellman; July 25, 1908 – June 4, 1990) was an American Broadway, film, and television actor. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for '' Save the Tiger'' (1973). Early life Gilf ...

Steve Guttenberg Steven Robert Guttenberg (born August 24, 1958) is an American actor, author, businessman, producer, and director. He is known for his lead roles in Hollywood films of the 1980s and 1990s, including ''Cocoon'', ''Police Academy'', ''Three Men and ...

, Maureen Stapleton,

Jessica Tandy Jessie Alice Tandy (7 June 1909 – 11 September 1994) was a British-American actress. Tandy appeared in over 100 stage productions and had more than 60 roles in film and TV, receiving an Academy Award, four Tony Awards, a BAFTA, a Golden Globe ...

Gwen Verdon Gwyneth Evelyn "Gwen" Verdon (January 13, 1925October 18, 2000) was an American actress and dancer. She won four Tony Awards for her musical comedy performances, and served as an uncredited choreographer's assistant and specialty dance coach for t ...

, Herta Ware, Tahnee Welch, and

Linda Harrison Linda Melson Harrison (born July 26, 1945) is an American television and film actress, and director and producer, who is internationally known for her role as Nova in the science fiction film classic ''Planet of the Apes'' (1968) and the first ...

, and follows a group of elderly people rejuvenated by aliens. The film was shot in and around St. Petersburg, Florida, with locations including the St. Petersburg

Shuffleboard Shuffleboard (more precisely deck shuffleboard, and also known as floor shuffleboard) is a game in which players use cues to push weighted discs, sending them gliding down a narrow court, with the purpose of having them come to rest within a ma ...

Club, Suncoast Manor Retirement Community, the Coliseum, and

Snell Arcade The Snell Arcade (also known as the Rutland Building) is a historic site in St. Petersburg, Florida. The building was designed by the architect Richard Kiehnel of Kiehnel and Elliott. Built in 1926, it is located at 405 Central Avenue. On Novemb ...

buildings. The film earned

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

for Best Supporting Actor (

) and Best Visual Effects, and was followed by the

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

'' Cocoon: The Return'' in 1988, in which almost all of the original cast reprised their roles.

Plot

About 10,000 years ago, peaceful aliens from the planet Antarea set up an outpost on Earth on

Atlantis Atlantis ( grc, Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος, , island of Atlas) is a fictional island mentioned in an allegory on the hubris of nations in Plato's works '' Timaeus'' and '' Critias'', wherein it represents the antagonist naval power that b ...

. When Atlantis sank, twenty aliens were left behind, kept alive in large rock-like cocoons at the bottom of the ocean. A group of Antareans have returned to collect them. Disguising themselves as humans, they rent a house with a swimming pool and charge the water with "life force" to give the cocooned Antareans energy to survive the trip home. They charter a boat from a local captain named Jack, who helps them retrieve the cocoons. Jack spies on Kitty, a beautiful woman from the team who chartered his boat, while she undresses in her cabin, and discovers that she is an alien. After the aliens reveal themselves to him and explain what is going on, he decides to help them. Next door to the house the Antareans are renting is a

retirement home A retirement home – sometimes called an old people's home or old age home, although ''old people's home'' can also refer to a nursing home – is a multi-residence housing facility intended for the elderly. Typically, each person or couple in ...

. Three of its residents, Ben, Arthur, and Joe, often trespass to swim in the pool. They absorb some of the life force, making them feel younger and stronger. Eventually caught in the act, they are given permission to use the pool by the Antarean leader, Walter, on the condition that they do not touch the cocoons or tell anybody else about it. Rejuvenated with youthful energy, the three men let the advantages of the pool take hold as they are relieved of their ailments. Kitty and Jack grow closer and decide to make love in the pool. Since she cannot do so in the human manner, she introduces him to the Antarean equivalent, in which she shares her life force energy with him. The other retirement home residents become suspicious after witnessing Ben's wife Mary climb a tree. Their friend Bernie reveals the secret of the pool to the other residents, who rush to the pool to swim in its waters. When Walter finds them damaging one of the cocoons, he ejects them from the property. The Antereans open the damaged cocoon, and the creature inside shares his last moments with Walter. That evening, Bernie finds his wife Rose has stopped breathing and carries her body to the pool to heal her, only to be informed by Walter that the pool no longer works due to the other residents draining the life force in the rush to make themselves young. Walter explains that the cocoons cannot survive the trip back to Antarea, but will be able to survive on Earth. With the help of Jack, Ben, Arthur and Joe, the Antareans return the cocoons to the sea. The Antareans offer to take residents of the retirement home with them to Antarea, where they will never grow older and never die. Most of them accept the offer, but Bernie chooses to remain on Earth. Upon leaving, Ben tells his grandson David that he and Mary are leaving for good. As the residents are leaving, David's mother Susan finds out about their destination and drives to the retirement home, where they find the majority of the rooms vacant and contact local authorities. While the police are searching for the residents, David notices Jack's boat, with the Antareans and the retirement residents aboard, starting and jumps onto the side as it pulls away. The boat is chased by the Coast Guard, so with little time left, David says goodbye to Ben and Mary before jumping into the water. The Coast Guard boats stop to pick him up, giving the others a chance to get away. A thick fog appears and strands the remaining Coast Guard boats, and they call off the chase. As the Antarean ship appears, Walter pays Jack for his services and the boat. Jack embraces Kitty for the last time and they share a kiss. He then says farewell to everyone before jumping into an inflatable raft as the boat rises up into the Antarean vessel. Jack watches as the boat disappears inside the ship and departs. Back on earth, a funeral is held for the missing residents. During the sermon, David looks toward the sky and smiles.

Cast

as Art Selwyn *

as Ben Luckett *

as Joe Finley *

as Walter *

as Bernie Lefkowitz *

as Jack Bonner * Maureen Stapleton as Mary Luckett *

as Alma Finley *

as Bess McCarthy * Herta Ware as Rose Lefkowitz * Tahnee Welch as Kitty * Barret Oliver as David *

as Susan * Tyrone Power Jr. as Pillsbury *

Clint Howard Clinton Engle Howard (born April 20, 1959) is an American actor. He is the second son born to American actors Rance and Jean Howard, and younger brother of actor and director Ron Howard. His 200-plus acting credits include feature films such as ...

as John Dexter * Charles Lampkin as Pops * Paul Arlen Talbert as Coroner * Mike Nomad as Doc * Jorge Gil as Lou Pine *

Rance Howard Rance Howard (born Harold Engle Beckenholdt; November 17, 1928 – November 25, 2017) was an American actor who starred in film and on television. He was the father of actor and filmmaker Ron Howard and actor Clint Howard, and grandfather of actr ...

as St. Petersburg detective * James Ritz as DMV clerk * Peter Cody as boy in nursing home lobby * Jim Fitzpatrick as Dock Worker (uncredited) Casting for the film and its sequel was overseen by casting director

Beverly McDermott Beverly McDermott, C.S.A. (née Horgan; 1928 or 1929 – January 19, 2012) was an American casting director whose career spanned more than forty years. Her 250 film and television credits included ''Lenny'', ''Cocoon'', '' Scarface'', '' Coco ...

Production

Robert Zemeckis Robert Lee Zemeckis (born May 14, 1952) is an American filmmaker. He first came to public attention as the director of the action-adventure romantic comedy '' Romancing the Stone'' (1984), the science-fiction comedy '' Back to the Future'' film ...

was originally hired as director, and spent a year working on it in development. He was at the time directing '' Romancing the Stone'', another film for the same studio,

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Disn ...

. Fox executives previewed ''Romancing the Stone'' before its release in 1984 and hated it. That, in addition to his two previous directorial efforts, ''

I Wanna Hold Your Hand "I Want to Hold Your Hand" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles. Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and recorded on 17 October 1963, it was the first Beatles record to be made using four-track equipment. With advance orders ...

'' and '' Used Cars'', both being commercial failures (though critically acclaimed) led the studio to fire Zemeckis as director of ''Cocoon''. He was replaced with

Location filming In geography, location or place are used to denote a region (point, line, or area) on Earth's surface or elsewhere. The term ''location'' generally implies a higher degree of certainty than ''place'', the latter often indicating an entity with an ...

took place in St. Petersburg, Florida, between August 20 and November 1, 1984.

was only 49 when he was cast as a senior citizen, and turned 50 during filming; he was as much as 26 years younger than the actors playing the other elderly characters. In order to look the part, Brimley bleached his hair and moustache to turn them gray, and had wrinkles and

liver spot The liver is a major Organ (anatomy), organ only found in vertebrates which performs many essential biological functions such as detoxification of the organism, and the Protein biosynthesis, synthesis of proteins and biochemicals necessary for ...

s drawn on his face.

Soundtrack

The

score Score or scorer may refer to: *Test score, the result of an exam or test Business * Score Digital, now part of Bauer Radio * Score Entertainment, a former American trading card design and manufacturing company * Score Media, a former Canadian ...

for ''Cocoon'' was composed and conducted by

James Horner James Roy Horner (August 14, 1953 – June 22, 2015) was an American composer. He was known for the integration of choral and electronic elements, and for his frequent use of motifs associated with Celtic music. Horner's first film score was in ...

. The soundtrack was released twice, through

Polydor Records Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...

in 1985 and a reprint through P.E.G. in 1997 and features eleven tracks of score and a vocal track performed by

Michael Sembello Michael Andrew Sembello (born April 17, 1954) is an American singer, guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter, composer and producer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Sembello was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for his 1983 song "M ...

. Despite the reprint, it is still considered a rarity among soundtrack collectors.

Reception

The film received mostly positive critical reception. Commented ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

Janet Maslin Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for ''The New York Times''. She served as a ''Times'' film critic from 1977 to 1999 and as a book critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000 Maslin ...

, "Mr. Howard brings a real sweetness to his subject, as does the film's fine cast of veteran stars; he has also given ''Cocoon'' the bright, expansive look of a hot-weather hit. And even when the film begins to falter, as it does in its latter sections, Mr. Howard's touch remains reasonably steady. He does the most he can with material that, after an immensely promising opening, heads into the predictable territory of Spielberg-inspired beatific science fiction." ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' called it "a fountain of youth fable which imaginatively melds galaxy fantasy with the lives of aging mortals in a Florida retirement home ndweaves a mesmerizing tale." The film holds a 76% "Fresh" rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

from 33 critics. The critical consensus reads, "Though it may be too sentimental for some, Ron Howard's supernatural tale of eternal youth is gentle and heartwarming, touching on poignant issues of age in the process."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

gave the film a score of 65 based on 18 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". The film was also a box office hit, making over $76 million in North America where it became the sixth highest-grossing film of 1985.

Accolades

* Best Actor in a Supporting Role,

in 1985 * Best Visual Effects in 1985 ( David Berry,

Scott Farrar Scott Farrar is an American visual effects supervisor. He is also known for being the lead visual effects supervisor of the '' Transformers film series'' and the film '' A Quiet Place 2''. He has been nominated for an Academy Award six times, wi ...

, Ralph McQuarrie and

Ken Ralston Kenneth Ralston (born 1954) is an American visual effects artist, currently the Visual Effect Supervisor and Creative Head at Sony Pictures Imageworks. Ralston began his career at the commercial animation and visual effects company, Cascade Pictur ...

Saturn Awards The Saturn Awards are American awards presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. The awards were created to honor science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, but have since grown to reward other films be ...

* Best Director,

- Won * Best Science Fiction Film - Nominated *

Best Actor Best Actor is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actors in a film, television series, television film or play. The term most often refers to the ...

- Nominated *

Best Actress Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress aw ...

- Nominated * Best Supporting Actress,

- Nominated * Best Writing, Tom Benedek - Nominated *

Best Music Best or The Best may refer to: People * Best (surname), people with the surname Best * Best (footballer, born 1968), retired Portuguese footballer Companies and organizations * Best & Co., an 1879–1971 clothing chain * Best Lock Corporation ...

- Nominated Other honors The film is recognized by

American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees. Lead ...

in these lists: * 2006: AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers – Nominated * 2008:

AFI's 10 Top 10 ''AFI's 10 Top 10'' honors the ten greatest American films in ten classic film genres. Presented by the American Film Institute (AFI), the lists were unveiled on a television special broadcast by CBS on June 17, 2008. In the special, various act ...

: ** Nominated Science Fiction Film

References

External links

* * * * {{Ron Howard 1980s fantasy comedy-drama films 1980s science fiction comedy-drama films 1985 films 20th Century Fox films American fantasy comedy-drama films American science fiction comedy-drama films 1980s English-language films Films about ancient astronauts Films scored by James Horner Films about health care Films about old age Films directed by Ron Howard Films featuring a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award-winning performance Films produced by David Brown Films produced by Richard D. Zanuck Films set in Atlantis Films set in Florida Films shot in Florida Films shot in the Bahamas Films that won the Best Visual Effects Academy Award Polydor Records soundtracks The Zanuck Company films 1980s American films