The Summer Of ‘79

…all I wanna talk about is ‘Tequila Sunrise’

[thesummerof79]

he’s gonna miss his dinner reservation

Mel Gibson, in “Tequila Sunrise” (1988) (c) Warner Bros. Pictures

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[thesummerof79]

Mel Gibson and Michelle Pfeiffer, staring at one another

"Tequila Sunrise" (1988) (c) Warner Bros. Pictures

In this sequence from Robert Towne’s 1988 neo-noir, romantic crime film, the camera captures several close-up shots of both Mel Gibson and Michelle Pfeiffer when they were much younger and at the height of their youthful cinematic beauty. (He was 31, and she was only 29 when this film was made, almost 38 years ago now.) And there is a specific, almost luminous, almost breathtaking quality to both actors here - a quality which the film’s cinematography leans into heavily.

"A movie, I think, is really only four or five moments between two people. The rest of it exists to give those moments their impact and resonance."

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[thesummerof79]

Michelle Pfeiffer, in “Tequila Sunrise” (1988) (c) Warner Bros. Pictures ✦✦✦✦✦

[thesummerof79]

Coming SEPTEMBER 2026

*Brand new 4K restoration from the original 35mm negative by Arrow Films