Tom Hanks is an actor who has done it all and today we are looking at Tom Hanks’ first movie role! Before the Academy Awards, and the Emmys, the “life is like a box of chocolates”, going to infinity and beyond, and even before his wacky antics in comedies like The Burbs and Bachelor Party there was, He Knows You’re Alone! We are going to take a look at this movie and how it shaped the early part of Tom Hanks’s career!
The following video, part of the series “Celebrities’ First Movie Appearance”, shows Tom Hanks in his very first movie role:
Halloween Has A Lot To Answer For
Released in 1980, He Knows You’re Alone was part of the slasher boom of 1980. This was mainly brought about due to the phenomenal success of John Carpenter’s Halloween which was released in 1978 and made a ton of money as well as receiving a ton of praise from critics and moviegoers. Halloween may not have technically been the first slasher movie, but you could argue it was the slasher movie that made them mainstream. 1980 was a very crowded year with slasher movies with the most notable one being Friday the 13th. However, Prom Night and even Terror Train were also released in 1980.
Here Comes The Bride
For Tom Hanks’ first movie, he really could have done a lot worse than He Knows You’re Alone! The plot of the movie revolves around a serial killer who murders brides before their wedding. He comes across a young bride to be called Amy Jensen who is played by Caitlin O’Heaney who is in the sights of this deranged killer. Amy is helped by her ex, Martin Travis who she may or may not have repressed feelings for. The various wedding related locations where the kills go down are fun and make He Knows You’re Alone stand out from the other 1980 slashers. A fun bit of trivia is that the movie actually came to be as a discussion about turning the classic urban legend story of “The Hook in the Car Door” between director Armand Mastroianni and producer Edgar Lansbury into a movie which then morphed into this original idea.
A Real Red Wedding!
One of the strange things about He Knows You’re Alone has nothing to do with this being the first Tom Hanks movie role, but it is about the title. When you think about it, the title of the movie does not make a great deal of sense. Sure, the killer strikes when people are alone for the most part, but with the whole wedding thing being the main theme of the movie you have to wonder why the title is what it is. Well, the movie originally had a different title! During development, the movie was called Blood Wedding, a title that makes way more sense. However, when the rights for the movie were picked up by MGM, it was them who changed the title.
A Small Role After Moving To The Big City
In 1979, Tom Hanks moved to New York City to try and kickstart his acting career and live out his dreams of becoming an actor. He did not have to wait too long to get cast as shortly after he would get the role of Elliot in He Knows You’re Alone. Many actors will move to New York or LA to try and make it as an actor and have to wait years to get their chance to be in a movie or a TV show, but that was not the case for Tom Hanks!
Too Nice Too Kill
Like many actors, Tom Hank’s first movie role was not a massive part, but he did at least get to speak in the movie and his character actually had a name! He plays the role of a student called Elliot who runs into our heroine Amy with her friend Nancy. You do get to see a bit of the sarcastic Tom Hanks charm here and while it is a small part, it is a fun one for him to start his movie career with. The role of Elliot could have been more memorable as it has been said over the years that Elliot was supposed to be killed by our wedding obsessed killer, but the director and crew loved Tom Hanks so much that they felt he was too nice to kill. Just think how much more memorable this first Tom Hanks movie role would have been had he come to a grisly and very bloody end. Johnny Depp came to a gruesome and very bloody end in his first film role, A Nightmare on Elm Street in 1984 and Kevin Bacon also came to a grisly demise in one of his earliest roles, fellow 1980 slasher, Friday the 13th. It would have been cool if another Hollywood icon in Tom Hanks could have made this a trio!
Making A Ripple Before He Made A Splash
The funny thing about Tom Hanks’ first role is that at the time, it did not exactly receive a ton of critical acclaim. It was not hated or anything like that, but it had some very stiff competition, most notably Friday the 13th and Prom Night and it was kind of just there, came and went without a great deal of fanfare. However, this would not cause problems for Tom Hanks. Also in 1980, he would get a starring role in the sitcom Bosom Buddies which lasted for two seasons. He would have a guest role on Taxi and Happy Days as well as being in a TV movie called, Mazes and Monsters. He had pretty solid work in the early 80s before he moved to LA where his film career really took off thanks to the 1984 hit comedy, Splash.
Restoring A Retrospective Classic!
While it may not have had the same numbers that Prom Night or Friday the 13th did, He Knows You’re Alone was far from a box office dud. However, it just never made the impact that either of those movies did and it is one of the more forgotten slasher movies of that era. Yet, these days, people have come to realize that this was far better than people gave it credit for and it now is regarded as a somewhat underrated slasher movie. It would take until 2004 for the movie to get a DVD release. But, Scream Factory would release the movie on Blu-Ray in 2021 with a really cool set that featured a brand new restoration that looks fantastic, as well as having a bunch of new special features too.
It is awesome that more people are now willing to give He Knows You’re Alone a chance and see that it is a good slasher movie. This being Tom Hanks’ first movie role is really fun and when you think of all the incredible dramatic movies he has made, the countless awards and the fun comedies that he has done, it all started right here with a 1980 slasher flick!
You may also like:
Leave a reply