Michael Apted’s “Continental Divide” (1981) isn’t just one of the finest, most overlooked comedies of the early 1980s but a window into a film career that ended just as it was getting started.
John Belushi, the film’s star, made this a year before he died at the age of 33, a victim of addiction and hard living, a contrast to the joy he gave audiences and those closest to him.
While Belushi achieved screen immortality for his starring roles in John Landis’ “Animal House” (1978) and “The Blues Brothers” (1980), he was (according to various biographies) planning to branch out into dramas and artier fare. “Continental Divide,” which he reportedly made sober and during a happy period of his life, is so unlike the rest of Belushi’s too-brief body of work and all the better for it.
Belushi stars as Ernie Souchak, a Chicago reporter who has become infamous for his investigative journalism and confrontational columns. When his workload proves to be too much, he takes a seemingly low-key gig in the remote wilderness, where he is sent to interview Dr. Nell Porter (Blair Brown), who lives off the grid and studies the behavior of American bald Eagles.
After struggling to make his way to her cabin atop a mountain and finding Dr. Porter uncooperative, Souchak lays low and reluctantly remains in seclusion with his unhappy host. Over time, he adjusts to the beauty of the environment and falls in love with Dr. Porter.
At first, Lawrence Kasdan’s dialogue is sitcom-ready, and the story is formulaic in the set-up. The slow burn romance in the mountains is performed well by Belushi and Brown, who have genuine chemistry. It’s wild to recall that Brown’s prior role was as the free-thinking scientist who falls in love with William Hurt’s human guinea pig in Ken Russell’s “Altered States” (1980).
Brown remains underrated, as her body of work is varied and consistently strong. Brown received a Golden Globe nomination for her work here, though her co-star was just as deserving.
What really puts the film over isn’t the love story of the second act but the robust third act, which constantly shifts gears. In the latter half, “Continental Divide” is at its funniest, most romantic and unpredictable.
Belushi’s unforced, very funny performance matches the low-key feel of the film, as he embodies a vulnerable character whose only superpower is being a wise ass, which doesn’t always save him from himself.
Belushi’s reserved approach to the character allows the film not to peak early, as his funniest scenes are when Souchak is at his lowest and recognizes how much his bond with Dr. Porter brings to his life.
“Continental Divide” works as a love story and the biggest laughs come from the character beats and not from formula.
Belushi’s legacy on film will always be as “Bluto” Blutarsky, Jake Blues and “Wild Bill” Kelso, but Souchak wasn’t just an ideal change of pace but resulted in his best performance, period.
This early Amblin film, with Steven Spielberg as producer, is old fashioned in all the right ways but grows edgy without resorting to becoming crass. Most love stories that want to evoke Tracy and Hepburn dynamics wind up painfully corny and forced, but not this one.
Knowing that Belushi died a year after its release, that last scene moves me to tears every time I revisit it.