September 18, 1987: "Fatal Attraction" Premieres

Michael Douglas and Glenn Close

September 18, 1987: Amazon Women on the Moon premieres. Believe it or not, this might not have been the most ridiculous movie released on this day.

The Principal premieres. The "middle-class guy teaching in the ghetto school" template is taken to its dangerous conclusion, as Jim Belushi goes to Oakland. There were some scary moments, but this was not the scariest movie released on this day.

Hellraiser premieres. Clive Barker directed it, based on his own novella, The Hellbound Heart. Doug Bradley played the Lead Cenobite, a character renamed "Pinhead" for the sequels. Believe it or not, this might not have been the scariest movie released on this day.

Fatal Attraction premieres, directed by Adrian Lyne, who had already begun to specialize in films about illicit sex. It stars Michael Douglas as a guy who lets his hormones do his thinking for him (he was already typecast), Anne Archer as a wife who was too fine for a sensible man to cheat on, and Glenn Close as a woman who, after Douglas had the fling with her, delivered the catchphrase: "I'm not going to be ignored!" This may have been the scariest, and the most ridiculous, movie released not just on this day, but in this entire year.

Close is a New York Mets fan, and sang the National Anthem before one of the World Series games the year before. She is also a Democrat, and, at a pre-election rally for Presidential candidate Bill Clinton at the Meadowlands Arena in 1992, she told the crowd, "I'm Glenn Close, and I'm here because I'm not going to be ignored!"

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September 18, 1987 was a Friday. These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Toronto Blue Jays, 6-3 at Yankee Stadium. Jim Clancy outpitched Neil Allen. Willie Upshaw hit a home run for the Jays. Dave Winfield went 0-for-3 with a walk. Don Mattingly went 1-for-5 with an RBI. Rickey Henderson went 1-for-4 with a walk, a stolen base, and an RBI.

* The New York Mets lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 10-9 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Former Yankee Brian Fisher stared for the Bucs, former Pirate John Candelaria started for the Mets, and neither one made it through the 3rd inning. The Mets got home runs from Darryl Strawberry, Gary Carter and Tim Teufel, while the Pirates got one from John Cangelosi.

* The Montreal Expos beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-3 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. Mike Schmidt went 0-for-5.

* A doubleheader was split at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. The Baltimore Orioles won the opener, 9-4. The Boston Red Sox won the nightcap, 10-7. Over the 2 games, Eddie Murray went 2-for-6 with 4 walks, and Cal Ripken went 4-for-9 with an RBI.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 7-6 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Robin Yount went 0-for-4 with a walk. Paul Molitor went 2-for-5 with a home run and 3 RBIs.

* The Seattle Mariners beat the Chicago White Sox, 1-0 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Mark Langston pitched a 6-hit shutout, outpitching Floyd Bannister. The only run came in the top of the 6th inning, when Scott Bradley singled John Christensen home.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Cleveland Indians, 9-4 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The Chicago Cubs beat their arch-rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals, 8-1 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Kansas City Royals, 4-0 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. Tony La Russa was the A's manager, so, even as far back as 1987, it took 3 A's pitchers to pitch a 4-hit shutout: Steve Ontiveros for 6 1/3rd innings, all 4 hits; Eric Plunk, 2 innings; and Dennis Eckersley got the last 2 outs. Reggie Jackson had returned to the A's for his last season, but did not play in this game. Mike Davis hit a home run. George Brett went 0-for-3 with a walk.

*  The Texas Rangers beat the California Angels, 5-1 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Houston Astros, 2-1 at the Astrodome in Houston. Tony Gwynn went 2-for-3 with 2 RBIs.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves, 7-4 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* And the Cincinnati Reds and the San Francisco Giants were not scheduled, although they did begin a series the next day.