80's Movies

I've been thinking - most of my favorite movies came out in or around the 1980s. I'm not sure what the appeal is, but I'm guessing it's because practical effects were at their best in the late 70s/80/early 90s. Anyone else feel the same way about 80s movies? Is there something else that contributes to their charm that I missed?

I love 80's movies, I think it is because I was brought up on them, the likes of The Goonies, The Lost Boys, Weird Science, The Breakfast Club, Thrashin, BEverly Hills Cop, Big Trouble in Little China, the list could go on and on and on.....

So many great movies

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The 80s were the heyday for horror FX, I think. I really love the emphasis on creativity and ingenuity that went into make-up and animatronics during that period. Just my opinion but I think with the advent of CGI in the 90s, horror began to lose some of its charm.

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#31 on SC's Top 100 Mofos list!!

Agree... late 70s up till the early 90s is the golden era for me.

Was the era of
ET: The Extra Terrestrial
The Goonies
Superman 1 and 2
The Lost Boys
Robocop
Die Hard movies
Terminator and T2
Alien Trilogy
Original Star Wars Trilogy
Jurassic Park
Back To The Future Trilogy
The 'Burbs
Young Guns
Predator and Predator 2
Rocky movies
The Karate Kid movies
The Abyss
Jaws
Burton's Batman
Gremlins
Willow
Ghost Busters

Plus it's the golden era that gave us the Godfathers of Direction... Spielberg, Lucas, Cameron, Donner, Dante, Schumacher, Verhoeven, McTiernan...

Then there was genuine stardom in the form of The Brat Pack and The Two Coreys and the Saturday Night Live bunch from John Candy to Bill Murray, Belushi and Ackroyd and so on... since when has there ever been such an iconic style of celebrity?

Modern 'celebrity' isn't a patch on the 80s.


Superman and Star Wars up till T2 and Jurassic Park... anything before and after doesn't quite have the same appeal with the exception to maybe only a handful of films.

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My favorite era is definitely 1975-1995. There are movies in the late 70s like Star Wars, Alien, Jaws, Halloween, Carrie, Godfather, Close Encounters of the Third Kind that are better than movies in the 80s. 80s had so many good ones which is the kicker. There were some very good ones but few as innovative and influential as what was happening in the late 70s.

Basically though I love 1975 until now. Tarantino.

That list you made is pretty great I have all those movies except I'm not huge on Young Guns. I also don't own the Rocky films.

But yea you've got John Hughes who directed Sixteen Candles, Weird Science, Breakfast Club, Planes Trains and Automobiles, and Uncle Buck. He wrote Pretty in Pink, Home Alone, Beethoven, Dennis the Menace, the Great Outdoors, Vacation. So many more...

You've got John Carpenter and the Halloween, Fog, Escape From New York, The Thing, Prince of Darkness, Big Trouble in Little China, They Live, Assault on Precinct 13.

Joe Dante gave us Piranha, The Howling, Gremlins, Explorers, the Burbs, Matinee.

Spielberg whether he was producing Poltergeist or Directing E.T, gave us a ton of great ones.

James Cameron of course...

I definitely am obsessed with the 80s and movies like Back to the Future and Breakfast Club. The way the movies look, feels, sounds is just the definition of what the 80s had to offer. Characters in 80s movies are just on another level. Movies like The Burbs and Caddyshack just have so many unbelievably great characters you can't even pick which is your favorite.

I forgot to mention John Hughes in my list... but yeah, he's another one for the list of great directors with great movies.

Hong Kong Cinema.

Oh, I popped in on a good day!

80s MOVIES ARE MY FAVOURITE THING IN THE WORLD. Ahem. Sorry. Just so excited.

Now, you have actually got my thinking "Why?" and well, I honestly think it has a lot to do with my age in the 80s. I was a little kid and I mean Age 1 to 10 in the 80s, so it was in those years I first experiences movies, but it was probably from the age 10 to 15 that I really got obsessed with movies and that is when all those great 80s movies got repeated on TV over and over and over again. I recorded them all on VHS, watching each and everyone while recording it, so I could pause out all the commercials. Then watching them over and over.

Then you add that so many of my favourites are 80s teen movies, which makes sense. I mean, aside form John Hughes being A GOD, I was at the perfect age to relate to everything his movies put out there. These movies were life changing!

Before the teens, it was the magical wonder of Spielberg and the likes. With greats like The Goonies (1985) and E.T (1982) that completely captured my childhood imagination.

I do believe that regardless of age, that 80s movies are still awesome. I think many stand the time and will be remembered, like like The Wizard of Oz or Singing in the Rain or Star Wars.

Sorry if this post is a bit strange. It just kind of blurted out of me when I saw the topic.

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Your not alone.... I feel pretty much the same way about 80's movies, watching them is always something special

Speaking of 80s teen movies I own a huge percent of them and just found the Sure Thing directed by Rob Reiner at the used record store. Already have Say Anything and Better off Dead starring Cusack, but I remember The Sure Thing being flat out awesome.

Karate Kid, Revenge of the Nerds, Fast times, American Virgin, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, heathers, Adventures in Babysitting, Valley Girl, Princess Bride, Big, LUCAS, Less Than Zero are just some more ridiculously good 80s movies.

Also found Monster Squad recently on DVD which is just about my favorite thing right now.

Oh almost forgot Neverending Story, Willow, Pan's Labrynth, and Legend as far as fantasy movies go.

Batman, Beetlejuice, Die Hard, Wall Street, Risky Business, Phantasm, Night of the comet, Twilight Zone the Movie, Child's Play, American Werewolf in London, Fright night, the whole Nightmare on Elm St and Friday the 13th series. The Whole Hellraiser series. The Hitcher, Killer Klowns From Outer Space, Prom Night, Slumber Party Massacre, the Burning, Firestarter.

80s was too much fun.

Red Dawn doesn't get enough love when 80s movies are brought up... but its one of my favourites!

Yeah, I think you're right - the ingenuity displayed was pretty unbelievable. Like in The Thing, those effects are SO ahead of their time it's almost unreal.

^ the 1990 Night of the Living Dead remake is a prime example of these excellent make-up effect you mention, as Alien 3 is a fine example of the begining cgi fall from grace.

the good old days...

I thought this might be a good thread to hi-jack and start talking about movies from the 80's that we have watched or want people to watch in preparation for an 80's list. I feel like we should all take some time and really dig into the 80's so that we have a nice eclectic top 100 when the time comes.

One movie that I really hope people will watch and hopefully enjoy is My Life as a Dog. It's the best coming of age movie I have ever seen and one I have loved for a really long time.

Another movie that I think people should give a watch is Local Hero. Like My Life as a Dog it's heavy on charm and whimsy. It's one that has grown on me. I liked it on the first watch, but subsequent viewings have proved it a better movie than I originally thought.

You have your homework everyone. Start watching and get to posting. I need some suggestions.

I'm not too big on the 80's, certainly not when we're talking about the films that everyone else seems to love, however, a few that would be worth checking out if unaware of them/get overlooked.

The Hunger, Near Dark, The Hitcher, The Long Good Friday, This Is Spinal Tap, Drugstore Cowboy, Das Boot, When Harry Met Sally, The Killer, Mona Lisa, Manhunter, Dangerous Liaisons, An American Werewolf In London, Rain Man, Heathers, Better Off Dead, The Lost Boys, Gothic, Altered States, Dressed to Kill, American Gigolo, Cruising, Fame, The Long Riders, The Changeling, Breaker Morant, Bad Timing, On Golden Pond. Body Heat, Christiane F, Happy Birthday to Me, The Howling, Ms. 45, Nighthawks, Pixote, The Pursuit of D. B. Cooper, Roadgames,Southern Comfort, Taps.

OK, I'll stop, but, as with the 90's list, if anyone wants a list, I'm more than happy to throw one out.

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

Yes, thank you. If there's ever a MoFo 80's Countdown, that's all that's going to be on the list -- Hong Kong movies. None of the other films listed in this thread.

I'm thinking I might sit out the 80s MoFo list. I tried narrowing down a top 25 from my own collection but, truth be told, there aren't even 25 eighties movies I love.

Renting older films is becoming increasingly difficult and buying them is, for me, out of the question. So I don't know that I could even really conceivably expand my 80s horizons enough in time to submit a decent list.

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Well, if there is a list, I don't expect it to start until next year, so that'll be at least 6 months to try and find some stuff.

We'll see.

Of those you listed, I've seen:

This Is Spinal Tap,Das Boot, When Harry Met Sally, Dangerous Liaisons, Rain Man, Heathers, Better Off Dead, The Lost Boys, American Gigolo

Of those, I liked:

Rain Man, Heathers

Another problem I'm having is that a lot of the movies that I associate with the 1980s (in other words, my early childhood) were made years or even decades earlier.

The Hunger is a good one, HK.

Three more I'd add are Tampopo which is a satirical homage to movies but it's all about food. It's also very funny.

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown is madcap Almodovar and one that doesn't seem to get as much attention as some of his others, but it's one of his best.

The Color Purple doesn't get talked about a lot on here, but it's really good and I recommend that people give it a chance.