The Best Decade in Movies; the Eighties
The Greatest Decade Movies; the 80′s.
The eighties. Most of you probably weren’t even born yet. Those that were old enough to remember the eighties may also remember the world-wide controversy that broke out during this seminal decade. No, I’m not talking about AIDS. No, not talking about David Lee Roth being kicked out of Van Halen. I’m talking about the technological controversy of the century; Beta or VHS?
Most of you should know the answer to this if you ever looked in your grandparents’ entertainment cabinet. VHS won the battle but ultimately not the war as VHS tapes multiplied like tribbles throughout the 80′s and 90′s before slowly finding themselves being herded into the 8-track section of your local pawn shop or yard sale cardboard box.
Yet the eighties could arguably be considered pop culture cinema’s greatest decade. From the teen angst of John Hughes’ works to the high gore, multiple entries of the Freddy and Jason slasher flicks to the pumped-up action figures of Sly Stallone and Arnie Schwarznegger the eighties had it all. It was so cool that Robert Downey Jr. was in it, that’s how cool it was.
But for cinephiles and the point of this article, I present Must See 25 great and influential movies of the 80′s.
25 Airplane! (1980)
Sadly, Airplane! and it’s non-stop barrage of jokes has been dumbed down over the years, evolving into the sad, sad ‘spoof’ industry. Where Airplane! succeeded is it took a little-known airplane disaster movie (1957′s Zero Hour) and used that as the blueprint for their own movie by borrowing plot and characters (in a way). By spoofing the trend of disaster movies rather than specific movies it made a household name out of Leslie ‘don’t call me shirley’ Nielson, and a hundred other jokes. For better or worse (worse) Airplane! is what created the crapfest that is Epic Movie, Scary Movie 2-ongoing, The Farrelly Brothers, Superhero Movie, Disaster Movie, the 41 year old virgin who knocked up Sarah Marshall…etc, etc. etc.
Timeless Quote;
Strike; “Surely, you can’t be serious.”
Rumack; ‘I’m always serious. And don’t call me Shirley.’
24 Die Hard (1988)
Now at sequel #5 and counting, Die Hard revolutionized the action picture by breaking the mold of the eighties bulging biceps action heroes into the much more everyday wisecracking figure of Bruce Willis who successfully jumped out of America’s TV sets into the big screen. If you don’t know this movie, you can just go to WhatCulture’s Die Hard page and feel vast amounts of shame.
Timeless Quote; “Yippee kay yay, mother f@#%er.”
23 Princess Bride (1987)
Princess Bride made a (bigger) star out of one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, Andre the Giant. Finally able to hone his cinematic acting chops, his reputation as one of the nicest people in the world played up to his character of Fezzik. Directed by Rob Reiner (who went against typecast and created the greatest trilogy of differing genre films in Princess Bride, Misery and A Few Good Men) it promised a story about true love, pirates, sword fights and monsters and delivered. One of the best 'sick in bed' movies ever.
Timeless Quote; “My name is Indigo Montaya. you killed my father. prepare to die.”
22 Tron (1982)
Before CGI, there was Tron. It was one of the first movies to acknowledge this whole computer ‘fad’ as perhaps being more than just a bunch of kids goofing off. By using state of the day special effects during a time that depended less on CGI and more on people’s abilities to create sets and uniforms that were thought to be logically what an inside of a computer would look like.
Timeless Quote; N/A but there is this awesome invention that has since came true; the light bike.
21 Robocop (1987)
Before drones, there was Robocop. Half man, half machine, all cop.
20 Friday the 13th (1980)
Do I need even to recap this series? You know that there has been over 10 movies made with Jason right? All of them made money. ‘Nuff said.
Timeless Quote; “ch-ch-ch-ch kill-kill-kill-kill”
19 Purple Rain (1984)
If you thought Madonna’s ego was big, (it is), Prince’s semi-autobiographical tale hit the public at the right time, unlike his other film projects. The album remains one of the top best sellers of the eighties and despite it’s unmemorable plot line… Prince sings, rides a motorbike, and talks dirty to Nikki and dry humps a speaker. There’s something in there about a rival slick band that is the basis of a little fun for Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back…so there’s that.
Timeless Quote; ’It’s Maurice Day and the Time! oh ee oh ee oh.
18 Heathers (1988)
Before Mean Girls, there was Heathers. It made stars out of Christian Slater and Winona Ryder.
17 Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Wes Craven’s break out horror flick of Freddie, the serial killer with the knife gloves that killed while you slept. Freddie went on to become one of the go-to’s of Halloween costume parties and nearly single-handedly brought back the fedora.
Timeless Quote; ”one, two Freddie’s coming for you, three/four better shut the door…”
16 Highlander (1986)
Throughout history there has been a select group of Immortals that occasionally bump into each other and engage in the ultimate elimination match to achieve…I don’t know…being the only Immortal? But it has Sean Connery and Christopher Lambert and his trademark voice that he has made a decent B movie career out of.
Timeless Quote; "Hey, is that Sean Connery?”
15 BladeRunner
Timeless Quote;
14 Big Trouble in Little China
Timeless Quote;
13 Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
Timeless Quote;
12 Terminator
Timeless Quote;
11 Karate Kid
Timeless Quote;
10 The Shining
Timeless Quote; “Here’s Johnnnnnnieee!”
9 Gremlins
Timeless Quote;
8 Goonies
Timeless Shuffle; The Chunk Shuffle
7 Ghostbusters
Timeless Quote; “Yes, it’s true. This man has no dick.”
6 ET
Timeless Quote; “ET phone home.”
5 Raiders of the Lost Ark
Timeless Quote; “Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes?”
4 Red Dawn
Timeless Quote; ”WOLVERINES!”
3 Back to the Future
Timeless Quote; “Hello? McFly?”
2 Empire Strikes Back
Timeless Quote; ”Luke, I am your father.”
1 The Breakfast Club
Timeless Quote; hey hey hey hey! Don’t you….forget about me…
