Last weekend at Wal-Mart (oh, sue me), I snagged one of those double-feature DVDs of St. Elmo’s Fire and About Last Night… (pictured). I got to thinking about how everyone talks about St. Elmo’s and no one — other than my sister and I — seems to speak of About Last Night. I’m not sure why: Rob Lowe and Demi Moore struggling to understand what it means to be a couple while having a lot of hot sex is a movie worth remembering, no?
So here’s what I think we should do: List the ’80s movies that you genuinely adore and believe go underappreciated in our nostalgia-driven culture. For example, you wouldn’t want to choose any title from the John Hughes oeuvre. But citing Stealing Home, starring Mark Harmon, Jodie Foster, William McNamara, and Jonathan Silverman, is acceptable. And encouraged.
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OMG Mandi your timing is perfect. I was just thinking about Club Paradise with Robin Williams. It’s so stupid and hilarious. I love the scene with Eugene Levy and Rick Moranis lugging around the huge bag of “ilegal plant matter”. Why I was thinking about this movie I have no idea it was just the random memory of the afternoon. So happy to share…..
Anyone remember “Breaking the Rules” with Jason Bateman, C. Thomas Howell and Annie Potts??? I loved that movie.
That would definitely be The Sure Thing for me. Say Anything gets all the attention but personally I love love love John Cusack in this movie even more. It’s highly quotable – “Elliott? You can’t name the kid Elliott? No. Eliott is a fat kid with glasses who eats paste.” It just gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside every time I watch it.
Back to the Beach. My sister and I used to watch it, rewind the VHS, and watch it again. It’s a ’60s beach blanket meets ’80s fluorescent technicolor dream movie. When I meet people now who share my affinity for this movie, it’s like I’ve found kindred spirits.
Rad
One Crazy Summer
My Bodyguard
Armed and Dangerous
The Austrailian cult new wave musical “Starstruck” is a good example. It’s being played repeatedly on cable and I never knew that it was from 1982.
Mannequin…I know, a sad, sad guilty pleasure, but a pleasure nonetheless.
My two favorite 80’s teen comedies: Real Genius and The Legend of Billie Jean. This is also a plea for The Legend of Billie Jean to come out on dvd already.
Fandango from 1985. Over 20 years later it’s still my favorite movie. A young charming Kevin Costner, great supporting actors, hilarious sky diving sequence, Pat Metheny soundtrack, and male bonding at it’s absolute best. Not to mention one of the most moving ending images ever. I still get a little choked up as Kevin Costner raises his beer for one final farewell as the lights blink out and Blind Faith’s “Can’t Find My Way Home” plays into the closing credits. Pure magic.
My two favorite 80’s teen movies: Real Genius and The Legend of Billie Jean. This is also a plea for The Legend of Billie Jean to come out on dvd already. I also freaking love Youngblood.
Even though I know it’s lame, I’ll defend “Mannequin” until my dying day. I may be a freak, but it looks like I’m not alone. (Thanks, arahsae!)
I LOVE One Crazy Summer! I can still sing that radio jingle crazy Uncle Frank listened for, but sadly there are few who appriciate it. Clue is another movie that really fits this critera well
Anyone remember “Moving Violations” about the group of misfits in driving school? I remember watching it a lot, although I’m not sure if I really thought it was funny or I just felt rebellious because the crooked cop and the judge did It through seemingly the last 1/4 of the flick.
My 65 year old father calls Oxford Blues “an undiscovered classic.” Seriously.
Footloose! My sister and I can recite all the lines from it. “I thought this was a party…LET’S DANCE!”
People remember a lot of John Cusack movies — but “The Sure Thing” seems to get forgotten. Glad to see it’s already on this list. It is so funny, sweet and touching. Everything you want in a John Cusack 80s movie. “You’re repressed, repressed!” Oh man, I need to see that movie again.
Dragnet
“the Virgin Connie Swale”
ha ha ha
My secret favorite is Summer School with Mark Harmon and Kirstie Alley. I’m a high school teacher myself now and it is even better than it used to be!
Better Off Dead has some great lines, (which I will now mangle for your reading pleasure):
“I want my two dollars!” – psycho newspaper boy
“Sorry your mom’s face exploded.” – John Cusack to his fat evil neighbor whose mom’s face literally explodes during a dinner party.
Yay!
i have a serious soft spot for She’s Having a Baby, with Kevin Bacon and Elizabeth McGovern. that montage at the end kills me every time.
Teen Witch!
Does any one remember “Lady Hawk”, with Matthew Broderick,Michelle Pfeiffer, and Rutger Hauer? I cry every time.
I sooo need to buy that on DVD.
Miracle Mile
Who’s That Girl? (come on, it was fun!)
First Born (early Corey Haim)
Shoot the Moon
Troop Beverly Hills
I loved Two of a Kind with Olivia Newton John and John Travolta. It was sweet, silly and they both were smoking hot.
clue was just the greatest movie ever, it defies lists.
Anyone for “Gleaming the Cube”? Christian Slater and Tony Hawk at their best and with a cast that includes the father from “Charles in Charge”, PRICELESS!!!
Ah, “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” and “Mannequin.” SJP and Kim Catrall waaaayyyy before SATC
I think everyone knows “Better Off Dead” and “One Crazy Summer” but those films directors’ “Savage” Steve Holland also directed a late 1980s’ film called “How I Got Into College” with a young Lara Flynn Boyle in it. “How I Got Into College” isn’t as well known as Holland’s previous John Cusack-starring films but it was still pretty sweet and had its moments.
Can’t Buy Me Love — so great! Pre-McDreamy Patrick Dempsey.
p: I love, love, TRIPLE love “Clue.”