# 1970s : Saturday Night Fever :: 1980s: ??? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 17, 2002, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1970s-saturday-night-fever-1980s/143315 "2002-12-17T12:53:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![marinwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@marinwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marinwood)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1970s-saturday-night-fever-1980s/143315/21 "2002-12-17T17:09:44Z")
Sugarland Express ? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1970s-saturday-night-fever-1980s/143315/22 "2002-12-17T17:11:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jehovah68 \* > \*\*Does a movie even have to come out in it’s own decade in order to capture a feel for the time? \*\* Not if done properly. **Saturday Night Fever** is a prime example of the '70s disco scene. I think the problem is that disco culture didn’t really hit its stride until 1975, which leaves half a decade unaccounted-for. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1970s-saturday-night-fever-1980s/143315/23 "2002-12-17T17:14:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by marinwood \* > \*\*Sugarland Express ? \*\* I can’t tell if you’re razzing me or if you don’t know about Steven Spielberg’s [theatrical directing debut](http://us.imdb.com/Details?0072226). ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1970s-saturday-night-fever-1980s/143315/24 "2002-12-17T17:21:07Z")
My vote goes to Wall Street. The '80s were a time of go-go capitalism, income disparity, Yuppies, etc. Wall Street shows all of that, especially when they show the contrast between Bud’s fancy Wall Street life and the lives of the airline mechanics. A lot of the other movies mentioned were teen movies. The Breakfast Club certainly was the ultimate '80s movie for me, as I was just the right age for it, but I don’t think it really reflected larger societal trends. ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1970s-saturday-night-fever-1980s/143315/25 "2002-12-17T17:31:41Z")
The 80s doth speaketh to me through that brilliantly conceived (and performed) artistic endeavor known as [The Pirate Movie](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0084504) The singing! The dancing! The hair! Also without a “K”. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![marinwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@marinwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marinwood)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1970s-saturday-night-fever-1980s/143315/26 "2002-12-17T19:51:07Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Jeff Olsen_ > I can’t tell if you’re razzing me or if you don’t know about Steven Spielberg’s theatrical directing debut I know the film, just curious as to your reasoning, as it didn’t resemble my life in the 70s at all. Did it yours? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1970s-saturday-night-fever-1980s/143315/27 "2002-12-17T20:58:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by marinwood \* > \*\*I know the film, just curious as to your reasoning, as it didn’t resemble my life in the 70s at all. Did it yours? \*\* Gotcha, you want me to 'splain. I’ve never been on the run from the law and was just a kid at the time. I was also living in a hick Midwest town, not much different than the east Texas towns that Lou Jean and Clovis kept stopping in. So, yeah, I think that movie is a good example of mid-'70s small-town life if one disregards the protagonists. ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1970s-saturday-night-fever-1980s/143315/28 "2002-12-17T21:09:11Z")
Wargames? ---
**Author:** ![marinwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@marinwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marinwood)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1970s-saturday-night-fever-1980s/143315/29 "2002-12-17T22:09:05Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Jeff Olsen_ > **So, yeah, I think that movie is a good example of mid-'70s small-town life if one disregards the protagonists.** Makes sense to me now, thanks. Personally I’d vote for _Fast Times at Ridgemont High_ as the ultimate '80s film. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1970s-saturday-night-fever-1980s/143315/30 "2002-12-17T22:49:27Z")
The 80’s are summed up in these movies: [About last night](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0090583) [The Big Chill](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0085244) [S:t Elmo’s fire](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0090060) and for me personally: [Repo Man](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0087995) ---
**Author:** ![23skidoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/f04885/32.png) [@23skidoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/23skidoo)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1970s-saturday-night-fever-1980s/143315/31 "2002-12-18T01:33:54Z")
Crap, I’ll nominate “The River’s Edge”. ---
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1970s-saturday-night-fever-1980s/143315/32 "2002-12-19T00:14:57Z")
I was just in grade school until the latter years of the 1980’s, but to me **Top Gun** seems to define the period very well. After a couple of decades of mostly anti-war military films this came out and made the military cool to a generation of people. It was around that exact time that the U.S, bombed Libya as well, and I think that year every boy in my school wanted to fly an F-16 when he grew up because of that movie. Call me crazy, but I don’t know if the whole Persian Gulf War and the subsequent - mostly air based - military campaigns of the United States would have gone over quite the same if this movie didn’t create a new image for the movie and for air power. On a lighter note, the Top Gun soundtrack (“Take My Breath Away”) is also pure '80’s… and it had Tom Cruise, playing a typically cocky 80’s type once again. And not to mention Val Kilmer AND Anthony Edwards. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1970s-saturday-night-fever-1980s/143315/33 "2002-12-20T12:03:37Z")
Red Dawn was an interesting shift in movies. It signified something, if I don’t know what. The shift from adult-focused movies to teen as primary moneymakers? Also, how about Tron? Wall Street? ---
**Author:** ![susan\_foster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@susan\_foster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan_foster)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2002, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1970s-saturday-night-fever-1980s/143315/34 "2002-12-20T18:55:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SkipMagic \* > \*\*The 80s doth speaketh to me through that brilliantly conceived (and performed) artistic endeavor known as [The Pirate Movie](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0084504) > > \*\* “Give me a happy ending Every time!” “Mabel, your goosebumps have grown!” Susan ---
**Author:** ![nitroglycerine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c5a1d2/32.png) [@nitroglycerine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nitroglycerine)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2002, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1970s-saturday-night-fever-1980s/143315/35 "2002-12-21T00:25:49Z")
For myself, I’d have to say the first Decline of Western Civilization, Repo Man or Rock and Roll High School. If this were a game show question though, I’d say Fast Times. Jon [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1970s-saturday-night-fever-1980s/143315.md?page=1)