I was a teenager in the mid- to late-80s, so I have a soft spot for coming-of-age movies and other teen movies from this era. Do you have any favorites from this list?
Public poll, multiple choices are allowed.
This poll was inspired, in part, by Corey Haim, and the Oscar tribute to John Hughes.
I must stay that there are some very astute choices on this list, including My Bodyguard and Gregory’s Girl.
Glad to see Ferris Bueller’s Day off doing so well.
If there was a “80s buddy movies” thread one of my votes would be Planes Trains and Automobiles.
Hmmm, maybe I will include that in my next poll. I was thinking of a John-Hughes-only poll, but all of his classics are so good that I would have voted for all of them.
Appropriately, St. Elmo’s Fire is on TV right now. I don’t have time to watch it, but I think I still love Andrew McCarthy.
Nice to see Vision Quest on the list. The best movie on there is definitely Stand By Me, though.
Wow no votes for Class… lol… was at Water Tower in Chicago when they were filming… umm Jaqueline Bisset…
Where's Oxford Blues?? lol..Me too! I’ve seen almost every one of these movies, and voted for several of them. Great list! A few others that qualify as 80’s coming of age movies:
Some Kind of Wonderful – another John Hughes entry, I had a huge crush on Lea Thompson back then.
Red Dawn - speaking of Lea Thompson
The Last Starfighter – one of my sentimental favorites
A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon - lesser-known, but good River Phoenix film.
Mystic Pizza – early work from Lili Taylor, Julia Roberts, Annabeth Gish, and Vincent D’Onofrio
The Journey of Natty Gann – underappreciated movie, John Cusack in a supporting role.
One Crazy Summer – a “Better Off Dead”-ish John Cusack movie
Little Darlings – Tatum O’Neal and Kristy McNichol as two girls at summer camp trying to lose their virginity (but not to each other!)
*Revenge of the Nerds *- one of my favorite comedies
Fraternity Vacation - not that good, but notable for starring a young Tim Robbins
Hey, I own Class on VHS. One of my high school boyfriends bought it for me because I loved A.McC. I should have voted for it.
ETA: This is in response to Chicagojeff.
I voted for a bunch of them, but the top two on this list for me are Better Off Dead and Back To The Future.
Better Off Dead is, I think, one of the greatest stories ever told. Only Monty Python and the Holy Grail and This Is Spinal Tap outrank it. The film is nearly perfect in capturing dark, twisted humor… there are so many things in it that are just wrong. I love it.
That is a great list. The only one I’d add would be The Sure Thing.
I’m having a hard time deciding who to vote for. I’ve seen 95% of these films ( I graduated HS in the mid-80’s, so I’m in the right demographic ) and enjoyed at least most in some limited way or another ( being in the right demographic ). So at first I thought I’d just vote for ones I’d consider watching again if I saw them on cable. Unfortunately some I wouldn’t really care about seeing again I consider decent films - a few I’ve simply seen too many times. Meanwhile some I would watch, aren’t as good, but I’m not as burnt out on them.
Plus there is a set of films that I really liked at one point when I was young ( say like most of the John Hughes films or Taps ), that I don’t think I could sit through at all now without wincing. They’ve aged very poorly for me, yet at one time I thought they were the cat’s pajamas.
So I dunno. I’ll have to think on it some more.
I was expecting that Better Off Dead and Real Genius would be among the most popular answers - they aren’t doing quite as well as I had thought they would. I agree with GESancMan that Better Off Dead is close to perfect in its genre.
Bumping this because people are still voting, and the ranking of the most popular movies has changed since yesterday.
For the movies that have zero votes at the moment (summaries from Wikipedia - no spoilers):
Count me as another who thinks you should have included Some Kind of Wonderful. Tangent can keep Lea Thompson, my big crush was on Mary Stewart Masterson. I’ve always had thing for tomboys.
Yeah, that one should have been in there. (Eric Stoltz :))
It cheeses me off that I can go to any department store and get “Say Anything” on dvd for five bucks, but I can’t seem to get my hands on “Better Off Dead,” which I think is a far superior comedy. I might have to do something drastic and {gasp} pay full price for it. :mad:
Yeah, I’d put “Some Kind of Wonderful” on the list, too. I just re-watched it recently, and it stands up far better than a lot of these 80’s movies.
ETA: HEY! Where the hell is “Flashdance?” My girlfriends and I watched that movie approximately every weekend for a couple of years in the 80’s!
I picked several on the poll, but I just had to chime in here to say that Better Off Dead tops my list. Best 80s comedy ever!
And for me, this is followed by Heathers. Loves me some twisted and/or dark humor.
I also have a soft spot for Pump Up The Volume, largely because it’s what introduced me to Leonard Cohen. After one verse of “If It Be Your Will”, which was played in a scene, I had to find that song…!
Biloxi Blues should be on there, or is the list limited to one Matthew Broderick movie?
I grew up in Pittsburgh, too, so what was I thinking? Actually, I was too young when that one came out and I never caught it on video. That one did slip my mind. Even worse, I also forgot Dirty Dancing. It was never my favorite, but I think some of my friends would call that their favorite 80s teen movie.
That is a good one, too. I was trying to keep it to movies about teenagers, but I would say that is a coming-of-age movie. I’m sure there are other important ones that I missed.