# 80s Coming-Of-Age Movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 13, 2010, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-coming-of-age-movies/532360 "2010-03-13T16:52:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Pray\_for\_peace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pray\_for\_peace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pray_for_peace)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2010, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-coming-of-age-movies/532360/1 "2010-03-13T16:52:47Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2010, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-coming-of-age-movies/532360/2 "2010-03-13T17:14:19Z")
I must stay that there are some very astute choices on this list, including **My Bodyguard** and **Gregory’s Girl.** ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2010, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-coming-of-age-movies/532360/3 "2010-03-13T17:37:38Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Pray\_for\_peace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pray\_for\_peace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pray_for_peace)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2010, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-coming-of-age-movies/532360/4 "2010-03-13T18:24:40Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2010, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-coming-of-age-movies/532360/5 "2010-03-13T18:34:41Z")
Nice to see Vision Quest on the list. The best movie on there is definitely Stand By Me, though. ---
**Author:** ![Chicagojeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b19c9b/32.png) [@Chicagojeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicagojeff)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2010, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-coming-of-age-movies/532360/6 "2010-03-13T18:38:29Z")
Wow no votes for Class… lol… was at Water Tower in Chicago when they were filming… umm Jaqueline Bisset… ``` Where's Oxford Blues?? lol.. ``` ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2010, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-coming-of-age-movies/532360/7 "2010-03-13T18:40:02Z")
> [@Sidney Evgeni Jordan](#): > > I was a teenager in the mid- to late-80s, so I have a soft spot for coming-of-age movies. 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 ---
**Author:** ![Pray\_for\_peace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pray\_for\_peace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pray_for_peace)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2010, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-coming-of-age-movies/532360/8 "2010-03-13T18:41:56Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2010, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-coming-of-age-movies/532360/9 "2010-03-13T18:59:52Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2010, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-coming-of-age-movies/532360/10 "2010-03-13T19:18:16Z")
That is a great list. The only one I’d add would be [The Sure Thing](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090103/). ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2010, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-coming-of-age-movies/532360/11 "2010-03-13T19:31:54Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Pray\_for\_peace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pray\_for\_peace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pray_for_peace)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2010, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-coming-of-age-movies/532360/12 "2010-03-13T19:50:37Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Pray\_for\_peace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pray\_for\_peace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pray_for_peace)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-coming-of-age-movies/532360/13 "2010-03-15T17:06:49Z")
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): > [@](#): > > In Country is a 1989 American drama film produced and directed by Norman Jewison, starring Bruce Willis and Emily Lloyd, a British actress who underwent training to speak with a Kentucky accent in the film. … Willis earned a best supporting actor Golden Globe nomination for his role. > Recent high school graduate Samantha Hughes, 17, lives in fictional Hopewell, Kentucky with her uncle Emmett Smith (Bruce Willis), a quiet laid-back Vietnam veteran who smokes marijuana about 14 times a day, as in the novel. He suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. Samantha’s father, Dwayne, was killed in Vietnam at 21 after marrying and impregnating Samantha’s mother, Irene. Samantha finds some old photographs, medals and letters of her father, and becomes obsessed with finding out more about him. > [@](#): > > The Falcon and the Snowman is a 1985 film about two young American men, Christopher Boyce (played by Timothy Hutton) and Daulton Lee (played by Sean Penn)…[The film] is based on the true story of former altar boy and former Catholic seminary student Christopher Boyce and fellow former altar boy turned drug dealer Daulton Lee, two young men from wealthy California families who sold classified government information to the Soviet Union during the mid 1970s. ---
**Author:** ![filling\_pages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9bd4f/32.png) [@filling\_pages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filling_pages)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-coming-of-age-movies/532360/14 "2010-03-15T18:05:59Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Pray\_for\_peace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pray\_for\_peace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pray_for_peace)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-coming-of-age-movies/532360/15 "2010-03-15T18:13:35Z")
> [@filling\_pages](#): > > 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 :)) ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-coming-of-age-movies/532360/16 "2010-03-15T18:17:28Z")
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! ---
**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-coming-of-age-movies/532360/17 "2010-03-15T18:25:03Z")
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…! ---
**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:** [March 15, 2010, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-coming-of-age-movies/532360/18 "2010-03-15T18:30:24Z")
_Biloxi Blues_ should be on there, or is the list limited to one Matthew Broderick movie? ---
**Author:** ![Pray\_for\_peace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pray\_for\_peace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pray_for_peace)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-coming-of-age-movies/532360/19 "2010-03-15T18:36:49Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > 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 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. ---
**Author:** ![Pray\_for\_peace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pray\_for\_peace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pray_for_peace)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-coming-of-age-movies/532360/20 "2010-03-15T18:40:08Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > _Biloxi Blues_ should be on there, or is the list limited to one Matthew Broderick 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. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-coming-of-age-movies/532360.md?page=2)