# Favorite '80s movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 14, 2003, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-80s-movies/168749 "2003-04-14T23:03:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nichol\_storm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Nichol\_storm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nichol_storm)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2003, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-80s-movies/168749/1 "2003-04-14T23:03:13Z")
As a true child of the '80s, every once in a while I will get a hankering for some teased hair, acid-washed jeans, and tinny synthesizer music. Watching a marathon of VH1’s “I Love the '80s!” a few days ago left me all nostalgic, so I had to break out my collection of best '80s movies. Today, for instance, I watched 1987’s _Lost Boys_ with two of my friends. It stars a very young and pretty Jason Patric who falls for a skanky ho who runs with a vampire biker gang. Admittedly, the haircuts were scarier than the vampires, but I love it anyway. And is it just me, or is Spike from “BtVS: TS” a complete rip-off of Kiefer Sutherland’s David? Tomorrow, I’m torn between _The Terminator_ and _Labyrinth_. Choices, choices. So what are _your_ favorite '80s flicks? .:Nichol:. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2003, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-80s-movies/168749/2 "2003-04-14T23:19:04Z")
**Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.** On this, Dan Quayle and I are in agreement. ---
**Author:** ![Interrobang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/interrobang/32/17463_2.png) [@Interrobang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interrobang)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2003, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-80s-movies/168749/3 "2003-04-14T23:27:11Z")
**Something Wild**. One of my all-time favorite movies and one of Melanie Griffith’s few good roles. **Say Anything…** , which I’ve only grown to love more since moving to Seattle. “I don’t want to buy anything, sell anything or process anything for a living.” **Raising Arizona**. “And when there was no crawdads to be found, we ate sand.” The scene where Hi is trying to elude police capture is one of the funniest wordless movie sequences I’ve ever seen. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2003, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-80s-movies/168749/4 "2003-04-14T23:47:43Z")
**The Goonies** -encapulates the typical “80s” childhood, if you grew up in the suburbs (which I didn’t). **The Last Dragon** –All I have to say is, “When you got that glow…” That movie had everything. Good music. Bad acting. Bad hair. Good-looking lead man. Vanity. Dancing. Karate. Jheri-curl commercial at the end. And the best villian ever. **Fame** –it was early 80s, which means it had some 70s flavor, but it was still a good movie. Where else can you see a homosexual Rocket Romano with an afro? As for sci/fi, **The Neverending Story** was tre excellent. The music was very _80s_. ( **Labyrinth** was good, but I feel like I’m dropping acid when I watch it. All I remember is jump, magic, jump and David Bowie chasing after a baby.) ---
**Author:** ![msaffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ad7895/32.png) [@msaffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msaffer)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2003, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-80s-movies/168749/5 "2003-04-14T23:57:16Z")
to hard of a question to answer with just one movie. This is the type of question that needs to be broken down into parts for example: SCI-FI- dreamscape, Last starfighter, dune, krull Love- Say anything, Against All odds Sports- American Flyers, Field of Dreams, Color Of Money Cartoon- The Black Cauldron, The Hobbit, Secret of Nimh Etc. Etc. Etc… The list goes on and on, almost impossible to make a definitive list of categories and sub-categories. When I get board with some friends and co-workers we will go back and forth for hours debating on this very topic. I know really boring job right? ---
**Author:** ![Jabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5e925/32.png) [@Jabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jabba)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-80s-movies/168749/6 "2003-04-15T00:01:18Z")
_Raging Bull_: My 3rd favourite film of all time, perfect in every department _Mephisto_: Klaus Maria Brandauer gives one of the greatest performances ever committed to celluloid. _Ran_: Kurosawa and Shakespeare, a combination to drool over. _Hannah and Her Sisters_ and _Desperately Seeking Susan_: I’ll group them together as two sorely underrated American films. ---
**Author:** ![Rabid\_Squirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Rabid\_Squirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rabid_Squirrel)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-80s-movies/168749/7 "2003-04-15T00:12:15Z")
Ooh! **The Dark Crystal** It used to freak me out when it first came out, but I’ve grown to love it. \*\* The Last Starfighter\*\* Yay! Death Blossum! **Short Circuit** Yes, I was a techhie geek even as a wee tyke. **Ghostbuster** I took me several years of growing up to get all the jokes. ---
**Author:** ![Mephisto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@Mephisto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mephisto)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-80s-movies/168749/8 "2003-04-15T00:31:11Z")
Say “80’s movie” to me and the first thing I think of is _The Breakfast Club_. However . . . > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jabba \* > **_Mephisto_: Klaus Maria Brandauer gives one of the greatest performances ever committed to celluloid.** **Jabba** ’s suggestion sounds like it might be okay as well. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-80s-movies/168749/9 "2003-04-15T00:51:05Z")
Favorite films from the 80s: **Bull Durham Burden of Dreams Come and See Crimes and Misdemeanors The Dead Zone Do the Right Thing The Man Who Planted Trees Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure Pennies from Heaven Stop Making Sense** The Terminator This Is Spinal Tap ---
**Author:** ![quasar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/48db29/32.png) [@quasar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quasar)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-80s-movies/168749/10 "2003-04-15T01:27:07Z")
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off The Breakfast Club War Games Back to the Future Beverly Hills Cop Coming to America **Mathew Broderick** and **Eddie Murphy** ruled the 80’s! ---
**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:** [April 15, 2003, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-80s-movies/168749/11 "2003-04-15T04:25:38Z")
What, nobody mentioned Real Genius? ---
**Author:** ![jack\_ss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c77e96/32.png) [@jack\_ss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jack_ss)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-80s-movies/168749/12 "2003-04-15T04:50:56Z")
**Aliens**. _“Get away from her, you BITCH!”_ has to be **the** movie line of the 80’s. **Terminator** was also a great movie typical of the 80s. **Blade Runner** and **Road Warrior** both popularized the post-apocalyptic genre started by films like **A Boy and His Dog** in the 70s. ---
**Author:** ![Banger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@Banger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banger)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-80s-movies/168749/13 "2003-04-15T04:53:14Z")
Some of my favorites have already been mentioned, but I wanted to add this one to the mix: [Caddyshack](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0080487). Perhaps the most often quoted film of the 80s, and hilarious to boot. Too bad they made that regrettable sequel… For favorite “cult” film of the 80s I pick [Evil Dead 2](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0092991). It’s the _Caddyshack_ of cheesy horror films 😃 ---
**Author:** ![vl\_mungo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc8723/32.png) [@vl\_mungo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vl_mungo)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-80s-movies/168749/14 "2003-04-15T05:00:38Z")
There were better films in the 80’s, but you seem to be looking for full on 80’s culture (frightening hair and all) movies. _ArchiveGuy_ mentioned some good ones, here are some more… \*\* Big Trouble in Little China Blue Velvet Aliens Heathers Fright Night Repo Man\*\* Then do yourself a favor and watch **Brazil** and **Wings of Desire**. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-80s-movies/168749/15 "2003-04-15T06:11:24Z")
**The Elephant Man**. Finely wrought, inexpressibly moving. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-80s-movies/168749/16 "2003-04-15T06:51:48Z")
WOW! I thought **Star Trek II** would have come up already. and **Vacation**. ---
**Author:** ![sirtonyh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@sirtonyh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sirtonyh)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-80s-movies/168749/17 "2003-04-15T07:01:02Z")
Can’t believe nobody has mentioned **Top Gun** , **E.T** , **Gremlins** or **Back to the Future** yet. I’ll add my vote to **Something Wild** too. Very offbeat and very funny. ---
**Author:** ![Electronic\_Chaos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Electronic\_Chaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electronic_Chaos)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-80s-movies/168749/18 "2003-04-15T07:22:09Z")
Duh, The Princess Bride! I’ll vote for Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and Back to the Future (Parts one, two, and three!) as well. ---
**Author:** ![Optihut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/edb3f5/32.png) [@Optihut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Optihut)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-80s-movies/168749/19 "2003-04-15T07:59:50Z")
There can be only one… **Highlander** was a real gem, there are just so many cool lines in that movie, even though Christopher Lambert is really bad when he has to speak English. I am glad that I have the option to watch a dub with able voice actors, heh. It’s strange, just the other day I was telling people in chat that the 80s was mighty fine decade for movies. The ones (most of them already mentioned here) that sprang to mind immediately were: **Ghostbusters, Star Wars Episode VI, Highlander and Die Hard.** And I guess I should also mention **Karate Kid** 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Skip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@Skip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skip)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-80s-movies/168749/20 "2003-04-15T09:56:12Z")
\*\*Goonies John Carpenter’s The Thing Blade Runner Ghostbusters \*\* [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-80s-movies/168749.md?page=2)