# (semi-) Oldies but Goodies: Movies from the 1970s and 1980s that are good to re-watch **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 1, 2010, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/semi-oldies-but-goodies-movies-from-the-1970s-and-1980s-that-are-good-to-re-watch/527249 "2010-02-01T15:49:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![FordTaurusSHO94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f07891/32.png) [@FordTaurusSHO94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordTaurusSHO94)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/semi-oldies-but-goodies-movies-from-the-1970s-and-1980s-that-are-good-to-re-watch/527249/21 "2010-02-01T20:48:35Z")
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, if you overlook the special effects when they travel back in time. Star Trek VI: The Voyage Home, if you overlook that it was made in the early 90’s. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/semi-oldies-but-goodies-movies-from-the-1970s-and-1980s-that-are-good-to-re-watch/527249/22 "2010-02-01T20:52:42Z")
A couple of good comedies: _Tootsie Ghostbusters_ ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/semi-oldies-but-goodies-movies-from-the-1970s-and-1980s-that-are-good-to-re-watch/527249/23 "2010-02-01T20:59:32Z")
Some you might have missed: [The Name of the Rose](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091605/) [Breaking Away](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078902/) [Gallipoli](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082432/) [The Year My Voice Broke](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094347/) And I heartily endorse the earlier suggestions [The Man Who Would Be King](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073341/), [Chinatown](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071315/), [Matewan](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093509/) and [American Graffiti](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069704/) ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/semi-oldies-but-goodies-movies-from-the-1970s-and-1980s-that-are-good-to-re-watch/527249/24 "2010-02-01T21:02:46Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > Actually, she’s the upstairs neighbor of the dead man. > > Just came back to mention that you should be sure to get the version with the directors’ ending. Not the studio ending. Argh, guess I should re-watch it, too. 🙂 That didn’t sound right for some reason. And yes - I doubt/hope there are any studio ending/TV edit versions around any longer, but one never knows. ---
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/semi-oldies-but-goodies-movies-from-the-1970s-and-1980s-that-are-good-to-re-watch/527249/25 "2010-02-01T21:11:30Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > Argh, guess I should re-watch it, too. 🙂 That didn’t sound right for some reason. > > And yes - I doubt/hope there are any studio ending/TV edit versions around any longer, but one never knows. I have a 3-DVD boxed set of _Brazil_ which includes the so-called “Love Conquers All” version. I’ve never watched it. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/semi-oldies-but-goodies-movies-from-the-1970s-and-1980s-that-are-good-to-re-watch/527249/26 "2010-02-01T21:56:56Z")
The eighties gave us some awesome science fiction and fantasy: \*\*The Terminator The Thing Star Trek II, III, IV Bladerunner Creator Poltergeist Firefox Conan the Barbarian Deathwatch Android The Last Starfighter Predator Robocop Total Recall The Hidden Dune Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi Labyrinth The Fly Enemy Mine \*\* Also the documentary **The Atomic Cafe**. I hated **E.T.** ---
**Author:** ![RachelChristine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7ab992/32.png) [@RachelChristine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RachelChristine)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/semi-oldies-but-goodies-movies-from-the-1970s-and-1980s-that-are-good-to-re-watch/527249/27 "2010-02-01T22:33:32Z")
We just watched **Foul Play** this weekend. I love that movie so much – Goldie Hawn, early Chevy Chase, Dudley Moore’s American debut, Burgess Meredith, a laughing snake, a scary albino, “Beware of the Dwarf”, “Kojak Bang Bang!”. Awesome movie from the 70s. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/semi-oldies-but-goodies-movies-from-the-1970s-and-1980s-that-are-good-to-re-watch/527249/28 "2010-02-02T01:22:19Z")
Airplane! Johnny Dangerously Two spoof movies that will have you laughing from beginning to end. Some of Airplane!'s jokes are a little more dated than others (and more dated than anything in Johnny Dangerously) but it’s still a riot to re-watch. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/semi-oldies-but-goodies-movies-from-the-1970s-and-1980s-that-are-good-to-re-watch/527249/29 "2010-02-02T01:44:13Z")
> [@RachelChristine](#): > > We just watched **Foul Play** this weekend. I love that movie so much – Goldie Hawn, early Chevy Chase, Dudley Moore’s American debut, Burgess Meredith, a laughing snake, a scary albino, “Beware of the Dwarf”, “Kojak Bang Bang!”. Awesome movie from the 70s. So many great movies in this thread, including my favorite, **Brazil** (thanks **Ferret Herder**!) but it’s fun to see some of my beloved comedies mentioned, such as **Local Hero** , **Real Genius** , **Top Secret** , **Ruthless People** and, to a lesser extent because it’s not on the same level, this one. I’m glad somebody else likes it too. I’m glad I saw it in the theater because the opening credits are breath-taking, following Hawn’s car as she drives up Hwy. 1 in California, with mountains on one side and the crashing sea on the other. I should watch it again and see if it’s as funny to me now. I sure did think it was funny then. Other comedies from that general era that I haven’t seen mentioned that I can think of right off hand: **The Frisco Kid** (with Harrison Ford and Gene Wilder) and **High Anxiety** (the only other Mel Brooks movie I really like besides **Young Frankenstein** ). Not a comedy, but with many humorous moments, [Never Cry Wolf](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0086005/), a gorgeous, quiet, beautiful movie by Carroll Ballard, based on a true story about a government researcher, wonderfully played by Charlie Martin Smith, sent to live with wolves to document their killing of caribou, and who finds a world he didn’t expect. If nothing else, but there’s a lot else, it’s astonishingly beautiful. The opening credits look awe-inspiring on a tiny screen. Imagine what it was like on a big screen. [This YouTube clip](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Izb0ScZSBpk) consists of several different scenes from the film, some are slight spoilers, but it does convey the humor, beauty and soulfulness of the film. This movie and **Local Hero** make the most wonderful double-feature. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/semi-oldies-but-goodies-movies-from-the-1970s-and-1980s-that-are-good-to-re-watch/527249/30 "2010-02-02T02:06:26Z")
[Repo Man](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKIaS0lh-uo&feature=related) [Frankenhooker](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BtunhScwso) (hey, 1990 was technically as well as culturally still the 80’s) [Liquid Sky](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5H_sPSv4m8Q&feature=related) [Death Race 2000](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pphMecGZQ_s) [Eating Raoul](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3N5l-URMJw) [Morons from Outer Space](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMWDPJymksI&feature=related) The sort of thing you’ll like, if you like that sort of thing. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/semi-oldies-but-goodies-movies-from-the-1970s-and-1980s-that-are-good-to-re-watch/527249/31 "2010-02-02T02:11:00Z")
Blue Velvet, Wild At Heart, and Dune. And Pee Wee’s Big Adventure. Oh! And [True Stories](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092117/)! ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/semi-oldies-but-goodies-movies-from-the-1970s-and-1980s-that-are-good-to-re-watch/527249/32 "2010-02-02T02:18:51Z")
I can still enjoy [Better Off Dead](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088794/), even though it’s 25 years old. “Go that way, _really_ fast. If something gets in your way, turn.” Words to live by, I tell you. ---
**Author:** ![Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ian_D.Bergkamp)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/semi-oldies-but-goodies-movies-from-the-1970s-and-1980s-that-are-good-to-re-watch/527249/33 "2010-02-02T02:20:49Z")
One of my all-time favorite movies is from 1987: [Angel Heart](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092563/), starring Mickey Rourke at his absolute best, with Robert DeNiro and Charlotte Rampling. Also starring Lisa Bonet in a very non-Cosby Kid role. Very dark and spooky, if you like that kind of thing. It’s one of the very few movies I will say is better than the book on which it was based. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/semi-oldies-but-goodies-movies-from-the-1970s-and-1980s-that-are-good-to-re-watch/527249/34 "2010-02-02T02:25:55Z")
rats, no clip online of [Life Is Cheap… But Toilet Paper Is Expensive](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100023/), but there is for [Dark Star](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29pPZQ77cmI&feature=related) ---
**Author:** ![SanibelMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@SanibelMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanibelMan)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/semi-oldies-but-goodies-movies-from-the-1970s-and-1980s-that-are-good-to-re-watch/527249/35 "2010-02-02T02:28:13Z")
This weekend, I watched [The Conversation,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Conversation_(film)) a Francis Ford Coppola film from 1974 starring Gene Hackman as a surveillance expert who gets paid to capture a conversation between two people in Union Square in San Francisco. As he analyzes and refines the recording for his client, he gets more and more paranoid about what the conversation means and what will happen to the people he recorded. It’s a 70s-era paranoia film, similar to All the President’s Men or Three Days of the Condor. Coppola actually wrote it in the mid-60s, but only got the funding for it after making The Godfather, and it was produced and filmed almost in parallel with the revelations of the Watergate scandal. It’s a rather haunting piece of cinema. ---
**Author:** ![Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prelude_to_Fascination)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/semi-oldies-but-goodies-movies-from-the-1970s-and-1980s-that-are-good-to-re-watch/527249/36 "2010-02-02T02:48:05Z")
Some of my favorites: The Warriors (as mentioned) Hopscotch (Walter Matthau is a CIA agent about to be put out to pasture, so he blows the lid off all the dirty tricks by writing a book. He sends the chapters to his publishers one at a time, always staying a step ahead of the CIA who’s chasing him – it’s pretty dated, but Matthau gives a good performance in my opinion, and there are some damned good lines: “Now I know what FBI stands for: Fucking Ball-busting Imbeciles!” “Who’s that photographing us?” “Oh, that’s Follett, he’s an idiot. Probably no film in the camera.”) The Hospital (George C. Scott) Network The Seven Ups (a sort of unofficial sequel to the French Connection – sans Gene Hackman, but stars Roy Scheider. It has, in my opinion, just about the best car chase ever filmed.) Deliverance – it’s more than just the rape scene. ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/semi-oldies-but-goodies-movies-from-the-1970s-and-1980s-that-are-good-to-re-watch/527249/37 "2010-02-02T02:51:42Z")
> [@Sidney Evgeni Jordan](#): > > **Matewan** , directed by John Sayles, is one of my favorites from the 80s. My favorite movie EVAR. (I’m a native West Virginian.) This is one of the few movies about WV that really gets it right. > [@Athena](#): > > We rented “Amadeus” the other night. I think the last time I saw it was shortly after it came out in 1984, and it’s held up well. We checked this out of the library the other night to watch with our 14-year-old son (who is into classical music), and he absolutely loved it. I’m a total sentimental sap. I loved **Starman**. And **On Golden Pond**. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/semi-oldies-but-goodies-movies-from-the-1970s-and-1980s-that-are-good-to-re-watch/527249/38 "2010-02-02T02:58:39Z")
Not like I’m a Gene Wilder fan or anything, but: _Silver Streak_ (1976) _The Frisco Kid_ (1979) _Stir Crazy_ (1980) ---
**Author:** ![HubZilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/semi-oldies-but-goodies-movies-from-the-1970s-and-1980s-that-are-good-to-re-watch/527249/39 "2010-02-02T03:15:03Z")
**Midnight Cowboy** , but not for the reasons you’d think. I find myself utterly fascinated by the gritty Times Square and 42nd Street compared to today. [Old pics](http://www.forgotten-ny.com/NEIGHBORHOODS/Deuce/42.html) of [42nd Street](http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7174). ---
**Author:** ![CircleofWillis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/54ee81/32.png) [@CircleofWillis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CircleofWillis)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/semi-oldies-but-goodies-movies-from-the-1970s-and-1980s-that-are-good-to-re-watch/527249/40 "2010-02-02T03:22:14Z")
> [@The\_Tooth](#): > > To Live And Die In L.A. (well I liked it) Are you kidding me? Gil Grisson and the dude form Mad About You (No, not him, the other one) vs. Willem Dafoe? What’s not to like? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/semi-oldies-but-goodies-movies-from-the-1970s-and-1980s-that-are-good-to-re-watch/527249.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/semi-oldies-but-goodies-movies-from-the-1970s-and-1980s-that-are-good-to-re-watch/527249.md?page=3)