If an historian 100 years from now wanted to view the ten movies which best capture the “vibe” of the 80’s, what ten movies should he/she watch.
The movies need not be good films. It is only important that they capture the feel of what it was like to be living in the 80’s.
With that in mind, I’ll throw out a nomination: Echo Park. It was a really bad movie; but I only saw it for the first time a couple of months ago, and damn if it didn’t make me almost painfully nostalgic for the 80’s. Definitely a movie of its era.
So what others? And no fair just listing 10 John Hughes movies.
(Though I expect he will figure prominently in this thread…)
Think about the Reagan years (especially early), the new interest in the military after Vietnam and, later, the Carter administration. Reagan helped usher in the attitute that yes, America was proud and strong. Military morale and enlistments (not to mention budget) increased.
With that in mind, how about Rambo? For something a little less cartoonish, how about Uncommon Valor? Even Top Gun would fit in, if only for box office popularity.
There were lots of other patriotic/nationalistic movies that tapped into the “strong American military” theme: Delta Force, Missing in Action, Commando, Death Before Dishonor, Hamburger Hill,and even Red Dawn, and others. So, take your pick.
Kinda cheesey movie, but the whole “we’re all going to die in a nuclear holocaust” idea was pretty prevalent throughout the '80s. So, you also get movies like The Terminator, The Day After, Threads, Special Bulletin (a gimmicky, made-for-TV movie which would probably be more apropos today, given the terrorism theme) and so on. You’ve also got the whole post-apocalyptic Mad Max and its sequals (and rip-offs), showing the pessimism (“we really are going to all die in a nuclear holocaust!”) of the decade.
Assuming that we are talking about the vibe of the '80’s can be represented by big hair, the influence of the music video on film, and an unhealthy obsession with physical appearance and financial success (well, that’s what resonates for me about the period), here’s my top ten, in no particular order:
Desperately Seeking Susan – The two most iconic women of the '80’s: Madonna and Rosanna Arquette
Purple Rain – Prince’s epic vanity project, in which we learn just how hip Minneapolis was once aupon a time
The Breakfast Club – well, you knew it was coming
After Hours/Into the Night – New York and LA-based versions of more or less the same story, in which a middle-class guy who’s lost the plot of his life gets dragged into a series of strange events over one busy night; AH is dark and ItN silly, but it’s interesting to note the similarities of theme
Top Gun – in which we shake off the legacy of Viet Nam once and for all and turn the operation of killing machines into a music video
True Stories – David Byrne’s State of the Union address, made at the height of Talking Head’s success
Raising Arizona – Mary and Joseph as Trailer Trash
Heathers – plows the same ground as Hughes’ high-school oevre, but with more of an edge
Roger & Me – Michael Moore’s funny/sad documentary trip to the heart of the Rust Belt
Wall Street – ‘greed is good’; more or less wallows in the sort of thing that Michael Moore was complaining about
Fast Times at Ridgemont High - “slice of life” movie that focused on some important 80s teen issues, even if superficially (i.e. teens in the work force, teen pregnancy/abortion, drug use). Also, mall culture was probably glimpsed in this movie for one of the first times in cinema.
Vision Quest - quest for physical perfection, “can do” attitude on display, and the soundtrack
Beverly Hills Cop and Beverly Hills Cop 2 - think of the culture and music on display behind the plot lines.
How about Manhunter? (The first film based on Red Dragon.)
Really captures the style of the 80’s, I think. Clean lines, lots of neon, etc.
For the obligatory John Hughes movie, I select Pretty in Pink. Captures nicely the mid-to-late-80’s used-record-store, second-hand-clothes, live-band-at-a-club scene.
(Breakfast Club, to me, is not as much of a period piece. Ditto Ferris Bueller. Aside from the clothes, it could take place in any decade.)
Good call on Beverly Hills Cop. Hadn’t thought of that one.
Fast Times at Ridgemont High is a tough call. It’s right on the cusp. Though it came out in the 80’s, it really has more of a late-70’s feel to me. (What with the Tom Petty lead song and all. And the Zeppelin references.) Didn’t Cameron Crowe base the script on his observations at a California high school in the 70’s? I dunno. Could go either way.
High School USA 100% 80’s movie starring Michael J Fox as the kid who tries to win the love of Nancy McKeon away from preppy rich boy Anthony Edwards, with the help of his geeky friends and their robot.
Desperate Lives. Another 80’s classic starring Doug McKeon (no relation) and Helen Hunt as High Schoolers in the most drug-soaked institution in the history of drugs. High points include Helen Hunt taking some industrial angel dust, jumping out the window into a crowd of students down below, then getting up apparently unhurt and screaming “I’m invincible!!!” Another great scene is when the fed-up teacher goes through every students’ locker, turns up about $2 million worth of assorted drugs, then carts them into the gym pep rally and gives such a heartfelt speech that the students line up, walk down and empty their pockets of another $1 million or so worth of drugs.
If you haven’t seen either of these, you owe it to yourself to check them out.
Some more I think deserve consideration, all reflecting different aspects of 80s America:
Rocky IV - USA vs Russia angst, a look at true high-dollar sports. Arthur - life of privilege and excess Flashdance - the music, mainly … don’t miss the “strong woman in a man’s world” angle Mr. Mom - Another angle on changing male/female roles Cocoon - empowerment of the senior citizen … even if it is science fiction Ruthless People - a more humorous look at greed and amorrality than Wall Street Secret of My Succe$s - a comedic take on the workday office world Cocktail - the club scene, and the empowered older woman seduces the young stud and acts as his sugar mamma Parenthood - the suburban family scene
The lessor-known The Star Chamber addresses the spiraling crime rate and (mostly fictitious but widely believed) judicial impotence at the beginning of the eighties, though I’d cite American Psycho as a good example of a movie about the eighties, though the film was not actually made in that decade.
The nihilisitc drug scene (i.e. the brief semi-romantic seventies-leftover period when white sophisticates were doing coke before black people started doing crack and the ugly mess that is drug use could no longer be embraced by leftist journalists) was captuired effectively in Less Than Zero
As an afterthought, I have to give a nod to Red Dawn as the second-last classically bad cold-war flick (Rambo III wins that title). It’s one of the first films to highlight extremist surivalism as a positive. High school students take on the Red Army, BOO-yah!
Back to the Future, which is more of a time capsule for 1985 than it is a trip to 1955: Libyan terrorists, Tab, Pepsi Free, down vests, skateboards, Huey Lewis and the News, Calvin Klein, Ronald Reagan, and Darth Vader were just a few of the pop culture references.
