An 80s Movie Sampler: # Through A
If you love 80s movies as I do, you're probably thinking of your favorite titles from the decade right now, and you're probably looking to track down a few of them for a trip down memory lane. If you're having trouble coming up with ideas for 80s movies to watch, this is the first in a series of articles where I, Johnny Caps, will give you some ideas for 80s movies to enjoy.
From films for kids to films for adults, from comedies and dramas to action movies and horror films, from big titles to films off the beaten path, each article will highlight anywhere from 15 to 20 movies, listed alphabetically, that I think you'll enjoy the next time you're looking for an 80s movie to watch. Many of these recommendations will include personal memories of connections between the films and my own life.
Going alphanumerically, more or less, this article will list 17 movies spanning from numbers through the letter A, and we'll start off with Eddie Murphy's screen debut, the action-dramedy 48 HRS. 48 HRS tells the story of police officer Jack Cates (Nick Nolte), who has to take prisoner Reggie Hammond (Murphy) out of prison for 48 HRS to track down criminals Ganz (James Remar), a former associate of Hammond's who's escaped from prison.
What makes this movie such a standout is Eddie Murphy's work as Reggie Hammond. Having helped save Saturday Night Live from the brink of cancellation in the early 80s, Murphy came on screen as a dynamo of great acting talent, capable of both great comedy and intense dramatic acting. The best scene that illustrates both of those qualities is a scene where Hammond borrows Cates' badge and an empty gun to get information at a redneck bar. Seeing that scene makes me wish Eddie had gotten an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
If you're looking for a great example of the buddy cop action movie, 48 HRS is the film for you.
Moving along alphanumerically, we come to 1986's 52 Pick-Up, a delightfully depraved thriller from the Cannon Group, directed by John Frankenheimer and based on a story by Elmore Leonard.
52 Pick-Up is the tale of an architect (Roy Scheider) whose life, and that of his wife (Ann-Margret), threatens to end up in shambles if he doesn't pay a trio of extortionists, played by John Glover, Clarence Williams III and Robert Trebor, to prevent them from framing him for the murder of his mistress (Kelly Preston).
I'll admit that I never read Elmore Leonard's book, or really any fiction after I graduated from high school, so I can't compare the novel to the film, but the film on its' own captures both the glamour and the grime of Los Angeles in the mid-80s. From a party with appearances by several noted adult film stars of the 80s to a climax that takes place on a pier, 52 Pick-Up is a unique look at California in the 80s.
A lot of people give The Cannon Group justifiable grief for their business practices and the way they treated many creatives, but their movies were made with passion, if not always a budget, and when they were on, they were ON! This movie is a great example of how they could do wonders with the right creative personnel and materials. Believe it or not, this wasn't Cannon's first time tackling this material, but that's coming up later in the article.
Another 1986 Californian thriller with a number in the title and a unique vision of both glamour and grime is our next movie, 8 Million Ways To Die. 8 Million Ways To Die tells the story of alcoholic ex-detective Matt Scudder (Jeff Bridges) and his efforts to redeem himself by solving the murder of a prostitute named Sunny (Alexandra Paul), in part to clear his name after a relapse made him talk like he was part of it.
8 Million Ways To Die is a movie that's not exactly looked upon favorably, but it struck me when I first purchased a used VHS copy of it on eBay's now-defunct Half website. From the opening credits sequence where a helicopter's view of an L.A freeway makes the cars look like they're heading straight upwards to the memorable dialogue spoken by the characters, especially Sarah (Rosanna Arquette), a friend and coworker of Sunny's who becomes Matt's love interest and has some delightfully profane dialogue that unfortunately can't be repeated on this website, the movie is an interesting look at how substance abuse can harm you, and how the effort to get over it is a task that, as many recovering addicts say, happens one day at a time.
Rosanna Arquette and Alexandra Paul will both show up again on this journey through 80s cinema, but for the next movie in our 80s film sampler, we're going to the East Coast, New York, more specifically, for the scorching erotic drama 9 1/2 Weeks.
Written by Sarah Kernochan, whom I've had the great pleasure of interviewing for Pop Geeks, the other website I write for, 9 1/2 Weeks tells the story of Elizabeth (Kim Basinger) and John (Mickey Rourke), two New Yorkers who move in sophisticated circles and become enmeshed with each other, engaging in sexual adventures that push their emotions to the brink of destruction.
I found the movie to be erotic, but very fascinating as well. I've had a fear of New York City ever since my dad died of a heart attack there in 1995, but movies like 9 1/2 Weeks balanced my fear with a sense of intrigue about what it would be like to visit the city as an adult, adult being the key word for this movie.
Interestingly, even though my mom didn't know as much about 80s pop culture as I did, she did know of this movie, was reluctant to let me see the movie until December 31st, 2001, a few days after I turned 19. My brother was out with friends, and so was my mom, so as I was home alone, she allowed me to rent the movie. I'm glad she did. I thought it was a very thought-provoking movie.
For more about 9 1/2 Weeks, here's a link to the interview I did for Pop Geeks in 2019 with Sarah Kernochan. Warning: Some NSFW content: https://popgeeks.com/the-flashback-interview-sarah-kernochan/
Moving from numbers to letters, our trip through the A titles begins with 1986's ...About Last Night, a romantic dramedy based on David Mamet's play Sexual Perversity In Chicago.
The movie tells the tale of Danny (Rob Lowe) and Debbie (Demi Moore), two Chicago twentysomethings who enter a relationship in a manner that's perhaps a bit too hurried, with the big question being: Will their relationship will work or not?
I first tried watching ...About Last Night on demand in 2004, but for various reasons, I wasn't able to watch it all the way through. About seven or eight years later, I watched it all the way through, and I liked what I saw. As a man on the autism spectrum, for years I sought out what I thought was a "normal life", and I though that part of that "normal life" was being in a relationship.
Movies like ...About Last Night taught me that if you're going to be in a relationship, you need to be in it for the right reasons. Love takes time and effort. Although I now identify as aromantic, in other words, lacking romantic interest in anybody, this movie still teaches a great lesson, and that's to do things, whatever those things may be, for the right reasons.
On a side note, ...About Last Night has an amazing soundtrack, and Sheena Easton's "So Far, So Good" is an underrated classic of 80s dance-pop. The whole soundtrack is fantastic, but "So Far, So Good" steals the show. There's a great sense of hope and promise to the lyrics that reminds me of why I love 80s dance-pop music so much.
From romantic dramedy to straightforward drama, we now come to 1988's The Accused, the legal drama that tells the story of rape victim Sarah Tobias (Jodie Foster in her first Best Actress Oscar-winning performance) who, after feeling initially betrayed by lawyer Kathryn Murphy (Kelly McGillis) allowing Sarah's rapists to plea to a lesser charge, teams up with Kathryn to indict the onlookers who encourage the attack.
Jodie Foster has been acting since childhood, but with her work in The Accused, she scaled new heights with her acting skills. With every scene, you feel Sarah's hurt, her anger, her hope for justice and her fear that justice won't come. The movie raises some interesting questions, the most intriguing of which is: Can one bear responsibility for a crime if they didn't commit the crimes themselves?
I don't have any legal knowledge at all, but The Accused certainly made me think of what I would do in a similar situation, which happened in 2002. I had an experience in my early years at my retail job where one worker was sexually harassing another. I didn't cheer it on. I was disgusted, and brought up my concerns to management. Despite that, though, the worker wasn't fired, and is still employed with the company almost two decades later, while practically everybody in my life, even my family and my closest friends, felt I was in the wrong for voicing my objections to what I saw. When I said that perhaps I shouldn't bother trying to help anybody, I was told I was being melodramatic. I just don't understand how come I was seen as the bad guy for objecting to the sexual harassment, while the sexual harasser was thought of as just an old guy joking around. How did I end up wearing the black hat?
Let's jump back from the 00s into the 80s again, this time for the 1988 movie with action in its' scenes and in its' name, Action Jackson. Carl Weathers plays Sgt. Jericho Jackson who attempts to uncover the crimes of automaker Peter Dellaplane (Craig T. Nelson) and ends up framed for the murder of Peter's wife Patrice (Sharon Stone), leading him to work to defeat Dellaplane and clear his name.
I purchased this movie on DVD in the early 00s after having read about it in several books about 80s pop culture, and although the DVD was a bare-bones pan-and-scan affair, I still delighted in the action scenes and pre-mortem one-liners the film had. Seeing Weathers as Jackson doing things like setting one of Dellaplane's thugs on fire or driving a car upstairs into Peter's bedroom reminded me of why I came to love 80s action movies so much.
80s action movies, and you'll be seeing plenty of them in this project, are fun to watch because they exist in a world where rules don't apply, and small groups of people can take on larger elements and win. It's as much a fantasy as any of a half-dozen or more actual fantasy films I'll be covering in this project, but that's what I love about 80s cinema. It was committed to all sorts of ideas, some normal, some unusual, and played them sincerely.
Next on the list is 1985's After Hours, one of Martin Scorsese's best films. This movie is about office worker Paul Hackett (Griffin Dunne), a yuppie dullard who has adventures that are anything but dull when his attempt to reach out to a woman named Marcy (Rosanna Arquette) for a good time leads to very bad times.
Earlier I mentioned how 9 1/2 Weeks had tempered my fears of New York City, but After Hours brought those fears back. I can be rather meek at times, much like Dunne's Hackett, and New York City is not a town for the meek. Hackett ends up in some very bad situations, at one point witnessing someone else committing a murder and saying, "I'll probably get blamed for that" as he's angered that many people.
It's a very funny movie, but the humor is very dark, which is par for the course with the comedy in Scorsese's movies as you'll see again when we get to the Ks. It's also a unique portrait of New York City nightlife, with settings from clubs to all-night diners being captured amazingly. I actually interviewed Valli O'Reilly, this movie's makeup designer, for Pop Geeks last year, and she has some very cool stories to share about the movie. Check out the interview when you have a chance: https://popgeeks.com/the-flashback-interview-valli-oreilly/
Moving along alphabetically, we come to 1984's Against All Odds, a remake of the 1947 film noir classic Out Of The Past. This movie tells the tale of former-and-possible-future football player Terry Brogan (Jeff Bridges) who, hard up for money, is sent to find a young woman named Jessie Wyler (Rachel Ward), who is sought by both her boyfriend Jake Wise (James Woods) and her mother (Jane Greer), leading to a complex game of changing allegiances and gambling matters.
My first exposure to this movie actually came via Phil Collins' theme song "Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now)", which I heard on a greatest hits album of his. I thought it was an incredible song with a sense of intensity and passion to it. The song and the movie matched up perfectly when I finally got the DVD of it in the early 00s. It's a sterling thriller with some great production design that capture all sorts of settings from a Mexican temple to a fantastic nightclub.
We now come to the stone classic comedy Airplane!, the 1980 spoof of not just disaster movies, but dozens of other things as well. Based on a straightforward 50s disaster movie called Zero Hour!, Airplane tells the story of traumatized pilot Ted Striker (Robert Hays) who, in abandoning his job as a taxi driver to try and win back his stewardess girlfriend Elaine (Julie Hagerty), ends up having to prevent the flight they're both on from crashing.
The plot may sound serious, yet the movie is anything but serious. You can watch Airplane! at any age and find something new to enjoy. As a child, you notice the slapstick. As a teenager, you notice the double entendres and the one instance of out-of-nowhere nudity. As an adult, you noticed the wordplay and the spoofs of everything, starting with disaster movie tropes and then references to everything from sports to show tunes.
The movie is unique in that, although it came out in 1980, all the references are to 70s-and-earlier material, yet with so many, many jokes happening in the dialogue and on the screen, the movie becomes timeless. Yes, there are some politically incorrect jokes that couldn't be made today, but that's true of almost every comedy as the decades progress. Surely I'm joking about that, right? No, I'm not, and don't call me Shirley.
From high comedy to high intensity, we now come to another stone classic of 80s cinema, 1986's Aliens, the sequel to Alien that takes the franchise in a more action-oriented direction. Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is the only survivor of the first film's events, and after coming out of hypersleep for more than half-a-century, she's drafted by the Weyland-Yutani corporation to head back to the moon where she first encountered the aliens. Accompanying a gaggle of space Marines, she finds that the mission is not what it seems.
This movie is a total blast of action cinema. As Ripley, Sigourney Weaver is one of the greatest action heroes of the 80s. When she discovers how Weyland-Yutani planned to betray the citizens of the colony where the aliens once were, she fights back against that system to help rescue a young girl named Newt (Carrie Henn) and prevent the alien menace from going any further.
Watching this made me wish I had a mother who would fight for me like that. Unfortunately, due to my autism spectrum disorder, my mom and I were fighting each other more often than not, and as to the famous line from Aliens, "Get away from her, you b*tch!", my mom's friends would call her the B-word, and I didn't like that at all. When I told my mom I was going to tell her friends I didn't like it when they called her that, she threatened me with homelessness if I were to do so. Ripley knew that word was hurtful, and used it to help hurt the alien queen. My mom thought it was a compliment. Again, how did I end up wearing the black hat when it came to that situation?
From 1986, we go into 1987 and the movie The Allnighter. This movie tells the tale of three college students (Susanna Hoffs, Joan Cusack and Dedee Pfeiffer) on the brink of graduation who decide to have one last wild time before moving into the real world of adulthood.
My brief time in college was not a good one as my autism spectrum disorder, the foolish pride it brought me, my unwillingness to take my medicine, and being away from all I knew and loved on 9/11 all came together to impact my last bit of schooling in a very negative way. I purchased The Allnighter on DVD shortly before I dropped out of college, but I wouldn't really watch it until a few years later.
The Allnighter was a fun, lighthearted comedy that made me wish I had a better time in college. The main trio of students played by Hoffs, Cusack and Pfeiffer were all good at their studies, had big dreams that they knew they could achieve, and loved having fun. I, on the other hand, wasn't able to find much fun in the 00s. I was a disaster when it came to studying serious matters as opposed to fun stuff. As for dreams, I had attended college hoping to learn to work in film. While the dream of working in film didn't come true directly, I do have a foot in the world of show business via the interviews I do, and if I ever have the chance