Can you think of any films from the 80s that have stood the test of time and don't make you cringe if you watched them again today?
Surely Bladerunner has to be up there?
You can highlight any films of the decade that have not stood the test of time for what ever reason you care from fashion to becoming a victim of political correctness.
Aliens although the explosion at the end shows it's age
> Can you think of any films from the 80s that have stood the test of time and don't make you cringe if you watched them again today?
> Surely Bladerunner has to be up there?
> You can highlight any films of the decade that have not stood the test of time for what ever reason you care from fashion to becoming a victim of political correctness.
Test of time in what respect ?
Special effects or storytelling etc...
Local Hero
"Back to the Future 2" hasn't - Where's my self drying jacket and proper hover board?
I think that mainstream films that were set in the 80s have aged badly because (in my opinion) it was a fairly shallow, tasteless time. Eighties scifi and historical films have done better.
Certainly Blade Runner. Also Aliens, Full Metal Jacket and Platoon, The Colour Purple.
Probably also Terminator, Highlander (the first one), The Untouchables.
> Local Hero
That was my immediate thought as well. Still a beautiful, roughly cut gem of a film. Magical.
> Can you think of any films from the 80s that have stood the test of time and don't make you cringe if you watched them again today? > Surely Bladerunner has to be up there?
For me, "Life of Brian" and "Airplane!"
Funny you mentioned "Blade Runner" - I enjoyed it a lot when it came out, but I saw it again recently and thought it hadn't stood the test of time at all (for me)
> Local Hero
Yes, one of my two most favourite films.
And, of course, Grehory's Girl (though not my other most favourite)
> I think that mainstream films that were set in the 80s have aged badly because (in my opinion) it was a fairly shallow, tasteless time. Eighties scifi and historical films have done better.
> Certainly Full Metal Jacket and Platoon
> Probably also Highlander (the first one), The Untouchables.
Agree with these - but lets not forget about the Goonies, a timeless classic
Let's not forget restless natives great music all so
> but lets not forget about the Goonies, a timeless classic
Well it's a children's film. I'm not sure whether "stood the test of time" vs "cringeworthy" applies in the same way as for adult films.
The dedication to the Mujahideen in Afghanistan at the end of Rambo III hasn't aged well!
> Well it's a children's film. I'm not sure whether "stood the test of time" vs "cringeworthy" applies in the same way as for adult films.
Ooo, get you - childrens film, pah, its got to be an "adult" film.
> Agree with these - but lets not forget about the Goonies, a timeless classic
Funnily enough I never liked it much as a kid, but there is so much enduring love for it that I decided to give it another go quite recently, and I had to turn it off after about 45 minutes. It was dreary and annoying. I say "funnily enough" because I usually like stuff like this.
Stood the test of time? Loads of them
someone mentioned RoboCop, which actually now looks to have been rather AHEAD of its time - its corporate themes feel very relevant today.
The Breakfast Club
Salvador
The Right Stuff
A Nightmare on Elm Street
Some that have not stood the test of time would be
Fatal Attraction
Sixteen Candles
Rain Man hasn't stood the test of time but then it was never that good to start with.
At the time people were wrongly praising it for bringing autism to public consciousness, but now that autism is very much in the public conscience, you watch Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man and the performance is offensively cartoonish. Tom Cruise acts him off the screen!
This comment isn't about Rain Man being a victim of political correctness.
> Top 3 are obviously:
> 1. Predator
> 2. Predator
> 3. Predator
> End of thread.
Well yes, but that's a bit "using a sledgehammer to crack a walnut"! That's why I didn't mention it. Too obviously the winner
> Ooo, get you - childrens film, pah, its got to be an "adult" film.
I never said it had to be an adult film - just that (young) children tend to be less judgemental about films, and judgeing as classic or cringeworthy is what the thread is about. I'm assuming that most people here are (chronologically) adults.
But ok, if you think its a good 80's film then thats cool. By the 80s I was no longer a child, and I didn't have children then either, so I don't have much exposure to 80s kids films.
and mine.
Also Withnail and I
Mad Max 2
Dune for strangeness
1984 (and of course the Mac cinema ad)
I'll add 'The Princess Bride'. Family entertainment from the days before Pixar et al.
'Spinal Tap'. Still the definitive 'rockumentary' and still good for a giggle.
Reiner was on a rich vein of form.
Trivia. Under what obscure Spinal Tap related condition did Mark Knopfler agree to score 'The Pricess Bride'?
I can't believe that nobody has mentioned The Shining yet.
> Trivia. Under what obscure Spinal Tap related condition did Mark Knopfler agree to score 'The Pricess Bride'?
> I can't believe that nobody has mentioned The Shining yet.
Maybe "Gordon's Asleep!"
Studio Ghibli films are pretty timeless. So much so that I had to look up which ones were made in the 80s! Kiki's Delivery Service, My Neighbour Totoro, Castle In The Sky, Grave of the Fireflies, and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind - all 80s films and all measure up to today's standards imo.
> Some that have not stood the test of time would be
> Sixteen Candles
Yes, I hear the cast are all burnt out now.
Some more:
Raging Bull
Platoon
Stand by Me
Terms of Endearment
ET
Terminator
The Thing
The Empire Strikes Back
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Die Hard
> Did he want it recorded in Dobly?
Top reference but incorrect, I reckon you knew that.
Life of Brian was 1979 (though it's possibly my favourite film of all time).
For me, given my age, this topic is more about the films I watched as a teenage that I still think are good. Most of the ones that were favourites of my friends and I seem dated and embarrassing watching them back. I give you Flatliners as a prime example. The Breakfast Club stood up better (though I agree with Molly Ringwald's recent comments about it promoting mysogyny. One I'd like to re-watch would be the Lost Boys to see how it stands up. Just hearing Echo and the Bunnymen covering the Doors would make it worth it.
But the films I nominate above all others are Blue Velvet and Withnail & I.
Forgot:
Brazil
Raising Arizona
Scarface
Elephant Man
Lost Boys
Flash Gordon
Akira
Tetsuo
Brother from Another Planet
Blue Velvet
Heathers
Pink Floyd the Wall
Scum.
Watched that at a very young age and my mam said quite clearly "if you're a naughty boy and get in trouble with the police, that's where they put you"
Apart from having a loving, honest family I think that was one of the main reasons I've always kept my nose clean and not got into any bother. Scared my sh*tless
it also left me with a strange fear of green houses, for some reason...
> Local Hero
Haven't seen that for years, well since it came out on VHS.
I shall watch it this very evening.
> Also Withnail and I
Sorry but this film should be wiped from the very fabric of time.
> I can't believe that nobody has mentioned The Shining yet.
Good point. Very few horror films have stood the test of time however psychological films still scare the shit out of me every time.
Blood and guts only plots never did it for me from the age 15.
> Top reference but incorrect, I reckon you knew that.
Yes, I was being playful!
The funny thing about Knopfler w.r.t. Spinal Tap is that the BBC did a rather poor three part series on "the guitar", presented by Alan Yentob. In one section, he visits Knopfler sitting in his guitar loft wittering on about his guitars, totally unironically - and, brilliantly, that parallel scene from Spinal Tap was intercut into it, but only on the original broadcast - I was disappointed to be unable to show it to friends on iPlayer. Either Knopfler saw it and took umbrage, or they didn't have the rights to include Spinal Tap clips on iPlayer.
What was the condition then?
> Also Withnail and I
> Sorry but this film should be wiped from the very fabric of time.
> Scum.
> also left me with a strange fear of green houses, for some reason...
And for me socks with pool balls in them.
I have a bit of trepidation, do I watch Escape from New york this weekend or leave it to my nostalgic memory banks?
> The Breakfast Club stood up better (though I agree with Molly Ringwald's recent comments about it promoting mysogyny.
It will be worth a look at her comments regarding Sixteen Candles, which are very well written and show Sixteen Candles up to be the appallingly dubious film that it always was. The Breakfast Club is NOTHING next to that one.
The whole John Hughes obsession with Ringwald still creeps me out (basically he seemed to want her to be 15 forever and do nothing but play high-school girls in his films)
Totoro - perfect mix of melancholy and joy.
I agree that Blade runner has stood the test of time and I loved the more recent sequel.
My kids loved Mrs Doubtfire (OK it was 93 not 80s). All the Robin Williams films have stood the test of time so how about these 80s classics.
Good morning Vietnam.
Dead poets society.
Decent list.
I believe that if Tetsuo: Iron Man was shown to someone who didn't know it was a 1980s film, they could be convinced that it was made in 2018!
You missed, Pretty Woman
> Yes, I was being playful!
> The funny thing about Knopfler w.r.t. Spinal Tap is that the BBC did a rather poor three part series on "the guitar", presented by Alan Yentob. In one section, he visits Knopfler sitting in his guitar loft wittering on about his guitars, totally unironically - and, brilliantly, that parallel scene from Spinal Tap was intercut into it, but only on the original broadcast - I was disappointed to be unable to show it to friends on iPlayer. Either Knopfler saw it and took umbrage, or they didn't have the rights to include Spinal Tap clips on iPlayer.
> What was the condition then?
From Wiki.
'In his audio commentary of the film on the special edition DVD, director Rob Reiner said that only Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits could create a soundtrack to capture the film's quirky yet romantic nature. Reiner was an admirer of Knopfler's work but did not know him before working on the film. He sent the script to him hoping he would agree to score the film. Knopfler agreed on one condition: that somewhere in the film Reiner would include the USS Coral Sea (CV-43) baseball cap (which had been modified to say "USS Ooral Sea OV-4B") he wore as Marty DiBergi in This Is Spinal Tap. Reiner was unable to produce the original cap, but did include a similar cap in the grandson's room. Knopfler later said he was joking.'
Loads (but not all) of the above, plus...
Drugstore Cowboy.
Near Dark.
They Live.
Overall though, I think the 70's produced more 'timeless' classics.
some mentions of The Terminator and Aliens which are both very good but actually the James Cameron 1980s film which really does stand the test of time, is The Abyss. The cinematography, art direction, and editing (e.g. the transition between miniatures and full-scale) is astonishing, and for the most part the special effects don't look dated even if ILM themselves say they cringe when they see the water tentacle.
(admittedly the massive static tidal wave in the Special Edition does look a bit unfinished)
Just really underrated film both now and at the time
Of all the quality films mentioned, out of curiosity have you seen these films recently to compare and contrast your happy 80s memories?
Good point. I was about to say I hoped that nobody would be mentioning a film that they haven't seen relatively recently, as then they would have no proof that it has stood the test of time, but then remembered that I only watched 45 minutes of The Goonies on my recent attempt to re-appraise it, and I haven't seen Rain Man since about 1992 - but then in both those cases I'm saying they haven't stood the test of time and weren't that good in the first place, so I am sort-of in the clear. The ones I've said have stood the test of time, I've seen all of them in the past five years apart from Salvador which I maybe watched ten years ago at the most recent.
Yes, I watched My Neighbour Totoro last week! I also recently re-watched Beverly Hills Cop and while there was still a lot I liked about it, it was very much of its time regarding the depiction of women and the occasional bit of casual sexism. Still love the soundtrack though!
> I'd forgotten about that one. Excellent film.
Thanks and I'd meant to add that the story and acting and action scenes are good too.
The actual dialogue is a hard one to judge though as it is almost entirely expository e.g. "how deep are we?" and "this tactical warhead is like 8 Hiroshimas"
Was Beverly Hills Cop ever any good, aside from Judge Reinhold being quite funny?
You have just reminded me (via Eddie Murphy) of one that has stood the test of time.
Trading Places
> Sorry but this film should be wiped from the very fabric of time.
It was before time existed and shall be, beyond the end thereof
Something I would like to see again would be Richard Griffiths making an early appearance in the first series of "Bird of Prey", TV though.
I thought Timothy Dalton was a decent Bond. The films would stand up if they had not been shown to death.
Duel with An Teallach
My Left Foot is still bloody amazing.
Especially since I got those verrucas seen to....
The first Beverley Hills Cop is quite good, the second is mediocre and the third abysmal!
Although the release date was in 1990 I think most of the filming of Jim Sheridans The Field took place in 1989. Staring Richard Harris, John Hurt, Sean Bean, Brenda Fricker and Tom Berenger it's the only film I own. A Greek tragedy centred on one mans obsession with the field has tended for 30 years. As a tenant he is faced with the humiliation of having the field sold from under him. Stunning scenery and historical references to the famine and war of independence.
> some mentions of The Terminator and Aliens which are both very good but actually the James Cameron 1980s film which really does stand the test of time, is The Abyss. The cinematography, art direction, and editing (e.g. the transition between miniatures and full-scale) is astonishing, and for the most part the special effects don't look dated even if ILM themselves say they cringe when they see the water tentacle.
> (admittedly the massive static tidal wave in the Special Edition does look a bit unfinished)
> Just really underrated film both now and at the time
Mainly 'cos it was and still is very boring. You are right about Terminator and Aliens though. Very good indeed. Watched Blue Velvet with my son the other day. Always a good test when you make it inter-generational. He was proper impressed.
70s though for the real classics. Godfather, Deer Hunter, Taxi Driver, Alien, Chinatown, Exorcist, Cuckoo's Nest, Jaws, French Connection, Annie Hall, Star Wars not forgetting the almighty Apocalypse Now.
Funny, I was pondering this but knew it was a 1990 film and then I remembered how much I dislike Day-Lewis' performance (well, more the writing and direction) in My Left Foot, and got myself all distracted.
The Field is indeed great, I would love to be running a cinema and show it as a double bill with the 1960 film Tunes of Glory which I feel is thematically similar.
I need to show The Field to my dad, I think it will remind him of the petty machinations of the country estate he grew up on as the son of the estate joiner/handyman. John Hurt as "The Bird" in particular is reminiscent of an old busybody we knew.
The thing about The Field is that Bull McCabe is in fact totally in the wrong, would you agree?
Full Metal Jacket
Blue Velvet
Amadeus
Jean De Florette
Ran
Pale Rider
> I'll add 'The Princess Bride'. Family entertainment from the days before Pixar et al.
> 'Spinal Tap'. Still the definitive 'rockumentary' and still good for a giggle.
Spinal Tap is the benchmark for EVERY 'mockumentary' since (particularly any of a musical nature, and it also directly influenced comedies like The Office and others of the genre).
I'd go so far as to say Spinal Tap is the third most quoted work of all time (in the West), after the Bible and the works of Shakespeare. So many cartoons, reviews and interviews i come across make knowing nods to '11', 'none more black' and 'Stonehenge' amongst others. As a social phenomena it is one louder.
I find "Flash Gordon" an interesting case; it's a film that can never really be remade due to the strength of its soundtrack (they have tried to remake it, but I'm not aware it was ever finished).
Manhunter - Blows its remake/film from the same book (Red Dragon) out of the water for creepiness, and had Iron Butterfly playing for the climatic scene to boot.
Ghostbusters - If it's on, I'll watch it. Whenever it's on. Wherever I am. Can't think of anything more entertaining.
Hellraiser - One of the best bang for buck films of any genre I can think of.
Die Hard - The archetypal big dumb action movie.
Withnail and I - Of course.
Too many others to list.
This film came out in 78 and I never saw it the first time round either, but I wonder how Debbie does Dallas holds up to contemporary educational art styles?
Nothing by Mel Brooks.
I assume wintertree was referring to Brooks’ 1980s output
> Young Frankenstein is a masterpiece.
I’m afraid to re-watch it as an adult lest another childhood memory be erased, as with Spaceballs. Hard to go wrong with Gene Wilder however. Except for Hanky Panky.
I’m also afraid to re-watch The Last Starfighter. Eye-eye-eye-alien aside, Flight of the Navigator has held up well.
I want to say Field of Dreams, but I haven't watched it for a while so I don't know whether I'm judging it fairly. I seem to think it holds up well though.
> I want to say Field of Dreams, but I haven't watched it for a while so I don't know whether I'm judging it fairly. I seem to think it holds up well though.
It probably hasn't got any worse with time!
> I’m afraid to re-watch it as an adult lest another childhood memory be erased, as with Spaceballs. Hard to go wrong with Gene Wilder however. Except for Hanky Panky.
I saw Young Frankenstein at the cinema on Friday, it was their “mystery movie”
I loved it, 8/10. I think I’ve only seen it once before, as a teenager. I think the humour works better when you are an adult.
What is peculiar about it is that it’s not some out and out spoof/parody but more of a respectfully irreverent homage to the 1930s hokey classics , with the camp and the cheese ramped up to 11, and plenty of additional innuendo.
The entire cast is spot-on although I felt Madeleine Kahn was a bit underused.
It stands up a lot better than does Spaceballs and arguably Brooks’ most consistent and coherent film - there is very little filler.
It’s from 1974 by the way
Oi!
Finally got round to seeing First Man today and my reaction afterwards (having this thread in the back of my mind) was that The Right Stuff has most definitely aged very well.
I don't know how well Cutters Way would be received these days, an absolute masterpiece as far as I'm concerned but not well known.
More mainstream is Witness, hard to forget and the Amish scenes might help it stop aging too much.
And, full circle, Lukas Haas plays both the witness of the title and Michael Collins in First Man.
I don’t think I have seen Cutter’s Way but I know it is still consistently revered.
I never liked Witness, Ok there is the novelty setting and it is well shot but overall it is a pretty generic crime flick and the denouement of the henchmen is ludicrous
i did spot Lukas Haas on the cast list for First Man and thought it was a nice little in-joke what with Michael Collins being the only “eye witness” to Apollo 11 (even if he did miss a bit when he went behind the moon)
he also popped up in Widows, which meant two Lukas Haas films in the cinema in a month
You have reminded me that I need to re-watch The Mosquito Coast to see if it stands up. I’ve always said it is Ford’s finest performance but maybe I am wrong .
Last star fighter is on from time to time and is still good fun.
Regarding Cutter's Way, without checking I can't remember who robbed Lisa Eichorn of her Oscar and although drink driving is not funny the way John Heard's character weasels his way out of a ticket will make most people cry with laughter (except Toyota owners)
My mistake: I always thought she was nominated but no
Touché
I can't believe nobody's mentioned Top Gun yet. It has to be one of the defining movies of the 80s :-D
> Young Frankenstein is a masterpiece.
Re-watched it a few weeks ago with my eldest. Must've been the 4th or 5th time I've seen it and it was still laugh out loud funny.
Who does not like a good goosing?
I shall report back after watching Escape from New York.
Conan the Barbarian
Regarding Cutter's Way, without checking I can't remember who robbed Lisa Eichorn of her Oscar
Katharine Hepburn – On Golden Pond as Ethel Thayer Diane Keaton – Reds as Louise Bryant Marsha Mason – Only When I Laugh as Georgia Hines Susan Sarandon – Atlantic City as Sally Matthews Meryl Streep – The French Lieutenant's Woman as Sarah Woodruff/Anna The supporting actress nominations that year are harder to call as I've seen vey few of the films (and actually I'ver got far into Reds, nor bothered with On Golden Pond, and barely heard of Only When I Laugh but I do know Marsha Mason's work pretty well, she's had four nominations I think!)
+1 for Good Morning Vietnam. One of my favourite and most often watched films. If I want a laugh, I just say to myself 'Well, we ask people, 'Are you the enemy? And whoever says yes, we shoot them.'
Some people on here clearly want very different things for films than I do. Scarface? Withnail and I? They were dull when they were made and still are.
Terminator is terrific. I haven't watched Local Hero or Gregory's Girl in ages. I so hope they haven't dated, but doubt they have. I still find the idea of trying to hitch to Caracas funny.
I'm appalled to scroll through this thread and find the following omission:
Big Trouble in Little China.
Good Morning Vietnam has the best movie sound-track ever!
> I'm appalled to scroll through this thread and find the following omission:
> Big Trouble in Little China.
Cracking film which I have seen a couple of times this year.
> "Back to the Future 2" hasn't - Where's my self drying jacket and proper hover board?
But you got your Biff-led dystopia...
Emir Kusturica's "The Time of the Gypsies" stands the test of time
> Jean De Florette
My exact thoughts when driving to work this morning. I like Manon too.
What a horrible film!
> From Wiki.
>that somewhere in the film Reiner would include the USS Coral Sea (CV-43) baseball cap (which had been modified to say "USS Ooral Sea OV-4B")
From somewhere else:
"[In Spinal Tap] permission to use the real Coral Sea hat was refused [hence the Ooral Sea...]
The joke is more about the trend of (bearded) big-time directors wearing ballcaps of teams/groups that they have no affiliation with. Spielberg in particular was known for this. There are pics of him wearing police and navy hats from the same time period. I think he got the joke, because he mainly wears a flat cap (old man kind) or blank ballcap these days."
Lovely trivia.
I was going to name both those films then I remembered I hadn't actually seen either of them, only countless clips because it seemed that in the late 1980s every cultural TV show wanted to bang on and on about them. Especially Manon des Sources as it gave them an excuse(*) to show clips of Emmanuelle Beart, and this is probably why I keep thinking I've seen them!
* and why not
https://bit.ly/2znTwUl
> Local Hero
One of my favourites as well.
I was lucky enough to work up in the Morar area for a few years and used to have lunch on the beach... idyllic.
There also used to be a B&B there which had a Local Hero DVD in every room. They also had a decanter of whisky on the landing for a free nightcap and a copy of Ooor Willie in the loo.... perfection.
Google Images suggests that Ms Beart may have had some facial surgery done.
By Mr Magoo.
The Day After stands up terrifyingly well. I am haunted by the looks on the people's faces as they see silos opening up in the fields and spaces around small town US and streaks heading up into the sky. A bit like Threads, which I only saw recently.
Going back in time Culloden and The War Game are starkly as strong as the day they were first seen in the 60s
That brings me to When the Wind Blows and more happily the Snowman
Is it unpatriotic to say that The Day After is superior to Threads in every way?
I do, er, ADMIRE Threads (careful not to say I "like" it, as that would be weird!) but it at least has not aged well, and a lot of the acting is on the cheesy side, sorry to say.
I want to see When the Wind Blows again, but last few times I looked, it was hard to get hold of. Maybe I can stream it. Or just read it again maybe.
> I'd go so far as to say Spinal Tap is the third most quoted work of all time (in the West), after the Bible and the works of Shakespeare.
I love Tap quotes ("Look, look; who's in here? No one"; "Yeah, and clever") but I'd say Life of Brian was third.
Total Recall 1990?
The snowman. Possibly the finest bit of British animation, period.
> > I'd go so far as to say Spinal Tap is the third most quoted work of all time (in the West), after the Bible and the works of Shakespeare.
> I love Tap quotes ("Look, look; who's in here? No one"; "Yeah, and clever") but I'd say Life of Brian was third.
Interesting. They're certainly close.
I almost forgot two Kurosawa classics: Ran and Kagemusha! Great way to spend 6 hours.
> I do, er, ADMIRE Threads (careful not to say I "like" it, as that would be weird!) but it at least has not aged well, and a lot of the acting is on the cheesy side, sorry to say.
Threads is an ace film in my opinion. Unique and disturbing and one of those films that I wonder what impact it had people's consciousness or society as a whole. Not watched for a good few years so I'm preparing myself for second viewing sometime soon - now the HD version has been released.
Also another vote here for Dead Poets Society - one of the best films in any decade. Watched a year or so ago and it hasn't aged a bit.
> Threads is an ace film in my opinion. Unique and disturbing and one of those films that I wonder what impact it had people's consciousness or society as a whole. Not watched for a good few years so I'm preparing myself for second viewing sometime soon - now the HD version has been released.
Maybe I was a bit harsh but I did say I admired it!
But have you seen a The Day After (1983 thing with Jason Robards and Jobeth Williams, not to mixed up with The Day After Tomorrow)?
I'm going to nominate 1985's 'Come and See' by Elim Klimov. Not only does it stand the test of time, but it still stands as one of the greatest ever war films for those who can look beyond the English language.
> For me, "Life of Brian" and "Airplane!"
> Funny you mentioned "Blade Runner" - I enjoyed it a lot when it came out, but I saw it again recently and thought it hadn't stood the test of time at all (for me)
Life of Brian is a 70s film.
I’ve been quietly waiting for that particular UKC stalwart to appear on this thread!
Rumble Fish is still really good to watch.
Excalibur is better now than it was for most of the 1980s because the association with the Old Spice adverts has faded massively (Excalibur uses Orff's Carmina Burana quite a bit in dramatic action montages and suffered for this when Old Spice also used it in their adverts)
And you get prime Helen Mirren at 36, plus an effective and disturbing Charley Boorman before he grew into an utter upper class wally. And pre-fame Patrick Stewart and very briefly Gabriel Byrne.
The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover
Watched it in 2013 having not seen it since about 1992.
It's good.
Lion of the Desert, starring Anthony Quinn.
The real footage of the concentration camps from the air brings the atrocities to life.
The Name of the Rose
The early 80s was the moment Blake returned and he and his gang were wiped out by Servalan, quite a talking point at the time - someone I met the next morning said he and his wife were so shocked they cancelled going out for a meal.
> And you get prime Helen Mirren at 36, plus an effective and disturbing Charley Boorman before he grew into an utter upper class wally. And pre-fame Patrick Stewart and very briefly Gabriel Byrne.
The real star of the show is the totally loopy performance of Nicol Williamson
> The real star of the show is the totally loopy performance of Nicol Williamson
Absolutely. Loopy but somehow bang-on. He was never a household name was he. I have some Grahame Greene adaptation that stars him, from around 1979, but haven't seen it yet. Was he more of a stage actor than a television/film man, or was he just a bit before my time?
A bit of a flawed genius, would definitely be classed as belonging to "the awkward squad" he had a few famous meltdowns on stage.
Worth watching him in "Robin and Marian", "The Seven Percent Solution" or earlier in his career "The Bofors Gun"
My top films from the 80's:
Breaker Morant
Gallipoli
The Glass Menagerie
Jean de Florette
Raging Bull
Raising Arizona
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Withnail and I
Dune!!
It was woeful. A brilliant book but massacred by the film. I think it deserves a remake with the best technology has to offer.
> Dune!!
> It was woeful. A brilliant book but massacred by the film.
I loved Dune back in the day however I tried to watch it this year and turned off after 15 minutes. I tried so hard to persevere but it was awful.
> An American werewolf in London
Does the three stags heads outside Stoney Middleton do a passable impression of the slaughtered lamb?
> likewise Christian Bale and Rosamund Pike in Hostiles lost out due to that film just being relentlessly bleak - nobody saw it but it's the best work I've ever seen Bale do)
Bale is consistently ignored for awards, yet frequently delivers staggeringly good performances. Unfortunately for him they tend to be in dark and/or ignored films. The Machinist, the Prestige...
and interesting to hear Rumblefish stands up well. It's on my list of films to revisit when the kids get just a touch older.
Thanks
The Human Factor is the Graham Greene thing I was thinking about.
No not seen it. Will have to check it out.
I'm probably a little biased towards Threads is as I live in Sheffield though. And I like the fact it's British making the characters easy to relate to.
Great to see Breaker Morant get a mention.
I suppose "period" pieces like that do age better because you don't begin your assessment of them in 2018 by expecting them to pass for a contemporaneous film, whereas Do the Right Thing was a film of its time and is no longer one that can be viewed as such and so might be considered not to have aged well.
> Threads is an ace film in my opinion. Unique and disturbing and one of those films that I wonder what impact it had people's consciousness or society as a whole. Not watched for a good few years so I'm preparing myself for second viewing sometime soon - now the HD version has been released.
I just watched Threads after reading about it in this thread. Totally harrowing, and while obviously of it's time, I didn't find it too dated.
Now watch The Day After
Amazon women on the moon. Classic
possibly superior piece of cinema but nowhere near as relevant to a teenager living in South Yorkshire in the early 80s
The death of Bernado Bertolucci has reminded me about "The Last Emperor" a brilliant epic film
I particularly remember the scene where the palace eunuchs are evicted from the Forbidden City, carrying jars containing their emasculated organs.
> Amazon women on the moon. Classic
Son of the Invisible Man in that film, is pure genius
> The death of Bernado Bertolucci has reminded me about "The Last Emperor" a brilliant epic film
Don't let us forget his two greatest films: 'The Conformist' and 'The Spider's Stratagem'. Just brilliant all-time greats.
Surprised there's been no mention of what is easily the best movie of 1980 (if not of all time IMO)..
The Blues Brothers.
Apologies due from me in that respect. I thought it was very late 70s but that was just the Saturday Night Live incarnation. It had the most effect on me of any film I had ever seen.
I watched Dragnet recently and it certainly stood up to watching.
Empire Strikes Back/ Return of the Jedi are both 80s!
> Empire Strikes Back/ Return of the Jedi are both 80s!
And one of them is a good film (a great film even)
> It had the most effect on me of any film I had ever seen.
youtube.com/watch?v=28NnWphc8IY&
There's also an utterance of "balls!" that you deserve, but it's unfortunately not up on YouTube.
> Now watch The Day After
I didn't find it quite as a compelling, and I also thought that the post-nuclear world depicted in The Day After was unrealistically ordered. The bleakness, chaos and total destruction of the situation came across far better in Threads. Or maybe it just resonated more with me as I'm typing this in Nether Edge.
> I didn't find it quite as a compelling, and I also thought that the post-nuclear world depicted in The Day After was unrealistically ordered. The bleakness, chaos and total destruction of the situation came across far better in Threads.
Threads covered a rather longer timescale than did The Day After, iirc. I think The Day After (despite its title) covers roughly a week. The bulk of Threads covers several months to a year, and then a couple of quick leaps of several years. If I am remembering this correctly then it is totally unreasonably to compare them on such a basis. If it turns out that the bulk of threads is focused on the initial week, then I'll give you that one.
Anyway if you want to see a very ordered post-nuclear world, watch (or read) On the Beach. I have not read it but I saw the 1959 film on a flight once (choosing my popcorn in-flight entertainment brilliantly there) and it's fab
> Drugstore Cowboy.
> Near Dark.
> They Live.
For some reason I am feeling that these three are linked despite no obvious major connections in cast and crew. It's an interesting trinity that you chose there.
Having watched it recently I think My Beautiful Laundrette has aged really poorly but remains a good film. Although perhaps if one were to watch it for the first time today one might think differently.
Goonies, Ghostbusters, ET, Ferris Buellers day off.
> For some reason I am feeling that these three are linked despite no obvious major connections in cast and crew. It's an interesting trinity that you chose there.
Hmm..... Initially unloved, achieved cult status for a decade or so, since dropped off the radar?
... A trajectory that somewhat mirrors the lives of many?
Drugstore Cowboy and especially They Live are back on the radar now. Near Dark is still off the radar, there was a brief resurgence a few years ago though.
It seems a lot of films from the 80s set in a time before the 80s have survived quite well. Scanning through the thread I see Das Boot which is a definite for the list as well as Full Metal Jacket & Platoon, I'd add such things as Empire of the Sun (just a shame A Bridge Too Far was in the 70s).
But, then there's Predator, we have to remember, if it bleeds we can kill it.
What about John Carpenter?
The Fog and Prince of Darkness, classics of menace with music
Anyone mention The Evil Dead for OTT comedy horror?
> What about John Carpenter?
Several of his films have been mentioned on this thread
I haven’t “tested” this film “recently” to verify whether it stands up today but I did view it around ten years ago and found it more effective than when I saw it in 1990
Michael Radford’s 1984 film adaptation of George Orwell’s “Nineteen Eighty-Four” is very underrated
Realise im late to the party but Phil79 clearly knows his stuff...…….
Midnight Run
yes, but not the ones I mentioned, and I already mentioned 1984
> yes, but not the ones I mentioned
Your “what about John carpenter” strongly implied that you were unaware that any of his works had been mentioned.
> and I already mentioned 1984
my apologies for missing that. In my defence it isn’t actually the title of the film
<goes to check>
oh, sorry, looks like 1984 is the title of the film now or at least in some territories. I remember it as being variously Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, and I do believe also Michael Radford’s Adaptation Of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four
Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Sorry -came over a bit terse - my comment about John Carpenter was a bit of a throwaway anyway
No worries, I may have been cratchety too. Thanks for acknowledging though !
2010: The Year We Make Contact
a few inconsistencies and some bad science and yes you can point and laugh at the 128kB Apple and all the CRT screens but remarkably the special effects hold up quite well even today (apart from one or two shots) and it’s just a belting good space adventure
havent seen these recently enough to comment with confidence but I’ll take a punt on a nice pair of Wim Wenders films
Paris, Texas
and
Wings of Desire
My wife used to take kids on daytrips to the Bavarian Film studios where they could see the sets for Das Boot and also see themselves on video riding on the back of the dragon in Neverending Story
Saturn 3 has a somewhat claustrophobic and threatening atmosphere. The part where the Robot is being trained (probably from what was developing technology in 1980) is rather sinister still. I didn't see it until a few years ago and found it very watchable.
> The snowman. Possibly the finest bit of British animation, period.
The Wrong Trousers was made in 1989. A short rather than a feature, but it won an Oscar so definitely counts as film.
Hellraiser
> The Wrong Trousers was made in 1989. A short rather than a feature, but it won an Oscar so definitely counts as film.
The Wrong Film, and/or The Wrong Year
You probably mean A Grand Day Out, which didn't win an Oscar
Aside from three mentions of Raging Bull, there's not much love for Scorsese on here (and admittedly the 1980s were rather dark days for him) but I'll put forward a suggestion of After Hours.
Also, I always thought Brian DePalma's "Blow Out" was really underrated.
To be clear, I am not simply saying "I like these films". I am saying I think that they have stood the test of time, w.r.t. the actual point of the OP.
There are 1980s films that I like but which can not be said to have truly stood the test of time.
> My wife used to take kids on daytrips to the Bavarian Film studios where they could see the sets for Das Boot and also see themselves on video riding on the back of the dragon in Neverending Story
When I was working on Neverending Story in 1983 I went inside the mock-up submarine used in Das Boot, which was still on the back lot. It was very claustrophic.
Jackie Chan's "Police Story"
The climax was always a let-down after the hijinks that precede it, but it still represents a high watermark in this kind of crazy action comedy
I'll see your pair of Wim Wenders and raise you a pair of Alex Cox's (don't think we've had them yet?).
Repo Man.
Walker.
DO they truly stand the test of time? I haven't seen it for decades and probably didn't understand it at the time, but wouldn't Walker look REALLY dated today? Wasn't it a commentary on 1980s US military intervention in central America, clumsily melded with a 19th century drama in that Alex Cox "throw everything in at once" manner, that is certainly not without charm?
Of course they stand the test of time! (I've not seen either in over a decade).
Repo Man purely on the strength of Harry Dean Stanton and the brilliant soundtrack. Walker just for the final scene when he's evacuated out of the 19th century by helicopter.
What films have you been part of, over the years?
It's on my website > Gordon's CV > main film credits.
I know you won’t reply but anyway...
do you genuinely think Krull has stood the test of time?
i say this as someone for whom it was a childhood favourite, and I think there is a lot of good stuff in there still now (Gordon’s work on it was superb btw) but have you seen it recently and do you believe it stands the test of time? I know you’re not claiming that anyway, and just praising it generally as a tangent, but just wondering.
for my money, it has to be said that it is overlong, the lead actor is wooden, and there are too many “protagonists travelling” montages - and the decision to overdub Lysette Anthony with Lindsay Crouse was appalling.
On the the other hand it has great cinematography , an intriguing story with a complex antagonist, some cracking individual scenes, a nice balance of sci fi, fantasy, comedy and mild horror, and some wonderful characterisations. And that score!
Atlantic City
Every time I cut a lemon in half and squeeze it, I'm a young Susan Sarandon. Quite enervating , actually.
I rewatched an 80s TV film recently and still found it poignant - Across the Lake with Anthony Hopkins as Donald Campbell, filmed in and around Coniston.
(Laughed out loud last night at Alec Guinness in "Barnacle Bill", his last Ealing film made in 1957, beautiful performance)
I've only seen it once but I did record some special cut of it some time ago so it's long overdue to be watched. There seems to be something in the German psyche that makes their war films full of characterisation and tragedy rather than excitement and excessive gore - Like Stalingrad and some others I've seen. I suppose it's not surprising considering how many families must have lost relatives.
Who does not like a good Ealing Comed?
youtube.com/watch?v=AKrc0nIBHFs&
Let's not make any comparisons to modern day politics please.
It pains me to say it because it is a good film, but it is fair to say that To Live and Die in LA has dated pretty badly
Of the five official Bond films made in the 1980s, For Your Eyes Only and The Living Daylights have stood the test of time. The other three rather less so (although Licence To Kill does have its plus points, it feels a bit cheap for a Bond)
Never Say Never Again is simply embarrassing
Caddyshak - has this been mentioned?
Stone Monkey
There's only one film that will ever stand the test of time. It's called... Footloose. And in it, a great hero, named Kevin Bacon, teaches an entire city full of people with sticks up their butts that dancing, is the greatest thing there is.
My favourite would probably be Lost Boys. But I'd have to say the best think to come out of the 80s fims has to be... This is Spinal Tap.
> Surely Bladerunner has to be up there?
Ah, but which one? The version released to cinemas in the 80s is a vastly inferior film to the Director's Cut, which was created in the 90s
Either way though, it still looks amazing. I've just finished watching the 4k version as I type. That last scene with Rutger Hauer has to be one of the iconic film scenes.
> That last scene with Rutger Hauer has to be one of the iconic film scenes.
I've just been catching up on this thread and saw the references to Threads. One of my best mates was an actor in this (we were 14 years old at the time), so I found this even more harrowing that I might have done otherwise.
So, I foolishly decided to read through all of the detail on Wikipedia - including the synopsis. Really scary stuff, especially in light of the modern politics and when you consider where we are on the Doomsday Clock right now.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threads
Die Hard
Empire Strikes Back
Blade Runner
Aliens
Predator
Full Metal Jacket
Platoon
Fitzcarraldo
Blue Velvet
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
Artemis 81 anyone?
Highlander!
"I'm Connor McLeod of the Clan McCleod and I am immortal"
Swordfight on the Cioch, low flying Jag in the end piece - whats not to like?
Thanks for the post - you have just prompted me to order a Collector's Edition of Razorback. Can't wait.
> Loads (but not all) of the above, plus...
> Drugstore Cowboy.
That was my favorite film for years. Hence the profile name...