The 80’s is one of my favourite movie decades. It was not filled with the greatest films, some of them were downright daft in a so bad they were good way (Mannequin, Dirty Dancing, Big Trouble in Little China, or Weekend at Bernie’s are prime examples).
Mike Nichol’s Working Girl – I love this film!
Most films from this decade happily bathed in their gloriously imaginative stories, they didn’t hold back. There were just as many films for children and teenagers in the 80’s as there were for adults.
Top Gun
The 80’s is filled with John Hughes movies, Spielberg, Steve Martin (when he made funny movies), Schwarzenegger leading the way in the hugely popular action movie genre, the world fell in love with Tom Cruise, the brat pack and Bueller…..Bueller, anyone? anyone?
The 80’s movie always has memorable quotes, music, clothing, characters and posters. I clearly remember the Nightmare on Elm Street poster terrifying me!
Staypuft – Ghostbusters
A movie critic will always pick the 90’s with it’s fantastic films such as LA Confidential, The Green Mile, Fight Club and Tarantino films. Some of my favourite movies are from the 90’s and 70’s. However, many of today’s bright stars in the movie industry grew up with and/or are inspired by 80’s films. People such as JJ Abrams who was influenced by Star Wars and is now at the helm of episodes 7-9, M Night Shyamalan (Spielberg) with his cinematography and lately, Guardians of the Galaxy director, James Gunn (Raiders of the Lost Ark). In fact James Gunn is so influenced by the 80’s that he has used an 80’s soundtrack in Guardians.
Labyrinth
My personal favourite films from the 80’s are:
The Empire Strikes Back, The Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jaws, The Goonies, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Trading Places, Big, The Terminator, Ghostbusters, ET: The Extra Terrestial, Labyrinth, The Lost Boys, Working Girl, and Planes, Trains & Automobiles.
I will be covering these films in future posts. There are many more memorable films, such as; Beetlejuice, Back to the Future, Top Gun (my bff will have words with me if I don’t mention this), Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Wall Street, Aliens, The Karate Kid, The Breakfast Club, Gremlins….but for now, I will be sticking to the films above and perhaps covering these and others later on.
Planes, Trains & Automobiles
These films are never claiming to be serious, or arty and this is one of the points of my blog, to show that you can love movies and love these films too. If these films weren’t great then they wouldn’t keep showing up in Top 100 Films polls. You can enjoy The Godfather 2 and still revel in the popcorn fun of The Goonies. It is allowed.
Images: IMDb
So, what is your favourite 80’s movie?
Lulu Loves Films 
I LOVE 80s movies!! There are so many great ones, I couldn’t pick just one, mannequin, Chances Are, Heathers, monster Squad, Adventures in Babysitting, Who Framed roger Rabbit, seriously the list could go on and on
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I forgot about Heathers! Heathers is amazing. : ) I know there are loads I haven’t mentioned. Many 80’s movies give people a nostalgic emotional response.
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1. Ghostbusters 2. Top Gun and 3. Back to the future. I still have nightmares because of the Gremlins and I have to admit that I love all those 80s dance movies. Okay not exctaly Dirty Dancing but Footloose….aaaww!! They are much better than the crap they film today. But maybe it’s just because I haven’t understood 3D yet 😀
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Footloose! I love Kevin Bacon and Kiefer Sutherland too. Something about those 80’s bad boys. I adore Bill Murray too. Dr Peter Venkman is awesome.
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I was born in the late 80s so I missed a lot of these, but I remember watching both the Gremlins and Labyrinth at school and they both scared me SO much… I think I was too young for them!!
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Gremlins is scary in places, especially if you were young when you saw it! : )
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It’s so hard to pick one favorite 80’s film because I love so many of them. One that I can keep on watching over and over again is the Breakfast Club.
http://www.fashionphases.com xoxo
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The Breakfast Club is an 80’s classic for sure! Don’t you, forget about me…… : ) xx
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80s movies are my absolute favorites, Lulu. I can’t remember if you and I discussed that before. I talk about it on my blog a lot. I had forgotten all about Big Trouble in Little China. I watched that movie over and over as a teenager. I need to put that on my list to watch with my son. Just watched Ghostbusters with him a few weeks ago. I have never seen Labyrinth. I have only seen bits and pieces of Green Mile and Top Gun. I know, yikes! My favorites from the 80s are The Goonies, Adventures in Babysitting, Some Kind of Wonderful, and the ultimate…Pretty in Pink.
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Big Trouble in Little China revels in it’s b-movie type plot, which makes it fun. I love The Goonies. My eldest son watched it for the first time recently and loved it. Ghostbusters is brilliant. Dan Ackroyd and Bill Murray are brilliant….and Harold Ramis, RiP.
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I love so many of those movies you named from the 80’s, I never watched The Goonies until I was an adult so never really fell in love with it unlike almost everyone else. One other movie I really liked from the ’80’s that I don’t think has been named was Overboard with Kurt Russell & Goldie Hawn.
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I forgot about Overboard! It doesn’t spring to mind immediately when I think of 80’s movies, but it is a good film.
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Oh I heart 80s films. So much. Goonies is probably my fave, but then there’s Top Gun, Overboard, The Breakfast Club, Footloose. Such a good decade for movies.
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80’s movies are fun aren’t they! The Goonies is my fav too. It’s a lovely story of friendship. Those kids were perfect in that movie.
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