80sfilms

One of my favorite Kevin Bacon films ever is 1988’s She’s Having a Baby. Although my husband and I never had children, I imagine that Bacon’s character, Jake, reacts pretty much how most guys do when facing down the reality of having their first kid–pure panic, followed by random acts of stupidity and mid-life crisis.

The film is about Jake and his wife Kristy (Elizabeth McGovern), who find themselves unexpectedly pregnant and not quite where they thought they’d be in life before undertaking having children.

From Jake’s acts of immaturity, to his wandering eye, to Kristy’s disapproving parents, there are plenty of laughs mixed with thoughtful moments in the film.

Look for Alec Baldwin in a small but crucial role as Jake’s best friend/instigator, who underhandedly tries to sabotage Jake and Kristy’s marriage and happiness.

She’s Having a Baby is written and directed by 80s genius John Hughes (Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off), but definitely skews to an older audience, as the subject matter is well beyond the high school setting. The film also deserves best use of the Kate Bush song “This Woman’s Work” (actually, the whole soundtrack is great).

She’s Having a Baby is rated PG13, but is more suitable for adults than teens and ‘tweens, who most likely won’t understand (or appreciate) the adult situations presented realistically and honestly.

It isn’t often that a cool, musically-based film comes along that also delivers amazing acting and a great storyline. Which explains why I love The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989) so much.

The film, which was written and directed by Steve Kloves, is about the Baker boys, Jack and Frank (played by real-life brothers Jeff and Beau Bridges, respectively), who play piano at various bars in Seattle for a living.

Older brother Frank is responsible–he’s married and has kids. Little brother Jack, the “real” talent of the pair, is all about the music and women and booze.

When the pair decide to try adding a gal to the show, they audition a slew of mediocre singers until in walks Suzie Diamond (Michelle Pfeiffer), a beautiful woman with a breath-taking voice.

The film chronicles their travels, including each character’s personal highs and lows, and it all adds up to a smart, quiet, cool film. The score by Dave Grusin only enhances this already stellar film. Believe me, you’re gonna want the soundtrack.

The Fabulous Baker Boysearned three Academy Award Nominations, including Best Actress for Michelle Pfeiffer, Best Cinematography, and Best Editing. It earned a Golden Globe for Best Actress (Pfeiffer).

Fans of Pfeiffer, the Bridges brothers, jazz music, and generally great films will surely find The Fabulous Baker Boys to be, well, fabulous.

The Bedroom Window(1987), an homage to Alfred Hitchcock, starred Steve Guttenberg as Terry Lambert, a guy who was having an affair with his boss’s wife, Sylvia Wentworth (Isabelle Huppert). During a rendezvous at Terry’s apartment, Sylvia witnesses an attempted rape and he agrees to be the one to report it.

Unfortunately, because he didn’t see the crime take place, his story shifts and he becomes the very suspect he’s trying to help the police catch.

He also becomes involved with the rape victim, Denise (Elizabeth McGovern), which serves to further convolute things.

Director Curtis Hanson, who went on to helm L.A. Confidential and 8 Mile, also penned the screenplay for this film, which is based on the novel by Anne Holden.

While The Bedroom Window certainly doesn’t have the snap of Hitchcock classic such as The Rear Window and North By Northwest, it is entertaining and serves up enough plot twists to keep viewers interested in the outcome.

I missed Tequila Sunrise when it was released in theaters in 1988, but I had a chance to see it the following year when it came out on video (remember videos?).

Tequila Sunrise had it all–romance, danger, action, drama, witty dialogue, handsome leading men and a beautiful female lead. And the music…”Surrender to Me” still makes me swoon.

Writer/director Robert Towne (Chinatown) outdid himself in this quiet little tense crime film noir, which starred Gibson as a former drug dealer whose best friend from high school (Kurt Russell) works for the Los Angeles sheriff’s drug detail.

As if that’s not enough to complicate a long-standing friendship, both men also share designs on the same woman (Michelle Pfeiffer), the owner of the Italian restaurant they both frequent.

Gibson plays Dale “Mac” McKussic (Gibson), an ex-drug dealer trying to live the straight life, no thanks to the company he keeps. He and his old friend, Detective Lieutenant Nicholas “Nick” Frescia (Russell), dance around entrapment, and Jo Ann Vallenari (Pfeiffer) gets tangled up in the mess as the men compete for her affection, as well as to see who will come out on top professionally speaking.

The film also starred Raul Julia, Arliss Howard and J.T. Walsh.

Gibson enjoyed success in other films such as Lethal Weapon 2 (1989), Lethal Weapon (1987), Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985), The River (1984), The Year of Living Dangerously (1982)  and Mad Max 2 (1981).

Pfeiffer upped the ante with her performances in The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989), Dangerous Liaisons (1988), The Witches of Eastwick (1987), Ladyhawke (1985) and Scarface (1983), and went for leess-than-stellar in Married to the Mob (1988) and Grease 2 (1982).

Russell also starred in other 80s dramas, including The Mean Season (1985), Swing Shift (1984), Silkwood (1983), The Thing (1982), Escape from New York (1981) and Used Cars (1980) and the comedies The Best of Times (1986), Tango & Cash (1989), Overboard (1987) and Big Trouble in Little China (1986).

Both Walsh and Julia are deceased, but Julia’s work can also be seen in Compromising Positions (1985) and Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), and Walsh’s in Good Morning, Vietnam (1987) and Hannah and Her Sisters (1986).

Putting aside my new-found dislike for Gibson, I think Tequila Sunriseis one of the best crime dramas released in the 80s, and fans of Gibson, Pfeiffer and Russell should definitely check it out.

I may be in the minority here, but I adore 1986’s Legal Eagles.

The film starred Robert Redford as Tom Logan, a rising assistant D.A. who is tasked with prosecuting a woman (Daryl Hannah) for theft of a painting by her father.

The defendant’s lawyer, Laura Kelly (played by Debra Winger), client Chelsea Deardon (Hannah) and Tom eventually make for an odd little love triangle.

Legal Eagles was directed by Ivan Reitman, who also helmed Ghostbusters II (1989), Twins (1988/I), Casual Sex? (1988), Ghost Busters (1984), Stripes (1981), and, lest we not forget, the more recent comedic gems Road Trip (2000) and Old School (2003).

Redford took on more serious roles in Out of Africa (1985), The Natural (1984) and Brubaker (1980); while Winger starred in both big hits and small gems of the 80s, such as Made in Heaven (1987), Black Widow (1987), Terms of Endearment (1983), An Officer and a Gentleman (1982), Cannery Row (1982) and Urban Cowboy (1980). Hannah also enjoyed success in the 80s with turns in Steel Magnolias (1989), Wall Street (1987), Roxanne (1987) and Splash (1984).

Legal Eaglesis a light, funny romp through the legal system, and stars Redford and Winger share nice chemistry–enough to make it worth watching this 80s rom com.

Not exactly a horror film, but not exactly a drama either, The Hitcher (1986) is one of those grey-area films that is more chiller/thriller than gory flick. 

The film stars C. Thomas Howell as Jim, a young man taking a drive-away car across the country from Chicago to San Diego.

When he sees a hitchhiker on the side of the road during a rain storm, he stops. That hitchhiker, John (played by the creepily sinister Rutger Hauer) admits to being a murdering psychopath, and Jim cuts him loose as soon as possible, but not without consequences.

When Jim meets a girl, Nash (played by Jennifer Jason Leigh) along the way, she ends up in harm’s way as John and Jim battle it out on the deserted desert highway.

The Hitcher, which brought surprisingly tense action to the big screen, was directed by Robert Harmon and written by Eric Red.

Although there are a few peripheral characters in the film, Howell, Hauer and Leigh are its major stars. Howell, who was a bit of a heartthrob back then, also starred in Soul Man (1986), Secret Admirer (1985), Red Dawn (1984), Grandview, U.S.A. (1984), Tank (1984), The Outsiders (1983) and E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982).

Hauer could also be seen in Wanted: Dead or Alive (1987), Flesh+Blood (1985), Ladyhawke (1985) and Blade Runner (1982).

Leigh also starred in Flesh+Blood (1985), Grandview, U.S.A. (1984), Easy Money (1983) and, most notably, Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982).

Fans of Hauer, Howell or Leigh should enjoy The Hitcher, as all three turn out great performances in the film. For fans of psychological thrillers, be sure to watch this 80s version…and skip the remake.

Stephen King’s Firestarter is what the 1984 film by the same name is based upon, and like most book turned film stories, something is lost in translation from the written word to the big screen.

Firestarter stars Drew Barrymore, in her first major role after E.T., as a little girl whose parents acquired strange mental powers after participating in a secret government experiment. She possess the ability to set things on fire at will, and when the secret gets out, the government will stop at nothing to get a hold of her skills.

Her father, who has the power of mind-control, strives to protect her.

David Keith plays the father in this film, and Martin Sheen and George C. Scott play adversaries trying to capture the child and exploit her talents.

The film was directed by Mark L. Lester and adapted from the King novel by Stanley Mann.

Keith had two other notable 80s roles in the films An Officer and a Gentleman (1982) and Take This Job and Shove It (1981). Barrymore also starred in the 80s films Far from Home (1989), Cat’s Eye (1985), Irreconcilable Differences (1984), and the aforementioned E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982).

Heather Locklear made a brief appearance in Firestarter, and she also starred in The Return of Swamp Thing (1989), ”Dynasty” (134 episodes, 1981-1989), and “T.J. Hooker” (85 episodes, 1982-1986).

Veteran actor Sheen was also in Wall Street (1987), The Believers (1987), The Dead Zone (1983), and Gandhi (1982). Scott also starred in Taps (1981).

Fans of Barrymore, Scott, and author King may find the sci-fi film Firestartermidly interesting, but it doesn’t have quite the bite that King’s other films had.

One of my favorite Harrison Ford films is Witness (1985).

What’s not to like about a great film with no nudity, little foul language or violence (there is some, though), as well as one that was also referenced in one of my favorite television shows of all time, “Buffy”?

Witnessis about Samuel (played by the very young Lukas Haas), an Amish boy traveling with his mother Rachel (played by Kelly McGillis), who witnesses the murder of a police officer in a public restroom.

The pair need protection, and in steps John Book (played by oh-so-handsome, amazing actor Ford), a detective who’s been assigned to solve the crime.

When Samuel recognizes the murderer as a narcotics agent whose picture he sees in the police precinct, Book realizes his witness is in serious danger. In order to protect them, Book goes undercover himself as an Amish man.

Witness shows the classic struggle between good and evil, as well as the stark contrast between city life and the ways of the Amish. Ford does a great job as a fish-out-of-water cop who must assimilate in a pacifist setting.

Director Peter Weir, Dead Poets Society (1989), The Mosquito Coast (1986), and The Year of Living Dangerously (1982), works well with Ford, and the collaboration brings a depth to the film that could have been lost in the hands of another actor-director pairing.

I much prefer this (more serious, pensive) side of Ford, who also starred in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), Working Girl (1988), Frantic (1988), The Mosquito Coast (1986), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983), Blade Runner (1982), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), and Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980).

McGillis isn’t my favorite female actor, but she turns in a fine performance here as a woman struggling with feelings of desire while trying to maintain her Amish composure. McGillis also starred in The Accused (1988), Made in Heaven (1987), and Top Gun (1986).

Be sure to watch for Witness costar Danny Glover, who also starred in Lethal Weapon 2 (1989), Lethal Weapon (1987), The Color Purple (1985), Silverado(1985), as well as Viggo Mortensen in one of his first film roles.

Witness has plenty of drama, action, funny moments and romance, and is an overall great showcase of Ford’s acting abilities.

The year I entered college (1989), Born on the Fourth of Julycame out, and at the time, I had no interest in seeing a film about war, war veterans, or anything remotely related to those two topics, which I naively thought I would never have to think about in my lifetime.

Almost two decades later, post 9/11 and the Gulf War, I now have a steadfast respect for those who put their lives on the line for this country, and to help other countries lacking the freedoms the U.S. offers. I don’t want to get into a diatribe about war in general, but what I will say is that while I don’t agree with war itself, I wholeheartedly support the troops.

Which is probably why I can only now appreciate Born on the Fourth of July, based on the true story of Ron Kovic, who was paralyzed in the Vietnam war and went on to become an anti-war and pro-human rights political activist.

Oliver Stone directed this film, which starred Tom Cruise as Kovic, a man whose gunshot wound in Vietnam left him paralyzed from the chest down. Maybe it’s because Stone is a Vietnam vet himself, or maybe it’s just the brilliance of the actors and directors, but Kovic’s story comes to life with depth, anguish and despair written all over it, yet ends in an uplifting way.

Stone, who also directed Wall Street (1987) and Platoon(1986), wrote the screenplay with Kovic.

In addition to Cruise, the film also starred a host of familiar faces in parts large and small, such as Raymond J. Barry, Anne Bobby, Tom Berenger, Frank Whaley, Stephen Baldwin, Kyra Sedgwick, Tom Sizemore, Daniel Baldwin, Stone, Jenna von Oÿ, Jason Gedrick, William Baldwin, James LeGros, Vivica A. Fox, Jake Weber, musician Edie Brickell, adult film star Rick Masters, Willem Dafoe, Lili Taylor, and John C. McGinley.

In honor of July 4th, I recommend 1989’s Born on the Fourth of July, which should leave viewers with respect and awe for those in the military, or at the very least for those who acted in this amazing film.

In the rom/com/dram category, 1988’s Satisfaction just might take the cake as the ultimate chick flick.

It stars then mega-star Justine Bateman as the lead of a rockin’ girl’s band (with one token boy member). The film stars Julia Roberts in a smaller role as a band member.

Bateman, of television’s ”Family Ties” fame, plays Jennie Lee, and her band (including Roberts, Trini Alvarado, Britta Phillips, and Scott Coffey) play a beach town gig at a club run by a former songwriter (played by the uber-serious Liam Neeson of Schindler’s List in probably the lightest role he’s ever had). 

Satisfaction is about more than just rock and roll, it’s also about life and growing up, and it’s actually pretty decent. The female characters have some depth to them, and the message of struggling to get what you want out of life is totally relatable. 

Satisfaction is directed by Joan Freeman and written by Charles Purpura, neither of whom went on to do much directing/film writing afterwards. Be sure to keep an eye out for a cameo by Deborah Harry.

It’s a little bit heavier than Girls Just Want To Have Fun, but definitely lighter than Foxes.

Sure, Satisfaction isn’t a super-heavy film, but it reflects the 80s pretty well in music, dress and teenage shenanigans .