80sfilms

Who knew that such a goofy idea would take hold like 1984’s rom com Splash?

The film starred Tom Hanks, who before this film was a relatively unknown TV actor with “Bosom Buddies” as his biggest credit to date, and was directed by Ron Howard, who took years to put his “Happy Days” behind him.

The film costarred Daryl Hannah (as a mermaid), and John Candy as Hanks’ character’s brother.

Hannah and Hanks share a genuine chemistry that makes their love story all the sweeter, and Candy and Hanks provide plenty of laughs.

Splash is a family-friendly film that everyone can enjoy for its good, clean fun and cute love story.

Roxanne (1987) is one of those great feel-good films that anyone can enjoy and appreciate.

It’s a remake of the classic romantic story of Cyrano de Bergerac with Steve Martin as the man endowed with a giant nose (Martin also wrote the screenplay).

Martin plays small-town firefighter C.D. Bales who falls for a beautiful astronomer, Roxanne (Daryl Hannah), but he thinks his nose will get in the way of any romantic possibilities, so he helps handsome co-worker Chris (Rick Rossovich) woo Roxanne.

Roxannealso stars Shelley Duvall, Fred Willard and Damon Wayans.

This is a fairly clean-cut (PG-rated) little rom com that the whole family can enjoy.

In 1985, Cocoon hit theaters, leaving in its wake the uplifting feeling that growing old might not be so bad after all.

Directed by Ron Howard (Ransom, Apollo 13), Cocoonis part sci-fi, part comedy, and all entertaining.

The unlikely premise is about a group of aliens who visit a Florida retirement community to rescue some long-stranded aliens cocooned and buried beneath the sea.

The aliens morph into humans, put their cocooned colleagues in the facility swimming pool, and that’s when a group of residents find the pool, take a dip and feel young again.

The cast of talented veteran actors includes Don Ameche (who won an Academy Award for his supporting role), Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy, Mareen Stapleton, Wilford Brimley, Brian Dennehy, Steve Guttenberg, Tyrone Power Jr., and Clint Howard.

Cocoon, rated PG13, is not all laughs, as it deals with the realities of growing old and death, but in all, it’s a funny, well acted and directed fantasy film that answers some aging “what if” questions.

Nostalgia for the 80s and childhood is at its sweetest with the 1988 hit comedy Big, starring Tom Hanks as a 12-year-old boy who gets trapped inside the body of a 30-year-old man. Hilarious chaos ensues.Brilliant director Penny Marshall (who went on to direct the hit 90s comedy A League Of Their Own a few years later), and writers Gary Ross and Anne Spielberg create a magical tale of childhood innocence, friendship, romance and adulthood that anyone, child or adult, is bound to enjoy.

Bigalso stars Elizabeth Perkins (who can now be seen on the cable comedy-drama “Weeds”) as Hank’s adult character’s love interest, as well as John Heard, Jon Lovitz, and Mercedes Ruehl, all of whom play strong parts that make this fairy tale believable. 

Big grapples with the struggles all young adults face (jobs, relationships, friendships), and makes the point that although adults tend to take life a lot more seriously, sometimes acting like a kid can make everything OK.

The underlying message is to be true to yourself, and happiness and success will follow.

Big is a great 80s comedy for families, fans of Hanks, and anyone who just wants to enjoy a great film and have some good laughs.

In 1989, literally a week before I graduated high school, a film came out that made literary geeks like me rejoice. That film was Dead Poets Society.

In the film, young actor (and current mega-star writer/actor) Ethan Hawke played Todd Anderson, a boy under pressure because he lived in the shadow of his older brother’s reputation at a prestigious all-boy’s prep school, the Welton Academy.

The elite academy stressed four pillars/morals: Tradition, Honor, Discipline, and Excellence.

Soon, Todd meets student Neil Perry, a boy who us harangued by his father and under pressure to meet his parent’s expectations.

The pair and their classmates meet their new English teacher, Mr. Keating (played by Robin Williams), who encourages free thinking and passion in academics.

Among the radical approaches he takes toward teaching, Mr. Keating tells the boys, “Carpe Diem”, which means “seize the day”. He also has his students rip the introduction out of a book, which both shocks and delights the boys.

When the boys discover Mr. Keating not only attended their school, but also was involved in something called the Dead Poets Society, they dig for information.

The boys decide to continue in the Dead Poets Society tradition of meeting at night to read poetry and discuss life.

Over time, each boy begins to assert his independence in a different way. For Neil, it’s trying out for a role in the play A Midsummer Nights Dream. But when he gets a part, he must face his father’s disapproval.

The boys begin to take things too far with their meetings by turning them into a reason to drink, smoke and act stupid. Eventually, they realize that every action has a consequence, and in the end, they learn that conformity is not all it’s cracked up to be.

Dead Poets Society was directed by Peter Weir, who also directed The Mosquito Coast (1986) and Witness (1985). The film was written by Tom Schulman, and co-starred Robert Sean Leonard (as Neil) and Josh Charles.

Probably one of the biggest reasons I loved this film was because it reminded me so much of one of my all-time favorite books, A Separate Peace by John Knowles.

Although the film does have some swearing, smoking, drinking and light promiscuity, as well as self-inflicted violence, I still deem it teen friendly (it’s tame compared to teen films these days!) and a good watch for the entire family.

Dead Poets Society is a well-acted, wonderfully written and directed 80s films that families can watch, enjoy and discuss together. 

Stand By Me (1986) is based on Stephen King’s novella “The Body” (from the book Different Seasons) and was adapted for the screen by Raynold Gideon.

Although the premise involves a dead body, the film is more about adolescence and friendship, and the joys and pains of growing up.

It’s the tale of four boys (ages 12 and 13), Gordie, Chris, Teddy and Vern, played by Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman and Jerry O’Connell respectively, who decide to take an overnight hike through the woods near their Oregon town to find the body of a boy who’s been missing for days. Set in the 1950s, the film speaks to a simpler time, however, adolescence is complicated no matter what era.

The trip turns into the adventure of a lifetime, and along the way, they encounter obstacles in the form of a gang of older teen bullies, a mean junkyard dog, a swamp full of leeches, and a dangerous jump from a train trestle.

Stand By Me also stars Kiefer Sutherland, who plays one of the meaner bullies, and John Cusack as Wheaton’s deceased older brother.

The film was directed by Rob Reiner, and is told in flashbacks from the perspective of Gordie, who is now a writer.

The fantastic opening lines are from Gordie as an adult, and start off, “I was 12 going on 13 the first time I saw a dead human being. It happened in the summer of 1959 - a long time ago, but only if you measure in terms of years. I was living in a small town in Oregon called Castle Rock; there were only twelve hundred and eighty-one people, but to me it was the whole world.”

I’m sure back in 1981 that Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Harrison Ford had no idea just how far the Indiana Jones franchise would propel them–all the way to 2008!

The film that stared it all, Indiana Jones & the Raiders of the Lost Ark, brought an action-adventure, comedy-romance hybrid to the big screen, and in the process turned Indiana Jones into a household name, and made fear of snakes sexy.

While successive Indiana Jones films came out in the 80s (Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom in 1984, and Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade in 1989), it took almost 20 years to bring him back for a fourth (2008’s Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull), also reuniting Ford with his romantic lead, Karen Allen, who was in the first, but not the second or third installments.

It’s no surprise that given the success Lucas, Spielberg and Ford achieved with the first three, their latest Jones effort earned $56 million in its first two days.

Just goes to show that Ford’s still got it, although I never doubted it for a second.

Never did I think that I would like a film about karate as much as I liked 1984’s The Karate Kid, starring Ralph Macchio as a fresh-faced cute (but scrawny, right?) kid transplanted into a new school and struggling to fit in and make friends, all while dodging bullies, learning how to kick and karate chop, and wooing a girl.

Elisabeth Shue plays said girl, and although she’s adorable in the film, she looks very much like a mature woman next to Macchio’s scrappy yet innocent face (ironically, Shue was 21 and Macchio 23 at the time!). Just goes to show that girls really do mature faster than boys.

Having endured a nomadic upbringing myself, I could totally relate to Macchio’s character, Daniel, and his struggle to find his place in the new city, new school and new cliques he was faced with after a move.

The late Pat Morita, who lived in Sacramento, Calif., where I was born and raised, does a nice job playing a father figure/mentor to Daniel in the film, and was even nominated for an Oscar for best actor in a supporting role and a Golden Globe for best performance by an actor in a supporting role for his performance in The Karate Kid.

And, of course, the underdog gets his day yet again in this film, but not without a lot of blood, sweat and tears.

In 1987, long before the folks at “So You Think You Can Dance” were a gleam in their parents’ eyes, a little film called Dirty Dancing grabbed audiences sleeper-hit fashion and skyrocketed.

The film’s ability to entertain both ’tweens, teens and adults, coupled with captivating music and fancy footwork, as well as the coming-of-age theme, all blended together to create a film that still has a rabid fan base.

Leads Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey exhibited not only great acting ability and dance skills, but also palpable chemistry that made the opposites-attract pairing totally believable, only upping the romance factor in the plot.

Swayze, who is currently battling cancer, got his start much like the character in the film, as he grew up dancing and turned to acting more as a fallback career. Not only is he handsome and can move, but he also sings, making him all the more marketable.

Grey, who two years previously played a peripheral role in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, turns what might have been a one-dimensional character into a young woman struggling with hormones and parents, two major issues most teens could (and still can) easily relate to.

As the film is set in the 60s, the fantastic soundtrack mixes oldies such as “You Don’t Own Me” by The Blow Monkeys and “In The Still of the Night” by The Five Satins, with contemporary hits such as triple-threat Swayze’s “She’s Like The Wind”,  and “(I’ve Had) the Time Of My Life” by Jennifer Warnes.

Dirty Dancing was (and still is) one of my favorite 80s films.

The Goonies came out in 1985, and quickly gained a loyal following. What’s not to like about a teen version of Raiders of the Lost Ark? 

The Goonies film is about a group of misfit kids who get tangled up in a treasure hunt, and along the way they learn about life, love and how to fight bad guys using brains rather than brawn.

Written by Steven Spielberg, The Goonies stars include Sean Astin, Josh Brolin, Corely Feldman, Kerri Green and Martha Plimpton.

The film has something for everyone–adventure, romance, comedy and a little bit of drama. It’s a kid-friendly, family-friendly, entertaining film for all.