Hollywood Classics From The 80s
If you are planning to watch a movie from 80s then you have just hit the right spot. Today we’ll be sharing you with top 7 blockbusters from the 80s. The storyline will help you pick the movie as per your likings, so read till end to know it all.
- PRETTY IN PINK
STARRING: MOLLY RINGWALD, ANDREW MCCARTHY
Molly Ringwald plays Andie, a poor girl who lives with her father after her mother left them. She falls in love with a “richie”, as she calls him, named Blane (who is played by Andrew McCarthy) but the pressure of friends is in the way of their relationship being perfect. Meanwhile, Andie’s best friend Duckie is declaring even more his undying love for her.
“Pretty in Pink” is one of those great teen movies that only comes along once. It has a fantastic sound track, cute guys, a great leading lady and a clever plot with some of the most romantic movie scenes of its time. It defines the 80s high school years with its cliques, which still are around until this day, and the problems that occur when you fall in love with someone else on the other side of the tracks.
- THE BREAKFAST CLUB
John Hughes is in my opinions the “king of teens.” Each of his teen films is great, from “Sixteen Candles”, “Pretty in Pink” (which he co-wrote and produced), and “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” They all have funny and serious moments and are classics. By the same token, “The Breakfast Club” is no exception. However, it stands out as doing the best job of the above films at portraying 80s teen life (and perhaps even teen life today) as it really was (is). Hence the familiar plot: Five high school students from different crowds in school (a nerd, a jock, a prom queen, a delinquent, and a loner) are thrown together for a Saturday detention in their school library for various reasons. Detention is supervised by the gruff and demeaning principal Richard Vernon, believably portrayed by Paul Gleason. As the day progresses, each member tells the story of why they are in detention, and by day’s end they realize they have more in common than they ever imagined.
What makes the film unique is that each character tells his or her own story with credibility and persistence. Jock Andrew Clark (Emilio Estevez) is under pressure from his father to perform up to high standards, which Mr. Clark believes will add to his (dad’s) lost youth. Nerd Brian Johnson (Anthony Michael Hall) excels academically, but is failing shop class. Neither he nor his family can accept an F. Delinquent John Bender (Judd Nelson), while tough on the exterior, masks a difficult home life. Prom queen Claire (Molly Ringwald) has pressure to conform from her friends, as well as issues with her parental unit. Loner Allison (Ally Sheedy) has few if any friends, wears all black, and has similar problems at home. Can the emotional bonding they share in detention hold true beyond the library, and can stereotypes be broken?
“The Breakfast Club” presents no-doubt stereotypical characters, and every member represents countless real-life examples. But what makes it so enjoyable is that applies a variety of themes to its context: prejudice/discrimination, acceptance/tolerance, diversity, class/status differences, family matters, group dynamics, etc. It also encourages us to look at others and ourselves beyond surface-level appearances. Finally, “The Breakfast Club” has great 1980s pop culture and societal integrations, from the soundtrack with Simple Minds “Don’t You (Forget about Me), to wealthy, surburban American life (haves and have nots), and superficial values of the “me” decade. It reminds us that there truly is diversity in all of us. We are different, but we are all “the same” in one way or another.
- BACK TO THE FUTURE
A young man (Michael J. Fox) is accidentally sent thirty years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his friend, Dr. Emmett Brown (Christopher Lloyd), and must make sure his high-school-age parents unite in order to save his own existence.
After almost thirty years (2014), this film loses none of its charm, and actually gains respect. The movie has had such a strong impression on everyone, whether they have seen it or not, as it completely permeated pop culture.
The script Is genius, not only how it parallels 1955 and 1985 (some of the references are dynamite), but how it set the scene for the sequels (despite allegedly not intending to have any). This is just one clever gag after another, and may require repeated viewings to catch them all.
- STAR WARS V
Episode V “The Empire Strikes Back” released in 1980 in my opinion was a great sequel to the 1977 original. As far as quality it closely ranks to the original, and in terms of character development, and plot and as far as the storytelling goes it’s probably better than the 1977 original. Directed this time around by Irvin Kershner he does just as good a job with the sets, characters, and special effects work as Lucas did making it just as good as 1977’s. Here the saga now has a setting on the ice planet of Hoth, a place that the Rebels have hid from the evil empire in pursuit, with the real goal they have is to reach the fabulous city of Bespin nicknamed Cloud City for it’s airy view. Here’s when this installment becomes a real coming of age sequel in which the central character Luke Skywalker comes of age both in terms of skill and mind, and that’s when he makes a stop in the swamp of Dagobah. It is in the swamps that hold an important part of the saga and the development of the Skywalker character is found here by training with the appearance of the Jedi master Yoda (hey, nice little green puppet!) as Luke’s skill of mind and fighting ability is formed making one reason that Episode V is so important. Later a dark secret is revealed, by Darth Vader in the climax at cloud city, and it was just great to see the fierce battle between Luke and Vader to close out this installment. Overall “The Empire Strikes Back” might be the best of the saga in terms of the coming-of-age development of the central character(Luke). Also, the plot finally reveals the hidden truth that’s a very dark secret, and the introduction of a new and unique character (Yoda) holds the saga together just great.
- STAR TREK 2
I’ve always held a special place in my heart and mind for this second installment in the “Star Trek” movie series. Mostly, because this is a movie that appeals to both places.
Not only is this movie loaded with the original characters from the series, it also touches on such subjects as revenge, family, duty, age and, of course, sacrifice. That was the best thing about the series – that it touched on topics that were (pardon the expression) universal, no matter the species.
Everyone is uniformly fine right down the line, especially Montalban’s Khan (returned from the “Space Seed” episode of the original series); all hatred, vengeance and single-minded of desire to see his enemy laid out before him. Namely, Kirk.
Alley is rather fetching as Saavik and it’s a shame she wasn’t carried over to the next film. I can’t help but, seeing her on TV anymore, to expect her to raise an eyebrow in contemplation. Buttrick makes a complex character out of David, the son Kirk never knew he had. Hurt feelings and resentment meld somewhat explosively with a new-found father/son relationship.
And what can one say about Spock, Bones, Sulu, Chekov, Uhura and Scotty? They are characters all of us grew up with and, pivotal to the plot at hand or not, it’s always good to see them.
For anyone who hasn’t seen the movie, I won’t discuss it in great detail. The story is simple enough (scientists find way to rejuvenate life on dead planets; Khan finds escape from prison planet, vows revenge on Kirk), but there is one plot point that will, if you are unfamiliar with it, blow you away. Suffice it to say, never has friendship been elicited so well in this or any movie before or since.
- THE PRINCESS BRIDE
A boy (Fred Savage) is home sick, and to his dismay, his grandfather (Peter Falk) has come to read him a fairy tale. It’s the story of the beautiful Buttercup (Robin Wright) who falls for farm boy “As you wish” Westley (Cary Elwes). He goes off to make his fortune, but after news of his death, Buttercup is being married off to Prince Humperdinck (Chris Sarandon). Then the princess bride gets kidnapped by three rogues (Wallace Shawn, Mandy Patinkin, André the Giant).
This is possibly the best fairy tale reimagining ever. Peter Falk’s feign indifference narration sets off the great adventure, and Fred Savage has just the best balance. Director Rob Reiner has put together all the fairy tale snippets and create something even better. The characters are memorable. And who could forget the fun that Wallace Shawn has choosing the poison drink. Mandy Patinkin is absolutely amazing as the swordsman seeking revenge from the six finger man. And there will never be another André the Giant.
- THE TERMINATOR
The Terminator is one of those films that no matter if you’ve seen it or not, you’ve heard of it, heck you know at least one or two lines without seeing it! This is the movie that blasted then new comer’s Arnold Schwartzeneggerr’s career, made James Cameron a name in Hollywood, and gave new meaning to a possible dark future that gave us nightmares. I remember the first time I saw this movie; I was just 8 years old and my dad of course walks in saying to cover my eyes at every “bad” scene with violence or nudity, needless to say about 70% of the movie he covered my eyes. Finally, I got to see it with my mom and I was in love, this wasn’t just an action movie, though it is one of the best, it had a story. To think this was all based upon just a quick nightmare that James Cameron had, he didn’t have much money, but he had a good script, a great crew on his side to make one of cinema’s greatest movies of all time.
Two men appear in Los Angeles in separate locations, manifesting in sudden, blinding flash-storms of electricity. One is heavily muscular; the other man, slim and wiry. The mysterious muscular man obtains weapons and begins hunting down all women named “Sarah Connor”, using a phone book to track his targets. He successfully kills the first two of the three listed women. When he attempts to kill the last Sarah Connor, he is stopped by the other man, Kyle Reese who has been sent back in time to protect her. While hiding in a parking garage, Reese explains that the man hunting Sarah is actually a cyborg assassin called a “Terminator”, built by Skynet, an artificial intelligence network created by Cyberdyne Systems. In the near future, Reese explains, Skynet gained self-awareness, initiated a global takeover of military hardware, and launched a nuclear war against humanity. Skynet ordered that a scant number of humans were to be kept alive in order to be used as slave labor. John Connor, Sarah’s son, rallied the few remaining humans and led a resistance movement against the machines. After a grinding campaign, the human resistance was on the verge of victory; in a last-ditch effort, Skynet sent the Terminator back in time to kill Sarah before John was born, preventing the resistance from ever being founded and allowing the machines to win by default. Reese volunteered to follow the Terminator back in time to protect Sarah; after his use of the time transportation equipment, it was to be destroyed by the resistance in order to prevent further Terminators from going back in time. The Terminator feels no pain, has no emotions, and will stop at nothing to accomplish its mission.
