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In 1989, Cameron Crowe’s Say Anything became an iconic 80s romance that captured the awkwardness and sweetness of young love. The story follows Lloyd Dobler, a charming high school grad unsure of his future but knows he wants Diane Court, the smart yet emotionally distant valedictorian. This isn’t your typical romance—Lloyd isn’t the usual leading man, and Diane isn’t the stereotypical love interest. Instead, the film subverts expectations to deliver a heartfelt, unconventional love story th…
In the mid-1980s, few films targeted young adults, and studios were still figuring out how to connect with the emerging Generation X. Enter St. Elmo's Fire—a quintessential 80s flick that featured a star-studded cast of rising talent: Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, Mare Winningham, Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, and Demi Moore. Centered around a group of recent Georgetown grads navigating the post-college world, the film perfectly captured the spirit of the Reagan era. It resonat…
Rediscover a hidden gem of the 80s! While "Six Pack" (1982) may not be a blockbuster, it holds a special place in the cultural memory of many who grew up in that era. This forgotten flick, perhaps where some first learned about love, life, and the charm of Kenny Rogers, offers a unique blend of humor and drama.
Join us as we delve into the seemingly absurd, yet utterly charming, premise: a washed-up race car driver finds a second chance when he encounters a group of orphane…
John Hughes is known for making popular movies about teenagers in the 1980s. He started as a National Lampoon's Magazine writer and then began writing scripts in 1979. In 1984, he directed "Sixteen Candles". The next year, he directed two well-known movies, "The Breakfast Club" and this '80s flick. Many people think "The Breakfast Club" is better, but this one is special because it mixes comedy with science fiction. The movie is about two unpopular boy…
In this episode of the 80s Flick Flashback Podcast, Tim Williams, along with guest co-hosts Bethany Wells and JB Huffman, dives into the 1984 dance classic "Footloose." Inspired by true events, the film takes us to a small Utah town where dancing is banned and the spirit of youth is barely a whisper. Enter Ren McCormack, a rebellious teen from Chicago, who moves to town and shakes things up by challenging this archaic law. As Ren fights for change, he wins over allies and ignites a…
For a whole generation of video-game-playing kids, this 80s flick represents a special kind of wish-fulfillment: a down-on-his-luck kid becomes a video-game champ, only to find himself recruited to fight in an interplanetary ...
This 80’s flick explores the complex terrain of friendships, aspirations, and the struggle to find one's own identity outside of the classroom. The story takes place at an all-boys preparatory school in the 1950s, where tradi...
The 80s is often seen as the defining era of “the teen movie”. While “The Breakfast Club” and “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” might have garnered all of the attention, it was this 80s flick that took the “teen movie” from raunchy ...
Undeniably, the best of the mini-cycle of body-swap comedies from the late eighties, this is the flick that revealed that Tom Hanks was capable of much more than just one-dimensional idiotic comedic roles. His transformation into the floppy walk and wide-eyed enthusiasm of a 13-year-old boy is a masterclass in physical acting. It also proved that Penny Marshall was a bona fide blockbuster movie director and not just the tough-talking and boy-crazy Laverne De Fazio on TV's “Laverne &…
What's more traumatizing for a teenage boy than having to pack up his life and move to a new town with his brother and newly divorced mom? Nothing, other than the local gang initiation. Which, in Santa Carla, may just involve dropping from a train overpass, racing motorcycles near the cliff, and drinking blood instead of wine. Though we’ve been engulfed in some, dare I say, toothless vampire entertainment in the last few decades, this '80s flick was one of the earliest movies to up…
This 80’s flick is sometimes described as “Better Off Dead Goes To The Beach” because it reunites young leading man John Cusack with writer-director Savage Steve Holland for a tale of teenage angst and the quest to find love....
Before "A Different World" came into its own. Before "Higher Learning" and "Dear White People" critiqued the fraught relationship between Black students and white students at predominantly white institutions. And before "grown-ish", there was this '80s flick. Multi-talented Spike Lee’s sophomore feature took a critical look at Historically Black Colleges & Universities (aka HBCUs), revealing their beauty and complexity in a decade where Black …
While some critics failed it from the outset, this 80’s flick is actually a notch more upscale than most of its fellow D-grade locker-room comedies of the era. It's gained a "cult" reputation for its overall cynical tone, its...
“The Goonies”. “Stand By Me”. “Ghostbusters”. “The Little Rascals”. And “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein”. They all share some shred of creative DNA with this bonafide 80’s cult classic. So as we kick-start this year’s ...
Before “Friday Night Lights” there was this often forgotten 80’s flick. It’s not so much a film about the sport of high school football, but the effect of football on its characters. It features solid performances from its yo...
Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once a while you could miss this quintessential 80’s Flick. It has been called one of the classic movies about the teenage experience, as relevant to today’s Snapchatt...
Praised as a quintessential piece of '80s cinema and highly regarded among the greatest high school movies of all time, the legacy of this 80’s flick had endured due to the film's eclectic cast of teenage archetypes. Writer-d...
In the eighties , the high-concept movie was in vogue. Thanks largely to 70’s blockbusters Jaws and Star Wars , the eighties saw the repackaging of formula for audiences wanting to rekindle the thrills. If the roller coaster ...
The 1980s was a golden era for blockbuster hits, and countless films released during this decade have gone on to become cult-classic films. One '80s movie that has certainly stood the test of time and continues to wax on in c...
1985 was a big year for movies! It was a year dominated by flying DeLoreans, Breakfast Clubs, Beverly Hills Cops, as well as massive pop artists like Madonna, Michael Jackson, Cindy Lauper, and Prince. It was also the year of...
In 1987, a small Connecticut-based direct-to-video company made its first feature film for a true theatrical release. With low expectations from investors due to a female-driven plot amid a testosterone-heavy Summer blockbuster season, this small movie became a word-of-mouth sleeper hit, made a dancing football player turned actor into a bona fide sex symbol movie star, and birthed the worldwide phenomenon called “Dirty Dancing”.
The 1980's in Hollywood was filled with more high school movies about slackers and smart-alecks than anyone actually needed, especially when it came to featuring students who looked like they were older than the teachers. Sum...
Released in June of 1983, “War Games” made young Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy movie stars while it irrevocably changed our views of how computers could work and what dangers “hacking” those computers could do to the national safety of our country. A razor-sharp script, standout performances, and what was considered cutting-edge technology at the time, “War Games” changed the way political thrillers have been made since. “Would you like to play a game?”
A tender and poignant story of four friends who spend the last weekend of the Summer of 1959 looking for the body of a missing local boy, “Stand By Me” won the hearts of critics and audiences in the Fall of 1986. Starring Wi...