What do you think is the quintessential 80’s movie?
09-21-23, 06:58 AM
#51
Re: What do you think is the quintessential 80’s movie?
What about something like She’s Having a Baby? Granted, it still touches on America’s younger generation but it covers more universal topics like establishing yourself into adulthood, marriage issues, raising children, living in the suburbs, etc.
It’s also very definitely an “80s movie”.
It’s also very definitely an “80s movie”.
09-21-23, 07:34 AM
#52
DVD Talk Legend
Re: What do you think is the quintessential 80’s movie?
I'd argue youth culture only sets the trend for films that are made and marketed toward youth audience which is what?, 20% of population? Most people didn't see these movies and are only remembered as they are because people who were young at the time remember them. I wouldn't call an Elvis or Beach Party movie a quintessential 60s movie.
What about The Big Chill? An 80s movie that has everything 80s but is disqualified because the characters are to old?
Youth pop culture usually does progress to being the main culture a decade or two later, but by then newer youth cultures have developed to replace them. There is always a separation between youth and mainstream culture.
What about The Big Chill? An 80s movie that has everything 80s but is disqualified because the characters are to old?
Youth pop culture usually does progress to being the main culture a decade or two later, but by then newer youth cultures have developed to replace them. There is always a separation between youth and mainstream culture.
09-21-23, 07:35 AM
#53
Re: What do you think is the quintessential 80’s movie?
E.T. is the first one I thought of. It covered some emerging topics in the 1980's: divorce, single working mom raising kids, 80's tech, and cultural icons of the time like the Star Wars toys.
In my opinion, BTTF doesn't completely fit all the requirements. While it starts out in the 1980's showcases some styles and fashions of the 80's, it's not all about the 80's as most of it takes place in the 1950's and is more about the nostalgia of that era.
In my opinion, BTTF doesn't completely fit all the requirements. While it starts out in the 1980's showcases some styles and fashions of the 80's, it's not all about the 80's as most of it takes place in the 1950's and is more about the nostalgia of that era.
09-21-23, 07:38 AM
#54
DVD Talk Legend
Re: What do you think is the quintessential 80’s movie?
Happy Days and Grease were super popular in the 70s. I would say the 80s had more (a media version of) nostalgia for the 60s or an effort to reexamine and rewrite the 60s.
09-21-23, 07:47 AM
#55
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Re: What do you think is the quintessential 80’s movie?
I think BTTF or Breakfast Club are the peak. Surprised not to see mention of the best of the OT Star Wars and my favorite Blues Brothers with the excess and absurdist plot.
09-21-23, 07:54 AM
#56
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Re: What do you think is the quintessential 80’s movie?
Happy Days and Grease were about being a teen in the 50s. 80s movies are about little kid stuff of the 50s. Comic books, tv shows, movie serials, etc.
09-21-23, 08:18 AM
#57
Re: What do you think is the quintessential 80’s movie?
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09-21-23, 08:29 AM
#58
DVD Talk Hero
Re: What do you think is the quintessential 80’s movie?
I'd argue youth culture only sets the trend for films that are made and marketed toward youth audience which is what?, 20% of population? Most people didn't see these movies and are only remembered as they are because people who were young at the time remember them. I wouldn't call an Elvis or Beach Party movie a quintessential 60s movie.
09-21-23, 09:03 AM
#59
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Re: What do you think is the quintessential 80’s movie?
Agree. All those ooze 80s. But teenage boys are only a segment of the population. When I think of quintessential, I think of something that cannot be mistaken for being made any time other than the 80s, and everybody related to across all demographics. I go with BTTF. If you were to assign a genre to BTTF it would be 80s teen comedy. Yet it was so well done it appealed to all generations. It checks all the boxes of an 80s teen comedy, high school, skateboards, MTV rock song, local mall, etc. There were other teen comedies about time travel released around the same time. This one got it right.
Last edited by rw2516; 09-21-23 at 09:27 AM.
09-21-23, 09:22 AM
#60
DVD Talk Ultimate Edition
Re: What do you think is the quintessential 80’s movie?
If it’s the 1980s it has to be Top Gun. A wildly overrated but very popular thing.
Like the decade itself.
Like the decade itself.
09-21-23, 09:24 AM
#61
Re: What do you think is the quintessential 80’s movie?
I think everything goes in twenty year cycles. So, the 1970's had 1950's nostalgia. The 1980's was more nostalgic towards the 50's with movies and shows like The Wonder Years and various space race astronaut movies. By the 1980's, Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley were set in the 1960's and no longer in the 1950's as well.
09-21-23, 10:21 AM
#63
Administrator
Re: What do you think is the quintessential 80’s movie?
- Elaine says, "Never trust a girl who pursues a boy", but that's exactly what she did (and more) 30 years ago.
- Goldie Wilson very vaguely addresses of the racism of the 1950s, as does the band at the end
- Marty gets comments about his fashion and music and the president of his time
- Doc Brown's deal with the Libyans hints at nuclear proliferation
- Hilly Valley has declined from an idyllic town to... a little crappy
It's all done with a wink and a smile, of course, because we're there to have a fun time, but there's definitely some bite to the film.
09-21-23, 10:33 AM
#64
DVD Talk Legend
Re: What do you think is the quintessential 80’s movie?
BTTF is the obvious answer, but for me, EVERY time Sixteen Candles is on, I watch it. I love that movie.
ET and Gremlins take me right back to my childhood.
ET and Gremlins take me right back to my childhood.
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IBJoel (09-21-23)
09-21-23, 12:08 PM
#65
DVD Talk Legend
Re: What do you think is the quintessential 80’s movie?
I know there are much better choices out there but this is the first movie that came to my mind. It could never be able to be made today...
09-21-23, 02:16 PM
#66
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Re: What do you think is the quintessential 80’s movie?
I think it should be a requirement that the movie should have to have a least one scene in a mall. BTTF only has a scene that takes places outside the mall. Fast Times and Bill & Ted's EA would qualify as well as a bunch of others I can't think of off the top of my head. Maybe Weird Science?
09-21-23, 02:36 PM
#67
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Re: What do you think is the quintessential 80’s movie?
Lifeforce has everything you could want from an 80s movie...boobs, aliens, boobs, gore, boobs, boobs, and boobs.
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09-21-23, 02:52 PM
#68
09-21-23, 03:00 PM
#69
DVD Talk Special Edition
Re: What do you think is the quintessential 80’s movie?
I'd argue youth culture only sets the trend for films that are made and marketed toward youth audience which is what?, 20% of population? Most people didn't see these movies and are only remembered as they are because people who were young at the time remember them. I wouldn't call an Elvis or Beach Party movie a quintessential 60s movie.
I wasn't around in the 1960s but those images are certainly cemented in my perception of the 1960s. It certainly isn't Lawrence Welk or Tony Bennett.
I agree some trends are a chicken-and-egg debate.
What about The Big Chill? An 80s movie that has everything 80s but is disqualified because the characters are too old?
Youth pop culture usually does progress to being the main culture a decade or two later, but by then newer youth cultures have developed to replace them. There is always a separation between youth and mainstream culture.
Youth pop culture usually does progress to being the main culture a decade or two later, but by then newer youth cultures have developed to replace them. There is always a separation between youth and mainstream culture.
In the case of Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) the film was in pre-production in 1981 with a script based on research Cameron Crowe did in 1979. The music, the cars, clothes and production design were all very much of the time it was filmed ('81/'82).
09-21-23, 04:05 PM
#70
DVD Talk Hero
Re: What do you think is the quintessential 80’s movie?
While I’m sticking with my original answer (The Breakfast Club), I just wanted to say how much I’ve appreciated the discussion in this thread. I don’t feel like we’ve had this high quality of discussion about movies here in a long time!
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09-21-23, 05:09 PM
#71
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Re: What do you think is the quintessential 80’s movie?
Good. Because there's no right answer.
Surprised nobody brought up Flashdance or Scarface. It's not about opinion as the varying experiences we had. We're like the three blind men describing an elephant. Imagine a group of today's young adults time travelling to the 80s and when they come back describing what they experienced. Each would be different.
A lot of people would choose Saturday Night Fever for the 70s. I would choose FM because it perfectly mirrors what I experienced.
Surprised nobody brought up Flashdance or Scarface. It's not about opinion as the varying experiences we had. We're like the three blind men describing an elephant. Imagine a group of today's young adults time travelling to the 80s and when they come back describing what they experienced. Each would be different.
A lot of people would choose Saturday Night Fever for the 70s. I would choose FM because it perfectly mirrors what I experienced.
09-21-23, 07:08 PM
#73
DVD Talk Reviewer/Moderator
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Re: What do you think is the quintessential 80’s movie?
Has Beuller come up yet? That captures many different aspects of the essence if the 80s.
09-22-23, 04:49 AM
#74
Re: What do you think is the quintessential 80’s movie?
Movies that ooze 80s New York
Fear City
After Hours
Ghostbusters
Crocodile Dundee
Baby Boom
Sadly Jason Takes Manhattan mostly oozes 80s Vancouver.
Fear City
After Hours
Ghostbusters
Crocodile Dundee
Baby Boom
Sadly Jason Takes Manhattan mostly oozes 80s Vancouver.
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