What do you think is the quintessential 80’s movie?
09-22-23, 09:25 AM
#76
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.
For the 70s, in addition to Saturday Night Fever and FM, I'd also include All The President's Men, The French Connection, Halloween, Network, Annie Hall, Shampoo, and Smokey and the Bandit.
Last edited by BobO'Link; 09-22-23 at 12:42 PM.
09-22-23, 11:31 AM
#77
DVD Talk Legend
Re: What do you think is the quintessential 80’s movie?
The following users liked this post:
sleepyhead55 (09-22-23)
09-22-23, 12:47 PM
#78
Re: What do you think is the quintessential 80’s movie?
I blame "quick scanning" for the error... I looked it up to get the year of production/release, saw 1976 in the description, added it. And I *know* it's not a 70s movie on top of that!! Oh well... It *does* provide a very good representation of those years and how teens behaved/reacted (I know first hand though I graduated a few years prior to 76). The people I ran around with in HS and I could *easily* have been that group.
09-22-23, 01:28 PM
#79
DVD Talk Special Edition
Re: What do you think is the quintessential 80’s movie?
I suspect this is the most correct answer on here, although Lifeforce may be just slightly too good. I don't think people know what "quintessential" means based on most of the suggestions here. It doesn't mean the best or an exemplar of themes, it means "perfectly typical or representative of a particular kind of person or thing". So the OP was roughly asking, what would be a typical (or average) 80s movie. Stuff like Back to the Future, Breakfast Club, Fast Time, etc is way way too good. Those are some of the best movies of the decade. Lifeforce isn't a bad choice, but I would go with Summer School. It is a perfectly serviceable movie; watchable but in no way extraordinary or excellent. It blends in perfectly into the decade it was created and should Mark Harmon not have some continuing notoriety, likely would be forgotten as soon as it was over.
09-22-23, 02:12 PM
#80
DVD Talk Special Edition
Re: What do you think is the quintessential 80’s movie?
I always liked the way Dazed & Confused was written and directed without any wink of nostalgia or irony about its 1976 timeframe. It's a film which could have been made in 1976 and didn't let its production design upstage the story and characters.
09-22-23, 03:16 PM
#81
DVD Talk Special Edition
Re: What do you think is the quintessential 80’s movie?
I don't think people know what "quintessential" means based on most of the suggestions here. It doesn't mean the best or an exemplar of themes, it means "perfectly typical or representative of a particular kind of person or thing". It blends in perfectly into the decade it was created and should Mark Harmon not have some continuing notoriety, likely would be forgotten as soon as it was over.
Loverboy (1989)
She's Out of Control (1989)
Soul Man (1986)
Secret Admirer (1985)
Can't Buy Me Love (1987)
White Water Summer (1987)
Johnny Be Good (1988)
My Science Project (1985)
License to Drive (1988)
Hiding Out (1987)
The Wraith (1986)
Last edited by orangerunner; 09-23-23 at 10:05 AM.
The following users liked this post:
Rob V (09-25-23)
09-22-23, 05:03 PM
#83
DVD Talk Legend
Re: What do you think is the quintessential 80’s movie?
09-22-23, 05:35 PM
#84
DVD Talk Legend
The following 3 users liked this post by Count Dooku:
09-22-23, 07:29 PM
#85
DVD Talk Hero
Re: What do you think is the quintessential 80’s movie?
Red Dawn.
It's like Rambo and The Breakfast Club had a litter of brat pack babies. It's Patrick Swayze and the high school football team slaughtering commies in glorious PG-13.
It's like Rambo and The Breakfast Club had a litter of brat pack babies. It's Patrick Swayze and the high school football team slaughtering commies in glorious PG-13.
The following users liked this post:
Ash Ketchum (09-24-23)
09-22-23, 08:04 PM
#86
DVD Talk Reviewer/Moderator
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Formerly known as L. Ron zyzzle - On a cloud of Judgement
Posts: 14,405
Received 1,809 Likes
on
1,215 Posts
09-22-23, 08:33 PM
#87
DVD Talk Hero
09-22-23, 11:12 PM
#88
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Re: What do you think is the quintessential 80’s movie?
Also agreed with whomever put in Scarface as an 80s movie. That one sequence where Michelle Pfifer is dancing to Push it To The Limit in the club is so 80s.
09-24-23, 12:01 PM
#89
Administrator
Re: What do you think is the quintessential 80’s movie?
I suspect this is the most correct answer on here, although Lifeforce may be just slightly too good. I don't think people know what "quintessential" means based on most of the suggestions here. It doesn't mean the best or an exemplar of themes, it means "perfectly typical or representative of a particular kind of person or thing". So the OP was roughly asking, what would be a typical (or average) 80s movie. Stuff like Back to the Future, Breakfast Club, Fast Time, etc is way way too good. Those are some of the best movies of the decade. Lifeforce isn't a bad choice, but I would go with Summer School. It is a perfectly serviceable movie; watchable but in no way extraordinary or excellent. It blends in perfectly into the decade it was created and should Mark Harmon not have some continuing notoriety, likely would be forgotten as soon as it was over.
From OED: "A perfect example of something"
So yeah... It can mean "the best", however you define parameters of "the perfect example".
Most people typically read that definition to say that the example itself is perfect (ie. an exemplar to be imitated), rather than perfectly representing the average offering.
Oldboy even says of his own pick in the first post:
It just brilliantly displays everything about 80’s culture. I just think it is the shining example of a genuine 80’s movie. Perfectly acted, written, well made, though low budget, high value
The following users liked this post:
Kurt D (09-24-23)
09-24-23, 02:33 PM
#90
Senior Member
Re: What do you think is the quintessential 80’s movie?
The less popular movie that first came to mind was The Secret of My Success. There were certainly better movies in the 80s, and I like many of the choices others have listed, but the TSoMS has a certain quintessential 80s cheesiness.
The following users liked this post:
Obi-Wanma (09-25-23)
The following users liked this post:
Obi-Wanma (09-25-23)
09-25-23, 01:32 AM
#92
DVD Talk Special Edition
Re: What do you think is the quintessential 80’s movie?
lolwut
From OED: "A perfect example of something"
So yeah... It can mean "the best", however you define parameters of "the perfect example".
Most people typically read that definition to say that the example itself is perfect (ie. an exemplar to be imitated), rather than perfectly representing the average offering.
Oldboy even says of his own pick in the first post:
If you say, "Christopher Lee was the quintessential British gentleman," no one is going to think you mean "Christopher Lee was a regular British guy"
From OED: "A perfect example of something"
So yeah... It can mean "the best", however you define parameters of "the perfect example".
Most people typically read that definition to say that the example itself is perfect (ie. an exemplar to be imitated), rather than perfectly representing the average offering.
Oldboy even says of his own pick in the first post:
If you say, "Christopher Lee was the quintessential British gentleman," no one is going to think you mean "Christopher Lee was a regular British guy"
09-25-23, 06:49 AM
#93
Re: What do you think is the quintessential 80’s movie?
I suspect this is the most correct answer on here, although Lifeforce may be just slightly too good. I don't think people know what "quintessential" means based on most of the suggestions here. It doesn't mean the best or an exemplar of themes, it means "perfectly typical or representative of a particular kind of person or thing". So the OP was roughly asking, what would be a typical (or average) 80s movie. Stuff like Back to the Future, Breakfast Club, Fast Time, etc is way way too good. Those are some of the best movies of the decade. Lifeforce isn't a bad choice, but I would go with Summer School. It is a perfectly serviceable movie; watchable but in no way extraordinary or excellent. It blends in perfectly into the decade it was created and should Mark Harmon not have some continuing notoriety, likely would be forgotten as soon as it was over.
I posit that you failed to read the OP's qualifier, or chose to ignore it for the sake of being pedantic, and went solely by the thread title.
Summer School fits the OP's definition quite well. I'd have posted it myself if I'd remembered it was an 80s movie as it's also a favorite.
Last edited by BobO'Link; 09-26-23 at 06:47 AM.
09-25-23, 08:56 AM
#94
DVD Talk Hero
Re: What do you think is the quintessential 80’s movie?
What makes an 80s movie an 80s movie? What are the defining qualities of 80s movies?
I would say...
1. Militarism and jingoism, especially a preoccupation with re-establishing US military dominance after the failure in Vietnam, especially through the vehicle of a lone, highly skilled soldier. (Rambo: First Blood Part II, Missing in Action, Commando).
2. Generational 1950s nostalgia... Back to the Future, Stand by Me, The Sandlot, The Wonder Years. Though this probably started in the 1970s with American Graffiti and Happy Days. In many ways, this represents the conservatism of the Reagan 1980s and a rejection of the cultural revolution of the late 1960s.
3. A preoccupation with the yuppie and the preppie archetype. In teen-oriented movies, you have the John Hughes stuff like The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller, St. Elmo's Fire, Risky Business, and, even to an extent, Fast Times at Ridgemont High. So many of these movies had the teenage protagonist fighting to get into an elite universeity. And on the boomer side, there's The Big Chill and the "Yuppie Nightmare Cycle."
4. Retelling The Fountainhead. The brash young upstart who challenges conventional standards and refuses to compromise. Tom Cruise made a whole genre about this... Top Gun, Cocktail, The Color of Money, Risky Business. Ghostbusters also falls into this genre and has more conservatism/libertarianism in it than many would like to admit; the titular heroes spend almost as much time battling OSHA and government regulators as they do ghosts; New York is saved from supernatural forces not by government agents, but private sector entrepeneurs.
5. The slasher movie. If the first four on my list show a preoccupation with conservatism, here comes the slasher genre that was spun off from Halloween in the late 1970s. They're like the westerns of the 80s -- fast, easy, and cheap to make, and they put asses in seats and moved videocassettes). While the boomers and the older generations would clutch their pearls over the sex and violence, the Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers characters were ultimately agents of traditional values, punishing the teenagers who dared to drink, smoke dope, and have sex. The final girl was almost always the "good girl" who kept her legs together and didn't party with the dead kids.
I would say...
1. Militarism and jingoism, especially a preoccupation with re-establishing US military dominance after the failure in Vietnam, especially through the vehicle of a lone, highly skilled soldier. (Rambo: First Blood Part II, Missing in Action, Commando).
2. Generational 1950s nostalgia... Back to the Future, Stand by Me, The Sandlot, The Wonder Years. Though this probably started in the 1970s with American Graffiti and Happy Days. In many ways, this represents the conservatism of the Reagan 1980s and a rejection of the cultural revolution of the late 1960s.
3. A preoccupation with the yuppie and the preppie archetype. In teen-oriented movies, you have the John Hughes stuff like The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller, St. Elmo's Fire, Risky Business, and, even to an extent, Fast Times at Ridgemont High. So many of these movies had the teenage protagonist fighting to get into an elite universeity. And on the boomer side, there's The Big Chill and the "Yuppie Nightmare Cycle."
4. Retelling The Fountainhead. The brash young upstart who challenges conventional standards and refuses to compromise. Tom Cruise made a whole genre about this... Top Gun, Cocktail, The Color of Money, Risky Business. Ghostbusters also falls into this genre and has more conservatism/libertarianism in it than many would like to admit; the titular heroes spend almost as much time battling OSHA and government regulators as they do ghosts; New York is saved from supernatural forces not by government agents, but private sector entrepeneurs.
5. The slasher movie. If the first four on my list show a preoccupation with conservatism, here comes the slasher genre that was spun off from Halloween in the late 1970s. They're like the westerns of the 80s -- fast, easy, and cheap to make, and they put asses in seats and moved videocassettes). While the boomers and the older generations would clutch their pearls over the sex and violence, the Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers characters were ultimately agents of traditional values, punishing the teenagers who dared to drink, smoke dope, and have sex. The final girl was almost always the "good girl" who kept her legs together and didn't party with the dead kids.
09-25-23, 10:33 AM
#96
Administrator
Re: What do you think is the quintessential 80’s movie?
Yeah, it’s crazy, some people know the meaning of words and other people claim they do but don’t. You seem to be in the later category, yet mock the former. “Typical” is never best nor worst. Best and worst are outliers, anything but typical. Is the “perfect example” of a banana the freakish large banana that weighs two pounds, the tiny banana that can be eaten in a single bite, or the standard size banana you find in my grocery stores? And to answer your question about Lee, yes, I would think he would be a regular “gentleman”. If you said Lee was the quintessential British guy, then I would take him for the regular bloke. Note also that almost none of the movies originally suggested met Oldboy’s stated criteria either, unless budget is somehow ignored.
Last edited by IBJoel; 09-25-23 at 10:40 AM.
09-25-23, 10:34 AM
#97
Re: What do you think is the quintessential 80’s movie?
I included it only because it fit the requirements. I've never liked that film and have only seen it once when it showed up on HBO and there was nothing else to watch.
09-25-23, 10:56 AM
#98
DVD Talk Hero
The following users liked this post:
IBJoel (09-25-23)
09-25-23, 11:34 AM
#99
DVD Talk Reviewer/Moderator
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Formerly known as L. Ron zyzzle - On a cloud of Judgement
Posts: 14,405
Received 1,809 Likes
on
1,215 Posts
Re: What do you think is the quintessential 80’s movie?
I dare say it begs the question!
The following users liked this post:
IBJoel (09-25-23)
09-25-23, 11:35 AM
#100
DVD Talk Legend
Re: What do you think is the quintessential 80’s movie?
Since we're compiling a list of the most quintessentially vapid, insipid, forgettable tripe to come out of the 80s ... and yet were still mildly amusing and fun to watch, here's my two cents!
Loverboy (1989)
She's Out of Control (1989)
Soul Man (1986)
Secret Admirer (1985)
Can't Buy Me Love (1987)
White Water Summer (1987)
Johnny Be Good (1988)
My Science Project (1985)
License to Drive (1988)
Hiding Out (1987)
The Wraith (1986)
Loverboy (1989)
She's Out of Control (1989)
Soul Man (1986)
Secret Admirer (1985)
Can't Buy Me Love (1987)
White Water Summer (1987)
Johnny Be Good (1988)
My Science Project (1985)
License to Drive (1988)
Hiding Out (1987)
The Wraith (1986)
Can't Buy Me Love
License to Drive and
Weird Science