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Top 10 late 80’s Movies

The late 80’s were a great time for the film lover, the industry did not shy away from controversial plots and the teen movie gathered momentum. Our list celebrates the whole spectrum of films on offer in the late 80’s and gives us an overwhelming urge to don a sharp suit and break into the running man!

10 Batman (the one with Jack Nicholson as the Joker) 1989

Horror and Tim Burton go together like bread and butter and in this classic film he has captured the sinister side of the batman comics. This was Tim Burton’s first mega budget blockbuster and it proved to be a hit with audiences as it became one of the highest grossing films of all time. Burton’s desire to have complete control over all aspects of the film, including casting, meant it almost didn’t make it to the cinema. However, his insistence paid off and Jack Nicholson was cast as the Joker a role he was born for, that smile of his certainly lingers, now where have we seen that before?

9 Mississippi Burning 1988

From jokers to the deep south of the United States, the race problems in the south have been well documented over the years. This film highlights the issues of racism through the murder of 3 civil rights campaigners and the subsequent investigation. Two officers are sent from the north to investigate the disappearance of the missing men, and they find that they cannot infiltrate the close knit community and its fundamentally racist governing body. Gene Hackmann and Willem Defoe excel in their contrasting roles, Hackmann rules the film as the aggressive cop who fights fire with fire whilst Defoe is the ice cool boy from the north who plays by the rules. The FBI become involved in the case and the true horror of the goings on in this small town are revealed. Oh and it’s a true story, food for thought.

8 Ferris Bueller’s Day Off 1986

Now onto the teen comedy that put the cool into bunking off. Ferris pulls the ultimate sicky, with help of his 80’s keyboard effects and some clammy palms, giving him a whole day to explore downtown Chicago. It is one last day of being wild with his best friend Cameron and girlfriend Sloane before they all head off to college and boy do they hit the town. The trio take in the sights and join a parade all the while being pursued by Ed Rooney the school’s principle who is trying to prove Ferris is bunking off. The most memorable scene has to be the removal of the miles from Cameron’s dad’s Ferrari, if you haven’t seen this film yet we can only assume that you haven’t actually got a television or that you don’t like life!

7 Goonies 1985

Goonies never say die! What is not to love about this film? There are pirates, booby traps, a half human half monster and a gang family, the Fratellis. When the yuppies of Astoria decide that they need a new golf course the plan is to flatten a residential area but this time it’s the kids that are determined to fight for justice. After finding a map indicating that the buried treasure of the pirate One-Eyed Willie might be close by they decide that they will find it and save their homes. The members of the Goonies are the perfect combination of outcasts and freaks who enjoy tormenting each other as much as potato chips, The truffle shuffle and Data’s insane gadgets including those slick shoes, brought a tear to our eyes. This film has become an absolute cult classic inspiring more retro clothing than you could shake a stick at, now we are off to practice the piano you never know when it could come in handy!

6 Full Metal Jacket 1987

From Speilberg to Kubrick, no list from the 70’s and 90’s is complete without mentioning the 2 directors that dominated the cinema with controversy and style. Kubrick has never been one to shy away from contentious subjects and this film is no different, it follows the training and live combat of a group of U.S. Marines during the Vietnam war. The first half of the film focuses on their harsh training and their sadistic drill sergeant who repeatedly picks on the men and one in particular, Leonard Lawrence whom he nicknames Sgt Pyle. This abuse causes Pyle to become an introverted psychopath and he utters the immortal line ‘full metal jacket’ referring to the full case of bullets in his gun moments before killing the drill sergeant and himself. The second half of the film sees the marines deployed in action in Vietnam and the atrocity and confusion the soldiers experience. To hammer home the pointless and infantile nature of the war Kubrick ends the film with a chilling rendition of the Mickey Mouse Club song.

5 The Lost Boys 1987

Ah vampires at last, cue holy water, garlic and crosses being wielded, this film totally embodies the so bad that it’s great category. Santa Carla is plagued with vampires and its down to new arrivals Sam and Michael with the help of a few residents to defeat the blood suckers, Michael unfortunately becomes half a vampire along the way, leaving them no option but to kill the lead vampire but how do you find out who that would be?, offer them garlic of course jeeez.

4 Bill & Ted 1989

Ted Theodore Logan and Bill S Preston esquire are about to flunk history, the only thing that can save them from an F is their school presentation but its not looking good when they have only got as far as the circle K. Luckily for them a cool dude called Rufus pitches up in a time travelling phone box allowing them to travel through history kidnapping historical figures to perform at their presentation. Thanks to this film a generation of kids punctuated their sentences with ‘excellent’ and ‘party on dudes’, thought that it was cool to be a beach bum and definitely didn’t want to go to military school.

3 Die Hard 1988

This film was Bruce Willis’s big break and is still the greatest action film of all time. Alan Rickman has long been associated with the cinema baddy but this is where it all began with his role as the German terrorist Hans Gruber. The evil Gruber was planning on robbing some $640 million dollars from the company Nakatomi, which coincidentally Bruce Willis’s estranged wife works for. When the terrorists take over the building Bruce is in the bathroom, luckily, freshening up so he manages to escape down the fire escape. He spends the rest of the film trying to get the attention of the FBI and to free the hostages. Of course good triumphs over evil and they all live happily ever after, well, apart from Hans Gruber who meets a rather sticky end.

2 Midnight Run 1988

Another of our favourites starring De Niro, what can we say the man is a legend? Here he plays an ex cop turned bounty hunter, Jack Walsh, who has been hired to catch the ‘Duke’ and bring him from the east coast to the west coast of the United States. The Duke is a mob member who has been working as an accountant and is in trouble with the law for embezzling 15 million dollars, Jack captures him and a hilarious road trip across the US ensues. The plot gets gradually more complex as it becomes less clear who is on whose side, if you haven’t seen this film it’s a must, a classic caper buddy movie in a similar vein to the odd couple.

1 Stand By Me 1986

A coming of age movie 80’s style, starring River Phoenix, the film centres around a group of young men who go in search of a dead body in the wood near their hometown of castle rock. As with all good coming of age dramas all of the main characters are misfits and find solace and understanding with each other. As the film unravels so do their stories and they bond over campfires and tough times. They have continual run ins with the rival gang of older boys and their ring leader Ace. They find the body but when confronted by the fact that it was a human being they decide the authorities should handle it and they leave it, defending it from the Ace gang. Both inspiring and depressing this films captures how the innocence of youth is so quickly lost, now show me some skin!