The Movies that Defined My 80s.
These are the movies I personally feel best represent the 80s in no particular order.
The 80s to me were filled with fun, friends, growing pains, excitement, heartbreak, new attitude, fantasy, curiosity, weirdness, new advancing technology and of course making a stand.
The 80s to me were filled with fun, friends, growing pains, excitement, heartbreak, new attitude, fantasy, curiosity, weirdness, new advancing technology and of course making a stand.
List activity
1.3K views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
16 titles
- DirectorJohn G. AvildsenStarsRalph MacchioPat MoritaElisabeth ShueRecently relocated from NJ to LA, Daniel becomes the target of a gang of Cobra Kai dojo students. When Mr. Miyagi saves him with expert Karate skills, Daniel convinces him to teach him to defend himself, and put his bullies in their place.Standing up for yourself and earning respect. You don't always have to do it with violence but sometimes you need to kick some ass.
- DirectorHal NeedhamStarsBart ConnerLori LoughlinBill AllenThe story of one young man, Cru Jones, who has the intensity and desire to win a BMX race called Helltrack.When your parents don't believe in your ability you have to take it to the limits and just show them what you can do.
- DirectorMartha CoolidgeStarsVal KilmerStacy PeraltaDaniel AdesAn uptight teenage prodigy enters a top engineering college, but feels awkward among the freewheeling students. When a professor aims to turn their laser project into a military weapon, he and his offbeat roommate plot to ruin the plan.When people have a common interest it isn't always friendly. The closing song in itself defined the 80s.
- DirectorJohn HughesStarsEmilio EstevezJudd NelsonMolly RingwaldFive high school students meet in Saturday detention and discover how they have a great deal more in common than they thought.The dread of detention, everyone remembers it. Some of us belonged there and some of us took the blame for someone else. Might as well make the best of it.
- DirectorRobert ZemeckisStarsMichael J. FoxChristopher LloydLea ThompsonMarty McFly, a 17-year-old high school student, is accidentally sent 30 years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his close friend, the maverick scientist Doc Brown.To this day we all still talk about time travel, would you alter your parents?
- DirectorJoel SilbergStarsLucinda DickeyAdolfo QuinonesMichael ChambersA struggling young jazz dancer meets up with two break-dancers. Together they become the sensation of the street crowds.This movie inspired many dancers and a generation to dance because you love to.
- DirectorWolfgang PetersenStarsNoah HathawayBarret OliverTami StronachA troubled boy dives into a wondrous fantasy world through the pages of a mysterious book.This is the movie that got me into reading books and using my imagination. Beautiful film.
- DirectorJohn HughesStarsAnthony Michael HallIlan Mitchell-SmithKelly LeBrockTwo high-school nerds use a computer program to literally create the perfect woman, who promptly turns their lives upside-down.Great movie for 2 pervs that are bored out of their minds and one happens to have a computer. I almost did the same thing with my Tandy TRS80 but instead made it play blackjack with me after typing in 4000 lines of code.
- DirectorMatthew RobbinsStarsHelen SlaterChristian SlaterKeith GordonWith her brother falsely accused of attempted murder, a blonde Texas teenage stunner---victim herself of attempted assault---becomes a famous outlaw martyr, as both of them run away with friends, and try to clear their name.A great movie with a great message. I had a bunch of female friends watch it and they thanked me for it. And guys, too.
- DirectorJohn BadhamStarsMatthew BroderickAlly SheedyJohn WoodA young man finds a back door into a military central computer in which reality is confused with game-playing, possibly starting World War III.It could happen and probably did but we would never hear about it.
- DirectorRob ReinerStarsWil WheatonRiver PhoenixCorey FeldmanA writer recounts a childhood journey with his friends to find the body of a missing boy.We all had a group of friends and was one of them. I was the fat one.
- DirectorPenny MarshallStarsTom HanksElizabeth PerkinsRobert LoggiaAfter wishing to be made big, a teenage boy wakes the next morning to find himself mysteriously in the body of an adult.Sometimes I did wish I was grown-up but only by a year or two.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsHenry ThomasDrew BarrymorePeter CoyoteA troubled child summons the courage to help a friendly alien escape from Earth and return to his home planet.This movie actually scared me as a kid.
- DirectorStephen HerekStarsDee WallaceM. Emmet WalshBilly Green BushA group of small but vicious alien creatures called Crites escape from an alien prison transport vessel and land near a small farm town on earth, pursued by two shape-shifting bounty hunters.Of course, the B movies. There were tons of them. Maybe not great but damn entertaining.
- DirectorWes CravenStarsMatthew LabyorteauxKristy SwansonMichael SharrettAfter his friend is killed by her abusive father, the new kid in town attempts to save her by implanting a robotic microchip into her brain.Instead of calling the cops, a boy tries to fix.....his dead friend.
- DirectorJohn HughesStarsMatthew BroderickAlan RuckMia SaraA popular high school student, admired by his peers, decides to take a day off from school and goes to extreme lengths to pull it off, to the chagrin of his Dean, who'll do anything to stop him.You actually thought I would forget this one?