Gen X: Forgotten Films of the 1980’s

by RightOnDaddio | created - 28 Apr 2023 | updated - 7 months ago | Public

Comedies, Dramas, Action. The Eighties Were an Era of Tremendous Freedom, Creativity, and Productivity. People From The Aughts Ought to Know These Movies from 1980-1989

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1. Nobody's Perfekt (1981)

PG | 96 min | Comedy

The story of a group of misfits living in Miami, and their revenge against government bureaucracy. After the city refuses to pay for the damage to their car caused by a pothole, the three ... See full summary »

Director: Peter Bonerz | Stars: Gabe Kaplan, Alex Karras, Robert Klein, Susan Clark

Votes: 267

2. American Playhouse (1980–1994)
Episode: The Great American Fourth of July and Other Disasters (1982)

56 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

Matt Dillon plays a young Jean Shepherd (author and narrator of A Christmas Story). Through Matt, Shep tells several humorous stories about his teen years in an Indiana steel town.

Director: Richard Bartlett | Stars: Matt Dillon, James Broderick, Barbara Bolton, Babe Sargent

Votes: 253

3. Die Laughing (1980)

PG | 108 min | Adventure, Comedy, Crime

A San Francisco cab driver finds himself in possession of a monkey that is carrying a formula for turning atomic waste into a plutonium bomb. He finds himself framed for a murder and chased all over town by people trying to get the formula.

Director: Jeff Werner | Stars: Robby Benson, Linda Grovenor, Charles Durning, Elsa Lanchester

Votes: 328

4. The Wrong Guys (1988)

PG | 86 min | Comedy

Cub Scout Pack 18 organizes a 25-year reunion to relive their fond boyhood memories. But when the five friends meet for a camping trip, they discover that what little they had once known about wilderness survival has dwindled to nothing.

Director: Danny Bilson | Stars: Louie Anderson, Richard Lewis, Richard Belzer, Franklyn Ajaye

Votes: 1,004 | Gross: $1.15M

5. Lost Angels (1989)

R | 116 min | Drama

A troubled youth from a split Los Angeles family is sent to a private psychiatric hospital after a violent scrape with the police. In the hospital, he makes a connection with one of the doctors who has his own problems.

Director: Hugh Hudson | Stars: Donald Sutherland, Adam Horovitz, Amy Locane, Don Bloomfield

Votes: 1,075 | Gross: $1.25M

6. Ruckus (1980)

PG | 93 min | Action, Drama, Thriller

A Vietnam veteran passing through a small town is harassed by local bullies but he fights back, using his wartime skills, and triggers a full-scale police manhunt.

Director: Max Kleven | Stars: Dirk Benedict, Linda Blair, Richard Farnsworth, Matt Clark

Votes: 798

7. Finnegan Begin Again (1985 TV Movie)

115 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

Mike Finnegan is nearing retirement and taking care of his senile wife. He can't get her to allow him to throw anything out and their house has become unmanageable. He meets Liz DeHaan, who... See full summary »

Director: Joan Micklin Silver | Stars: Mary Tyler Moore, Robert Preston, Sam Waterston, Sylvia Sidney

Votes: 478

8. Max Dugan Returns (1983)

PG | 98 min | Comedy, Drama

An English teacher and struggling single mother's life is disrupted when her long-lost father, who abandoned her as a child, returns with some shady money in the hope of spending some time with her and the grandson he's never met.

Director: Herbert Ross | Stars: Jason Robards, Marsha Mason, Donald Sutherland, Matthew Broderick

Votes: 3,971 | Gross: $17.61M

9. Morgan Stewart's Coming Home (1987)

PG-13 | 96 min | Comedy

A free-spirited teenager attempts to get back in touch with his overly-conservative parents after returning home from years away at a boarding school.

Directors: Paul Aaron, Terry Winsor, Alan Smithee | Stars: Jon Cryer, Lynn Redgrave, JD Cullum, Robert Sedgwick

Votes: 1,084 | Gross: $2.14M

10. Hardly Working (1980)

PG | 91 min | Comedy

In Jerry Lewis's first film in a decade, he plays Bo Hooper, an unemployed circus clown who can't seem to hold down a job. The film opens with a brief montage of clips from past Lewis ... See full summary »

Director: Jerry Lewis | Stars: Jerry Lewis, Susan Oliver, Roger C. Carmel, Deanna Lund

Votes: 940

11. Pandemonium (1982)

PG | 82 min | Comedy, Horror, Mystery

A former high school student who always wanted to be a cheerleader decides to reopen the cheerleading program at her former high school after years of closure for being targeted by a serial killer.

Director: Alfred Sole | Stars: Tom Smothers, Carol Kane, Tammy Alverson, Pamela Harlow

Votes: 1,513

12. Raggedy Man (1981)

R | 94 min | Drama

61 Metascore

A divorcee with two sons has an affair with a young sailor passing through her Texas town in 1944.

Director: Jack Fisk | Stars: Sissy Spacek, Eric Roberts, Sam Shepard, William Sanderson

Votes: 1,834 | Gross: $1.98M

13. Long Gone (1987 TV Movie)

110 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

Story of the Tampico Stogies, a low minor-league baseball team, and its star player and manager, Stud' Cantrell, as they battle for the league championship amidst the corruption and racism of the American south.

Director: Martin Davidson | Stars: William Petersen, Virginia Madsen, Dermot Mulroney, Larry Riley

Votes: 1,200

14. Going Berserk (1983)

R | 85 min | Comedy

A clumsy chauffeur is hypnotized by a cult to kill the father of his fiancée, a congressman who's suing the cult for fraud, and encounters several weird characters during the days leading up to his wedding.

Director: David Steinberg | Stars: John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Eugene Levy, Alley Mills

Votes: 2,029 | Gross: $0.23M

15. The Nude Bomb (1980)

PG | 94 min | Action, Comedy, Crime

34 Metascore

Maxwell Smart is recalled to duty to help fight a villian who threatens to detonate a weapon that destroys clothing.

Director: Clive Donner | Stars: Don Adams, Andrea Howard, Sylvia Kristel, Rhonda Fleming

Votes: 3,553 | Gross: $14.66M

16. Crackers (1984)

PG | 91 min | Adventure, Comedy, Crime

Reduced to minding the counter at a crusty pawn shop, Weslake tumbles onto a scheme by some disgruntled misfit clients to rob the place. Rather than blow the whistle, however, he insinuates himself as the heist's mastermind.

Director: Louis Malle | Stars: Donald Sutherland, Jack Warden, Sean Penn, Wallace Shawn

Votes: 1,547 | Gross: $0.13M

17. Out of Bounds (1986)

R | 93 min | Action, Crime, Drama

47 Metascore

Daryl's parents ship him off to the big city to live with his brother, hoping he will have a better life there. After a baggage mix-up at the airport, Daryl finds himself in possession of a drug cache, which a drug dealer wants back.

Director: Richard Tuggle | Stars: Anthony Michael Hall, Jenny Wright, Jeff Kober, Glynn Turman

Votes: 2,078 | Gross: $5.10M

18. The Earthling (1980)

PG | 97 min | Adventure, Drama

Diagnosed with a terminal form of cancer, Patrick Foley has returned to his native Australia to die in the peace and quiet of the wilderness. His simple plan is complicated, however, when he meets a young boy who has just lost his parents.

Director: Peter Collinson | Stars: William Holden, Ricky Schroder, Jack Thompson, Olivia Hamnett

Votes: 1,815

19. Stick (1985)

R | 109 min | Action, Crime, Drama

31 Metascore

Released from prison, Stick meets up with a friend and joins him on a job delivering a bag. His friend gets killed in the setup. Stick gets away and is ready to forget all and see his daughter, but they won't forget.

Director: Burt Reynolds | Stars: Burt Reynolds, Candice Bergen, George Segal, Charles Durning

Votes: 2,310 | Gross: $8.49M

20. Sweet Liberty (1986)

PG | 106 min | Comedy

After selling the rights of his book to a movie production company, a writer finds himself fighting the many egos and varying views around him.

Director: Alan Alda | Stars: Alan Alda, Michael Caine, Michelle Pfeiffer, Bob Hoskins

Votes: 2,993 | Gross: $14.21M

21. Six Pack (1982)

PG | 108 min | Comedy, Drama, Sport

45 Metascore

A race car driver is driving to a race in a motor home with his race car on a trailer. His car gets stripped of parts. He ends up with 6 orphan kids on his way to the race.

Director: Daniel Petrie | Stars: Kenny Rogers, Diane Lane, Erin Gray, Barry Corbin

Votes: 3,383 | Gross: $20.23M

22. Protocol (1984)

PG | 96 min | Comedy

55 Metascore

A woman (Goldie Hawn) saves life of Emir of Ohtar (Richard Romanus) in Washington.

Director: Herbert Ross | Stars: Goldie Hawn, Chris Sarandon, Richard Romanus, Andre Gregory

Votes: 5,270 | Gross: $26.30M

23. True Believer (1989)

R | 108 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

64 Metascore

A cynical former civil liberties attorney now reduced to "specializing" in defending drug dealers becomes transformed by an eight-year-old murder case.

Director: Joseph Ruben | Stars: James Woods, Robert Downey Jr., Margaret Colin, Yuji Okumoto

Votes: 5,438 | Gross: $8.74M

24. The Four Seasons (1981)

PG | 107 min | Comedy, Drama

55 Metascore

Three couples vacation together every season. After one divorces, feelings of betrayal and more spawn criticisms of one another, but the things that keep them together are stronger than those which might pull them apart.

Director: Alan Alda | Stars: Alan Alda, Carol Burnett, Len Cariou, Sandy Dennis

Votes: 5,643 | Gross: $50.43M

25. The Dogs of War (1980)

R | 102 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

56 Metascore

Mercenary James Shannon, on a reconnaissance job to the African nation of Zangaro, is tortured and deported. He returns to lead a coup.

Director: John Irvin | Stars: Christopher Walken, Tom Berenger, Colin Blakely, Hugh Millais

Votes: 9,441



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