80s films were crap. Yes? No?

[Aladdin]

Watching 80s films again now thinking wtf? They were crap but we watched them at the time thinking they were good.


Name some 80s films you loved at the time but now you'd consider to be crap.

 

[8ball]

There were loads of great films in the 80’s.

 

[Griff]

Went to the pictures an awful lot in the '80s with my first longterm girlfriend, and apart from Beverley Hills Cop, Ferris Bueller and Highlander I can't remember too much else.

Do remember Pretty In Pink and Howard the Duck being shit though.

Oh yeah, The Breakfast Club was enjoyable as was To Live & Die In LA.

 

[Chz]

99% of everything is crap. 80s films aren't anything special in that regard.

 

[[62]]

I went to the cinema once between 1981 and 1992 and that was to see Ghostbusters. I think that's still quite good.

Finally got to see ET about seven or eight years ago. Everyone in my class at school raved about that at the time, but I thought it was utter shite and I think I would have still thought that when I was a kid.

Never seen Raiders of the Lost Ark. Only saw Back to the Future for the first time about 10 years ago when it was on for the kids club I used to take my daughter to at the local cinema. I thought that was pretty dire too.

I don't think I missed much, basically.

 

[bmd]

Pretty in Pink was shit?! Come on now.

 

[Idris2002]

Robocop - the first one - is 1987. So it very much depends on your definition of crap.

Then you've got the Indian Jones trilogy, which are all 80s, Full Metal Jacket (1986, I think), et cetera.

There's a lot of early 80s stuff, though, which is basically "hangover of the 70s". Like Scarface, which starts off with Al Pacino actually acting, before he decides to adopt a cartoon persona instead.

 

[Aladdin]

There were loads of great films in the 80’s.

Name a few?

 

[Griff]

Ah, yeah forgot about Robocop. Another good shout.

Also Predator, The Terminator, Commando and Raw Deal were great Arnie popcorn evenings. Not exactly high-brow, but entertaining.

 

[DotCommunist]

Conan, what is best in life?
Predator.
The Shining & Full Metal Jacket
Red Heat
Kindergarten Cop & Twins

I could go on.

 

[Orang Utan]

Crap poll. Can’t vote for 99% AND some of the best films ever made were in the 80s.
And who’s gonna vote 50%

 

[Aladdin]

Crap poll. Can’t vote for 99% AND some of the best films ever made were in the 80s.
And who’s gonna vote 50%

Fixed.
You may vote multiple times now if you wish

 

[Griff]

Enjoyed Weird Science at the pictures.

 

[Griff]

Fell asleep through the Mad Max one with Tina Turner, forget what it was called.

 

[Spymaster]

80s films were highly representative of 80s life.

A background of supreme naffness, punctuated by moments of brilliance.

 

[Chz]

Fixed.
You may vote multiple times now if you wish

Thank-you. Voted 99% crap and some of the best films.
The Terminator and Aliens both stand up well. Ghostbusters, it pains me to say, doesn't. Raiders is still pretty good, Empire Strikes Back, The Thing, Die Hard, etc...

 

[A380]

Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Empire Strikes Back

Back to the future

Gregory's Girl

Who Framed Rodger Rabbit

Amadeus

Rain Man

Chariots of Fire

Terminator

Aliens


Do I need to go on?

 

[skyscraper101]

Top Gun

Beverly Hills Cop

Crocodile Dundee

 

[Spandex]

The Long Good Friday (1980)
The Shining (1980)
The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
An American Werewolf in London (1981)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
The Thing (1982)
Bladerunner (1982)
The Terminator (1984)
Repo Man (1984)
This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
Brazil (1985)
Back to the Future (1985)
Desperately Seeking Susan (1985)
Castle in the Sky (1986)
Aliens (1986)
Die Hard (1988)
My Neighbour Totoro (1988)
Akira (1988)
Heathers (1988)
Do the Right Thing (1989)
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)
The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (1989)

There's loads of great films from the 80s ffs.

 

[Spymaster]

Full Metal Jacket
Trading Places
Purple Rain
Top Gun
Beverley Hills Cop
Wall Street
A Fish Called Wanda
Das Boot
Platoon
Blues Brothers
Amadeus
Ferris Buellers Day Off

 

[skyscraper101]

The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (1989)

That's a film I could happily never watch again. Some of the weirdest most tedious shite I ever saw.

 

[8ball]

Name a few?

Doesn’t look like I need to at this point.

 

[Aladdin]

Conan, what is best in life?
Predator.
The Shining & Full Metal Jacket
Red Heat
Kindergarten Cop & Twins

I could go on.

Kindergarten cop was rubbish though..

Ferris Buellers Day Off Spymaster ? Did you watch it in the 2020s and still think it was great?

 

[girasol]

I voted 50% were not crap as the only option saying some were good some were not - but I've no idea what percentage really... I was mostly in my teenage years in the 80s so I watched A LOT of 80s movies at an impressionable age. Not listing them as others have already listed quite a few, but also, I probably forgot loads.

Also, ET was fucking good, ok??? Still is

Oh I remember one, Angel Heart. Although I'm not entirely sure it was actually good, or just me, being really young, thinking it was good.

Flashdance! (more groundbreaking than you might think)
Dirty Dancing...

This whole podcast series about the 80s is very interesting by the way. I listened to it last year.

1983: MTV Aesthetics, Flashdance and Risky Business (Erotic 80s Part 6) — You Must Remember This

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify . While the music video was still in its infancy as a cultural phenomenon, two films were released that were accused of aping the “MTV aesthetic”: Adrian Lyne’s Flashdance , and Risky Business , which turned Tom Cruise into a major star.

www.youmustrememberthispodcast.com

1987: Fatal Attraction and Dirty Dancing (Erotic 80s Part 10) — You Must Remember This

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify . The erotic thriller goes commercially mainstream with Fatal Attraction , a film which starts a national conversation about whether or not women can “have it all” – “it all” meaning both careers and marriage. Is Fatal Attraction an indict

www.youmustrememberthispodcast.com

 

[Griff]

Repo Man
Walker

 

[savoloysam]

Purple Rain!

Aye shit film but the best extended music video around.

 

[Griff]

Remember seeing Altered States (1980) in the early days of VHS and it terrified me, not sure I'd want to watch it again.

 

[savoloysam]

Christine ( so bad you just have to watch it )

 

[Aladdin]

Time Bandits ... I remember thinking when I first saw it that it was brilliant.
Watched it again last Christmas and thought meh!! It pissed me off that I didnt find it great anymore.
Same with a lot of the films from then. Many just don't hold up well now.

With the exception of some Stephen King films and a few sci fi
..Bladerunner...Aliens..Star Wars..Indiana Jones (1,2 )

 

[Aladdin]

Christine ( so bad you just have to watch it )

Agree...Watched that in 2000 in the Czech Republic. It was crap.. but felt compelled to watch it to the end which was crap also.