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80s films were crap. Yes? No?

80s films...crap / not crap

  • 99% were totally crap

    Votes: 9 22.0%
  • 50% were not crap

    Votes: 11 26.8%
  • My favourite films are from the 80s

    Votes: 7 17.1%
  • I was barely born..90s films were my thing.

    Votes: 2 4.9%
  • Some of the best films ever made were from the 80s (name them)

    Votes: 24 58.5%

  • Total voters
    41
I've tried to enjoy ET I really have but it's just so boring. I'm not 100% sure I have seen it the whole way through just because so little of note happens and it just won't hold my attention. My recollection is Goblin, teddy bears, army men, push bike, moon, spaceship. Somewhere in there it points at a phone. I feel like I've spent days watching it and that's all I can tease out.
It was actually Spielberg who heralded in terrible films. What has he done that’s decent? Duel, Jaws and Schindler’s List. Anything else?
Then every other fucker followed suit.
 
It was actually Spielberg who heralded in terrible films. What has he done that’s decent? Duel, Jaws and Schindler’s List. Anything else?
Then every other fucker followed suit.
Catch me if you can - I was genuinely sorry when that one was over.

His major defect is that his emotional development seems to have stopped at the age of 14. A far cry from Hitchcock's "I have the heart of a ten year old boy, I keep it in a jar on my desk".
 
I was just going to come on and say Blade Runner and drop my mic. But its already been mentioned.

Lots of other great 80s films though.

Evil Dead, Evil Dead II, Gregory's Girl, Withnail & I, Brazil, Midnight Run, Full Metal Jacket, Blood Simple, My Beautiful Launderette, Aliens, An American Werewolf in London, Gothic, Hellraiser, Dune, Elephant Man, The Hunger, The Lost Boys, Terminator, Mississippi Burning, Escape From New York, The Thing, Mad Max 2, The Return of the Living Dead, Day of the Dead, The Fly, Scanners, Videodrome, The Company of Wolves, The Dark Crystal, When The Wind Blows, Stand By Me, Blue Velvet, Repo Man, Karate Kid, and Rising Damp :p
 
Just had a butchers at some internet lists of the best films from the 80s and hear are some less obvious ones:
Local Hero
Miracle Mile
Matewan
Brother From Another Planet
Near Dark
The Vanishing
Withnail & I
Drowning By Numbers
The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, Her Lover and His Roasted Penis
Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure
Return Of The Jedi
Midnight Run
Atlantic City
Full Metal Jacket
The Shining
Do The Right Thing
Hollywood Shuffle
Trading Places
48 Hours
Beverly Hills Cop
Heathers
Drugstore Cowboy
Blood Simple
Raising Arizona
The Killer
The Long Good Friday
Evil Dead 2
Top Gun
Akira
My Dinner With Andre
Big
My Beautiful Launderette
My Neighbour Totoro
The Elephant Man
Blue Velvet
Escape From New York
The Thing
Big Trouble In Little China
Prince Of Darkness
They Live
Risky Business
Repo Man
Elephant
Fast Times At Ridgemont High
Rumble Fish
The Outsiders
Birdy
Moonstruck
Vampire’s Kiss
This Is Spinal Tap
The Man With Two Brains
Raging Bull
The King Of Comedy
After Hours
Paris, Texas
The Right Stuff
An American Werewolf In London
Stop Making Sense
Blow Out
Scarface
The Untouchables
Casualties Of War
Platoon
Salvador
Wall Street
Something Wild
Brazil
Time Bandits
Come & See
Stranger Than Paradise
Down By Law
Mystery Train
Shoah
Ran
She’s Gotta Have It
School Daze
Scanners
Videodrome
The Dead Zone
The Fly
Dead Ringers
Stand By Me
Once Upon A Time In America
National Lampoon’s European Vacation
Ski School

Bored now, but there’s loads more
That list has a few crappy films in it. Possibly entertaining (national lampoon films) but pretty crap at the same time.

Which would be your top 5?


Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Yep... good one.

Three Amigos too ..I still like that.
 
Ghostbusters is absolutely fucking dreadful. I was astonished at how bad it was on a recent rewatch.
every rewatch or reboot or sequel that comes out puts it further down in my estimation, to the point now where I've decided to ignore it and all future reboots/sequels. It should just be allowed to lie down and die in peace. Too late to preserve fond memories though, sadly.
 
Name a few? 😊
The Shining
Time Bandits
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Repo Man
Paris Texas
Platoon
The Right Stuff
Do the Right Thing
My Left Foot
Blue Velvet
My Beautiful Launderette
Withnail and I
Rumblefish
Raging Bull
Mona Lisa
The Colour of Money
The King of Comedy
At Close Range
The Colour Purple
Empire of the Sun
The Last Emperor
ET
Blade Runner
Dead Ringers
Outland
Once Upon a Time in America
Aliens
Dangerous Liaisons
Stand By Me
Diva
Salvador
Mississippi Burning
An American Werewolf in London
Batman
Full Metal Jacket
Betty Blue
The Abyss
The Thing
Beverly Hills Cop
Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Beetlejuice
Near Dark
Romancing the Stone
Rain Man

Etc, etc, etc
 
The Shining
Time Bandits
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Repo Man
Paris Texas
Platoon
The Right Stuff
Do the Right Thing
My Left Foot
Blue Velvet
My Beautiful Launderette
Withnail and I
Rumblefish
Raging Bull
Mona Lisa
The Colour of Money
The King of Comedy
At Close Range
The Colour Purple
Empire of the Sun
The Last Emperor
ET
Blade Runner
Dead Ringers
Outland
Once Upon a Time in America
Aliens
Dangerous Liaisons
Stand By Me
Diva
Salvador
Mississippi Burning
An American Werewolf in London
Batman
Full Metal Jacket
Betty Blue
The Abyss
The Thing
Beverly Hills Cop
Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Beetlejuice
Near Dark
Romancing the Stone
Rain Man

Etc, etc, etc
That's a decent list of 80s films.

Which ones stand the test of time and are good to watch today?
Genuinely curious because lots of them are not that appealing to me anymore.
 
Last edited:
As above, I have made no allowances for the poor taste of respondents on U75.
Still have mixed feelings about Scarface, though.

It's a bit OTT, which reckon takes away from the gravitas of classic gangster films. That said, not watched it in over 20 years, so maybe a reassessment is due.
 
That list has a few crappy films in it. Possibly entertaining (national lampoon films) but pretty crap at the same time.

Which would be your top 5?



Yep... good one.

Three Amigos too ..I still like that.
Only two of them are rubbish but that was deliberate
I don’t do top 5s or even 10s - can’t settle on owt
 
Oh, forgot some De Niro stuff

Midnight Run
Brazil
The Untouchables
The Mission
Angel Heart

The 80s are nostalgic for many of us, but the decade is no better or worse than before or after. It's a generational thing, as ever. We're often drawn to our teen(ish) years in terms of film/music/telly etc.
I would agree and your point is well made.

Not related to your post krtek a houby


I think as RubyToogood has already mentioned, it wasn't a great decade for women in films. They were very much typecast and very much subordinate to the male characters even when given some semblance of equality.

Working 9 to 5 was where things were at as regards women only in lead parts. Then came Working Girl...still she was a subordinate character trying to make her way to the glass ceiling. Changing herself to fit a model that was more acceptable.
Many of them were what some now call "of their time"but even as a young kid I felt it was wrong.

I watched an 80s film last night after seeing a clip on another thread. Bukowskis Crazy Love. Sorry to all the Bulowski fans but it was uncontrolled 80s typical male dominated fetishising of women and the whole young boy discovers sex then gets covered in acne and feels he will never have sex. The ending weirded me out.

There were some weird as fuck films in the 80s too.
 
I would agree and your point is well made.

Not related to your post krtek a houby


I think as RubyToogood has already mentioned, it wasn't a great decade for women in films. They were very much typecast and very much subordinate to the male characters even when given some semblance of equality.

Working 9 to 5 was where things were at as regards women only in lead parts. Then came Working Girl...still she was a subordinate character trying to make her way to the glass ceiling. Changing herself to fit a model that was more acceptable.
Many of them were what some now call "of their time"but even as a young kid I felt it was wrong.

I watched an 80s film last night after seeing a clip on another thread. Bukowskis Crazy Love. Sorry to all the Bulowski fans but it was uncontrolled 80s typical male dominated fetishising of women and the whole young boy discovers sex then gets covered in acne and feels he will never have sex. The ending weirded me out.

There were some weird as fuck films in the 80s too.
Of course.

Have problems with Betty Blue, despite it being a favourite.

There's a lot of wrongness with the representation of women in cinema over the decades and it's only recently that's being addressed and boy, no pun intended, does it irk the broflakes.

Not heard of the Bukowski film you mentioned but if it's the famous novelist, it's kind of par for the course in his written output. Not that there's any excuses for it.

These days, am occasionally revisiting old faves in film/books etc and am more aware of problematic/offensive content.

But am more of a disclaimer it, than cancel it kinda person. Mostly.
 
Just had a butchers at some internet lists of the best films from the 80s and hear are some less obvious ones:
Local Hero
Miracle Mile
Matewan
Brother From Another Planet
Near Dark
The Vanishing
Withnail & I
Drowning By Numbers
The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, Her Lover and His Roasted Penis
Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure
Return Of The Jedi
Midnight Run
Atlantic City
Full Metal Jacket
The Shining
Do The Right Thing
Hollywood Shuffle
Trading Places
48 Hours
Beverly Hills Cop
Heathers
Drugstore Cowboy
Blood Simple
Raising Arizona
The Killer
The Long Good Friday
Evil Dead 2
Top Gun
Akira
My Dinner With Andre
Big
My Beautiful Launderette
My Neighbour Totoro
The Elephant Man
Blue Velvet
Escape From New York
The Thing
Big Trouble In Little China
Prince Of Darkness
They Live
Risky Business
Repo Man
Elephant
Fast Times At Ridgemont High
Rumble Fish
The Outsiders
Birdy
Moonstruck
Vampire’s Kiss
This Is Spinal Tap
The Man With Two Brains
Raging Bull
The King Of Comedy
After Hours
Paris, Texas
The Right Stuff
An American Werewolf In London
Stop Making Sense
Blow Out
Scarface
The Untouchables
Casualties Of War
Platoon
Salvador
Wall Street
Something Wild
Brazil
Time Bandits
Come & See
Stranger Than Paradise
Down By Law
Mystery Train
Shoah
Ran
She’s Gotta Have It
School Daze
Scanners
Videodrome
The Dead Zone
The Fly
Dead Ringers
Stand By Me
Once Upon A Time In America
National Lampoon’s European Vacation
Ski School

Bored now, but there’s loads more
The addition of Ski School at the end of this list is an absolute masterclass of trolling, bravo :D and I say that as someone who used to own it on VHS.

Loads of my faves in this list otherwise.
 
Not heard of the Bukowski film you mentioned but if it's the famous novelist, it's kind of par for the course in his written output. Not that there's any excuses for it.
Not seen the film but the excuse in the writing is pretty straightforward. He writes everything from his own point of view but he doesn't advocate that pov. He isn't trying to tell anyone how to live.
 
Not seen the film but the excuse in the writing is pretty straightforward. He writes everything from his own point of view but he doesn't advocate that pov. He isn't trying to tell anyone how to live.
The one 80s film that vaguely remember is Barfly, and then years later, one with Matt Dillon. Only read a couple of the books, and from what remember, women get a pretty raw deal.

You write what you know, according to some in the gig, guess he just knew a different life and times.
 
I thought we'd gone over this already, all 80s films are bad because moving pictures are of the devil and you should not tamper with such things.
 
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