30 Totally ’80s Movies To Watch This Weekend
Nostalgic classics from John Hughes, Steven Spielberg, Amy Heckerling, and more.
We often find ourselves looking for comfort in simpler, more favorable times. You know, like when the synthesizer was considered awesome. When the cordless phone was cutting edge. And when conflict could be solved with a dance-off. Oh, yes, we’re writing about the ’80s. The New Coke, leg-warmer, shoulder-pad, badass ’80s.
The decade is a wealth of feel-good, top-tier cinematic fare, be it a humorous dissection of the adolescent experience from John Hughes, a cultural touchstone that leaves a massive lump in your throat, or a rhythmic celebration of dance and music from a sub-genre that was peaking. Here, we’ve culled a robust selection of ’80s movies for your viewing pleasure. Some you know and love, and some you might be experiencing for the first time. Either way, our list is perfect for escaping reality with the epochal characters of a beloved decade—Chunk, Ferris, Indy, Baby, Loretta—because looking back at life in a time capsule is a is always worth it. Trust us.
Related article: The Best Movies Of 2022
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1
Moonstruck
Say what you will about Nicolas Cage, but the actor gives good performance. Especially as Ronny Cammareri, the Brooklyn baker with a wooden hand who sweeps his brother’s bride-to-be off her feet. That woman is Loretta Castorini, a role that won Cher an Oscar, and rightfully so. With fantastic supporting performances by Olympia Dukakis and others, this gloriously off-genre romantic comedy is enchanting from the second the moon strikes your eye.
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2
Working Girl
Melanie Griffith rocks a totally ’80s wardrobe in this genius Mike Nichols throwback about an underestimated secretary from Staten Island who gets swindled out of a promotion by her male boss. Technically a romantic comedy, it also puts the disparaging inequalities of man vs. woman in the workplace on full display and elevates the genre with an all-star cast including Harrison Ford, Joan Cusack, and Sigourney Weaver.
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3
Big
If we had one wish for the carnival Zoltar machine in Penny Marshall’s near-perfect Big, it probably would have nothing to do with size, or roller coasters, or aging overnight. But to each their own. Young Josh Baskin, played by David Moscow, wishes he were big, and thus, his wish is granted, causing big Josh Baskin, played by a brilliant Tom Hanks, to move to New York City, get a job, and find that damned Zoltar to fix this mess.
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4
Beverly Hills Cop
Eddie Murphy’s at the top of his funny game in this cop-com laugh riot as Officer Axel Foley, a Detroit native who gets involved in investigating a murder in Beverly Hills. In true Murphy form, no identity is off-limits, as the comedian tries on every personality for size, keeping us in stitches from beginning to end as he does so. There’s slapstick, there’s vintage car chases, there’s Eddie cruising down Rodeo Drive to throwback Patti LaBelle.
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5
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
Tired of looking out the same old windows, we could all use a day trip through the Windy City courtesy of a twentysomething Matthew Broderick in this John Hughes classic right about now. Broderick, who stars as the cavalier title character (or should we say Abe Froman, the Sausage King of Chicago?), is joined by some of the decade’s most notable players—Alan Ruck, Mia Sara, Jennifer Grey, Jeffrey Jones—and if you’ve survived quarantine without a Day Off, well, we can fix that now.
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6
Beetlejuice
Tim Burton, a visionary maestro of the strange and unusual, was only getting started when he unleashed his bombastic bio-exorcist on the masses in 1988, with Beetlejuice solidifying a solid sophomore effort—and instant cult classic—for the director. Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin star as a dead married couple who summon Michael Keaton’s poltergeist to scare an eccentric family away from their home. Plot holes or not, we have only one question: Where is the sequel?!
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7
Say Anything…
Nothing says ’80s love like a dude in a trench and high-tops, heaving a boom box over his head, blaring Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes” under his ex-girlfriend’s open window. If Lloyd Dobbler was looking for a dare-to-be-great situation, he just found it. Cameron Crowe, a director whose skill for fusing story, music, and emotion into one feel-good package, may have Jerry Maguire and Almost Famous at the height of his oeuvre, but for us, nothing beats John Cusack and Ione Skye in Say Anything.
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8
Back to the Future
A double-dose time capsule from Robert Zemeckis, this time-traveling classic hops from the ’80s to the ’50s—from an era of malls, Jordache, and Huey Lewis and the News to soda shops, poodle skirts, and Etta James. A skateboarding, bubble vest-wearing Michael J. Fox stars as our DeLorean-steering hero, Marty McFly, with Christopher Lloyd his wacky science guy sidekick, Doc Brown—the two on a mission to get back to a future that looks like it did when they left it.
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9
Ghostbusters
Ivan Reitman’s take on the supernatural realm—a kid-friendly dimension possessed by floating orbs full of green slime and demigods that manifest as demented Stay Puft marshmallows—may not necessarily reflect that of other specter storytellers, but that doesn’t make Ghostbusters, starring a troupe of charismatic comedians including Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Bill Murray, and Annie Potts, any less of a favourite. Keep an eye on the details for the Afterlife reboot here.
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10
E.T.: the Extra-Terrestrial
A tear-jerker from Steven Spielberg, E.T. is a film whose little alien companion was reportedly inspired by an imaginary friend Spielberg created after his parents’ divorce. And if that factoid isn’t enough to pull at your heartstrings, how about this one: The actor who plays E.T.’s best friend, Elliott, Henry Thomas, channeled the emotion of his dog dying to land the part. Gah. Just let those tidbits weigh on your conscience the next time you watch the film’s farewell scene.
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11
The Goonies
Is it silly of us to truly believe that an adventure with lost treasure, secret caves, and treacherous bad guys is still out there waiting for us? Until we find that map, we’ll have to live vicariously through Josh Brolin, Sean Astin, Kerri Green, and the rest of the Goonies in the Spielberg favourite that taught us three things: 1) Never say die, 2) avoid pianos with bone keys, and 3) Baby Ruths are ultimate friendship food.
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12
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Before Amy Heckerling was etching her name into the annals of best female friendship movies with her seminal ‘90s-era Jane Austen adaptation, Clueless, she was adding her 1982 Southern California campus saga to the list of best teen movies ever. Starring a bleach-blond Sean Penn and a super-cherub Jennifer Jason Leigh, Fast Times follows a group of high school students dealing with issues both light (dating, dope) and heavy (abortion, their futures).
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13
Top Gun
It’s dated: the bomber jackets, the aviators, the Berlin soundtrack—there’s nothing from Tony Scott’s warp-speed aerial action drama that even remotely resembles present day. But that’s exactly why you’re here, isn’t it? Tom Cruise stars as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, a cocksure fighter pilot who’s as smooth in the air as he is between the sheets. Kelly McGillis stars opposite Cruise as Charlie, his sassy, fluffy-haired astrophysics instructor and love interest. Long live the blue-screen love scene.
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14
Stand by Me
The Stephen King universe isn’t all spooky sewer clowns and forces of evil. Sometimes, the legendary novelist lends his pen to lighter fare, like the coming-of-age novella Rob Reiner adapted for the screen in 1986. About a group of friends (played by teen versions of Corey Feldman, River Phoenix, and Jerry O’Connell, and Wil Wheaton) who set out to look for a dead body—okay, of course, there’s a dead body—it’s the film that put Reiner on the cinematic map and King on every kid’s bookshelf.
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15
Dirty Dancing
No one will judge you if getting freaky in the Bible Belt with Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey is just what the movie binge ordered. A celebration of soul, romance, and liberation, Dirty Dancing is a film that will always remind us of Mom telling us to hide our eyes as Baby and Johnny bump and grind to Solomon Burke’s “Cry to Me.” But more importantly, it will reign as the most popular dance film of a decade obsessed with dance films.
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16
Coming to America
While we wait for Prince Akeem to return to America this December, get reacquainted with the 1988 rom-com that stars Eddie Murphy, Eddie Murphy, and Eddie Murphy. As Murphy does in a considerable hunk of his resume, he brilliantly plays multiple character roles, from the lead royal looking for a bride to the side-splitting Clarence the barber. Though, Arsenio Hall, James Earl Jones, and Garcelle Beauvais are on hand also.
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17
Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure
Textbooks, documentaries, two of the most endearing yet imbecilic rockers known to historians—there is no singular route to brushing up on history’s defining events and historical figures. But if given the choice, well, we’re not going to pass up a lesson via Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter who jet-set through the decades on a time-hopping phone booth as the ditzy high schoolers. Totally awesome reboot details here.
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18
The Princess Bride
The Princess Bride is based on William Goldman’s same-name novel, which in the movie is read aloud by Peter Falk to Fred Savage. The story within the story stars Cary Elwes and Robin Wright as Westley and Buttercup, estranged lovers who reunite despite obstacles that are the work of an evil prince. A highly quotable saga full of thrilling adventure, profound characters, and, of course, true love, it’s one of our favourite favourites. So if you want to go ahead and watch it on repeat, well, as you wish.
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19
Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark
The first in a franchise of map-following, artifact-seeking adventures led by the world’s greatest archeologist armed with a whip, Raiders of the Lost Ark introduces Indiana Jones as a professor tasked with finding a Covenant doodad before the Nazis get their mitts on it. Though Indy is mostly and gloriously static on Spielberg’s character arc, this wartime dirt-digger is still a face-melting good time.
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20
The Breakfast Club
John Hughes dominated the ’80s with his fondly remembered comedies that canoodle with the adolescent experience. So, we’d be remiss to curate a roundup dedicated to the decade without including his work. Arguably Hughes’s most prolific film, The Breakfast Club threw a group of disparate teens in detention, gave them real-life issues to argue over, and let the camera roll. We recommend a triple-feature watch with other Hughes gems Sixteen Candles and Pretty in Pink.
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21
Fame
Kicking off the 1980s, the two-time Oscar-winning Fame paved the wave for films of the decade to be dancin’ in the streets. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, Footloose, Flashdance, and Dirty Dancing all have the leg warmer-clad cast of Fame who were grooving on the tops of cars and twirling their way through a New York City performing arts school to thank for the pop culture phenomenon that would become the ’80s dance flick.
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22
Footloose
Admittedly, there’s a good chunk of reel in this 1984 classic about a rebel whose cause becomes lifting the dancing ban on a religious community that you could probably take a catnap through. But the pivotal scenes—Kevin Bacon’s Ren punch-dancing out his rage in a warehouse, teaching his flat-footed cowboy pal to move, playing chicken on a John Deere with the locals—make hitting play so worth it. Not to mention the glittery prom climax and throwback soundtrack are on point. So let’s dance.
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23
The Outsiders
Frances Ford Coppola’s class warfare adaptation of S. E. Hinton’s classic novel, The Outsiders, starring a cast of dreamboats in rolled-sleeve white tees—Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, Rob Lowe, Tom Cruise, Emilio Estevez, C. Thomas Howell—is exactly the melodramatic drama we all need right now as insiders. It’s like your old Bop posters exploded in a fit of real-life grease and cigarette smoke. And, yeah, man, it’s golden.
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24
Do the Right Thing
On the outer cusp of the decade, Spike Lee wrote, directed, and produced what would become a piece of monumental American cinema. Politically, racially, and emotionally charged, the masterpiece drama infused with bits of humor is set on a single street in Brooklyn and unfolds over a single day at the height of summer, the bigotry, hatred, and racisms of the nabe’s locals simmering and bubbling until they come to a head and erupt into violence. Made 31 years ago—hell if it isn’t more relevant today.
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25
9 to 5
Overworked and underpaid, the women in this office place comedy punch in and punch out, tolerating sexist remarks, fanny slaps, and hypocritical bigotry in between blackmail plots and fetching coffee for the boss. That is, until they’ve had enough. Thanks to a freak accident that takes the big guy out of his C-suite, the hardworking trio played by Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, and Dolly Parton finally get their revenge. And, of course, the movie wouldn’t be complete without the honey-sweet vocals of Miss Dolly, whose crossover titular hit bookends the film.
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26
Cinema Paradiso
Critics can’t resist the allure of movies about movies, and TBH neither can we. Films like Argo, Hugo, and Me and Earl and the Dying Girl spring to mind. All good, but nowhere near the heartstring strummer Giuseppe Tornatore’s love letter to cinema is. Told through a triptych structure, with different actors playing the Sicilian main character, Toto, in varied stages of his life—each one illustrating the titular movie house’s influence over him—Cinema Paradiso is your excuse to get lost in the magic of movies, the power of the picture, the freedom of the feature.
Photo: Archive Photos
27
Desert Hearts
Upon glancing at the film’s artwork—two women riding top-down in a convertible—you might be reminded of certain feminist epic involving Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon. But Desert Hearts is nothing like Thelma & Louise. For starters, it’s a romance. Set in Reno, where hospitality is the law of the land yet “Howdy Ma’am” is thinly veiled machismo, the adaptation chronicles the love affair between two women: one a straight-laced intellectual, the other a free-spirited casino change girl. The whole thing, from the performances to the soundtrack, is sublime. It’s also directed by a woman, Donna Deitch, whose handling of a queer story in the ’80s came with big risk, and paid off with even bigger reward.
Photo: Columbia Pictures
28
La Bamba
If you didn’t watch La Bamba with your mom and cry quietly into your Care Bears pillowcase, then might we suggest you go back in time and do that now? The musical biopic that covers the trail blazed by Chicano rock-and-roll star Ritchie Valens, and then delivers a wallop of real-life tragedy, stars Lou Diamond Phillips in the leading role opposite Danielle von Zerneck, who plays the love of his life. Many a young lady wished for just one moment she could be in Zerneck’s saddle kicks, with Valens crooning “Oh, Donna” directly to her. Swoon.
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29
My Neighbor Totoro
The Studio Ghibli, a Japanese animation house cofounded in 1985 by director Miyazaki Hayao, is just brimming with A-plus content. Each of the studio’s films, though all exquisitely drawn and playfully animated, is also poignant, nuanced, emotional. Our favourite of the bunch has to be My Neighbor Totoro. And not just because of the enchanting forest creatures—the furry gray Totoros, the silly slinky Cat Bus—but because of the comforting nature of a story about two little girls whose mother is ill, and yet, it’s not the end of the world, but rather, the beginning of an adventure.
Photo: Paramount Pictures
30
Pretty in Pink
Lending his prowess to nearly 20 projects over the span of the decade, John Hughes is quite literally the King of the ’80s. Concentrating on the teen experience—the cliquey groups, the universal insecurities, the earth-shattering romances—the late Hughes left a lasting legacy that will be forever be dissected and celebrated. Here, Brat Packer Molly Ringwald stars as Andie, an outsider crushing on campus hottie Blane, played by fellow Packer Andrew McCarthy. Anchored with an era-defining soundtrack and a prom climax more winsome than any other, Pretty in Pink will always be pop culture gold.
This article originally appeared in Harper's BAZAAR US.