Movies of the 80s
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We love the 1980s. Everything on this page is all about movies of the 1980s. Starting in 1980 and working our way the decade, we are preserving the stories and movies of the greatest decade, the 80s. https://www.youtube.com/@Moviesofthe80s
Stories (127)
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The Right Stuff: How the 1983 Classic Rewrote Tom Wolfe’s Vision—and Sparked a Gus Grissom Controversy
The Right Stuff: Film vs. Book and the Fight for an Astronaut’s Legacy There was a time when astronauts were among the most beloved people on the planet. In my childhood, I went to a grade school named for Neil Armstrong, and our district included schools honoring Virgil “Gus” Grissom and Edward White. These men weren’t just names on plaques—they were woven into the fabric of American heroism. When the Challenger tragedy struck, President Reagan said the astronauts had “slipped the surly bond of Earth to touch the face of God,” and regardless of how you feel about Reagan, the phrasing still hits with an undeniable, poetic power.
By Movies of the 80s3 months ago in Geeks
How Knightriders Marked Ed Harris’s First Great Role — And Why It Still Matters to Me
My mother was wonderful, loving, warm — but we rarely connected on interests. She enjoyed movies, but she never understood my urge to dig deeper, to pick them apart, to talk about craft and choices and meaning. She liked every movie equally. I was the one who wanted to dissect them.
By Movies of the 80s3 months ago in Geeks
8 Forgotten ’80s Movies Preserved Through Online Archives
There’s a wonderful thrill in finding an ‘80s movie you’ve never seen before — that tiny electric jolt, like discovering a loose tape on the shelf of a long-gone video store. Not the movies packaged into high dollar Blu-ray releases or algorithmically blessed on streaming services. No online archives are home to the lost, the overlooked, the movies that slipped between the couch cushions of the decade and stayed there.
By Movies of the 80s3 months ago in Geeks
When Hair Met Latex: The Practical Magic of The Howling (1981)
Before CGI became the default language of movie magic, horror was built with sweat, latex, air pumps, and imagination. Joe Dante’s The Howling (1981) wasn’t just another monster movie — it was a statement. A howl of creative defiance from an era when filmmakers had to make nightmares real using their hands, not computers.
By Movies of the 80s3 months ago in Horror
Lost Films of the 1980s: The Unfinished, the Unreleased, and the Unbelievable
The Forgotten Decade of Lost Cinema The 1980s gave us E.T., Blade Runner, Back to the Future, and The Terminator. But behind all those classics was another, stranger Hollywood — one littered with movies that never made it past the vault. Some were victims of bad luck, bankrupt studios, or bruised egos. Others were finished, screened for executives, and then buried forever.
By Movies of the 80s4 months ago in Geeks
Movies of the 80s: When Comedy Went Bananas — The Bizarre Legacy of Going Ape! (1981)
The Last Stand of the Monkey Movie Before the raunchy teen comedies of the 1980s took over multiplexes, before the wave of high-concept blockbusters and big-budget sequels, there was a brief, curious moment when Hollywood genuinely believed that the secret to box office gold was simple: put an ape in it.
By Movies of the 80s4 months ago in Geeks
Excalibur (1981): The Arthurian Launch-Pad for Neeson, Byrne & Hinds
When John Boorman set out to make Excalibur in 1981, he wasn’t looking to deploy marquee names. He wanted myth — a dream-scape where the actors would serve the legend of Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur, not distract from it. In doing so, Boorman assembled a cast of then-relatively unknown actors who would later become major figures: Liam Neeson as Gawain, Gabriel Byrne as Uther Pendragon, Ciarán Hinds in an early supporting part — and a young Helen Mirren as Morgana. This piece explores how they were cast, what they each brought to the film, the on-set narratives (yes, Neeson and Mirren), and how Excalibur served as a springboard.
By Movies of the 80s4 months ago in Geeks
Behind the Turbulence of Nighthawks (1981): Sylvester Stallone, Rutger Hauer, and the Lost Cuts of an 80s Thriller
The Forgotten Origins of a 1980s Cop Thriller Before Nighthawks (1981) became a Sylvester Stallone vehicle, it began as something entirely different — a third entry in The French Connection series. The plan was for Gene Hackman to reprise his role as Popeye Doyle, once again pitted against international terrorists. But when Hackman turned the project down, the script was hastily rewritten, giving the story a new lead cop while retaining the same gritty, urban terrorism premise.
By Movies of the 80s4 months ago in Geeks
This Is Elvis (1981): The Most Exploitative ‘Tribute’ Ever Made
A Horror Film Disguised as a Documentary It’s hard to believe that the documentary This Is Elvis actually exists. Imagine a found footage horror film starring one of the most famous human beings who ever lived, and you’ll start to understand what this movie is.
By Movies of the 80s4 months ago in Beat
Atlantic City vs. On Golden Pond: When Burt Lancaster Faced Henry Fonda in the 1982 Best Actor Race
Two Legends, One Final Duel In 1982, the Academy Award race for Best Actor became an unexpected duel between two icons of classic Hollywood. Atlantic City (1980) gave Burt Lancaster a late-career resurrection; On Golden Pond (1981) offered Henry Fonda a farewell. Both men were past seventy, both had defined earlier eras of American cinema, and both delivered roles that captured the melancholy of aging and reflection.
By Movies of the 80s4 months ago in Geeks
Before Miami Vice: How Michael Mann’s Thief Invented the 1980s Crime Look
The First Heist of the 1980s When Thief arrived in 1981, it didn’t feel like a product of the 70s or a glimpse of the 80s — it was the bridge between them. The grit of The French Connection met the chrome polish of the coming decade. Michael Mann, making his feature debut, took what he’d learned from years of television and documentary work and transformed a simple crime story into something mythic.
By Movies of the 80s4 months ago in Criminal
