By Trent Rosser
Last week I talked about some of the great movies from the 80’s. I had only scraped the surface of some of the classics from that time. From comedies to Horror. From Action to Drama, and from sci-fi to westerns, they were plenty of great movies that still entertain the masses.
Let’s talk a little about westerns. In the 80’s some of the best westerns arrived in theaters. Clint Eastwood, who starred in many westerns in the 70’s reprised his western theme for “Pale Rider”. One of my favorites starred Emilio Estevez and Charlie Sheen (Yes, the brat pack alumni that I spoke of earlier) called “Young Guns”. It was a portrayal of Billy the Kid during the Lincoln County War. It also starred Keifer Sutherland who portrayed Doc Scurlock. Its sequel, “Young Guns 2”, came out in 1990. Another great western which starred many big names such as Kevin Kline, Scott Glen, Jeff Goldblum, and a young actor by the name of Kevin Costner was “Silverado”. If you have not seen this, I would highly recommend finding it online and watching it. Kevin Costner went on to another western movie, “Dances with Wolves”. It barely passed the 80’s movie being released in 1990. It was also the first western to win an academy award for best picture since 1931. Theaters were not the only ones to have great western movies. Made for TV movies became big hits as well. Singer/ Songwriter Kenny Rogers brought one of his hit songs to life with “The Gambler”. It had spun many sequels as well. There was another made for TV movie that many people do not remember called “Desperado”. It was about a man searching for a witness to help clear his name off of a false murder charge. He goes through the wild west helping others in need.
Let’s also talk about some action and adventure that I didn’t discuss last week. One of my personal favorites is a story about a group of high school kids that hide out in the mountains and retaliate against Russian forces that is occupying their town - a movie called “Red Dawn” had teenagers yelling “WOLVERINES!” The remake in 2012 was not near as good as the original. Speaking of movies about teens (again), “War Games” had Matthew Broderick back again this time playing a computer genius who is being hunted by the government for hacking into the Pentagon computers and nearly starts World War 3. “Raiders of the Lost Ark”, with Harrison Ford was another action adventure movie with a franchise of many sequels.
Eddie Murphy made us laugh when he portrayed Axel Foley, a Detroit cop who goes to Beverly Hills to investigate the murder of his friend in “Beverly Hills Cop”. Like many of the movies I have mentioned, it also had a couple of sequels. Eddie Murphy also starred in “48 Hours” along with Nick Nolte. It too had a sequel, “Another 48 Hours”. Mel Gibson had not only comedies with the likes of “Lethal Weapon” movies but he took us on adventures with the “Mad Max” series as well. The first “Mad Max” was called “The Road Warrior” and it came out in 1979, while the second one “Mad Max 2” came out in 1981 and in 1985 “Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome” which also starred singer Tina Turner. Detective “John McClane” started his series when he went to a new high rise tower that was taken over by terrorist in “Die Hard” Bruce Willis reprised this role in many great sequels.
What started this two part article was seeing the sequel to the movie “Top Gun” with Tom Cruise. Besides “Top Gun”, he was in many movies in the 80’s. His breakthrough role was “Risky Business” it also starred a young Rebecca De Mornay. Many young men fell in love in one exceptional scene from that movie. Tom Cruise also was in a movie called “The Outsiders”, which had an all star cast that consisted of himself, Emilio Estevez (yet again), Ralph Macchio (the “Karate Kid” himself) Matt Dillion, C. Thomas Howell, Rob Lowe and Patrick Swayze who also starred in the original “Red Dawn.”
Swayze had plenty of hits in the 80’s. He became A-list status when he collaborated with Jennifer Grey again (she was also in “Red Dawn”) in the movie “Dirty Dancing. He followed up with “Roadhouse” in1989. He continued his success throughout the 90’s and beyond.
The movies from the 80s taught us so much. From “Adventure of Babysitting” to learning to dance in “Footloose”. We were scared with Stephen King stories of “The Shining” and “Maximum Overdrive” (Emilio Estevez, again!) and we were having fun with “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure” and “Fast Times at Ridgemont High. We laughed with silly movies like “Airplane” and “Spaceballs”.
I could go on and on, but again, there are just too many good ones to list. Until next time, “May the Schwartz be with you! ”
Rosser/Provided