You know, when I think about life in the 80's
I remember sitting in front of the boob-tube,
watching the Smurfs on Saturdays and the A-Team after school.
I remember going to see E.T. in the theater and thinking how
cool it was that aliens liked eating Reese's Pieces too!
Yes, the 80's are full of great memories. Of course, for
each person, those memories are just a bit different. Just be warned
that I will be heavily leaning toward the action adventure/drama
side of the fence. That is, you are not likely to find a whole lot of
stuff about "St.Elmos Fire", "Dirty Dancing", or "The Facts Of Life" on this page.
For the time being, I am going to be supplying you with some reminders of movies and TV past. Some are links to the
home pages of great 80's movies and TV. Others are just accounts of my own memories that I hope you will enjoy. I whole heartedly welcome any
suggestions you may have for this portion of the page as well as ANY ideas for how to turn back time.
Movies
Space Balls
was by far, the best spoof of the 80's. The cast was full of great actors, though most were young and unknown at the time.
Mad Max, a cult classic if there ever was one. The truth is, most of the movie sucks...but the ending is one of the best out there.I think Mel carried the part.
Who could dispute that Ferris Bueler is the kind of person we all wanted to be in High School: smart enough to get away with anything but cool enough to actually do it!
(New Link!!,Check it out!)
Sure, Aliens is a sequel to a seventies movie, but I am not going to let that stop me from telling you that it is a great movie in its own right and it deserves some recognition.
Superman. What can't I say about this movie (and the sequels). Christopher Reeve will forever have a place embedded in my memory (in tights, ugh!!)
Television
Aaahhhh, yes. Twas' many an hour I sat as a child, glued to the television, neglecting all but the great spectacle of fake families and bad fight scenes. Those were (uhh... are) the days.
Remember MacGyver? This guy could stop a nuclear fall-out with a chocolate bar and blow up an embasy with a paper clip, all in the same episode. Forget Batman, if I am in a fix, I'd take Richard Dean Anderson any day.
And where would our culture be today with out that phrase made popular by the one and only, B.A. Barackus(aka MR.T):"Whachyou talkin'bout foo?". No TV page would be complete without mentioning the A-Team . Not that any one could forget about guys like Hannibal, Face, and of course, Murdock. Great show!
I wonder what the chances are of seeing The Dukes of Hazard reruns on anything but TNN. Sure, they don't get much more sexist, biggeted, or red neck than this, but it is at least intergenerational. As a young boy, I loved the car. As a young man, I love Daisy Duke!!
I don't like to focus too much on cartoons but I would be remiss if I were to leave out the cartoon that monopolized my childhood fantasies as this did. He-Man
was what every boy wanted to grow up to be. Eventually, they wised up and gave the girls Sherah. Whatever.
On another note:
If you are interested in that great series of movies known as "Bond 007",
you may want to visit the web site of a friend of mine, Big Dawg. His page is only up during certain hours, but it is well worth waiting for if you like the series.
You can e-mail me at jodull@vt.edu. with your thoughts.
80-89, The Era Lives Main Page
