The Blues Brothers

     Where to even begin with "The Blues Brothers"?  It's just about as perfect of a movie as there ever could be.  Everything about this movie works.  Dan Akroyd and John Belushi, for one.  I cannot imagine anybody else in these roles.  They were born for these characters.  The script is wickedly sharp and witty. There are lines wizzing past here that Groucho Marx himself would heartily approve of.  It's got one of the greatest car chases in film history. Not to mention countless car crashes, and the utter and astonishing destruction of an entire mall.  It's a madcap mix of hilarious comedy, mind-blowing action scenes, out-of-this-world musical numbers, unforgettable cameos- Aretha Franklin, Steven Spielberg, Twiggy, James Brown, Carrie Fisher (who steals the damn show!), John Candy, Cab Calloway,  Bill Murray... need I go on?  The plot is basically this- two brothers, one just out of prison (Belushi), are on a mission from God to save their childhood orphanage.  Seems simple enough.  But Mr. John Landis has plenty of tricks up his sleeve here.  This is truly a monumental piece of filmmaking.  It's really that good.

     "The Blues Brothers" has achieved legendary cult status, and is easily one of the most beloved comedies of all time.  It's epic comedy- director John Landis really tops himself here with the sheer spectacle of it all.  It's truly outrageous.  "The Blues Brothers" phenomenon is quite big. It's amazing that it all started as a 4 minute sketch on Saturday Night Live, and is arguably the most famous film ever adapted from an SNL skit.  It's a timeless comedy.  It's truly just as funny and fresh today as it was back in 1980.

      This film borders on genius.  It really does.  If you have not experienced "The Blues Brothers", I highly suggest you hightail outta here right now and rent it.  Because I honestly don't know how anybody couldn't be thoroughly entertained by this movie.  This is one that I can watch a hundred times and never get tired of it.  There is not a dull moment to be found anywhere in "The Blues Brothers"- a sad reminder of classic comedies.  It's gleefully destructive, exuberantly infectious.  It's impossible not to be one over by this movie.  That's really all there is to say about it.

   

Hit Me With Your Best Shot by Pat Benatar

 

      In September of 1980, Pat Benatar released a tune that would become forever one of her most famous- "Hit Me With Your Best Shot".  This song would become her first top ten hit, peaking at #9 and selling over a million copies.  It's a bona fide 80s classic and one of Pat's most recognizable tunes by far.

STAR WARS: Episode V- The Empire Strikes Back

       Many cite "The Empire Strikes Back" as the greatest "Star Wars" movie ever made.  And it's easy to see why so many say that.  It's perfect in every way- and it's got much more character development than the original and jettisons its optimism- going for a much darker film with much more conflict.  This was the movie to see- it had been three long years after the original "Star Wars" had blown our little minds.

     "Star Wars", and "The Empire Strikes Back" in general, was a defining moment in many a child's lives- mine included.  I was absolutely, completely, 100% blown away by every single frame of these movies.  It's hard to actually pick a favorite of the "Star Wars" films- there are certain aspects of all of them that I love.  And of course, the original simply because it came first.  But I would have to say at the end of the day, I think I enjoy "The Empire Strikes Back" the best of them all.  It's a truly wondrous film- it really is quite spellbinding.  It's often praised as the best of the "Star Wars" films, and also as one of the greatest science fiction films of all time as well.  It's a remarkable example of screen entertainment.  A true space opera that equally holds its own and even manages to slightly improve on the original, as amazing as that is.

     George Lucas wisely gave up the direction to Irvin Kirshner, and the result is pure magic.  It's everything classic sci-fi should be- hugely intense and sweeping battle scenes, perfect acting, music, and direction, wonderful and memorable new characters, and some truly amazing light saber sequences.  It's the dark middle chapter of a classic trilogy of science fiction.  It's the "Godfather Part 2" of sci-fi.  And it's awesome.

Prom Night

     After the overwhelming success of the slasher classics "Halloween" in 1978 and "Friday the 13th" in 1980, horror (and the slasher genre especially...) exploded and suddenly it seemed a different teen slasher was being released every week.  Following up her immortal turn in "Halloween", Jamie Lee cemented her status as the official Scream Queen of the 80s by appearing in a handful of horror flicks.  One of them,   "Prom Night", hit movie screens in July of 1980.

     "Prom Night" has a strange reputation among horror fans today.  Although it's widely considered a classic slasher of the 1980's, just as many purists disregard the film.  Mainly because there's only six killings and nary a drop of blood to be found anywhere.  There's no nudity in the film either- unless you count a scene of Jamie Lee being stalked in a bra.  However, "Prom Night" does have some things going for it that many slashers of the time did not have.  For one, director Paul Lynch drenches the entire film in a dark and eerie atmosphere.  Many of the stalk/murder sequences are murky, and there's some great shots of darkly lit hallways in the school that are quite effective.  And Paul Zaza's super-spooky score helps the overall creep factor.

     It's hardly a flawless movie, but I find "Prom Night" to be one of the most entertaining and unsettling of all the slashers to come out of the 80s.  It follows the slasher formula perfectly- and proves that you don't necessarily need gratuitous sex or gore to be effective.  Not going all prude on you, I'm just saying that sometimes just a good old fashioned spooky atmosphere, some darkly lit hallways, mysterious phone calls, and an ax-wielding murderer will do just fine, thanks.  And "Prom Night" has all that in spades. 

   It's a perfectly decent little slasher/mystery that doesn't try to be anything but what it is.  It's slightly goofy and certainly low-budget, and that's all part of its charm.  It's very dated, with its disco-themed prom and hairstyles, but the nostalgia of that particular era- the late 70s thru the early 80s- seeps out of every single frame of the film.  And that's probably a huge part of its charm as well.  This movie was the 80s.  On top of being one of the most memorable slashers of that time.  It obviously struck a chord in pop culture, as this film has been remade in the 2000's.  

Friday the 13th

    

      John Carpenter's low budget shocker "Halloween" scared the pants off millions of people and spawned a genre in 1978- the slasher film.  "Halloween" was so fresh and different and influential that tons of copycat imitations soon followed.  "Friday the 13th", another low-budget shocker, hit movie screens that summer of 1980 and became a box office smash.  Basically taking the same principle of "Halloween", "Friday the 13th" added some very shocking and creative murder sequences, Kevin Bacon, a camp in the woods, and a shock ending.  And became a pop culture phenomenon in the process.

       The plot is simple really.  A group of carefree counselors are all trying to get Camp Crystal Lake opened for the summer, headed by one Steve Christy.  Camp Crystal Lake has had a rather unsavory past- a young boy drowned there back in the 50's, two young counselors were murdered, and problems with fires and bad water all have given the camp a "cursed" reputation by locals.  But Christy is determined that it's all hogwash, and sees a golden opportunity in re-opening the camp. All is fun and games at first, but soon we find out an unseen presence is with them in the woods- watching, stalking, and murdering them one by one.

        "Friday the 13th" is a bona fide horror classic today. It's LOADED with great atmosphere- the whole backwoods mystique it's got going on really works for the movie.  Director Sean S. Cunningham truly makes us feel as if we the viewers are being stalked in the woods with the other counselors.  Everything about "Friday the 13th" works- the infamous music by Harry Manfredini, the sometimes crude photography and lighting, and Tom Savini's wonderfully graphic and shocking special effects.  This film, along with Carpenter's "Halloween", scared the pants off millions of teenagers back in the late 70s and early 80s.  But not only that, but they connected with the movie-going public. We were seeing us up there- your average, all-American teenagers, in Haddonfield, Illinois or in Camp Crystal Lake.  This was a defining moment in horror- and very few recent horror flicks have been able to capture that certain something that "Friday the 13th" so obviously did.  Audiences simply responded to this film.

     It's hard to imagine today- but when this first installment hit movie screens back in the summer of 1980, it truly was extremely scary stuff.  The countless sequels have sapped a lot of the effectiveness of the original installment, much like John Carpenter's "Halloween".  But if you can just forget the million sequels, the franchise- and watch the original for what it was, it's a pretty effective shocker and it's easy to see why it became such a phenomenon.  For better or worse, "Friday the 13th" is a part of Americana.  We can all relate to this movie- we all know how the woods can be scary.  We've all huddled around a campfire at night, breathlessly scaring each other silly with ghost stories.  We've all been to summer camp before.  "Friday the 13th" is a perfect time capsule of the early 80's.

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST BY QUEEN

     Taken from Queen's 1980 album "The Game", the band scored their biggest selling single ever with the irresistible "Another One Bites The Dust".  The song was tremendously successful, hitting #1 on the US Billboard charts and becoming a #2 hit on both the R&B and Disco charts.  The single would sell over 7 million copies worldwide, and ranked #34 on Billboard's All Time Top 100.  The pounding bass line was inspired by Chic's "Good Times", and supposedly after attending a Queen concert, Michael Jackson suggested to Freddie Mercury to release "Another One Bites The Dust" as a single.  Luckily for us, Freddie listened to MJ.

MIDNIGHT MADNESS

     Oh, the hours spent laughing hysterically while watching "Midnight Madness" as a child...  This was supreme entertainment to me back in the day.  "Midnight Madness" was an HBO staple, and I'm pleased to say that this film is just as much fun today as it was back in 1984.  "Midnight Madness" was one of Disney's first PG rated films (the first being "The Black Hole"...), and although it was pretty much a flop in theaters, it went on to develop a strongly devoted and rather large cult following.  Repeated showing on HBO certainly helped the film's status- many of us grew up watching this on cable tv in the early 1980s.  "Midnight Madness" is hardly top-notch entertainment, but the movie is undeniably loads of 80s fun.  Here's the jist.

    Leon, a genius grad student, has planned the ultimate experience in fun and madness.  He's organized 'The Great Allnighter", a night-long treasure hunt, which consists of certain college students recruited to form 5 teams all designated by colors- red,white, blue, green, and red.  As the night ensues, they furiously and hilariously clash and match wits with one another in a desperate attempt to find and decipher all the clues hidden around Los Angeles.  Hence the title Midnight Madness...

                                               

 Although "Midnight Madness" is silliness of the highest order and far from Oscar-winning material, the amount of creativity that went into this production is astounding.  The visual style and camerawork are quite dazzling, actually. Although the characters aren't the least bit fleshed out- in fact, some of them don't even have names.  Doesn't matter though. It's madcap fun.

    David Naughton plays our lead character, and a young Michael J. Fox appears as his troubled younger brother.  Having the hilarious Stephen Furst in the movie doesn't hurt a thing, and even the great Paul Reubens pops up in a cameo.  "Midnight Madness" is chock full of fun locations- the Hollywood Wax Museum, the Griffith Park Observatory, the Pabst Brewery, and other famous L.A. landmarks all are featured prominently in the movie.

      "Midnight Madness" work so well because it's so obvious how much fun the cast is having.  It's honestly one of the most fun movies I've ever seen.  It's almost impossible not to enjoy this movie.  The creativity and energy are what saves this movie. I love this movie.  I've seen it a million times and probably know every word uttered throughout.  Yet it never fails to amuse me.  If' you're in the mood for a silly and goofy scavenger hunt 80s style, I highly recommend contacting Leon immediately. 

Enola Gay by Orchestral Maneuvres in the Dark.

     Okay I'm going to start with one of my all-time favorite songs of the 80's, "Enola Gay" by British synthpop band Orchestral Maneuvers In the Dark.  Released in 1980, it still gives me chills every time I hear it.  I cannot explain it- I only know that it makes me happy.  This is awesome and I'm smiling right now.

1980 in Movies