Fame-grabbing losers, noodle nirvana, and Yuppie angst: the Best Movies of the 1980s
Jul 04 '02 (Updated Oct 14 '02)
The Bottom Line I'd love to hear your thoughts; please leave a comment re the list, okay?
The 1980s weren't a particularly good decade for movies, but here's ten that stand out in my mind:
10. Roger & Me (1989)
The late New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael really disliked this movie. Her complaint: the director, Michael Moore "improvises his version of history" (it should be stated that events shown are not necessarily in chronological order and Moore does, indeed, fiddle with the time sequence). But Kael misses the point. For as Roger Ebert noted, the movie's less a documentary and more a revenge comedy. Believe me: the last thing on Moore's mind is a fair fight. The gloves come off as he goes after General Motors and its CEO (at the time) Roger Smith. Moore doggedly pursues Smith and is (ostensibly) seeking an interview—an explanation for all the plant closings in his hometown of Flint, Michigan (closings that ultimately decimated the city). It's an unlikely scenario (as Moore well knows) but he's hot on the trail and—as it turns out—the trail is more interesting than the destination anyway.
9. Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985)
Early Tim Burton and the first movie that showcased Pee-wee Herman (you can pass on the dismal second effort, however). You'd be hard-pressed to find a more complete character in terms of stylization. A thoroughly unique creation (although Mr. Bean treads on similar ground), the childlike Pee-wee is infectiously cheerful, playful, hopeful but pragmatic, gentle yet assertive, and ever-fascinated with the physical world around him. My favorite scenes occur early on as he awakens to a new day (content in his own skin, Pee-wee's approach is a positive one and he enjoys the enviable ability to entertain and amuse himself). Trouble arises when his treasured bike is stolen, but that only serves to kick-start the "big adventure".
8. Sweetie (1989)
Dysfunctional family life from the land down under. Jane Campion's first feature is a tale of two sisters: unhappy Kay (Karen Colston) and unruly Dawn (Genevieve Lemon)—who has been nicknamed "Sweetie". The obvious product of parenting gone wrong—one perhaps didn't receive the attention that was lavished on the other—the film's chock full of bizarre behavior and off-kilter camera angles (in direct response to that behavior). If, for no other reason, watch the movie for the terrific Sally Bongers photography (although, I suspect, these characters will insidiously burrow their way into your memory and stick with you long after the movie's over).
7. The King of Comedy (1983)
Robert De Niro is at the center of this Martin Scorsese film about a fame-grabbing loser. De Niro is Rupert Pupkin, a would-be comic looking for his fifteen minutes of fame on a popular late-night talk show. After traditional avenues fail him, he hatches a plan to kidnap his idol, the Johnny Carson-like Jerry Langford (played to perfection by Jerry Lewis). The film has an uncharacteristically static feel for Scorsese (the camera is less fluid) but the story is never less than fascinating—in the same way that, say, a car crash is fascinating. Sandra Bernhard makes an impressive debut (not counting a couple of earlier junk roles) as the tough, streetwise Masha—Pupkin's co-conspirator who's up for some "good old-fashioned, all-American fun."
6. Atlantic City (1981)
Burt Lancaster gives one of his best performances (also terrific a couple of years later in "Local Hero") as an aging numbers runner. He's a has-been who takes care of a bedridden ex-gun moll (Kate Reid)—spending most of his time running small errands or walking her pet poodle—but fancies a young would-be croupier (nicely played by Susan Sarandon). Top-notch script, with sparkling and memorable dialogue, by playwright John Guare. A real sleeper from director Louis Malle.
5. After Hours (1985)
This Martin Scorsese black comedy plays like a modern-day "Wizard of Oz". Paul Hackett (Griffin Dunne) is a New York City word processor looking to meet a nice girl. One day he meets Marci (Rosanna Arquette) in a coffee shop when she notices the book he's re-reading: Henry Miller's "Tropic of Cancer". He gets her phone number, sets up a date, and we're off to the magical land of SoHo—via a tornado-like cab ride—where different rules seem to apply. Like Dorothy in that other tale, Paul eventually just wants to get back to the safety of home—but can't quite pull it off. In the interim he's pursued by various women who get progressively stranger. I especially liked Julie (Terri Garr) a waitress who seems to be stuck in the mid-Sixties (her boss, John Heard, refers to her as "Miss Beehive of 1965"). In her apartment, if you look quick, you may spy the numerous cans of Aqua Net hairspray she's squirreling away. Also fascinating: the many rat traps circling her bed. And I love the way she switches records in a misguided effort to catch Paul's mood (at first putting on "The Monkeys" but then quickly switching to the more somber Joni Mitchell).
4. A Passage to India (1984)
A favorite from director David Lean and a nice end to his distinguished career. Based on the E. M. Forster novel, it's full of beautiful performances (by Judy Davis, first and foremost, but impressive, too, Peggy Ashcroft—who snagged the Best Supporting Oscar—and Victor Banerjee). Culture clash as East meets West and charges of rape are leveled by one side when, figuratively—and more appropriately—they could be levied by the other.
3. Drugstore Cowboy (1989)
A quartet of dope fiends led by Matt Dillon (in perhaps his best performance) rob drugstores to support their habit circa 1971. The setting is the chilly Pacific Northwest and the movie (based on James Fogle's true-life account) has a cold detached feeling as well. Being a dope fiend is a full-time job but ultimately a losing game—as Dillon, himself, admits in the opening scene (as he's being carted away in an ambulance). The director, Gus Van Sant, gets the mood just right without any moralizing or preachiness. It's beautifully shot and I particularly appreciate the close attention paid to the soundtrack (Desmond Dekker's "The Israelites" is a fitting highlight). Van Sant hasn't subsequently risen to quite the level of excellence shown here (1997's Good Will Hunting was fine, but he took a major misstep with his shot-for-shot 1998 remake of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho). Still, lets not write him off just yet. With "Naked Lunch" novelist William S. Burroughs.
2. Tampopo (1986)
A Japanese "noodle western" from director Juzo Itami (who also gave us "The Funeral" and "A Taxing Woman"). This one's episodic in style, but centered around a culinary theme. The primary story concerns a middle-age woman (the titular Tampopo) who is looking to open a top-notch noodle restaurant with the help of a Clint Eastwood-like truck driver. Funny, sensual, with references to Italian cinema: most obviously Sergio Leone, but also very specifically to Luchino Visconti's Death in Venice (Mahler, notably, can be heard on both soundtracks). In the Visconti film, a search for perfect beauty; here, a search for the perfect noodle.
1. Lost in America (1985)
Yuppie angst from writer-director Albert Brooks, who has been called the "West Coast Woody Allen." All of Brooks' films are, to a certain extent, about "finding oneself" and this one's no exception (also worth watching: Modern Romance from 1981). Here Brooks and his wife (Julie Hagerty) quit their jobs, sell the house, buy a Winnebago and drop out of society (in something akin to Easy Rider: "We have to touch Indians"). They hit the open road (Steppenwolf's "Born to Be Wild" gets things going) but smack into a major pothole on the roulette tables in Las Vegas, where Hagerty loses most of their money ("We found ourselves, boy did we find ourselves—in the middle of nowhere with nothing"). The landscape indeed looks bleak: shots of the barren desert outside of Vegas as the weight of recent events sink in. Brooks favors large symbols and Hoover Dam deftly captures the bottled-up feelings within his character. Soon, however, the internal dam bursts and we get the hilarious "nest egg" lecture ("You know what I'd like to do? I'd like to give you a small punishment before lunch and I'd like to have you write a thousand times on the pavement, 'I lost the nest egg.' Come on—say it first. Say it five hundred times, I lost the nest egg, I lost the nest egg, I lost the nest egg..."). Co-written with Monica Johnson, this is a terrific movie, perhaps Brooks' best (although he rarely misses) and one that earns its place on a list of great comedies.
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Tarantino's strategy: "...have the characters speak at right angles to the action..." - Roger Ebert
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