My Five Favorite 1980's Teen Dramadies
May 24 '00
As the 'Tattooedjedi' of Epinions, my obsession with the 'Star Wars' films of the 1980's is quite obvious and apparent. However, as a child of the 1980's who grew up during the Reagan era, I had another love affair with the motion picture industry. During my teen years, I was really able to identify with the teen dramas that were so prevalent at the time. Often I was able to identify with the characters in these films, which usually focuses around the coming of age exploits of teenagers much like myself.
On this list, that is exactly what I will focus on. After thinking long and hard about all of these teen 'dramadies', as I like to call them, I was able to put together a list of my five overall favorites. Somehow, whenever I think of these pictures, I get a smile across my little Jedi face. They bring me a great deal of fond memories from this innocent, happy-go-lucky time of my life.
So with that said, here is my list of five favorite 1980's teen dramadies. This list is in no particular order, as I love each one equally.
5) Can't Buy Me Love
I recall going on a date to see this film in the theater, and being totally mesmerized. Since that time, I've seen this film probably 100 times. It focuses on the exploits of Ronny Miller (played by a young Patrick Dempsey <"Scream 3", "Outbreak">). Ronny is what some may consider a 'dork'. For his senior year of high school, he just wants to be looked as cool for a little while. So he concocts an idea of paying the coolest girl in school $1000. The scheme ends up working for a little while, as Ronny goes 'from totally geek, to totally schique'. The plots twists and turns until Ronny is eventually found out, and driven back to dork status. For some reason, I found the plot of this picture very watchable, and extremely engrossing. For a teen drama, It really had an interesting plot. Plus, I was really able to identify with all the pressure Ronny was feeling at the time just to fit in. If you have never seen this film, you definitely should give it a look. It is a fun, innocent movie with a great message...and a cameo from everybody's favorite rapper...Gerardo ("Rico Suave" himself)
4) Revenge of the Nerds
"So if they call you a dork, a spaz or a geek, stand up and be proud, don't be meek..." I can hear the song ringing in my head as I type. It's hard to believe this movie is close to 15 years old. It is the ultimate, envigorating success story of a bunch of nerds on the campus of 'Adams College' who rise up to beat the obligatory 'jocks' at their own game. Robert Carradine is Louis and Anthony Edwards (way before his days on "ER") is Gilbert, the leaders of the group of dorks. I have laughed at their childish exploits a countless number of times through the years as they tried to defeat the 'jocks' who were led by Ted McGinley ("Married With Children", "The Love Boat") and John Goodman ("The Big Lebowski", "Rosanne"). Come on, who doesn't think of the phrases "We want bush, pan down", "Wonderjoints!", and "What the f*ck is a frush?" as well as Gilbert's incessant laugh and think of the '80's? This is more of a straight forward comedy then the rest of the flicks on this list. It is an '80's classic.
3) "Say Anything..."
You knew I would have to include the story of Lloyd Dobler and Diane Court in this top five list. This is a picture that defines the decade for me. This poignant, funny and often touching story features a terrific soundtrack, and incredible performances by both John Cusack ("Con Air", "One Crazy Summer", "High Fidelity") and Ione Skye. Whenever I hear Peter Gabriel's incredible song "In Your Eyes", I can't help but think of Lloyd standing in front of Diane's window holding his box radio above his head. This movie dealt with teen relationships in a very adult fashion. It was extremely well done and thought provoking. It is a another movie I was, and still am able to identify with. This is a classic movie, that holds up very well, over ten years later.
2) "Sixteen Candles"
One of director John Hughes' best coming of age pictures. This movie centers around Molly Ringwald ("The Breakfast Club", "Pretty in Pink") who wakes up on her birthday, to the feeling that everyone has forgotten it. This is a feeling I used to experience way too often in my youth. This fun and sometimes funny, sometimes serious picture, ranks right up there when I go down my list of vital teen '80's films to see. Also of particular note in this movie are the performance of Anthony Michael Hall ("The Breakfast Club") as the nameless nerd, as well as the appearance of 'Long Duck Dong'.
1) "The Breakfast Club"
By far, the most poignant and touching of all the '80's teen dramadies. The concept: 5 kids - The jock (Emelio Estevez "Stakeout", the criminal (Judd Nelson "Suddenly Susan"), the princess (Molly Ringwald "Sixteen Candles", "Pretty in Pink", the dork (Anthony Michael Hall "Vacation", "Sixteen Candles") and the freak (Ally Sheedy "Wargames") are sentenced to a day in dentention in the Illinois school library. During this day of detention, we get to know a lot about the characters, and in turn they get to learn a lot about themselves. I recall as an eleven year old watching this film back in 1985, being entertained and identifying with each of the charaters in individual ways. The pictured helped to break down typical youth sterotypes, and helped to show that there really is a lot more to a person then simply how they look.
Besides the terrific plot, this film also had an endless supply of truly rememberable lines, like:
"Does Barry Manilow know you raided his wardrobe?"
"Demented and sad...but social"
"Two hits, me hitting you, you hitting the floor!"
"Smoke up Johnny!"
...and I could go on and on. Basically, this is a complete masterpiece of the 1980's. It is a movie that leaves you feeling like the characters really have accomplished something by film's end. It is totally nostalgic picture that really takes me back to the 1980's and brings my youth full circle. It is an impactful, incredibly enjoyable film that every teen should view.
Well there you have it, Tattooedjedi's list of 5 favorite '80's dramadies. Believe me, the list could have been a lot longer. Here are a few that just missed the cut:
"Ferris Bueller's Day Off"
"The Pick-Up Artist"
"St. Elmo's Fire"
"The Lost Boys"
"Fast Times At Ridgemont High"
"Weird Science"
"Wisdom"
"One Crazy Summer"
"The Sure Thing"
"Visionquest"
I hope you enjoyed the little trip down teen memory lane as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please feel free to leave any comments on pictures that I might have forgotten about.
Doing this list made me think about how much I miss being a kid! Awww, poor Tattooedjedi!
...as always, thanks for reading!
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