Tuesday, October 14, 2008

1984 All Over Again

While I was nostalgizing 1984 earlier, I dialed up this listing of all the movies that came out that year. What a year. Sure cinephiles would blanch at the list, but for people around my age, it's a veritable what's-what of movies.

Take these weekends for example:

Feb 17: Blame It on Rio, Footloose
March 2: Against All Odds, This Is Spinal Tap, Repo Man
June 8: Beat Street, Ghostbusters, Gremlins
June 22: The Pope of Greenwich Village, Top Secret!, The Karate Kid
June 29: Bachelor Party, Cannonball Run II, Conan the Destroyer

Check it out. Lots more great movies.
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10 comments:

  1. wobblieOctober 14, 2008 at 6:46 PM

    No, no, no, and a thousand times no. There is absolutely no way - none - that Cannonball Run II and "great movie" in the same breath. I can't even ironically call it a great movie. No, no, no.

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  2. wobblieOctober 14, 2008 at 6:48 PM

    There should be a "can be uttered" placed in that comment somewhere.

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  3. dave3544October 14, 2008 at 6:51 PM

    Watch it again my friend. Soak up the Jamie Farr. Have a big helping of Dom DeLuise. And for God's sake, bury yourself in Burt Reynolds. (Not to mention the ladies!)

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  4. wobblieOctober 14, 2008 at 7:22 PM

    No. That movie wasn't even remarkable for its mediocrity. I saw it not even all of once, despite it being on Showtime twice a day. And trust me, I wasn't a child of discriminating tastes at the age of ten.

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  5. kevin maierOctober 14, 2008 at 7:46 PM

    what a list!

    i'm w/ wobs, tho', how can you list cannonball run II, and not hot dog, this is spinal tap, police academy, sixteen candles, revenge of the nerds, teachers, stranger than paradise, the killing fields, paris texas, beverly hills cop, dune, breakin' II: electric boogaloo, johnny dangerously, or purple rain?

    and man: red dawn and the natural remain two of my all time favorites.

    1984 was a fine year.

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  6. lex dexterOctober 14, 2008 at 7:57 PM

    kevbo,

    the Natural is an all-time fave of yours? how?

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  7. dave3544October 14, 2008 at 8:40 PM

    Oh, I love all those movies (at least as cultural objects). i didn't list them because they didn't open with other great movies on a weekend/ran out of time.

    If you were 12, like myself, in 1984, Cannonball Run II would have held way more appeal than The Natural.

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  8. AnonymousOctober 14, 2008 at 9:15 PM

    I love Cannonball Run. I learned a lot about vulgarity from those movies.

    Anyway, I'm not surprised that Prince has taken the lead with the Purple Rain alb. Who voted Tina Turner?

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  9. wobblieOctober 14, 2008 at 10:42 PM

    Breakin' II - now there was a 1984 sequel worthy of a shout-out.

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  10. kevin maierOctober 15, 2008 at 5:25 PM

    "the Natural is an all-time fave of yours? how?"

    Dear Lex,
    as a rule, I don't watch movies more than once. i saw the natural at a formative time--when my favorite TV show was Johnny Bench's Baseball Bunch, if that gives you a sense of timing--and I have a few very vivid memories from that movie. i couldn't tell you the plot, but there are some lovely images involving well-lit baseball action.

    should I not watch it again? what's wrong with it?

    lyrically yours,

    km

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