by Nathaniel R
Continuing our 80s Theme November Party with 1984 now. Is this party overstaying its welcome? Maybe but what can you do when you've invited everyone over, picked a theme, and told everyone to dress for the occasion! If you missed the beginning we started the retro top tens with 1980-1982 and 1983. Cláudio has been talking actressing in those same years and Juan Carlos chimed in with some Best International Feature memories.
Without further ado my personal favourites from 1984 (in alphabetical order) and of course I hope you'll share yours in the comments...
Amadeus (Milos Forman, US/France)
[First screening: Movie theater with my parents. Most recent screening: 2015] Quite easily the best Best Picture winner of the 1980s, and one of the greatest of all biopics since it’s not dull or generically told (imagine that!) People often say that the ‘80s were a bad decade for movies but part of that disdain might be that the Best Picture winners almost always had high profile rivals that have long since eclipsed them in prestige and popularity.
Available to rent online.
A Nos Amours (Maurice Piliat, France)
[First and only: Late 80s video store rental] When I first started renting French movies or driving to the arthouse theaters to see them (there were a few but the closest was about a 20 minute drive) I felt so sophisticated. I’m not sure I knew the word “cinephile” in the 1980s (when did people start using that word?) but if I had it would have become my aspirational label of choice. I haven’t seen this coming-of-age movie about a promiscuous teen (the incredible Sandrine Bonnaire) as an adult but it apparently holds up if various Letterboxd reviews are indication.
Streaming on The Criterion Channel
Birdy (Alan Parker, US)
[First: video store rental, 1985? Most recently: Can’t remember though I did revisit it at some point] People don’t talk about Alan Parker anymore but he has so many curious and interesting films on his resume of varying genres. This drama stars Nicolas Cage and Matthew Modine as Vietnam war vets struggling to adjust to life after the war. Oh, and Modine thinks he’s a bird.
Available to rent online
Careful He Might Hear You (Carl Schulz, Australia)
[First and only: Video store rental, late 80s] An acclaimed Australian picture (Best Film Winner at the Australian Film Institute) about an orphaned boy living with his Aunt (Wendy Hughes). I remember being stunned by it way back when. Have any of you seen it?
Streaming on Tubi
Choose Me (Alan Rudolph, US)
[First and second: video store rental, 1985? 1986?] I was very into Lesley Ann Warren in the mid 80s. I remember this as an interesting quirky adult-triangle about a radio host (Genevive Bujold) a bar owner (Lesley Ann Warren) and Keith Carradine in a towel (sorry that’s all I remember about his character). If the Spirit Awards had started just one year earlier, I suspect this would have scored nominations.
Available to rent
Greystoke The Legend of Tarzan Lord of The Apes (Hugh Hudson)
[First screening: At the movies with my parents. Most recently: 2016] While I wouldn’t exactly call myself an expert on Tarzan cinema, I am not not an expert in comparison to 99% of the world. But what a useless field of expertise! I blame the triple combo of being wildly animal obsessed as a child and being gay (Tarzan always being unclothed, don’cha know) and being young at a time when Tarzan movies were always playing on TV in syndication (before hundreds of channels was the norm and only select houses in the neighborhood had this new thing called “cable television”). Anyway, this is the single best Tarzan movie (with apologies to the Pre-Code flirty fun of Tarzan and His Mate in 1934). Trivia: this movie’s 3 Oscar nominations (Supporting Actor, Adapted Screenplay, Makeup) are the only Academy nominations ever for any of the 30+ Tarzan movies.
Available to rent.
Romancing the Stone (Robert Zemeckis)
[First: Multiple movie theater visits, 1984. Most recently: 2022] One of the definitive movies of the 1980s. They’ve been threatening to remake this one ever since the first was a surprise smash but good luck finding a replacement for the fresh romantic/comic/erotic sizzle of Kathleen Turner AND co-star chemistry as good as she had with Michael Douglas.
Available to rent.
Splash (Ron Howard, US)
[First: Multiple movie theater visits, 1984. Most recently: Late 90s?] I was obsessed with this movie and have always loved Mermaid stories (chicken or egg situation?). I still think of this as Ron Howard’s best film. But I should note that that’s not a super high bar as he’s always been wildly overpraised as a director. Daryl Hannah was perfect as the fish out of water innocent in the big city. It upsets me to this day that she didn’t score a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical or Comedy even though the chosen lineup was pretty solid and the right actress triumphed.
Available to rent. Avoid on Disney+ since they’ve CG-altered it to hide Daryl Hannah’s beauty/booty. If it was innocent enough for families in the 1980s, it’s not going to harm any children today, you goddamn prudes.
The Terminator (James Cameron, US)
[First: on cable with friends –1986? Most recently: 2009] Since the early 1990s James Cameron became known for delivering on epic budgeted films that pushed the vfx envelope and were seemingly doomed to failure until they were drowning in ticket-buyer dollars, but his genius was first evident right here on a very low budget. 40 years later this movie still absolutely plays. Multiple other ilmmakers have attempted to remake this movie --excuse me, “make sequels to this movie” -- but only Cameron captured lightning in a bottle with those first two movies in 1984 and 1991.
Streaming on Prime and AMC+
That’s it. Though I should mention that one of the greatest docs I’ve ever seen (though I didn’t see it until the mid 1990s was the Oscar winner for this year, The Times of Harvey Milk. It was so incredible that I couldn’t help but be ever so slightly disappointed in the excellent 2008 narrative feature retelling. ( I don’t include documentaries on top ten lists because I feel it’s a different artform than narrative features and impossible to compare. )
Key US releases from 1984 that I’ve somehow never seen: L’Argent (French classic), Beverly Hills Cop (Eddie Murphy blockbuster), Blame it on Rio (Demi Moore’s breakout movie), Body Double (Melanie Griffith’s breakout movie), Bolero (infamous Bo Derek movie), Children of the Corn (horror franchise launch), The Cotton Club (troubled extremely high profile flop), Garbo Talks (Globe nominated Anne Bancroft performance), The Killing Fields (3 Oscar wins and a Best Picture nominee), Moscow on the Hudson (TV star Robin Williams’ big screen transfer), El Norte (Oscar nominated screenplay), Oh God You Devil (popular comedy at the time), Once Upon a Time in America (Sergio Leone epic), Paris Texas (critical favourite), Police Academy (launched a prolific comedy franchise), Songwriter (Lesley Anne Warren movie), Supergirl (infamous flop), Albert finny drama Under the Volcano (2 Oscar nominations), and believe-it-or-not, Prince’s mega-successful Purple Rain. Listen, I wasn’t allowed to see R rated movies but I *feel* like I’ve seen this movie hundreds of time since the music videos existed and the soundtrack was omnipresent and remained a perennial listen. Obviously it’s one of the greatest albums of all time but I’ve never heard the movie described as worthy of similar praise.
Alexander Skarsgárd's (left) screen debut in ÅKE AND HIS WORLD
Very few non-English language films were eligible at the 1984 Oscars in all categories, but of the Best Foreign Film submission list these are the films I’m most curious to see if I ever find the time: Åke and His World (Sweden featuring the screen debut of Alexander Skarsgård who was just 8 years old), the Oscar-nominated Camila (said to be one of Argentina’s greatest), the Oscar-winning Dangerous Moves (Switzerland because it has three famous movie stars in it: Liv Ullmann, Leslie Caron, and Michel Piccoli) , MacArthur’s Children (Japan’s drama about the US occupation of Japan. Screen debut of a 25 year-old Ken Watanabe), Pessi & Illusia (Finland’s fantasy film about a goblin and fairy), Tukuma (Denmark’s drama because it takes place in Greenland and too few films do), and When the Raven Flies (Iceland’s viking epic which started a trilogy of films).
Okay, I’m done. What movies from 1984 do YOU cherish?