Remembering the 80's

I was stuck today. Not sure what to write about. I have lots of ideas, but I'm saving them for different days. I became a bit worried. Wondered if this was it for my blogging career. I didn't want to quit already. Not within one week.

I surfed the web, looking for inspiration. I saw it is Christopher Walken's birthday today. Thought I might blog about him and his movies and how he's a great guy that knows how to laugh at himself. How he has such a cult following. I know a couple of Walkenites. I do believe they have a mapped out plan to one day stalk him and meet him. I won't mention names though.

But I wasn't feeling it, the whole Christopher Walken thing. Sorry Mr. Walken. Happy Birthday, but I became inspired to write about something else. My childhood days of the 80's and the movies I grew to love.

The 80's was a great time for me to be completely influenced by Movies. The VCR was finally welcomed into my home. I was old enough to walk or take a bus to the movie theaters with my friends on hot summer afternoons. I was old enough to waste my allowance on 16 Magazine and Bop Magazine so I could wall paper my bedroom walls from floor to ceiling, much to my father's horror. The amount of push pin holes that multiplied in my room. (Sorry Dad!)

Ask any child/teen of the 80's what movies they remember most. They are not going to tell you Gandhi, Out of Africa, or Driving Miss Daisy. (All were Oscar Winners). They are going to tell you Breakfast Club, Just One of the Guys, Footloose, Mannequin, Top Gun, Dirty Dancing, and hundreds of other teen focused, cheesy movies that have defined that decade and our generation. The list just goes on and on. The 80's movies were the highest of all movies in the cheese factor, but they did cheese so well.

We learned so much from those movies. We learned to dance. We learned "Fair is Fair!" We learned that everyone of us is a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, and a criminal. We learned that a boy can be best friends with an alien. We learned "Nobody puts Baby in the corner." We learned that you don't f*ck with the babysitter. We learned Nerds can be cool. We learned that Goonies never say die. And we learned that "life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it."
(Bonus points for whoever can name the movies I quoted. No googling!!)

Everything was so bright, bold, florescent, big,and innocent in the 80's. For time that had so many movies about teen aged promiscuity it still remained innocent. Who can forget the time when Eric Stoltz realized that Mary Stuart Masterson was the one in Some Kind of Wonderful? When Tom Hanks saw past Darryl Hannah's fins in Splash? Or when Westley tells Princess Buttercup "As you wish."

The 80's also release classic adventure and action films. Star Wars was in it's glory. Doc Brown showed us and Marty McFly that we can go back to the future. An Austrian Robot promised he would be back (and he was. Again...and again...and again.) John McClane kicked Professor Snape's ass with bare, bleeding feet.

Sadly, the 80's are gone and so are some of its stars. You know you are getting older when the people you idolized and hung on your walls and in your lockers are no longer with us. Corey Haim recently passed on. Many people will remember him for the has been half of the two Coreys. At one time he was a bright, shining star. He was the awkward, weird geek in Lucas, his best role ever. He was the wheelchair bound werewolf hunter in Stephen King's Silver Bullet. He was the annoying little brother to C. Thomas Howell in Secret Admirer. And he was the vampire killer in his most famous role The Lost Boys. He was truly a gifted child and teen who simply got lost along the way to adulthood.

And we lost Patrick Swayze, one of the biggest stars of the 80's. He was the big brother in The Outsiders. He fought for America in Red Dawn. He was the boyfriend we all wanted and dreamed of in Dirty Dancing. And he continued into the 90's by making us cry in Ghost and by looking fabulous in drag in To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything Julie Newmar. He also was at the peak of the television mini series mania playing Orry Main in North and South, Books I and II. When you look back at his career you realize this man was truly a cinematic icon for his generation.

We've also gained some great actors and actress from the 80's. The jock, older brother in The Goonies went on to be nominated for his role in Milk. The geeky sidekick in Tuff Turf is now known to the world as Robert Downey Jr. The bully in Stand By Me is now known internationally as Jack Bauer. Duckie from Pretty in Pink is on Two and a Half Men. And remember that really nerdy kid that had to hire the pretty girl to be his girlfriend in Can't Buy Me Love? I believe he is now going by the name McDreamy. And yes...he is.

Back to Christopher Walken. Since it is his birthday I feel I should recommend one of his movies from the 80's. At Close Range. Excellent movie. He plays Sean Penn's criminal father. Both Christopher Walken and Sean Penn are excellent in it. And if you look closely, you'll see Jack Bauer with black hair in the background of some scenes.