Movies of the 80s
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We love the 1980s. Everything on this page is all about movies of the 1980s. Starting in 1980 and working our way the decade, we are preserving the stories and movies of the greatest decade, the 80s. https://www.youtube.com/@Moviesofthe80s
Stories (122)
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Stir Crazy: The Comic Alchemy of Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder
When Sidney Poitier’s Stir Crazy opened in December 1980, few expected it to become a box office juggernaut. Yet the film about two unlucky friends trapped in a prison sentence earned over $100 million domestically, becoming Columbia Pictures’ biggest hit at the time. The film’s real magic wasn’t the plot but the pairing: Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor, two comedians from very different worlds who somehow sparked electricity every time they shared the screen.
By Movies of the 80s4 months ago in Geeks
Robert Evans and Popeye (1980): A High-Noon Hollywood Gamble That Spiraled into Carnival Chaos
I. Old-Hollywood Ambition Meets Comic-Strip Oddity After breathing new life into Paramount with The Godfather and Chinatown, Robert Evans set his sights on Popeye — not the rubbery cartoon, but E.C. Segar’s darkly quirky comic strip. He commissioned Jules Feiffer to adapt it, enlisted Robert Altman to direct, and cast Robin Williams in his first starring role. Evans envisioned a bold, musical comedy unlike anything audiences had seen.
By Movies of the 80s4 months ago in Geeks
Queen’s Flash Gordon: How a Rock Band Scored a Space-Opera Cult Classic
When Mike Hodges’ candy-colored Flash Gordon hit theaters in 1980, critics were divided on the camp, the box office was middling, and yet one thing cut through like a laser beam: Queen’s soundtrack. Four musicians at the peak of their pop power took on a full feature score—folding in synthesisers, film dialogue, heroic guitar fanfares, and that indelible call-and-response hook: “Flash! Ah-ahhh!” Here’s how the band got the gig, how they built the music, and why the record’s legacy ultimately outpaced the movie’s first-run fortunes.
By Movies of the 80s4 months ago in Beat
The Woman Who Made The Competition (1980) Feel Real: Jean Evensen Shaw
When Richard Dreyfuss and Amy Irving sat down at grand pianos for the 1980 drama The Competition, the film’s credibility was on the line. A story about classical musicians battling through a high-stakes piano contest would collapse if the performances looked fake. Surprisingly, they didn’t. The secret was Jean Evensen Shaw, the classically trained pianist who coached the actors to look like they belonged on a concert stage.
By Movies of the 80s4 months ago in Beat
When Midlife Melodrama Collides with Hollywood Politics: The Troubled Saga of A Change of Seasons (1980)
A purportedly witty dramedy about shifting romantic boundaries turns into a tale of studio meddling, clashing egos, director upheaval, sudden sex-symbol exploitation, Razzie notoriety—and, decades later, an obscure rarity. Here’s what went wrong behind the scenes of A Change of Seasons.
By Movies of the 80s5 months ago in Geeks
Rockshow Revisited: How Paul McCartney’s Stadium Epic Helped Make Concerts a Big-Screen Event
Paul McCartney’s Rockshow (1980) captured Wings at their 1976 peak and helped set the stage for today’s “event cinema.” We revisit McCartney’s own reflections, band anecdotes, critical reactions, and the film’s cultural footprint.
By Movies of the 80s5 months ago in Beat
Lance Henriksen on 'The Visitor' (1980): When a Cult Classic Embarrassed Its Own Cast
Actor Lance Henriksen has openly trashed the bizarre 1979 sci-fi/horror The Visitor, calling it incomprehensible and embarrassing. Here’s the story behind the cult film’s chaotic production, star-studded cast, and why Henriksen’s honesty stands out among Hollywood actors who have disowned their own movies.
By Movies of the 80s5 months ago in Geeks
Don Knotts & Tim Conway: An Unconventional Comedy Juggernaut — and the Lasting Charm of The Private Eyes (1980)
Don Knotts and Tim Conway forged an unlikely but wildly successful screen partnership across Disney crowd-pleasers and indie hits. Their final starring vehicle, The Private Eyes (1980), became New World Pictures’ top Corman-era earner and a cult favorite. Here’s the well-sourced story of how the duo worked—and why their last film endures.
By Movies of the 80s5 months ago in Geeks
“Falling in Love Again (1980): Steven Paul’s Bold Debut and Michelle Pfeiffer’s Early Break”
Falling in Love Again: A Short History When Falling in Love Again arrived in 1980 it carried a quietly exotic pedigree: a lush Michel Legrand score, a cast led by Elliott Gould and Susannah York, and the curious byline of a wunderkind director-producer-screenwriter named Steven Paul — who was barely out of his teens when the picture was made. Paul, born in 1959, wrote, produced and directed the film as his feature debut at roughly 21 years old, a bold move that set the tone for a movie that felt as much like an earnest family project as it did an attempt at classical, sentimental romance.
By Movies of the 80s5 months ago in Geeks
“Elliott Gould’s Hollywood Odyssey, 1980–1983: Big Studios, Tiny Films, and the Gamble of Reinvention”
Falling, Flopping, and Fleeing: A Triptych of Strange Choices By the dawn of the 1980s, Elliott Gould had already traversed the pinnacle of counter-culture stardom—MASH, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, The Long Goodbye—and had become synonymous with risky, unconventional roles. The years 1980 to 1983 marked a curious trough: big studio attempts, budget flops, and offbeat indie gambles. Here’s how that played out.
By Movies of the 80s5 months ago in Geeks
The Wild, Weird Rise and Fall of The Apple (1980): Behind the Scenes, Box Office, and Menahem Golan’s Big Swing
If you’ve ever seen The Apple, you know it’s not a movie you simply “watch.” You survive it, you tell your friends, and—eventually—you kind of treasure it. Conceived as a Faust-by-way-of-Euro-disco musical set in the “future” of 1994, The Apple was written and directed by Cannon Films co-chief Menahem Golan and stars Catherine Mary Stewart as Bibi, a singer tempted by an evil megacorp called BIM—Boogalow International Music. Shot in late 1979 in West Berlin and released in 1980, it’s since earned a cult reputation as one of the great camp disasters.
By Movies of the 80s5 months ago in Geeks
