Best Teen Films of the '80s

I was a teen in the '80s!

from JoeUser Forums
Got to reminiscing about the great teen films of the '80s... Here are my top 5:

Breakfast Club -- saw this movie about 150 times.

Red Dawn -- kicks Red Army butt.

Ferris Bueller's Day Off -- have it at home, still working on the magic number 150.

Some Kind of Wonderful -- Lea Thompson at her most beautiful. Oh yeah, good film.

Princess Bride -- I am introducing my kids to this fantastic movie. And loving it. "Is this a kissing book?"

Real Genius -- the zany exploits of a bunch of freakish dorks.

What's on your list?
45,684 views 23 replies
Reply #1 from JoeUser Forums Top

Red Dawn - Now that is a dated movie!  As they disappeared before Ron O'neal could utter his famous "Via Con Dios" line.

But then you gave 6, so I guess the other 5 are ok.  But I only liked Breakfast Club and Real Genius.  Ferris Bueller just bores me to tears.

Reply #2 from JoeUser Forums Top
Ferris Beuler was okay the first two or three times I saw it. Then it just got dull.

I like the others (and are slowly subjecting the kids to them) but I've definitely got to go with The Princess Bride as my all time favorite (behind Episode V and VI of Star Wars ... ) of 1980's movies.

Red Dawn - Man I liked that one. Even Patrick Swayze's cheesy acting fit right in.
Multiplicity - Control multiple PCs using one keyboard and mouse
Reply #3 from JoeUser Forums Top

Even Patrick Swayze's cheesy acting fit right in.

It was one of the few times he was not playing a "Girly Man".

Reply #4 from JoeUser Forums Top
Actually I like your list pretty much as is. I might add Rodney Dangerfield's Back to School to the list, but otherwise I think you have things covered pretty well.
Reply #5 from JoeUser Forums Top

might add Rodney Dangerfield's Back to School

As I am a big Rodney fan (even have his Rap!), I put that one at the top!

Reply #6 from JoeUser Forums Top

I haven't seen Red Dawn

My list might not be all "teen" movies,  although from the 80's for sure

1. Flashdance

2. Neverending Story

3. Back to the Future

4. TeenWolf

5. Short Circuit

Reply #7 from JoeUser Forums Top

1. Flashdance
2. Neverending Story
3. Back to the Future
4. TeenWolf
5. Short Circuit

Put Back to school in Number 1 for me, and you got it.  Guess Trudy and I are 80% in sync.

Reply #8 from JoeUser Forums Top
Sixteen Candles...not only is it at the top of my teen movie list, but it's also my fave movie of all time (it's no Casablanca, but it helped create some really good childhood memories for me).
Reply #9 from JoeUser Forums Top
Satisfaction made by MTV starring Justine Bateman, Julia Roberts Trini Alvarado, Scott Coffey and Liam Neeson. It was pretty damned horrible that it made it back to almost good....
Reply #10 from JoeUser Forums Top
I know I don't have sophisticated taste in movies but I don't care. These are some of my fave's from the 80's. Some good cheesy fun. Oh and the soundtracks. I think Lost Boys had the best soundtrack ever. In your eyes from Say Anything.

Dirty Dancing "No one puts Baby in the corner"
Beetlejuice
Can't Buy Me Love
Goonies
Gremlins - maybe not teen by it had Phoebe Cates so it counts
Heathers
Karate Kid "wax on, wax off"
Say Anything "I gave her my heart and she gave me a pen"
Lost Boys

I need to buy some of these on DVD. Thanks for inspiring the little trip down memory lane Singrdave.
Reply #11 from JoeUser Forums Top
I'm really of the school of thought that Ferris Beuller's Day Off isn't a teen movie, really. Don't get me wrong, John Hughes made a lot of lightweight popcorn stuff, but I dunno Ferris is a different level. The timing, the attitude, you can tell that he really isn't talking to kids his age or younger when he looks into the camera and talks. It's more of a message from youth, kind of like a diary you find years later.

Sorry, droning on and on. Some I haven't seen here:



Those are the ones that pop into my mind.
Reply #12 from JoeUser Forums Top
Risky Business. A real work of art, in my opinion.


I agree 100% (especially the train scene!)

My fav's gotta be The Breakfast Club. Anything with the word neomaxizoondweebie in it has GOT to be good.
Reply #13 from JoeUser Forums Top
Guess I did accidentally put six... but honestly I could've put ten.
Reply #14 from JoeUser Forums Top
Back to the Future was a great movie, as well as Beetlejuice and Pretty in Pink. But too many people said I look like Ducky. ::
Reply #15 from JoeUser Forums Top
I liked alot people already mentioned like The Breakfast Club, Say Anything, Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink, Real Genius and Stand By Me.

Everytime I see Pretty in Pink I crack up when Andie confronts Blane about how he was avoiding her. Andrew McCarthy's acting rocks!!

2 other movies I liked are Better Off Dead and Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
Better Off Dead just for the paperboy wanting "Two dollars" scenes and the 2 oriental guys who wanted to drag race John Cusack, while one of them did a Howard Cosell imitation. And Fast Times just for the Phoebe Cates getting out of the pool scene to the song Moving in Stereo by the Cars.
Reply #16 from JoeUser Forums Top
~~2 other movies I liked are Better Off Dead and Fast Times at Ridgemont High.~~

I LOVE these movies!! I'm so glad you reminded everyone about them.

Who can forget Sean Penn on Fast Times?
And the Howard Cosell guys are hilarious ("Language Lessons...")
Reply #17 from JoeUser Forums Top
I haven't seen "Uncle Buck" mentioned. It was an 80s flick, wasn't it? One of my favorites.
I, too, am a fan of Rodney D., and "Back to School" is another favorite of mine, too. Seen it many, many times.
How about all the "Indiana Jones" movies? 1981-1989. Can't forget them!
Reply #18 from JoeUser Forums Top
My fav's gotta be The Breakfast Club. Anything with the word neomaxizoondweebie in it has GOT to be good.


Go fix me turkey pot pie!
Reply #19 from JoeUser Forums Top
And Fast Times just for the Phoebe Cates getting out of the pool scene to the song Moving in Stereo by the Cars.
---UDigit

Phoebe Cates was the shit. Very hot. But.....Molly Ringwald was my gal. Not sure why, really. I loved anything she was in, even though they were chick flicks.

Anybody remember "Arthur"? Dudley Moore, John Gielgud and Liza Minelli. It was always on Showtime; I must have seen it a hundred times. Not really a "teen" movie, but it was hilarious.
Reply #20 from JoeUser Forums Top
Know what's on right now? Pee-Wee's Big Adventure! Yep, another great movie.

And Better Off Dead: "Go that way, very fast. If something gets in your way, turn."
Reply #21 from JoeUser Forums Top
The Rocky Horror Picture Show...though I don't have a clue when it was made...it played every Sat night in 1985-86 in Cincinnati to a roaring teenage crowd.
Reply #22 from JoeUser Forums Top
The Rocky Horror Picture Show...

It was 1975, with a long run in theaters (31 years and counting)!
I saw it for the first (through sixth) times in 1988, the summer between junior and senior years in HS, during a six-week run at our local theater.

"Oh, Rocky!"

"Great Scott!"

"Do any of you know how to Madison?"
Reply #23 from JoeUser Forums Top
Yup yup...I knew it was old...but then selling the "virgins" every week occupied most of my attention.

It showed every weekend I believe my junior and senior years. It was a kinda rite of passage.