Defining a decade with a movie: 1980s

[Klaus]

Breakfast Club.

But Wall Street was more emblematic of the yuppie decade.

 

[Filby]

The Breakfast Club was the first thing to come to my mind when I saw the title... though if it could only be one movie, I would definately choose Some Kind of Wonderful. Honorable mentions include pretty much the entire John Hughes "teen movie" ouvre, plus St. Elmo's Fire, The Empire Strikes Back, Back to the Future, and all of the Indiana Jones movies.

 

[CrusaderX]

The Empire Strikes Back, no doubt about it

 

[Dark Jezter]

Biggest movie of the 1980s in terms of box office gross: E.T.

 

[MonsterMash]

Oh tricky choice - teens and college years, so lots of movie going.
Aliens, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Empire Strikes Back

 

[GrendelKhan]

Better Off Dead

 

[Arrellion]

There are so many to choose. I would have to start my list with:
Highlander
The Princess Bride
Ice Pirates

 

[Hopping Vampire]

Breakfast Club Yo!

 

[CarlZog]

Im more disposed to agree with Carl Zog. If you want a sense of what the 80s were like, watch the Boomer movies.Their culture dominated mostly. From the Big Chill, the 60s culture was replayed over and over all through the decade. There were wagonsloads of Vietnam movies, or movies set in the 60s. The 80 s were about 60 nostalgia and dealing with the demons of the Vietnam era (and refighting the culture battles).

And yet, the most popular choice on this thread seems to be the Breakfast Club, which I suspect is a pretty good indicator of the average age of the posters. Boomers and the rest of the adult population may have gotten sucked up into spending the '80s dealing with the '60s, but if you were a teen in the 80s, John Hughes pretty much defined life and culture for you.

Carl

 

[Kesh]

The Lost Boys

Very 80's, yet still a decent flick. Plus, you get to see a young Kiefer Sutherland hamming it up. I still want a Halloween episode of 24, just so he can run around for a whole season with fake vampire teeth.