Top 10 80's Cinema Classics

1. Rain Man - Not just a coming of age film for Tom Cruise, but a solidification of Dustin Hoffman as one of the greatest actors of his or any generation. It's the kind of film you can watch over and still derive emotion from it as you watch a haughty, self-centered Cruise trying to use his autistic brother to extort inhertance money only to transform into a loving, compassionate brother to his brilliant, but developmentally disabled counterpart.

2. 16 Candles - My childhood crush on Molly Ringwald has still not warn off. Who cannot relate to the angst of an eclectic teen whose meaning of life is centered around being smitten with the one boy she can't have and having her own parents forget her 16th birthday.

3. The Karate Kid - It was cruel summer in deed for Ralph Maccio after moving to a California High school where he became an instant target for bullies. However, what didn't kill him made him stronger as his will to master Karate brought him in touch with a wisened Sensei who tought him how to defend himself, and about how to achieve his goals in life. The struggle and eventual victory of this young man, which didn't leave a dry eye in the movie house, was contrasted by a poignant love story with Elizabeth Shue.

4. The Terminator - A brilliant science fiction classic and tour de force for both Arnold Schwarzenegger and Director James cameron. Never has a film tackled the problematic situation of time travel so well and serve as a foreboding visionary's warning of a possible future in which technocrats unknowingly enslave the human race to a group of machines that learned to think and learn on their own. Schwarzenegger's Austrian accent took nothing away from his performance as he fit the mold perfectly of a cyborg sent back in time to kill the mother of the son who would eventually lead a group of soldiers to take on the seemingly unstoppable machines of death that would one day rule the planet.

5. First Blood - Biran Dennehy's character as a hill billy sheriff had now idea of the the storm he was entering into when he hassled a scruffy looking "drifter" named John T. Rambo who was merely looking for something to eat. Sylvester Stallone, not known for his acting talents, provided a very sympathetic, and utterly human element to his character which personified the prototypical image of the haggard Vietnam veteran who had been cast aside by his country. In this film, however, he pushes back big time in a place where according to him "there are no friendly civilians."

6. Stand By Me - One of the best coming of age films ever. With a star studded pre-pubescent cast of future adult stars including River Phoenix and a then chubby Jerry O'Connel, Rob Reiner uses a Stephen King true story about a childhood search for an alleged dead body sparked by a 13-year-old's inability to cope with his own brother's death. While struggling with a gang of slightly older "bad boy's" led by Kiefer Sutherland who were on the same quest, they learn a lot about themselves, their weeknesses and the strengths that will form a bond that will last forever.

7. Top Gun - Tom Cruises sterling white, toothy grin and cocky demeanor exploded to the top of the A-List in this film based on the real life Top Gun pilot competition. Couple this with his risque romance with an older, but unbearably sexy flight instructor played by Kelly McGillis, along with a love scene backgrounded by the title track "Take My Breath a Way" and you can still get "goose" bumps from this film.

8. The Breakfast Club - A delight for fans of the "brat pack". While serving detention, a cast of high school characters ranging from a trouble maker, to a clean cut jock, to a nerd, to a reserved, but pretty girl use their detention time to first argue about how they're not like one another, only to learn that they're all really the same in the end.

9. Raiders of the Lost Ark - A bespectled archaelogy professor played by Harrison Ford isn't satisfied just lecturing about ancient artifacts so he decides to take up a summer job battling island natives and the elements to keep the Nazi's from stealing the Ark of the Covenant. Luckily, his previous job as a circus lion tamer gave him the training to wield his now famous whip to get him out of trouble. Director Steven Spielberg accomplished with perfection his goal of recapturing his childhood memories of watching Saturday matinee movies of adventure all day long in the 1950's.

10. Ferris Bueller's Day Off - A hilarious classic in which Matthew Broderick did what we all did back in school, skip occassionally. Only he took it to a more extreme level and gained more education in one day of skipping than he probably could have learned his entire senior year. Funny, and sadly, it may no longer be a joke in today's day and age.

5 Great Places to Buy 80's movies online

http://www.amazon.com/

http://www.fast-rewind.com/

http://www.stuckinthe80s.com/home.php

http://www.tripletsandus.com/80s/buymovies.htm

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