You won't see Raider's or Back to the Future on the list, but they're undoubtedly cool. I wanted to go a little more "under the radar" cool with this list. Not that there aren't some relatively big titles on the list. All these films have that little-extra-cool 80's edge to 'em.
So without further ado here's my TOp-25 "Coolest" films from the '80s.
A quick just missed list:Henry:Portait of A Serial Killer, Videodrome, Elephant Man, Bright Light Big City, Christine, Salvador, Blue Velvet, Mad Max:Beyond Thunderdome, and Return of the Living Dead.
25.The Lost Boys
Schumacher's film makes the list for a couple of reasons. Though, admittedly, it's a clear step-down from the rest of the list. The soundtrack is fantastic. Lost Boys transported Dracoola from medieval times(or at the very least the 70's) to the 80's. Some of the stars may have lost their 'coolness', but the film still has it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP_lSpeK69c
24.Blow Out
The first of 3 films that De Palma has on the list. Why not? This film is super-cool! I guess the result of casting John Travolta, the trashy-nature of De Palma's characters, and some seriously amazing cinematography. Cool similarities between the opening of this and the opening of "Body Double". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cjURzWLsks
23.A Better Tomorrow
"A Better Tomorrow" is an extremely cool little foreign release. Some of the music is a little hokey, but Mark(Chow Yun-Fat) is as cool as Dekker from Blade Runner, and "ABT" has some truly classic-cool 80's scenes. The hallway shoot-out is one of the best scenes from the decade. Great action, style, and a good story to boot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdQJWPOkNdA
22.Brazil
You just new that Terry Gilliam was going to have a film or two on this list. Brazil is a really definitive look into Gilliam as a director. A million of these concepts/ideas have been regurgitated over the last 30+ years, but this is the original, odd, futuristic vision.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mu1iND6vtcE
21.An American Werewolf in London
What a wacky trip. This John Landis' film is a roller-coaster of tones and genre-bending that is very self-aware, as well as extraordinarily entertaining. Landis had another film, "Into the Night" that was considered for the list.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ss0nT5DGHw
20.The Big Blue(Le Grand Blue)
The Big Blue is a vast, slow-moving, yet strikingly beautiful film from Writer/Director Luc Besson. I have my own reservations about how good a movie it is, but there is no doubt that it is cool. This could be playing on a backdrop at an art showing for all I care. A tough watch, but one that film-buffs would surely appreciate, The rest will think it's alright.. a bit long-winded at 3 hrs..https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyiWr0Tj8Yg
19.The Hunger
I still try to wrap my head around the fact that this is a Tony Scott film. You can see some of the style that he would use in later films, but this one has a raw-edge to it that none of the others do. I'd imagine a lack of funds probably lent itself to a more artistic, gritty vision. Interesting film. No lack of style/coolness here.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HV9RYXHytbM
18.Sex, Lies and Videotape
Read the last summary and replace the name Tony Scott with Steven Soderbourgh.
17.Time Bandits
Sure, this film has some of the camp that I was hoping to avoid on this list, but Gilliam has some unbelievably cool stuff in here. First, the film 'appears' to be in the future to start. Second, the evil lair and set-designs are incredible. There are some truly incredible scenes and nice effects. The early wall-pushing scene, the hanging cage scene, and every scene with David Warner as "Evil" is absolutely brilliant. Very cool movie.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Cfumd0JPBw
16.Re-Animator
One of the best opening credit sequences of all-time sets the mood, and then the dark humor and gore take center stage for the rest of the film. I would love to go back in time and see this with a crowd at a theater. The reactions with the crowd feeding-off-of each other would have been fun. Very cool flick. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbSDxA9q21I
15.The Color of Money
From the opening credits, to the opening scene, to the music and performance from both leads. This is a cool 80's movie. Watching this film, you can almost smell the smoky hardwood of the pool halls, and cut through the dynamic of each, rich character. It also does something that NO other film has done, in seamlessly creating a sequel, decades later, with great references and meaningful nods to the original, starring the original character, and transporting him into his cooler, wiser, future-self. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekxqsN1hpY4&t=122s
14.Wall Street
Wall Street made Wall Street cool - a concept that seemed unheard-of at the time(at least for the average Joe). Awesome music, great editing, and Robert Richardson behind the camera made for a super-cool '80s movie!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHowSkou5rc
13.Streets of Fire
Walter Hills film is original, over-stylized, and, in a phrase from another cool '80's film, "pretty goddamn glorious". Aside from 2-cheesy '80s music video montages; the film is non-stop cool. Hills use of locale, lighting, and fantastical time-period vagueness, add to an otherwise straight-forward revenge flick. The music is superb Gritt. Diane Lane and Michael Pare' sizzle. This is one seriously cool movie..https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPAj3nZY3C8
12.Miracle Mile
I'm pretty sure that "Running Out of Time" is the same Tangerine Dream track as "Love on a Train" from Risky Business. Tangerine Dream edges just about any film into consideration for a list like this, but throw-in an apocalyptic nightmare full of witty lines, colorful characters, rich symbolism and real-time action, and you end-up with what is truly one of the coolest little movies from the decade.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYceGYjivjw
11.The Hit
An extremely cool movie. "The Hit" stars a virtuso cast: John Hurt, Tim Roth and Terence Stamp. Mike Molloy does an admirable job behind the camera, and the film is only made cooler by the European pacing and feel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9e4cInKtHQU
10.After Hours
One of the least known Scorcese films, and the 2nd Scorcese film to make the list. After Hours is a spiraling deluge of oddball characters and missing plaster of paris paperweights. The scoring is sublime. Cool, cool flick.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzKeyYk0jAQ
9.Body Double
I'm a bit bias because I just love De Palma movies, but what's not to love about this cool little film? Tons of Di-Opt photography, a great genre skipper, and an effective horror mystery make this one of the coolest films of the decade. Pino Dinaggio's score is incredible.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMck6dqb2Sc
8.Scarface
I'm not sure any film is as 80's as Scarface - yet the film is a polished-grit of ultra-cool. There are a couple of side-roles where the acting and accents are a little suspect(M.E.M. - sorry for the bus hon). It's just an amalgamation of so much talent, Miami-color splash, and action here, that's it's impossible not to have it high on this list.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CQkS1BcnmU
7.Tron
The film was ahead of its' time. It may not seem like it when compared to the CGI of today, but there was something about the look that really worked, or translated well for a film about being sucked into a virtual arcade game with real-life consequences. For any '80s kid, who grew up in the dusty, crowded, quarter-eating arcades, Tron was an escape into the pure definition of cool.
6.Frantic
Combine Ennio Morricone's music and the best Hitchcock-template of the decade and you have yourself a very cool film. The opening, the roof scene, and the dance scene, are amongst the coolest scenes of the '80s. Incredible cinematography. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY-E8RS9vo4
5.Road Warrior
It never played like a sequel. Road Warrior isn't just one of the coolest films of the decade, or in film history. It just may be the greatest action film ever made. Nothing, not even its' predecessor, looked like this or felt like this before. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REAni_fAA-c
4.Manhunter
Michael Mann really put a bit more style into this one than his other films, imo. Immensely cool movie. The blue lighting is both figuratively and literally cool. Mann repeated and improved on some of the tricks he had played-around-with in the movie, "Thief". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkGeBpxBuPs
3.To Live and Die in LA
Friedkin had more films from the late-70's that would have made this list. Great music from Wang Chung, and such a daring ending. Razor sharp direction, great action/pacing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tl9wZRoxT3A
2.Thief
The coolest opening and ending of the '80s. "Drive", only made decades before. James Caan adds to the cool factor. Oozes cool. Haven't heard of this? Well... we're waiting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEvomyYkIPY&t=173s
1.Blade Runner
Hard to argue against this as the coolest movie of the '80s. It's STILL NOT dated. The music by Vangelis is hypnotizing, and the film breaks all the conventional rules of the time. "Blade Runner" pushed the visual envelope while staying true to the definition of science-fiction. Dekker was vulnerable, but tough, and no other film from the era transported the audience into such a mysterious world with apt futuristic themes. Blade Runner is the coolest film from the '80s. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFJF2CRASRM
Thanks for stoppin' by.
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