Celebrating "guy movies" of the 80s
Let's take time-out to celebrate the "guy movies" of the 80s: Die Hard, The Terminator, Field of Dreams, Scarface, Diner, Escape from New York, The Empire Strikes Back (but definitely not Return of the Jedi!), Blade Runner and more.
Certain things define a "guys movie:" Lack of a romantic plot? That helps. Lots of action? That's a given. Gratuitous female nudity? No objection here. Side question: Can any John Hughes film be a guy movie? I say no way. It doesn't meet any of the above criteria. If there's any Hughes movie that comes, maybe it's Weird Science.
Some genres are home runs: College (Back to School), war (Platoon, First Blood) and science fiction movies (Star Trek, Highlander) are usually guy movies, aren't they? Sports movies too (Major League, Hoosiers, Bull Durham, Chariots of Fire), though the 80s saw the infiltration of romance into sports movies (Bull Durham, The Natural, The Karate Kid).
Certain actors help: Throw in Sylvester Stallone (Rocky III, Over the Top), Sean Connery (Highlander, The Untouchables) or Arnold Schwarzenegger (Conan, Running Man, Total Recall) and you've got a guys movie. Other actors (Richard Gere, Tom Cruise, John Cusack), ummm, not so much. Oh sure, you can throw Top Gun at me, but take out the Kelly McGillis side-plot and all you have is Iron Eagle II. (There's a split jury on Kevin Costner.)
Are you ready for my closing thesis? My final argument. Here goes: What happens when you combine all the above elements? A war movie that also has sports, no women and Sylvester Stallone? You get the 1981 movie Victory, the greatest guy movie of the entire decade.
Case closed!
Relive the music, movies and culture of the greatest decade ever with Times online editor Steve Spears. A teen during the decade, Steve is obsessed with everything from Duran Duran to Journey, John Hughes to John Cusack, and parachute pants to Reaganomics.
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Just a note that you'll get about a hundred time--Stallone wasn't in Predator, Ah-nold was.How about Over the Top for another Stallone flick? All I remember was that crazy arm wrestler drinking motor oil before his match. And, of course, Stallone winning in the end.
Posted by: Anonymous | February 28, 2006 at 08:12 AM
You're right, that was the Gov. in that movie. It's been fixed and the movie Predator has been banished from the face of the earth. Much as "Over The Top" should be. Worst ... movie ... ever.
Posted by: Steve Spears | February 28, 2006 at 08:41 AM
Nothing touches Blade Runner. One of the best movies ever made.
Posted by: Anonymous | February 28, 2006 at 08:45 AM
Banish Predator....forget THAT!! No way! What a great collection of "real guys" in that film. They should have given a film credit to Testosterone. I love that film.
Posted by: Anonymous | February 28, 2006 at 09:28 AM
Isn't it funny how by today's standards, a "guy movie" will most likely have fast cars, cleavage and, like, Vin Diesel or Bruce Willis in it? Oh well, at least Bruce has been able to transcend the 80's and the 90's.My vote for best 80's guy flick? Scarface, hands down. By and large, one of the most parodied movies of all time.
Posted by: Anonymous | February 28, 2006 at 09:37 AM
A quibbles (which, if you watch Star Trek, you know will lead to many more!):Chariots of Fire? I always thought there was a little "Brokeback Mountain" theme going on there ... maybe I'm wrong. If you need a scene with a couple dudes runnin' to music, there's always Rocky III ... "For duh furst dime in my life I'm afwaid. A man ain't nuffin' if he don beliebe in himself!"
Posted by: Chase Squires | February 28, 2006 at 10:34 AM
Jeff Probst LOVES Chariot of Fire, Chase.
Posted by: Steve Spears | February 28, 2006 at 10:59 AM
"I drive truck, break arm and arm wrestle. that's what i love to do, that's what i do best." - john hurley (Over the Top)
Posted by: kerri | February 28, 2006 at 11:10 AM
the two greatest senseless violence movies of all times were produced in the 1980s:"commando" (ah-nold), and; "invasion" usa (chuck norris).these movies had all the neccesary ingredients: lots of (bad) one-liners, submissive hot women (such as rae dawn chong) and untold dozens of people shot or blown up while the "hero" of the movie barely gets a scratch.i think my favorite scene in invasion usa was one of the "invaders" had his right hand knifed to a table by norris, and in his left hand had a grenade without the pin.now that's what i call a predicament!
Posted by: Anonymous | February 28, 2006 at 11:49 AM
Dude, you've totally forgotten about one of the best guy movie genres ever: the western!What about 80s movies like "Young Guns" and "Silverado"? Pals and partners fighting together, drinking together, shooting the bad guys, becoming heroes, and riding off into the sunset?
Posted by: Six | February 28, 2006 at 12:02 PM
While Stallone and Schwarenegger may be the first to come to mind, at the time nothing made for a surer "guy movie" than the theatrical stylings of Jean Claude Van Damme and/or Steven Segal. "The muscles from Brussels" had an impressive string of horrid yet heavily viewed films in the late 80's.Sherrie
Posted by: Sherrie | February 28, 2006 at 12:24 PM
Um, a bunch of these movies are my gay guy friends favorites... They ARE!
Posted by: Likes2mtnbike | February 28, 2006 at 01:43 PM
...and Chase: those are tribbles, not quibbles. But then, why quibble about tribbles.I'm done now, lol.
Posted by: Likes2mtnbike | February 28, 2006 at 01:45 PM
"The Outsiders"I did it for Johnny!Hee hee
Posted by: Anonymous | February 28, 2006 at 02:14 PM
"I did it for Johnny!""Well, like, who's Johnny?"The Homecoming Queen's Got A Gun - Julie Brown
Posted by: Anonymous | February 28, 2006 at 03:05 PM
"Everybody run"
Posted by: Anonymous | February 28, 2006 at 04:16 PM
I'm thinking Jean Claude Van Damme and/or Steven Segal were in the 90s mainly. But I could be wrong.And yeah, Westerns is an obvious overlooked category. I will say, however, that I've never been a fan of westerns, so they wouldn't be on any list of mine. I just don't get the appeal.
Posted by: Steve Spears | February 28, 2006 at 04:38 PM
And yeah, Westerns is an obvious overlooked category. I will say, however, that I've never been a fan of westerns, so they wouldn't be on any list of mine. I just don't get the appeal.Not my fave category either, but I thought it deserved mention as a legit "guy movie" genre. :)I used to like westerns as a kid, until I learned what the truth was about really happened to the Indians/Native Americans in this country, that is... but that's why I liked "Young Guns", because with the exception of "Dirty Steve" (LOL), it didn't seem to matter to anybody that Chavez Chavez was a Mexican/Indian. He was a "Regulator", their "brother", and their "pal". Hell, even ol' Dirty Steve had to come 'round at the end... or I should say, at his end. ;)
Posted by: Six | March 02, 2006 at 03:43 PM
Young Guns isn't bad. I sat through it at least once. Any time you give Emilio Estevez a gun and tell him to act crazy, it's an event worth watching.
Posted by: Steve Spears | March 02, 2006 at 07:01 PM
Hey - just catching up on the podcast. You say John Hughes movies can't be guy movies? What about the scene in 16 Candles where Molly and her friend are envying Jake Ryan's girlfriend in the shower?! In fact, the added sound effect that is played on the opening shot of her "chest" is pretty much a guy noise all together.Ok, maybe not a guy movie, but definitely a guy scene!
Posted by: Anonymous | March 02, 2006 at 11:53 PM
Can't believe you missed "Red Dawn as a guy movie. This war movie has guerillas that are high school sports players. I think that hits three of the criteria.
Posted by: yellojkt | March 03, 2006 at 08:24 AM
I think we'll do an entire episode on Red Dawn. Wolverines! The podcast crew loves that movie. Expect it soon!As for 16 candles -- wow, I forgot the shower scene. Totally unlike me to do that. Yeah, that movie has more "guy scenes" than most Hughes classics.
Posted by: Steve Spears | March 03, 2006 at 11:03 AM
Blade Runner = best movie ever...guy movie or otherwise. Hands down. Screenplay, cinematography, casting, acting, etc. are top notch. I do, however, agree that Victory is up there, too, even if one of the final scenes was snatched from the Longest Yard (another great guy/sports movie, but from the 70's).
Posted by: Stephen Grote | April 03, 2007 at 11:42 AM
The latent anti-christian motive of the jew writer of this blog should be enough for him to be removed from the internet. If a non-jew wrote what this guy did, the ADL would be whining and jewish mafia would be knocking on his door.
Posted by: Real American | April 15, 2007 at 02:55 PM