BUT … I can’t believe you all forgot THE 1980’s movie of all time: RAIDERS! Yes, Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) DEFINED the 1980’s: Humor mixed with action, bad puns at the conclusion of the action, a mis-matched or everyman hero who has more depths than he seems, malignant Eurotrash bad guys, class snobbery between the oily Euro villain and the working-class attitude American hero, and tension between the workaholic type hero, not good at opening up his feelings, and the demanding but smoldering, sometimes greatly compassionaite heroine.

RAIDERS pretty much defined the formula: BIG intense action, quips at the end of a sequence, outmatched hero uses smarts and toughness not sheer musclepower, a girl to be saved and won, and the villain to be stopped.

Pretty much ALL of the 1980’s Action Movies were using the formula of RAIDERS, and used it mostly well. You also had, btw, action leads who had both toughness and intelligence at the same time: Willis, Gibson, Glover, etc. But they all copied Ford, the way Eastwood ripped off Mifune.

If you wanted to go with Comedy, then Stripes (1981), Caddyshack (1980), Ghostbusters (1984), and probably Sixteen Candles would be the winners.

But I’d vote RAIDERS. No other movie comes close, and people are STILL copying it for pretty much every action movie that makes money.

I don’t think it particularly matters what the political message may be in a film. But, to define an era, it matters whether that message is popular, influential, or what it has in contrast with what came before.

Top Gun definitely reflected a mood in the public that was a big break than the mood in the 70’s.

It’s the stark contrast of it all that is remarkable. The 70’s had the paranoid thrillers and all were fairly small. The 80’s were big, populist, and patriotic. The 70’s were the auteur decade. The 80’s was when the blockbuster reached its full force.

As to Blade Runner, I would say no. It’s more of a cult film that really didn’t affect the rest of the 80’s films. I think its influence was to be felt after the 80’s, especially when CGI became more prevalent.

Flashdance, on the other hand, definitely had an influence. It was the first film to utilize the power of the soundtrack with the outlet of MTV to synergistically promote the film itself.

You went from Irene Cara to Kenny Loggins.

It’s interesting that for the 80’s we all picked Simpson/Bruckheimer flicks that all utilized this MTV/Soundtrack/movie=box office smash concept.

As for decade-defining movies — that’s always tantalizing but always impossible to single out just one. For the 70’s, let me suggest “The Godfather,” and for the 80’s, I propose “Flashdance.” Or maybe “Blade Runner.”

Such a thought provoking movie (insert a hint of sarcasm).

I just don’t care for the Spiderman movies, but he did tell me to vote, which was like, really cool.

~Heidi

You’re reading my mind re: “Spider-Man” — but also LOTR for its blockbuster status — and the ability to merge CGI and real life footage so well. That defines movie making of the past 8-plus years.

Maybe Spider-Man. It set off the big superhero blockbusters, even if X-Men preceded it. X-Men was on a smaller scale.

I don’t know what a Spider-Man would mean for this time period, but the only thing I can think of that defined the period in movies–if not outside it–is the big superhero blockbuster. It just wasn’t with us before 2002. It’s been with us every year since.

Are the superhero movies mere escapism in a post 9/11 world. I suppose you can say that about any movie–Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean, Narnia. Or would they have been successful absent 9/11. I think they would have been.

If you want a movie that incorporates the superhero genre with the actual events outside the theater, then there is “The Dark Knight.”

If you take into account the outside world, then I think you’d have to go with “The Dark Knight.”

If you take into account just the films, I’d say Spider-Man.

In any case, I don’t see any other film or genre defining the 00’s.

But, I’ll ponder it.

This was just all spontaneous speculation.

And thank you for your kind words regarding “Top Gun.”

I never saw it in the theater and didn’t particularly care for it on video, although when I worked in a video store, we would play it, but I liked it more for its bombast than anything. In fact, I loved it for the kitschiness of it all (the pumping fist while riding the bike, “You’re going to Miramar, etc.).

Still, it was a huge hit and to its critics and champions, it was, sometimes, a polarizing film, in a way that BHC was not. Every liberal critic of the film will almost certainly use the term “Reaganite” as a pejorative, while the smaller group of those liking the film will have to respond.

Coming in 1986, this film wasn’t the first to be defined as “Reaganite,” but it seemed, I think, to solidify the thoughts or the attitudes underlying so many other such type films, if not in any specific way, than in a general sense of the commonalities of such films. “Red Dawn” and “Rambo” had the big anti-Commie thing, but “Top Gun” took the pro-military, pro-America, and anti-Communist themes and, coupled with a popular soundtrack, made the ideals rather attainable to the average person.

That is, there weren’t going to be any Russians to fight in your hometown, nor was anyone going to be a killing machine superhero like Rambo, waging the last war. But, you could put on some Wayfarers, a flight jacket, and walk on down to the military recruiters to defend against the present threats. You might not be a pilot, but you could be support on an aircraft carrier.

This happened, of course. Military recruitment shot up.

All the more reason for many to hate the movie.

So, I’d say “Top Gun” for the 80’s.