My Top Ten Favorite 80s Movies. Part Two.

Hello again everyone. I hope you enjoyed last weeks edition to my top tens! This week is the continuation of that! Same rules apply as always! Lets just get right into it!

5. Labyrinth (1986)

Surprisingly, this is another movie that I watched when I was much younger than I am now. This is a fantasy movie about a young girl named Sarah whose baby brother, Toby, had just been kidnapped by the goblin king, played by David Bowie. She has thirteen hours to try and make her way through the labyrinth full of mazes and traps so she can save her brother. I always loved this movie for many reasons, but the main one is how great the plot is, mixed with the musical aspect. I actually listen to “Magic Dance” to this day. It’s a song by the one and only David Bowie. 

Favorite Line: “Your eyes can be so cruel” – Jareth, the Goblin King.

4. Dirty Dancing (1987)

Gosh, I’m just realizing how many of these movies I watched when I was young. It’s kinda funny, because when I watch these movies now I pick up on things that I didn’t the first time. This movie is super popular so if you don’t know about it or have heard of it you have literally been living under a rock. I’ll sum it up really quickly for you. Pretty much, our main protagonist is a teenage girl called Baby. Yeah. Baby. Anyways, her family is rich and she’s expected to be the perfect daughter for the rich father. He takes the family out to a resort type thing where Baby meets one of the entertainers(dancers) named Johnny. Of course she has to keep it a secret from her father who would most definitely disapprove of their love. That’s all I’m going to say for this one because I really do think that you should watch this for yourself.

Favorite Line: “No one puts Baby in a corner.” -Johnny

3. Can’t Buy Me Love (1987)

This film is actually in my top 3 for many reasons. The casting of the film was so good and the plot was very intriguing. Though, it did have some clichés. That doesn’t bother me much though. So as the story goes, a nerdy high school student, Ronald, played by a young Patrick Dempsy is our main character and our supporting main character is lead cheerleader, Cindi, played by Amanda Peterson. So, Cindi goes to a party and gets a bad stain on her mothers white leather outfit. She can’t afford to get it fixed so Ronald offers her a deal. If he agrees to pay to get the outfit fixed, Cindi has to pretend to date him for a while until he’s popular. That’s all that I’m going to spoil for now because just like the other ones on this list I’d rather you watch them yourself to enjoy!

Favorite line:

“Didn’t you take economics? You could have had me for $49.95.” – Corissa 

2. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. (1986)

AHHHHHHHH! I love this movie so much. On the surface it might just seem like a basic coming-of-age movie, but gosh does it really work. So, the story is about a senior in high school named Ferris Bueller. The movie starts off with him in his bed pretending to be sick so he can skip school. His unsuspecting parents agree to let him stay for his ninth sick day that month. He gets his girlfriend out of school by pretending to be her father over the phone, and his best friend is ACTUALLY sick, yet he drags him out of his house to have a fun day out on the town. He gets chased around by the suspecting school principal and his jealous sister! I love Ferris as a character because of how clever he is and how he views life! I definitely recommend watching this!

Favorite Line: “You say Ferris Bueller, you lose a testicle.”- Ferris’s Sister

1. Heathers (1989)

OKAY. This is my absolute favorite 80s movie! So, we follow our main protagonist, Veronica Sawyer, on her journey through high school. She was inducted into the ‘Heathers’ which is the most popular clique in school ruled by the three heather’s; Heather Chandler, Heather Duke, and Heather McNamara. She doesn’t really fit in very well with them because of her more…moral beliefs? Question mark on moral.  So as the story goes, Veronica meets new student and edgy (hot) teenage boy named Jason Dean, also known as JD. JD is pretty angsty and frankly, he’s unhinged. Veronica ends up making a mistake and getting on Heather Chandler’s bad side, to which she appoints JD to help her make it up to Heather. They end up ‘accidentally’ killing Heather Chandler and framing it as a suicide. As I said before I’m definitely not going to spoil the rest of it because its SUCH a good movie and you should watch it for yourself! Oh, and if you need someone to watch it with, I will never turn down the opportunity. 

Favorite line: “Our love is God. Lets go get a slushie!”

Thanks for another great week of reading my top tens! I hope you enjoyed and make sure to keep an eye out for next week’s addition!

Author: Locklyn Wilchynski

Locklyn Wilchynski (She/Her) is a poet, writer, and musician. She is also a senior literary arts student at Mississippi School of the Arts. Her writing has been published in Co-Lin Refractions Literary & Art Magazine and The Phoenix Literary Journal. She won two gold keys, a silver key, and two honorable mentions in the 2021 Scholastic Arts and Writing Awards. She has also won an honorable mention in the 2021 Ephemera Prize. She is a lover of all things crafted in darkness and finding the beauty within that. She believes that storytelling is one of the most powerful forms of communication to open up new conversations and ideas. View all posts by Locklyn Wilchynski