Added by The Mighty Celestial on 12 Mar 2014 11:51

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25 From 81: My Favorite Films Of 1981

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711

7.1

7.3

Excalibur (1981)

An illicit affair in the royal court of the king results with a sword in a stone (no sexual innuendo intended) and the birth of a boy named Arthur. Years later, the boy bastard experiences his rite of passage into manhood when he manages to do to the sword in stone what his father failed to do to his married mistress... pull it out.
And thus begins one of the most legendary sagas ever told, in script or screen.

In an age where we now have sorcery/fantasy film series like Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, The Arthurian epic Excalibur may seem, by today's cinema standards, as incredibly small (not to mention, kinda mashed) potatoes.
But for me who was a kid at the time, and as a fan of sword and sorcery or similar themed far-flung fiction, I was always craving for any film with a fantasy flare to show up at the local Cineplex. Despite the time-period's lack of CGI technology, or even with the high-level quality of special effects that was often required such a film of this genre, Excalibur was a worthy effort into the genre, particularly in the way that it tried its best to approach the belief-suspending subject matter with an epic sense of integrity and awe.

Being that this wasn’t the kind of material that was usually looked upon with much respect from the film making industry back then, the producers of Excalibur at least made sure that everyone involved, from the costume designers to all actors, each approached their roles into this production with as much seriousness as they would any other award seeking motion picture project. I will say however, that one flaw that did keep bugging me throughout its running time was the dubbed voices of all the characters here. I'm not sure what necessitated this particular action into the project, especially when the primary actors were dubbed in their own voices and just about each one of them had proven in other movies that they had voices that were more than capable to project the kind of noble flair needed to display an Augustian atmosphere of sound.
I'm not sure how the overall final product holds up as well as other fantasy themed works of the early to mid 80's (such as Ladyhawke, Legend, etc.), but there was enough of gleaming knighthood and swordsmanship in for me in Excalibur to appreciate its appropriate place in the world of wizardry, witchcraft, and wonder. Clash of the Titans may have fit the bill better in terms of satiating my fix for sword & sorcery cinema during the year of 1981, but Excalibur still held a proper seat at the round table, just by the sheer presence of its saga spanning premise and its shimmering silver slant to the large looming legend that is the tale of King Arthur.

543

6.7

6.9

Clash of the Titans (1981)

In the year prior to the one that is featured in this list, there was movie that was called "The Gods Must Be Crazy", which turned out to be the surprise hit of 1981. It had so many people talking that eventually, the phrase "The gods must be crazy" ended up becoming a part of the American vernacular whenever describing how those in a position of power act in a manner which makes no sense to the rest of the us in a more regular status of society. However, I think that it is also a phrase that can be used to describe the gods of many of the ancient mythologies that earlier civilizations came up with in order to make sense of the dynamic forces within this universe which we all exist in. I say that because when you look at all the deities from Greek mythology (as an example) and notice just how much destruction and chaos that Zues & Co. release down on our humble planet just outta things like petty jealousy and pride, it really adds merit to the use of the crazy gods phrase on a much more literary level.

But as "crazy" as these mythological tales of legend may be, they do make for some pretty entertaining cinematic fare. Especially back during the time that Harryhausenian style special effects were at their peak. And yeah, I realize that there's a pretty good chance that in the eyes of many of today's movie audience's eyes, some of this stop-motion stuff may come off as rather goofy lookin', no matter how sophisticated and detailed special effects master Ray Harryhausen had become in his craft. But for those of us who were around when the first Clash of the Titans hit the theaters, fantasy themed cinema didn't get any better than this. Not to mention that individual years that featured fantasy themed also didn't get any better than 1981. With three solid entries in the genre (Excalibur, Heavy Metal, and this one), sword and sorcery, we sword and sorcery nerds really felt like we were getting our money's worth.
Based on the mythological saga of Perseus, Clash is filled to the hilt with legendary creatures who get first level stop-motion treatment. The winged horse Pegasus, the snake-headed gorgon, Medusa, a two headed Cerebrus type of giant dog, and, of course, the mighty sea-megalith, octo-creature known as the Kraken.
Titans was remade almost 30 years later, relying much more heavily on the CGI of the time, but, at the risk of sounding like an old fogey, it seemed to lose a lot of its soul in the process of going from hand-made movable statuettes too digitally produced images. That's probably not enough to get more modern cinema lovers to excuse some of the obviously visually impaired articulation that results from the stop-motion technique of the era, but for hardcore fans such as myself, it's a reminder of the joy that it was to see the gods and monsters that read about in history books come to life at the hands of mere mortal men who were not bound by the limitations of a pre-computer era.

2138

7.3

7.4

The Evil Dead (1981)

A friendly band of young adults drive out into a remote part of the woods to spend some time vacationing in a cabin to do whatever it is that young adults do out in a cabin out the middle of the woods. Not long after their arrival, they soon come to discover that whenever a group of teenagers goes off to an isolated cabin in the forest, the end result is never good.
Particularly when the cabin contains a tome of demonology.
Heck, I coulda told them that.

1983's The Evil Dead is the first chapter in what would become the colossus of cult scare fare and the most definitive when it comes to the cabin in the woods theme that made it into a genre within a genre to begin with. So frightening was the success of Sam Raimi's low budget directorial debut, that it became a formula which was able provide enough fuel for this new franchise to shamble much farther and much longer than he or anyone else could have ever fore"saw".
Personally speaking, I usually have an aversion to most schlock type of horror films and so I never could "connect" to these kinds of campy carnal carnivals of chaos. It's because of this that despite Night of the Living Dead being my favorite zombie flick of all time, I never really liked any the schlocky stuff that Goerge Romero produced afterwards. Despite all of the ED's having its fair share of gloppy schlock being slopped throughout each of their running spans, at least, I liked their set-ups and the fun energy that was splattered about from the overly obvious practical effects. Or, at the very least, I found this kind of excessive gore much more validated in the boundaries of entertainment than what their "walking" counterparts were oozing out.
I'm nowhere near as fanatical as the hardcore followers of this franchise, but I can recognize and therefore enjoy watch an Evil Dead every once in a while, when the mood for moldering evil in multitudes strikes me.

277

6.9

6.7

Mommie Dearest (1981)

How do you get back at your mom for being a crazy-ass bitch who likes to wield a wire hanger?
Try writing a based-on-my-life book that's ends up becoming a movie.

Joan Crawford, one of the biggest movie stars from the Golden Era of Hollywood, reaches those years in a actress's life when starring roles in films have become hard to come by. So, in an effort to ensure that she has enough resources to live the life she has become accustomed to, she begins a series of actions to reraise her start profile. Among these are getting a chair at the table of the stockholder's meeting table of her deceased husband's company, getting into a infamous rivalry with one of her contemporaries who's still in the limelight, and a adopting an extra child into her family.
One of those endeavors will result in an infamous tell-all book which eventually lead to an equally infamous tell-all film with the same name.
Which is this movie right here for those who are too dense to know what the heck this entire entry is "talking" about. And believe me, based on the kind of followers that I seem to attract from my other social medias, those dense folks are the type of people who wouldn't surprise are the ones who are reading my lists here on this site.
And to those few people out there reading this who aren't as dense, yeah, I'm fully aware that Mommie Dearest is generally considered as a pretty bad film, especially among those movie fans who have bestowed upon themselves the title of "connoisseur". But it's one of those few flicks on my lists that qualifies as an honest-to-goodness guilty pleasure. And to be honest, it seems to fit in quite snuggly in the midst of other camp-teetering films on this list, like Escape From New York, Nighthawks and Clash of The Titans.

1472

7.2

Escape from New York (1981)

It's the year 1997 (well, actually, it's 1981, the year that this movie was released....but the plot for this flick takes place in the future, in 1997.... which at the time of this writing, is actually the past...) and the city of New York has been converted into a giant prison, because in the not-so-distance future (which, at the time you're reading is the past...) crime has become an epidemic of national proportions. And if that wasn't bad enough for the people living in 1997 (again, their future, our past...), Air Force One has crashed right into the middle of the rotten Big Apple thus entrapping the President of the United States at it's core.
So the government turns to soldier-turned criminal Snake Plisskon for help. They promised him a full presidential pardon, but only if he can save the Prez and save the day. Thus begins the quest to get out of New York and into the annals of cult movie history.

163

7.4

7.1

American Pop (1981)

A decade earlier, animator Ralph Bakshi introduced animation for adults with the very adult Fritz The Cat.
With each film he made after that, even though he continued to produce cartoon cinema aimed towards a much more matured audience, he had begun moving towards a more mainstream type of animated flick.
And even though I felt that he never really fully achieved the ultimate potential of where he was headed with his work, American Pop seemed to be the result of his accumulated efforts.

A mini-epic that follows the musical family tree of one family through the ages, it's cohesive storytelling and down-to-earth, gritty portrayal of decades long struggles, along with it's tight animation makes this my favorite of Bakshi's films.

180

6.3

Nighthawks (1981)

When a terrorists strikes in New York, there is only cop who can stop him: the one who is played by Sylvester Stallone.
And sure, maybe the plot of Nighthawks never seems to give a solid explanation as to why the terrorist has decided to go berserk in the one of the most popular cities in the world, thereby making him easy to find. But that doesn't matter. The point is, his is the kind of villainy that can only be dealt with the kind of super-sinewy justice that only the Slyster can serve.

534

6.6

Heavy Metal (1981)

One of the most important moments growing up for me as a huge comic book nerd was the discovery of Heavy Metal, an anthology comic-magazine full of fantasy, futuristic and/or the emerging cyber-punkologic stories that were not restricted by those imposed upon more immature super heroic fare that was running rampart throughout the world of escapist entertainment during the time frame of this list.
When this movie adaptation came out, even though it lacked the technical strength of more general-audience targeted animated features that were backed by the vast financial resources of a certain monolithic mouse-eared moviemaking machine that had a stranglehold on the animation industry at the time, in it I saw the potential for the kind of creative diversity and no-holds barred story telling that I had experienced in the various stories that were featured in the magazine. Yeah, the limited budget left the end result of Heavy Metal as a movie that is definitely flawed, and even more definitely one that was not for everybody (especially if you under the age that was allowed for an "R rating"). But it is an alternative vehicle for anyone interested in looking for something that is not the same ol' same ol' and with an interesting anthology theme whose rock'n'roll/sci-fi/animated integrated format is bound by neither PC restrictions or by rules that result from the more kid-targeted genre.

An adult anthology, like the magazine that is its namesake, Heavy Metal was composed of several sci-fi, horror and fantasy mashups, all based on the work of those few comic book creators who also strove to color their craft outside the lines of the commercial cookie cutter formula that unapologetically sacrificed individual visions for the sake of lowest common denominating escapism.
And even though I do recognize that it's style of animation may have become somewhat dated over the years, overall, the film is still an excellent example of the kinds of mature-minded cinematic fantasy fare that the medium could produce outside the realm of the fairytale, age-restricted wastelands of today. And yeah, I know that may make me sound like some kind of anachronistic rebellious fart, but I don't care. Because when it comes to metal, I like mine like I like my women... heavy.

395

6.2

The Cannonball Run (1981)

There were two film properties that helped Burt Reynolds become the number one box office draw at the movies back during the 1970's and early 1980's. Smokey and The Bandit and The Cannonball Ball series, which were sort of the original fast and furious type of franchises of their day.
The only thing is, as big of a name as these types of movies made him, Mr. Reynolds at the time had a bad habit of taking his superstar status for granted. For every major hit he had, he would have four or five bad films to follow them. It seemed that every time a motion picture was successful for him, he would simply "ride" through the next couple of projects and collect a pretty hefty paycheck just because it had his name on it. What made it worse was that his attitude about this was so obvious, that movie critics would pick up on it almost instantly.
It's a formula that was somewhat epitomized in the sequels of these Smokey and Cannonball films. The sequels that followed the first ones, while they made some serious bank at the box office, they were a failure on a critical level, and by the third releases, they were so bad, they were both considered a joke on all levels. It didn't that Burt's presence in that final S&tB was limited to just a cameo appearance while he didn't even show up in the third Cannonball Run (Maybe that's why they changed the film's title to Speed Zone). As a result of this, any mention of either of these franchises these days would immediately instill the idea of a set of really bad movies, despite the fact that the first chapters to both were really good and entertaining thrill rides of 80's style escapist entertainment. Burt Reynolds's eye-winking charm is at full speed in this first CR and his presence as the leading box office draw feels totally validated in the way he takes charge behind the driver's seat of this comedic action fueled vehicle. This was a very cool car flick for its time, and it shows.
Add the well picked and rounded ensemble cast that surrounded BR role in the story, which included names like Dom DeLuise, Roger Moore. Farrah Fawcett, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, and even a very young Jackie Chan. and you have a piece of escapist fun that makes running all the red lights and breaking the speed limit seem like it would be worth the charge of a traffic ticket.

410

7.2

7.4

Body Heat (1981)

A little piece of trivia that is probably not so well known, particularly outside the circles of hardcore film fans, is that this movie Body Heat, was written by the same person who helped write the script to Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Yep, the same guy who wrote Indiana Jones’s first outing of wall-to-wall of kinetic action also wrote a sexy suspense, thriller, that was full of what could be described more as "up against the wall action". Heh.
That writer's name is Lawrence Kasdan, and in the same way that helped Raiders to act as a throwback to the cinema cereals of the 30s and 40s, he wrote Body Heat as a modern-day throwback to the romantic thrillers also from the 30s and 40s movies, such as Double Indemnity or The Postman Always Rings Twice. And as anyone who is familiar with the screenwriting process knows, throwbacks are not an easy feat to accomplish since that is where any hints of similarity between the vastly different films end. While Raiders is a high-octane, fast-moving adventure film that even kids can enjoy, Heat is a much more complicated story involving love and treachery, with adult themes about adult things that adults know they should not be doing. It’s a complicated plot that under most other circumstances, can easily lead a film to become overly complicated and hard to follow. But this one has set up all the elements of its twists and turns with almost clockwork precision and climaxing into a story which swerves around all its corners on a dime, all leading into an ending that can surprise its viewers after leading them on. And it manages to do all of this in a very sensual and classy manner, in the way that a movie that is called Body Heat was always meant to do if it wanted to live up to its own name.

177

7.8

7.9

Pixote (1980)

Pixote is a pretty amazing piece of work that depicts an unblinking view into the justice system of a country that is overrun with crime and poverty in its streets and with bleak and bloated corruption in it's penal system.
We follow the exploits of a ten year old homeless criminal named Pixote as he endures the unscrupulous savagery within the prison walls and the harsh hoodlum lifestyle without.

The City Of God of the 80's (actually, since this movie came out first, City Of God should be referred to as the Pixote of the new millenium), this is a film that provides an unwavering window view into the world of ruined rural orphans whose numbers in that part of the globe have gotten grotesquely out of control.

338

7.2

7.4

Gallipoli (1981)

Back in the beginning of the 80's decade, accomplished Australian director Peter Weir made two acclaimed films with then neophyte star Mel Gibson, who in turn had two films in 1981 that made to my lists of faves for this year (which, believe it or not, is quite a prestigious accomplishment....).
The first one, called Gallipoli, recounts the story of a pair of runners who enlist into the Australian military and assigned to a campaign set on the peninsula Gallipoli (which back then was a part of the Ottoman Empire but today is a part of Turkey.... just so you know...).
As the campaign moves on, the men start to realize the true reality of war and it's futility when the commands from the military intelligence from above are made more from military than intelligence.
A film that concentrates more on two men's journey through war than on the battle itself, yet still shows enough of the battlefront action to get it's message through.

323

7.6

7.4

Thief (1981)

Before there was Michael Mann's 1995 heist film Heat with Godfather alumnis Robert Deniro and Al Pacino,
there was Michael Mann's 1981 heist film Thief, starring another of The Godfather alumni, James Caan.

Here in the U.S., we all share the same goal of achieving the American Dream; a nice house, a beautiful wife, 2.3 kids and a nice bank account to sustain it all.
And while most people try to achieve that dream through a solid education and an honest paycheck, there are a few who choose a different route. Like cracking safes.
Frank is a seasoned master thief who has made the decision to finally settle down. But he soon finds that the road to an honest life via a crooked shortcut can often lead down a more dangerous path.

208

7.4

7.1

Southern Comfort (1981)

Deliverance was the first film to reveal just how scary inbred hillbillies could be. Southern Comfort was the one that showed that, even though in this movie, no one squeals like a pig,
these backwoods cabin-dwellin' redneck types are enough to scare off even an entire squad of National Guardsmen.

To be honest, the quality of Walter Hills' movies, for me, have a tendency to waiver from film to film. Though he will probably be more remembered for other works like 48 hrs AND The Warriors,
my personal fave of his will always be Southern Comfort.

311

7.2

7.3

Reds (1981)

The book may have based more on the "Ten Days That Shook the World",
but this movie is based more on the two people who changed each other's lives. Two people whose relationship was complex, passionate, & strong enough to allow then both the ability to journey from one world of upheaval to the next & to get them not just through it all, but also through each other.
Emotional evolution set up against the backdrops of political revolution.

116

6.9

Absence of Malice (1981)

It's the ethnics of news reporting versus the truth of the innocent bystanders who get caught in the cross fire in taut tale of the oft-times controversial consequences that can result from process of the people's right to know. A movie in which the mom from A Christmas Story got nominated for an Oscar.

144

6.7

6.8

Taps (1981)

An excellent film featuring a cast of up and comers which include Tom Cruise, Timothy Hutton and Sean Penn.
A group of ready for action and battle-hungry military schools cadets find out that the school responsible for their hard-noses is being shut down. Permanently.
Nothing almost nothin' but the military life, they decide to take matters in their own fully-holstered hands.
And to think,
most kids usually can't wait to get outta school.

283

6.6

6.9

Arthur (1981)

Back when I was a teenager, on my very first date ever, this was the movie that I took the girl go to see.
And I guess she must have liked it because afterwards, she let me feel her up.
Right between the moon and New York City.
And when you think about that, I'm sure you'll agree that that's all the reason I really need to like this flick.

266

7.8

7.7

My Dinner with Andre (1981)

A movie which it's entire length is filled with just two guys talking at a dinner table.
And the topic of discussion?
Everything that 99% of movie-viewers would find to be either way over their heads,
or just plain boring.
In short,
this movie rocks.
Philosophically speaking, that is.

Here is a movie that I never get tired of talking about. But then again, that may be because all this movie is two people talking. Or more specifically, two people talking. at a dinner table. The premise of my dinner with Andre could possibly be the worst sales pitch for a movie ever. Consequentially, what could be quite possibly one of the biggest demonstrations of irony here is that it is considered many movie historians, experts, and critics as one of the best films of the entire 80s decade. One of those critics/experts was Roger Ebert, who had claimed it not only as one of the 80s best but also the very best of the year 1981. And don’t forget, he wants one a Pulitzer! Okay, okay, I know that if anyone out there is reading this that does really mean much but it does help me to drive the point that this is a very good movie despite it sedimentary nature.

Now I will admit that when I went to go see this movie at the movie theaters back when it first came out, it was strictly out of pure curiosity. Because the truth is, I really truly did have a hard time believing that movie such as this would entertain me at all. after seeing the enthusiasm that both Roger Ebert and Cisco showed for it on their television show, and then reading a few news articles of other reviews of Andre, I really did feel compelled to go check this out and see what all the so-called intellectual hubbub was all about,

The roles of the two people are actors Shawn Wallace and Andre Gregory, and what they play here are two fictionalized versions of themselves, spending the entire span of the movie in conversation. Which sounds like the most boring sales pitch for a movie that there ever was, until one reads script and realizes what the conversation is..

321

7.3

7.6

On Golden Pond (1981)

In this film adaptation of the play with the same name, Henry Fonda and Katherine Hepburn turn in two seasoned performances that show why their abilities are ...uhmnnn
y'know what...?

.....forget the old people in this film. Take a look how hot Jane Fonda looks in this film. I mean damn.....at the time of this movie, that woman was built like a brickhouse. The kind that makes any old man wish for younger days.

1220

8.2

8.4

Das Boot (1981)

Quite possibly the greatest submarine flick ever. I say "possibly" because I'm not exactly sure. I've only seen two sub flicks in my life. The Hunt for Red October and this one. And while Red October was a pretty good Jack Ryan thriller, it certainly doesn't hold a submersible lamplight to this one.
Considered a watershed moment in German cinema, its a war film of epic proportions with a down to ocean approach to it's characters. Das Boot depicts the manner in which a U-boat crew maintains its underwater ship in calm waters and during battle and also how it maintains its honor even under the orders of governmental fascism and their assigned missions of impossibility.

648

6.7

6.8

Stripes (1981)

I've said this before on other reviews and I'll say it again... Bill Murray is easily one of my top favorite comedic actors of the 1980's.

Following in the footsteps of fellow SNL alumni Jim Belushi, Murray made a break from late weekend nite sketches to matinee idol lead roles, to begin a streak of early 80's movie hits that culminated with the massive success of Ghostbusters.
IMO, the sly and humbled manner in which he approaches his fame always made me feel like he is that rare type of celebrity who actually deserved the kind of success he had because he is the kind of professional who has earned his Stripes.

1418

7.3

7.5

An American Werewolf in London (1981)

Before the lead character in this movie was a werewolf, he was a Pepper. And for some subliminal reason, that made me want to be a Pepper too.
(Sorry kids. I know that the majority of you most likely won't understand that comment, b'cuz it's before your time. If you wanna know what it means, just look it up on youtube. That is, if you don't wanna be left in the dark.
And believe me, you don't wanna be left in the dark.
Because, keeping in theme with this list, the dark is where werewolves like dwell.)

IMO,
the An American Werewolf In London is the best ever when it comes to films dealing with the subject of lycanthropy.

1379

7.5

7.6

The Road Warrior (1981)

It's the End of the world and we know it. How do we know it, you may ask? Well, for one thing, the environment has been pretty much pulverized, and civilization has become not just sparce, but also, well.... uncivilized. And now in the vastness of empty sand, dirt and rubble, gasoline has become the most precious of commodities. A gang of spiked, anarchistic leather-clad riders of the storm are threatening to overcome a small tribe of survivors who live within an oasis of petrol. And if these survivors want to continue to survive, they must a find a way to get themselves and their treasured fuel passed an Ayatollah of Rock-n-Rolla and his sadistic band of murderous rogues. Luckily for the small community within the barricaded walls of the oil refinery, from out from the vast empty wastelands of war-torn desolation, hope comes riding in the noble form of a road warrior.
Or is he?

On any other given year, this Armageddon inspired epic from Australia would easily rank in the top spot of my list of the year's favorite films list. And to be quite honest, every single time I watch it, I always ask myself why the "bloody 'ell" it isn't number one on this list. And as a result, I always come this close *places index finger and thumb really close together to the point that they almost touch* at clicking it into that number one spot. But then I'll watch Raiders of the Lost Ark for the millionth time and realize that as much as I regard RW as a masterpiece of a blockbustin' action thriller, Raiders is just a bit more masterpiecer. But believe me, the distance between the two films is this close *places index finger and thumb really close together to the point that they almost touch*.

Now, I know that the official name of this movie is actually Mad Max 2: the Road Warrior (or, from what I understand, and in its native land of Australia, it is simply called just Mad Max 2), which technically makes this a sequel to a movie from 1979 simply called Mad Max. But I gotta tell you that I’ve had many discussions with fellow film fans, particularly here on the Internet, about this movie and I have yet to have anyone convince me that this is actually a sequel. The only thing that I see connecting the two films is that they both feature central character who is mad and who is named Max. But other than that, to me at least, these two movies feel centuries apart (despite that, of course, the stories of each film are supposed to be separated only by a few years). And in the first MM movie, even though it’s supposedly takes place during a dystopian era in the near future, the environment doesn’t look too much different from present time. To these eyes of mine, there isn't really all that much that separates the visuals from that story to what we see here in real life, other than that the outfits and vehicles of the police vehicles featured within the plot are a little bit more “fancified”, to give it a somewhat slightly futuristic look. Now compare the visuals to that movie this one and, of course, the differences are miles apart. The costumes in Warrior are much more flamboyant, creative, and just plain really cool. They had a much more distinctive look on this varied cast of characters, each of whom all come off as very well defined and unique, even the minor ones. And at the risk of coming off as overly obvious, the expansive deserts of the Australian landscape manage to effectively achieve the look of total devastation that would result from a man-made collapse of the entire planet. On an individual level, the character of Max here as the Road Warrior is depicted as a much more mysterious figure than what we see in the first chapter of the series, in which, the entire story revolves around his life and what events occurred that led him to become so mad.

that’s not to say that whatever disconnection I see between the two films, visual, or otherwise, that it hurts either one in anyway. Even though the first mad, Max isn’t in my top 10 favorites of 1979, it is still on that list somewhere. And as I’ve already mentioned. This one, the road warrior, wrong somewhere just outside my top 10 faves of all time. I just absolutely love this movie.

For me, this is one of the few full length features that is an example of The epitome of the ultimate thrill-ride, the second chapter of the Mad Max series is a tale of the atomic aftermath that features one of the most bad-ass lead characters of in of all filmdom, along with a feral wolf-boy and his finger slicing boomerang, a "junk-yard" flame-throwing fortress, a Humungous Lord, a kick-ass car-chase, thick Aussie accents, and more S&M costumes than you will find in a German hardcore porn video (or so I heard...).
Everything you need to make a solid thrill-ride of an action movie that takes place out in the distant, dust covered wasteland remains of a post-apocalyptic outback, "mayt".

5316

8.4

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

One of my favorite memories ever of watching a movie at the cinema involves this one, the first installment of the Indiana Jones franchise.

It was a weekend afternoon back when I was still in high school. My best friend's brother offered to drop us off at the local mall and pick us up later, whenever we wanted (we would call him when we were ready to come home). As soon as we arrived, we noticed that the theater next door was still showing the second Superman movie which had been playing for the better part of the year. So, we crossed over the parking lot that separated the mall from the cinema and watched the movie. After it was done, we went to a pay phone in the lobby to call the older brother. However, as soon as my best friend picked up the receiver, he noticed that there was a theater door very close by. He signaled me to "sneak" in and then quickly followed in after me. We went in blind in with no idea what was playing in that particular theater room. As it turned out, it was Raiders of the Lost Ark, a film we had heard about via their ad campaigns, but since it was the film's opening weekend, we hadn't the slightest clue what the flick was all about.

We had walked in during the scene when Harrison Ford was hanging onto the front of a moving truck, just before he would end up being dragged by it on a very dusty dirt road.

When the movie was done and the room lights came on, me and my best friend looked at each other, completely in awe. We couldn't believe what we had just watched. We sat there discussing just how cool it was. As we chatted, a couple of theater employees came in and started cleaning up the aisles, preparing for the next showing. They ignored us as they finished up their business and left the room. Since they didn't say anything to us, my friend suggested that we just stay in our chairs and see if they kick us out when the movie began showing anew. Soon, the theater was filled with the next group of movie goers, the room went dark, and the next showing began to run. So now, we got to watch the whole movie, instead.

That was the second longest time I spent in a movie theater (the longest time was when I went to watch a Planet of the Apes marathon in a second run theater in our downtown area) since we went in to see am afternoon showing of Superman 2 and by the time our second viewing of Raiders was done, it was dark outside.

But it was well worth it (especially since it was, well... free). As a comic book geek, I found the Man of Steel s second cinematic outing to be pretty awesome, but truth be told, Indy's premiere adventure was even better. What we had witnessed that day wasn't just the emergence of one of the most iconic cinematic protagonists ever, but also, a film chock full old edge of your seat style action, world spanning thrills, and popcorn flavored satisfaction Raiders of the Lost Ark is a collaboration between the Steven Spielberg and George Lucas which resulted in an all-out action adventure film that all others were to be measured by.

It's the second year of the decade of MTv & Gerri-curls, and oh, what a good year in movies it has been. Not because there were an extra amount of quality movies released, but because this was a year that produced a film that showed us Adrienne Barbeau's cleavage (Escape From New York).
And, as any serious film buff/connoisseur knows (and appreciates), any year that gives us a peak at Barbeau's titulating tata's is always a good year.

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