Taking The '80's 'Wild Ride'

The mid 1980's seemed to inspire a sense of panic in the protagonists of American movies. Maybe the decade's virtue of materialism and money were starting to draw fear from people's sense of what they wanted to get out of life. Maybe they were already seeing their future neatly laid out in front of them, and wondering if there wasn't something more to hope for. These feeelings aren't specific to any decade, but this particular one really went after this sense of fear like no other. With the 80's yuppie at the helm and the tuned-percussion scores of Thomas Newman and Tangerine Dream, the "80's Wild Ride" gave viewers a fantastic feeling of escapism and salvation.
Taking place in major American cities, these films present us with bored, middle-class characters who have very little in the way of life outside of work. Usually, fate intervenes in the form of a free-sprited character who sees in them what they fear may already be lost. A path of adventure quickly becomes one of misadventure and their over-inflated sense of control all but disappears. Whether battling the seedier elements of the city they've mistakenly become involved with, trying to stop their professor from selling dangerous new designs to the cold war obsessed military, or being forced to operate outside the law; these characters are finally getting to see what they're truly made out of. Forget going out into the woods, here the city is what truly strengthens the spine. In the end, our bumbling heroes are a lot wiser and a little cooler. They most often end up with their love interests; and this time, the future is uncertain and wide open. Growing up with HBO in the 1980's, I watched these all repeatedly. Revisiting them, I'm reminded why I came to love movies so much.

'After Hours' (1985)
Martin Scorcese is the only director here who wasn't born out of the '80's. Making his mark in the '70's and later enjoying a career comeback in the next two decades, Scorcese seemed to enjoy taking bigger risks ('The Last Temptation of Christ') and playing around with comedies ('The King of Comedy') in the 1980's. Here he lovingly shoots his mean streets of NYC while following Griffin Dunne (always perfect as the adorably bumbling victim) through one hellish night.

'Adventures In Babysitting' (1986)
I guess after 'Halloween' gave babysitters a reason to retire, this one gives them something to fantasize about while stuck playing with someone else's bratty kids. Here, Elizabeth Shue takes the kids into the heart of downtown Chicago to pick up a hysterical friend at a bus station. A blown tire on the expressway sets forward a night of hook-handed towmen, Playboy-obsessed mobsters, skyscraper scaling, and a grumpy mechanic who may or may not be Thor.

'Desperately Seeking Susan' (1985)
Given it's legacy as a landmark 80's-guilty pleasure; this may as well have been a vehicle conceived, written, and executed with the sole purpose of cashing in on the endlessly ascending star of Madonna. But '...Susan' is way too smart to be lumped into the same company as "Crossroads'. An endlessly fun movie about chance and one bored housewife's accidental walk on the wild side. Great score!

'Into The Night" (1985)
Despite John Landis's distracting quest to put as many celebrity cameos in this movie as possible, it is fun watching the suffocatingly bored Jeff Goldblum get mixed up with accidental jewel thief Michelle Pfeiffer. The pair are chased around LA by a quartet of east Indian mobsters (one of whom happens to be John Landis) determined to get their hands on jewels from the crown of an ancient, Indian royal. The movie boasts a decent car chase, fantastic LA locales, and at least one moment of unnerving suspense. It's just a shame it's all mostly ruined by a horribly dated score. Great and charmingly subtle cameo by Bowie. Is Michelle Pfeiffer the most beautiful woman ever?

'Real Genius" (1985)
The recent 'Kiss Kiss Bang Bang' was such a breath of fresh air for many reasons - my personal biggest being Val Kilmer's triumphant return to the genre that made him a star in the first place: comedy. In 'Real Genius', he was the coolest student on a campus of the smartest. Tired of the dangers that came with being a genius, he decided to use his mind for elaborate pranks and oddball accessorizing. When he's asked to mentor incoming freshman Mitch, he does his irreverent best to steer him away from a psychological meltdown by summoning the animal in him. Even then, it was hard to believe there possibly could've been an animal in the hopelessly square Gabe Jarret. Still, it's fun watching the two send messages to Kent from god, make an ice rink in their dorm, and destroy Dr. Hathaway's house with a popcorn bomb.

'Risky Business' (1983)
THE definitive wild ride, and one of my favorite movies of all time. Ironically, the movie that initially made a star of Tom Cruise was maybe the only one he doesn't play a hotshot in. Here he's the quintessential nervous teenage boy: terrified of getting into a lackluster college, and worried that sex with the babysitter down the street will jeopardize his future. Baited by the unsung hero of '80's comedies, Curtis Armstrong; Cruise ends up battling Guido the Killer Pimp, drowning his father's Porsche, and hooking his Princeton admissions interviewer up with a hooker. It's a fun adventure set off by funny missteps, but Tangerine Dream's hypnotic score and Paul Brinkmann's assured direction makes it all so sexy and dreamlike.

'Something Wild' (1986)
Maybe the only wild ride where the leads leave the city and head into Americana to let loose. Jeff Daniels leaves his posh job in the city to follow lucious Melanie Griffith to her hometown for her high school reunion. It's a beautiful love story based on lies and told through the POV of an endlessly amusing road movie. Jonathan Demme puts his love of music and colorful people front and center here. It's all a sexy and magical time until a phenomenal Ray Liotta descends upon them like a dark cloud.