I updated the 1981 entry of Movies We Still Care About, to talk more about Raiders of the Lost Ark’s role in the development of the Fun Action Movie sub-genre, and to include Stripes in the Other Notable Movies section.
So if you read that entry when I initially posted it, you might want to revisit it.
(For an explanation of this, read the Introduction. Other posts in this series can be found here.)
(This post was edited on April 6 to discuss Raiders of the Lost Ark’s role in the development of the fun action movie sub-genre, and to include Stripes in the Other Notable Movies section.)
Other Notable Movies
Best Picture Nominees:
Top Grossing Films (US)
Rotten Tomatoes Top Movies
In the introductory post to this series, I mentioned that various factors can skew the Rotten Tomatoes rankings, and that seems to have happen here. If you look at that Rotten Tomatoes list, #1 is a microbudget amateur film that would have been forgotten if it didn’t spawn two popular sequels. #2 is a foreign film beloved by cinephiles but not known to a widespread American audience. I’ve never even heard of #4 and have barely heard of #6. And #5 is a cult film that is unknown to modern mainstream audiences.
Raiders of the Lost Ark
This is the best action spectacle movie of all time. Like Star Wars, this is at the highest level of mythology for modern film. Everyone knows Indiana Jones. The hat, the whip, the ark, fear of snakes, etc.
It’s a spectacle movie because it isn’t structured like a normal film. There’s no character development – Indy is exactly the same at the end as he is at the beginning. And rather than the traditional three acts with rising action, it’s an episodic string of distinct action sequences. In a lesser film, the audience would be bored and confused, even if they didn’t have enough film theory knowledge to explain why they felt that way. But Raiders is so awesome that nobody cares about its lack of structure or character growth.
In fact, nobody cares that Indiana Jones is entirely superfluous to his own movie, as explained on The Big Bang Theory:
Raiders of the Lost Ark was a deliberate attempt by George Lucas and Steven Spielberg to recall the Saturday morning movie serials that they loved as kids. Those were in turn based on radio serials. Which were based on pulp/dime novels. Which were inspired by the late 19th century adventure novels by authors such as Edgar Rice Burroughs and H. Rider Haggard. Haggard’s character Allan Quatermain specifically is considered to be the template for Indiana Jones. This came full circle in 1985 and 1986 with the Richard Chamberlain movies King Solomon’s Mines and Allan Quartermain and the Lost City of Gold. These movies are blatant rip-offs of Indiana Jones, even though the character of Allan Quartermain predates Indy by a century.
Raiders is important for the development of cinema as an art-form, as it established the sub-genre of the Fun Action Movie. You can generally split action movies into those that are intense, and those that are fun. These easiest way to see which category a film belongs in is to ask yourself if you would want to be the main character. Would you want to be Indiana Jones, traveling the world having fantastic adventures and punching Nazis? Of course you would. Because the most important thing about Indiana Jones as a character is that even when things go wrong, when he’s captured, beaten up, or exhausted by a string of fights, he still absolutely loves being Indiana Jones,
Look at the bringing a gun to a sword fight scene. He’s fatigued and exasperated, yet every single person watching the movie can live vicariously through him and would delight in being Indy in that situation.
(Side-note: That scene was ad-libbed. The script called for Indy to get into an elaborate sword fight. But Harrison Ford was sick that day, and didn’t feel like doing it. So he used his gun instead, Steven Spielberg realized that was much better, and cinema magic was born.)
In the 70s, action movies had taken a gritty turn, as exemplified by films such as The French Connection. And prior to the 70s, action wasn’t quite so dark, but still was more dramatic than fun. Films like The African Queen, North by Northwest, and John Wayne westerns. Some excellent movies, but that sense of playfulness was mostly absent.
There were a few fun action movies before Raiders, such as The Adventures of Robin Hood, James Bond films, and Star Wars. But It was really Raiders that brought this feeling of fun into its own, and sparked countless imitators trying to capture that high-spirited adventure.
Raiders expanded the medium, such that from the 80s through today and into the future, we are able to experience both fun action movies and intense action movies, and as fans we are all better off.
Also, if you ever get the chance to see the shot-for-shot remake of Raiders made by twelve-year-olds, do it. It’s amazing. Unfortunately I couldn’t find it online. (I saw it 15 years ago on a VHS tape owned by someone who knew one of the guys who made it.) The best I could find is the first 10 minutes with no audio. (If any of you can locate the full version online, please link to it in comments.)
The official website for the Raiders remake is here, though unfortunately it doesn’t have the full movie.
Superman II
“Kneel before Zod.” That’s all that needs to be said for this. And all that really should be said. Because aside from a great villain, this film is an incoherent mess that is much better in your memory than in reality.
Clash of the Titans
“Release the Kraken!” This is a special-effects spectacle movie whose effects were amazing in 1981, but really don’t hold up today. And without that to carry it, there’s not much point to watching this.
The Great Muppet Caper
I talked about this in my write-up of The Muppet Movie in the 1979 entry.
The Evil Dead
I love Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness. But the original Evil Dead isn’t in the same league. It’s notable to see the clever techniques that Sam Raimi used to stretch his limited budget while still having a unique feel. But the story’s generic, and the humor from the later films is lacking here. Plus the entire events of Evil Dead are re-done with much better acting, humor, and production value in the first 10 minutes of Evil Dead 2. So you can just watch the sequel and skip the original.
Stripes
Stripes continues the Laid-Back Comedy tradition developed by Caddyshack, featuring Bill Murray, John Candy, and Harold Ramis being Bill Murray, John Candy, and Harold Ramis. While it doesn’t still enjoy widespread appeal after 33 years, it does have a small but devoted following of some who consider it among the all-time great comedies. It’s certainly worth checking out or revisiting if you’re a fan of Murray/Candy/Ramis.
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Do you disagree with any of these choices, or think that I missed something? Leave a comment below.
(For an explanation of this, read the Introduction. Other posts in this series can be found here.)
Other Notable Movies
Best Picture Nominees:
Top Grossing Films (US)
Rotten Tomatoes Top Movies
(This is a new section to this series, as Rotten Tomatoes only has these lists starting with 1980. I will include every film with a rating of 90% or higher, up to the top 10 for the year.)
(I don’t know why Empire is listed above Airplane despite having a lower rating. I’m just copying Rotten Tomatoes’ list.)
The Empire Strikes Back
Everything I said about Star Wars in the 1977 entry applies to this. Empire expanded on and introduced new pieces to the mythology created by the first film. Yoda, Hoth, tauntauns, Lando, Boba Fett, Cloud City, the feisty argumentative love between Han and Leia. And of course, the greatest twist ending in the history of cinema. The twist by which all other twists/spoilers are measured:
To get a good idea of how shocking that truly is to someone who didn’t know it, watch this compilation of children reacting to seeing that scene for the first time:
I also like when James Earl Jones talked about that scene on The Big Bang Theory.
Here’s a fun fact about Empire that you’ve probably never thought about. Most movies have what’s called an external plot goal. It’s the specific difficult task that the heroes are trying to accomplish. Their efforts to do so are what drives the action forward and moves them from scene to scene.
In Empire, this goal, the thing that drives all the action, is that Han is trying to get the Millenium Falcon repaired. Seriously, rewatch the movie. It’s all about him trying to fix his broken down ship. And all the amazing stuff that happens is because of those efforts.
Airplane!
Generally considered one of the funniest movies of all time, and certainly the best of the pure spoofs. It’s just a joke a minute laugh riot. I can’t pick a best joke to include here. So instead I’ll post one of my all-time favorite moments on Jeopardy, in which Kareem Abdul Jabbar gets a question referencing one of his lines in Airplane, answers “Who is Kareem Abdul Jabbar,” and is wrong.
The Shining
There are so many cultural touchstones from this movie. The blood in the elevator. The creepy twins. “REDRUM.” “Here’s Johnny.” The story is largely incoherent, with random elements that don’t make the slightest bit of sense to anyone who hasn’t read the book. But Kubrick is such a master of creepy atmosphere that you end up on the edge of your seat regardless.
Just for fun, check out this recut trailer portraying it as a wacky family comedy. And note that this is only funny because we already have such an ingrained understanding of what the movie should be.
Caddyshack
The first of what I call the 1980s “laid-back comedies,” where there isn’t much of a plot, and the film is just an excuse for funny people to stand around saying and doing funny things. Chevy Chase and Rodney Dangerfield act like Chevy Chase and Rodney Dangerfield. Bill Murray is the crazy groundskeeper. And Ted Knight chews the scenery as the cartoonishly evil judge. This is the sort of movie that you just want to hang out with.
The Blues Brothers
Everyone knows this movie, but I think few people care about still watching it. Like many spectacle movies, it doesn’t really hold up. There are better song-and-dance numbers. There are better car chases. There’s better laid-back comedy. So there isn’t much reason to watch this.
Friday the 13th
Certainly people still care about the Friday the 13th franchise. But the first film is missing the iconic elements. Jason is a child who drowns, and his mother is the slasher killing off the promiscuous teenagers. (Because they were doing drugs and having sex when they should have been watching over him. This has become a standard horror movie trope, but it actually had a reason here.) There’s no hockey mask, machete, or Jason as a monster in the first film. When you think of Friday the 13th, you aren’t thinking of this.
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Do you disagree with any of these choices, or think that I missed something? Leave a comment below.
(For an explanation of this, read the Introduction. Other posts in this series can be found here.)
Best Picture Nominees:
Top Grossing Films (US)
Other Notable Movies
There are lots of films people still remember from this year. I had some difficulty deciding which ones count as movies we still care about. I’m sure there will be lots of disagreement in the comments.
Alien
Alien is widely considered to be among the best horror films of all time. I can’t think of a better sci-fi/horror. It’s a masterpiece of slow-build suspense and terror.
The only flaw in this movie is that it loses a lot of its impact once you’ve seen the alien. So it doesn’t hold up quite as well on repeated viewings, or if you’ve already seen any of the sequels, or if you’ve seen any of the myriad references to the xenomorphs that have become mythology over the last 35 years.
But even if you won’t be able to replicate the experience of watching for the first time, this still holds up in every other way, and is worth revisiting.
Life of Brian
Life of Brian isn’t as funny as Monty Python and the Holy Grail, but then again, what is? But while Holy Grail was just silly fun, Life of Brian did an excellent job mixing humor with social commentary. For example, the brilliant “You’re all individuals” scene.
This was the Pythons’ only foray into telling a complete story, rather than a series of unrelated or quasi-related sketches. Or course it was riffing off the Gospels, but it works. And the audience knowing the story they were spoofing made us appreciated the choices they made when they deviated from that.
Apocalypse Now
This is considered an all-time classic. It’s discussed in film school. It’s full of famous quotes such as “I love the smell of napalm in the morning,” and “The horror, the horror.” Plus everyone knows the attack helicopters playing Ride of the Valkyries. It’s one of those movies that everyone is supposed to respect.
But I don’t include it in the list because I’m not convinced that anyone outside of film snobs actually likes it. It’s rather dull and plodding, with a barely coherent plot and characters that are intentionally designed to keep you from caring about them. It’s one of those movies that people only pretend to love because they think it makes them sound sophistimacated.
Kramer vs. Kramer
Another one of those movies that is considered great and discussed in film school, but that few people actually like. Plus it doesn’t have all the cultural touchstones that Apocalypse Now has.
The Muppet Movie
I grew up watching the late 70s/early 80s Muppet movies over and over in reruns. (The Muppet Movie, The Great Muppet Caper, and The Muppets Take Manhattan.) These movies and the Muppet Babies cartoon are where I formed my impression of the Muppets, and I thought they were great. The films did an excellent job of appealing to both kids and grown-ups. (I haven’t revisited Muppet Babies as an adult, so I’m not sure how that holds up.)
It was somewhat of a surprise to me a few years ago when I checked out the 70s Muppet Show, and found that it was quite lame. Just a lot of joke-free versions of the Muppets singing songs, and some variety show fare that had already been played out long before the 70s. I can’t offer an explanation as to why the movies were so much better than the show, but they were.
However while I have a personal fondness for The Muppet Movie, I don’t think it still has much widespread appeal, so I can’t quite count it as a movie we still care about.
Mad Max
References to Mad Max have risen to the level of mythology. Mad Max has become a synonym for post-apocalyptic civilization, barren wastelands, and a certain style of dress.
But the thing is, when you close your eyes and picture something out of Mad Max, you’re almost certainly picturing its sequels The Road Warrior or Beyond Thunderdome instead. The original Mad Max was a small budget revenge story that wasn’t set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland and doesn’t feature any of the iconography that people imagine when they hear the name. So while The Road Warrior is something people still care about, the original Mad Max is not. (Even if they erroneously think they do.)
Meatballs
This created the summer camp movie, which became its own genre in the 80s, and has been spoofed and referenced countless times. But on the other hand, when’s the last time you actually watched Meatballs? When’s the last time anyone you know watched it?
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
We still care about Star Trek. We still care about several Star Trek movies. But even hard-core Trekkers don’t care about the first movie, or consider it to be remotely worth watching.
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Do you disagree with any of these choices, or think that I missed something? Leave a comment below.
(For an explanation of this, read the Introduction. Other posts in this series can be found here.)
Best Picture Nominees:
Top Grossing Films (US)
This is a year in which the box office numbers were a much better predictor of long-term quality than the Oscars. The top 3 (and 8th) box office movies have stood the test of time, while most people are at best dimly aware of the existence of the Academy Award Nominees. The Russian Roulette scene in Deer Hunter is memorable, but beyond that, I think only a tiny minority of people could picture a single scene from any of the nominated movies.
Superman
On an objective level, Superman is not a very good movie. It’s a lot better in our memories than if you actually watch it. It has poor pacing, and an incoherent plot. (The best summary I can come up with is “Superman does some stuff, and Lex Luthor has a ridiculous scheme involving missiles.”) Plus it has the single worst ending from a writing perspective that I’ve ever seen in a major motion picture.
It also is the eponymous example of what I call “The Superman Problem.” That’s when a hero is so incredibly powerful that the only way he can possibly be challenged is for him to be so incredibly stupid that he forgets his own abilities. Since on a fundamental level, a movie is about the hero overcoming difficult challenges, it’s very difficult to make a movie work when the hero can’t be challenged. Which is why this “How it Should Have Ended” cartoon for Superman makes a lot more sense than the actual movie.
So why is it on this list? Two reasons: The first is that nobody was trying to make the movie work well as a story. Superman is what I call a Spectacle Movie. This is a movie that gives such a compelling spectacle that the viewers don’t really care about the story or characters. The spectacle can come in the form of jokes, song-and-dance numbers, fight scenes, action scenes, or in the case of Superman, special effects. Note that the tagline for Superman had nothing to do with any sort of story. It was simply “You will believe a man can fly.”
The other reason it’s on this list is that Superman created the comic book tentpole movie. That’s a genre that really came into its own in the 2000s, but it can be traced back to this. Before 1978, comics were considered to be kids stuff, relegated to Saturday morning cartoons. Superman demonstrated that, done right, comic book movies could be big business that would play to a general audience.
Grease
Does this appeal to everyone? No. But if you like musicals, you’ve seen Grease. When I mention the songs “Summer Lovin,” “Look at Me I’m Sandra Dee,” “You’re the One That I Want,” and “We Go Together,” you probably heard those songs in your head, and possibly started humming them. In general, this is just an all-around fun movie to watch.
Halloween
Halloween is generally seen as creating the modern slasher genre. The idea of a soulless killer slaughtering promiscuous teenagers dates back to this movie. If you’re a fan of the horror genre, you almost certainly have a fondness in your heart for this. And even if you don’t care for horror, you probably still know who Michael Myers is. He may not be quite at the level of mythology as Jason Vorhees, Freddy Krueger, or Norman Bates, but I can’t think of any other horror movies characters that are better known.
National Lampoon’s Animal House
This is the trailblazer of both the gross-out comedy and college comedy genres. Like Superman, it is more of a spectacle movie, working due to jokes rather than story. The characters are mostly a bunch of obnoxious jerks who could easily be the villain in another movie, but are funny enough that you end up caring about them.
Plus in my personal opinion, John Belushi’s guitar smash is one of the all-time funniest moments in film.
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Do you disagree with any of these choices, or think that I missed something? Leave a comment below.
Cinema Badger 