The 1980s was a time of many goofy and daring Adventuremovies, which inspire nostalgia when people watch them today. This decade saw the beginning of some of the best action movie franchises of all time, alongside the rise and fall of the Brat Pack. The titles that are thought of as the best coming-of-age movies from the 1980s don’t typically overlap with action-adventure, but a few of them are surprising exceptions.
Primarily, 1980s adventure movies looked like a charming combination of wacky villains and side characters, dashing heroes, old-school special effects, and heartwarming happy endings, even outside Disney’s contributions. Even the fantasy-lacking adventures have a whimsical feel, as memorable characters find themselves on wild journeys. Finally, the best examples from this decade in almost any genre have some focus on romance or friendship, highlighting the bonds forged during an adventure.
10 The Princess Bride (1987)
Buttercup & Wesley’s Story Is A Timeless Classic
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9.3/10 The Princess Bride PGFantasyFamilyAdventure
Based on the 1973 novel by William Goldman, The Princess Bride is a comical fantasy adventure film that tells a swashbuckling tale of a hero and a princess, read to a young, sick boy in bed by his grandfather. The story itself follows farmhand Westley, who embarks on an epic journey to save his beloved princess from an evil prince as he meets strange but reliable companions along the way.
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*Availability in US Director Rob Reiner Release Date October 9, 1987 Studio(s) 20th Century Writers William Goldman Cast Mandy Patinkin , Chris Sarandon , Robin Wright , Cary Elwes , Christopher Guest Runtime 98 minutes Expand
The Princess Bride is certainly one of the best fantasy movies of all time and is still a revered romance-adventure for its bold statements of love and revenge and classic sword fights. As the in-story narrator advertises, it is filled with standard, uplifting tropes like rescue missions, villains defeated, and true love.
It is cheesy in a way that many 1980s movies are, which fans today still love. Aside from its delightfully cloying action, The Princess Bride has also endured because it is absolutely hilarious. The entire cast delivers memorable, sarcastic one-liners before everything comes to a stop with Billy Crystal’s sequence as Miracle Max.
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Cinema in the 1980s is defined by its blockbuster films, which included a number of great fantasy epics that many have forgotten about.
The characters are lovable, and the actors are iconic, making for a highly enjoyable book-to-movie adaptation. The Princess Bride is goofy but also impactful through elegance when the actors portrayed their characters with the kind of fondness that characterizes today’s nostalgia.
9 The Terminator (1984)
The First Terminator’s Horror Formula Evokes Nostalgia Like None Of The Sequels
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9.6/10 The Terminator RActionSci-FiThriller
The Terminator is a sci-fi action film directed by James Cameron. Arnold Schwarzenegger stars as a cyborg assassin sent from the future to kill Sarah Connor, played by Linda Hamilton, whose son will lead a resistance against machine domination. Michael Biehn portrays Kyle Reese, a soldier also sent back in time to protect Sarah. The film explores themes of time travel, artificial intelligence, and survival.
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*Availability in US Director James Cameron Release Date October 26, 1984 Writers James Cameron , Gale Anne Hurd , William Wisher Cast Arnold Schwarzenegger , Michael Biehn , Linda Hamilton , Paul Winfield , Lance Henriksen , Bess Motta Runtime 107 Minutes
Terminator 2: Judgment Day is considered to be one of the best action movies of all time, as well as a sequel that left the already acclaimed original in its dust. However, The Terminator takes people back even more so than its sequel, leaning into 1980s pop culture and a quitessential horror formula. When Sarah and the T-800 are much more capable action heroes in T2, the first Terminator chasing after Sarah and Kyle feels much scarier and, as a result, older.
The Terminator franchise has carried on longer than many would have liked it to and gone in bad directions, but the movie that started it all holds up remarkably well. Elements like the famous “Come with me if you want to live” line became associated with the T-800 after the first movie; witnessing the original version of its delivery where it was Kyle prompts some vertigo. The Terminator did everything, including the famous closed time loop, for the first time, recalling the novelty it once had when fans rewatch it.
8 Romancing The Stone (1984)
A Romance Novelist Has A Romantic Adventure With Her Own Indiana Jones
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Romancing the Stone PGComedyActionRomanceAdventure
Romancing the Stone follows romance novelist Joan Wilder, who travels to Colombia to rescue her kidnapped sister. Alongside rugged adventurer Jack Colton, Joan navigates a perilous journey involving treasure maps, dangerous criminals, and unexpected romance. The film stars Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas, blending action and comedy in a jungle setting.
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*Availability in US Director Robert Zemeckis Release Date March 30, 1984 Writers Diane Thomas Cast Kathleen Turner , Alfonso Arau , Zack Norman , Michael Douglas , Danny DeVito Runtime 106 minutes
People know from the landmark time-travel movie that came out a year later that Robert Zemeckis is a master at creating beloved adventure movies with absurd premises. In Romancing the Stone, the director stacked the cast with Kathleen Turner, Michael Douglas, and Danny DeVito for an action romp about a romance novelist out of her depth. It is as if the best action movies met the best rom-coms of the decade, which seems like it shouldn’t have worked.
Turner and Douglas were even good enough together to produce a sequel that isn’t as highly thought of but is still fun. Long after Jewel of the Nile, people argued that The Lost City was a remake of Romancing the Stone, relying on many similar plot elements. However, the first adventure movie’s riotous blend of genres and treasure-hunting tropes is still the best option for those who miss this aspect of the 1980s.
7 Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade (1989)
The Best Indiana Jones Movie Is An Amazing Look Back At The Franchise
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9.6/10 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade pg-13AdventureAction
A sequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade sees the return of the titular hero, this time in search of his father who has been kidnapped by Nazis. Aided by his friends Marcus Brody and Sallah, as well as his father’s associate Elsa Schneider, Indy must travel Europe to locate his father and stop the Nazis from finding the Holy Grail. Sean Connery, John Rhys-Davies, Denholm Elliott, and Alison Doody also star.
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*Availability in US Director Steven Spielberg Release Date May 24, 1989 Writers Jeffrey Boam Cast Harrison Ford , Sean Connery , Denholm Elliott , Alison Doody , John Rhys-Davies , Julian Glover Runtime 127 Minutes
Romancing the Stone was probably at least partially inspired by Indiana Jones, when Raiders of the Lost Ark came out in 1981. The 1980s was definitely a decade to remember for George Lucas when his most famous characters starred in some of their best blockbusters. Headlining both Star Wars and Indiana Jones was Harrison Ford, who finished the decade with the movie that pulled off a blend of Indy’s characteristic adventure and an emotional subplot, with Sean Connery playing Henry Jones, Sr.
In addition to featuring two of the biggest movie stars in history, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is the last movie before the franchise goes completely off the rails with its legacy sequels. It has the grounded feel of Indy being an archetypal scholar who just happens to be very good at adventuring, going to extreme lengths to find ancient artifacts. The carefully considered special effects and practical stunts in The Last Crusade show off an earlier era of Indiana Jones.
6 Labyrinth (1986)
David Bowie & Jennifer Connelly’s Fairy Tale Adventure With Lovable Puppets
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7.5/10 Labyrinth PGFantasyFamilyAdventureMusical
Directed by Jim Henson and written by Monty Python’s Terry Jones, Labyrinth stars Jennifer Connelly as Sarah, a teenage girl whose accidental wish that her baby brother be taken by the Goblin King results in an epic quest to save the baby from the King through a vast labyrinth, accompanied by its inhabitants. David Bowie also stars as Jareth, the Goblin King, and many of the characters are played by puppets created by Henson.
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*Availability in US Director Jim Henson Release Date June 27, 1986 Writers Terry Jones Cast Christopher Malcolm , Toby Froud , Shelley Thompson , Jennifer Connelly , David Bowie Runtime 101 minutes
Another staple of 1980s fantasy and adventure is the magical creations of Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, with one of their best movies being Labyrinth. In addition to the sentimentality inspired by seeing the goblins rendered as a bunch of relatively friendly-looking Muppet-like creatures, Labyrinth boasts the iconic portrayal of the Goblin King by David Bowie.
Labyrinth‘s straightforward fairy tale narrative fits right in with the classic vibes of many 1980s adventure movies. It uniquely features this with a bizarre but satisfying combination of contrasting aspects of the decade’s pop culture. The various puppet creatures get up to wacky shenanigans, while Bowie performs an upbeat musical number.
Related Labyrinth: 10 Most Quotable Lines From The Classic Film
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Labyrinth lingers in the viewer’s mind when the wistful scenes between Sarah and the Goblin King aren’t completely explained. Meanwhile, delightful side characters like Sir Didymus and his noble steed Ambrosius make Labyrinth a perfectly sweet comfort movie to watch any day.
5 Back To The Future (1985)
Back To The Future Embraces ’80s Culture While Creating Its Own Genre
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15 8.8/10 Back to the Future PGAdventureComedyFamilySci-Fi
Marty McFly, a 17-year-old high school student, is accidentally sent 30 years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his close friend, the maverick scientist Doc Brown. In 1955, he meets his parents when they were his age, and must step in to make sure they wind up together before he gets back to 1985.
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*Availability in US Director Robert Zemeckis Release Date July 3, 1985 Writers Robert Zemeckis , Bob Gale Cast Claudia Wells , Christopher Lloyd , James Tolkan , Thomas F. Wilson , Michael J. Fox , Wendie Jo Sperber , Crispin Glover , Marc McClure , Lea Thompson Runtime 116 minutes
Back to the Future showcases so much 1980s iconography, from the music to the fashion to the top stars. A big part of its nostalgia is a distinctly ’80s feel to what the movie and its sequels think the different periods Marty travels look like. Namely, Back to the Future Part II presented an exaggerated sci-fi version of 2015, which has not come to pass. Meanwhile, Marty harbors his own nostalgia for the rock ‘n’ roll greats.
Like The Terminator, Back to the Future is responsible for a lot of prevalent time-travel tropes, and returning to the movie that kicked things off is a trip down memory lane. Viewers are invited to think about how these wacky time-travel hijinks were original when the movie premiered. Marty and Doc also deliver some of the most iconic movie lines of the 1980s, exhibiting the taste they share for adventure.
4 Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
Classic Cartoon Characters Meet An Old-School Detective Plot
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6/10 Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) PGComedyFamilyMysteryAnimationCrimeAdventureFantasy
Who Framed Roger Rabbit combines live-action and animation to create a world where humans and cartoon characters coexist. Set in 1940s Hollywood, the film follows a private investigator who is contracted to work on the case of a cartoon framed for murder, despite his dislike of cartoons. Bob Hoskins, Charles Fleischer, Christopher Lloyd, and Kathleen Turner all star.
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*Availability in US Director Robert Zemeckis Release Date June 22, 1988 Writers Peter S. Seaman , Jeffrey Price Cast Amy Irving , Christopher Lloyd , Charles Fleischer , Bob Hoskins , Kathleen Turner Runtime 104 minutes
Who Framed Roger Rabbit is steeped in nostalgia when classic cartoon characters from various studios abound in the story. For instance, major characters tend to appear on-screen in pairs (Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny; Donald Duck and Daffy Duck; Porky Pig and Tinker Bell) because of the agreement with Warner Bros. to allow the use of their icons (via The Hollywood Reporter). In addition to the wacky, old-school detective narrative, Who Framed Roger Rabbit slams audiences with images from their childhoods.
The 2D animation blended with live action evokes its own kind of cinematic afterlife. Disney might have essentially made the Who Framed Roger Rabbit sequel that never was with Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers, which drives home the point about how much animation has changed. Who Framed Roger Rabbit also captures the feeling of being an earlier movie when the original characters never got another movie after the first one.
3 Star Wars: Return Of The Jedi (1983)
The Final Original Trilogy Star Wars Movie Captures A Specific Moment In Time
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17 9.2/10 Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi PGActionAdventure Sci-FiFantasy
The third film released and the sixth film chronologically in the Star Wars Saga, Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi is a sci-fi epic adventure film that continues the adventures of Luke, Leia, Han, and friends as they battle against the Empire. After a narrow escape but crushing defeat at the hands of the empire, the rebel alliance learns that a new Death Star has been constructed above the moon of Endor. With the war reaching its conclusion, the heroes will team with the forest planet’s inhabitants and prepare themselves for one final showdown with Darth Vander and the Galactic Empire.
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*Availability in US Director Richard Marquand Release Date May 25, 1983 Writers Lawrence Kasdan , George Lucas Cast Mark Hamill , Carrie Fisher , Harrison Ford , James Earl Jones , Billy Dee Williams , Ian McDiarmid , Peter Mayhew , Anthony Daniels , Kenny Baker , David Prowse , Frank Oz , Sebastian Shaw , Alec Guinness Runtime 131 Minutes
The two original Star Wars movies represent their own brand of nostalgia, but when they are almost universally considered to also be the two best Star Wars movies, they achieve a greater timelessness. Despite its minor story weaknesses, Star Wars: The Return of the Jedi constitutes a movie moment rooted in the 1980s.
It is the moment where the Ewoks appeared and became a divisive subject; the final twists concerning the Skywalker family were revealed; and it all came to a classic ’80s happy ending. Whether or not a given viewer likes the Ewoks, they definitely feel like a relic of older filmmaking when they are one of the less realistic-appearing creatures in the original trilogy.
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Return of the Jedi generally played it safe, spending a lot of time on Han’s rescue before revisiting some old storylines to deliver a serviceable conclusion. Yet it is doubtlessly a vital part of Star Wars, beloved in its own way.
2 Flight Of The Navigator (1986)
Flight Of The Navigator Is A Forgotten Disney Space Adventure
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Flight of the Navigator PGSci-FiFamilyAdventure
Flight of the Navigator is a science fiction film directed by Randal Kleiser. Released in 1986, the story follows 12-year-old David, who is mysteriously transported eight years into the future after a close encounter with an alien spaceship. As David tries to understand what happened, he discovers the advanced spacecraft and forms a unique bond with its artificial intelligence, known as Max.
Director Randal Kleiser Release Date July 30, 1986 Writers Michael Burton , Matt MacManus Cast Joey Cramer , Paul Reubens , Veronica Cartwright , Cliff DeYoung , Sarah Jessica Parker , Matt Adler , Howard Hesseman , Robert Small Runtime 90 Minutes
Flight of the Navigator is also possibly pulling off a weird amalgamation of the most popular tropes and genres of the 1980s. There is a bit of scientific mystery, time travel, sci-fi adventure, and human-alien interactions. Despite seeming like it is just another version of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial based only on its premise, Flight of the Navigator is surprisingly an original scientific story with its own set of stimulating visuals.
David’s relationship with Max is mostly friendly, revolving around an interesting but logical concept of why aliens would come to Earth. However, Flight of the Navigator shows a different scenario of consequences for this extra-terrestrial encounter than other movies, resolving it with risk and sacrifice on the part of the main characters. While it touches upon some significant themes, Flight of the Navigator is still a feel-good 1980s adventure, showcasing Disney trying out something different.
1 The Goonies (1985)
The Gooines Is Spielberg’s Classic Kids Treasure Hunting Adventure
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9.5/10 The Goonies PGFamilyAdventureComedy
When a small Oregon community is threatened by the foreclosure of their homes, a group of young misfits who called themselves the Goonies set out to find an ancient treasure in order to save the town. From a story by Steven Spielberg and a screenplay by Chris Columbus, Richard Donner’s The Goonies is one of the most iconic adventure movies of the 1980s, with a cast comprising the talents of Sean Astin, Josh Brolin, Corey Feldman, Ke Huy Quan, Jeff Cohen, Robert Davi, and Joe Pantoliano.
Director Richard Donner Release Date June 7, 1985 Writers Chris Columbus , Steven Spielberg Cast Josh Brolin , Jeff Cohen , Corey Feldman , Ke Huy Quan , Sean Astin Runtime 114 minutes
The Goonies is tied up with all the properties it is either very similar to or inspired decades later; it demonstrates the same themes as Stand by Me, while Stranger Things fans will doubtlessly enjoy the kids’ adventure that partially inspired their favorite show. The Goonies showcases a group of more independent kids having their own adventure, with a convenient treasure map lighting the way. While the story provides them with a catalyst, they also choose this adventure, forging ahead emboldened by their comradery.
This scenario is a characteristic 1980s adventure motif, as well as everything working out at the end when the Goonies use the treasure they find to save their neighborhood. It also prompts sentimentality when major actors like Sean Astin, Josh Brolin, and Ke Huy Quan are all little kids. Overall, The Goonies is another 1980s adventure staple perfect for anyone wanting to relive this era of movies.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter