When I reflexively opted for 1988 as the focus of this Round Number Anniversary Edition retrospective, it was under the likely mistaken notion that things such as movies, books and songs are considered classics once they endure twenty-five years. Or is it twenty? Thirty? I’m not sure about the consensus, but twenty-five years seemed about right to me. Though it had not immediately occurred to me while I browsed the titles released in 1988, that year marks the pivotal point in my life when I first began writing movie reviews for my college newspaper.
The job of a movie critic entails a juicy perk: the privilege of getting to see free sneak previews of films, often days—sometimes weeks, occasionally months—before general release. This afforded me an endless opportunity to devour as much cinema—all the popcorn, all the crap and all the FILM—as I could digest.
I saw a lot of movies. Everything I was invited to.
Reviewing the 1988 roster of major studio and independent releases, I remembered many titles as amusing or guilty pleasures which doubtlessly appeared on my VHS shelf at one time or another. I was further struck by how many others I had seen but completely forgotten about—once viewed, never rented or seen again. But there were, as expected and hoped for, several strong genre-defining films that truly stand the test of time and remain relevant twenty-five years later.
Action/Adventure/Thriller
For much of the 1980s, fans considered 1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark to be the quintessential king of action/adventure flicks, and for several years it stood as the gold standard of popcorn pictures against which all imitators were compared. In 1986, Aliens raised the stakes with a scarier and grown-up alternative, but the movie that truly lifted the bar—to, in the parlance of its ad campaign, blow us through the back wall of the theater—was John McTiernan’s indelible, incomparable Die Hard.
Before Die Hard, Hollywood was actively searching for a fresh new tough-guy matinee idol—not so much a Superman or Arnold Schwarzenegger but an Everyman on the order of Harrison Ford or such aging (or deceased) favorites as John Wayne, Lee Marvin, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, Burt Reynolds or Clint Eastwood. As the movie’s August, 1988 release approached, the buzz on the film was focused primarily on the then-ludicrous $5 Million payday for Bruce Willis, who was a popular television wiseacre on Moonlighting but whose theatrical track record was so-far dubious (Blind Date, Sunset). McTiernan was hot off directing Predator but he was still an unknown entity. Obviously the studio and filmmakers trusted they were about to strike pay dirt, and when Die Hard was released in my town in the prestigious 70-Millimeter 6-track Stereo format—the then-state-of-the-art in cinema exhibition traditionally reserved for showcasing giant blockbuster Star Wars-sized event pictures—I knew the movie might be turn out to be more than a mere cut above.
It endures as a master class of grade-A action movie making: it’s got crackling tension and suspense; grueling and realistic stunts; a clockwork story structure with clearly drawn characters, pathos and comedy; coherent action choreography edited at a quickened pace; a dynamic camera that highlights a sleek production design and makes muscular use of the widescreen frame; and exquisite visual effects utilizing old-school rear-screen projection techniques. This baby is the last true great of an era: soon after Die Hard, movie making, editing and distribution would begin to become progressively more digitized.
Die Hard played like absolute gangbusters to enthusiastic, cheering audiences, and as seen (multiple times) on a giant screen with a large capacity crowd, it remains one of my top-5 movie-going experiences of all time. Few films in my memory have provided such an intense level of visceral and comedic thrills and provoked such a rousing unified community experience. Many subsequent sequels and rip-offs and sequels to those rip-offs have upped the ante with bigger explosions, shinier hardware and snootier villains, but the original Die Hard still takes the crown and remains a jewel of crowd-pleasing kick-ass action cinema, even a quarter century later.
Yippie-kay-yay, indeed.
Compare To: Above the Law; Action Jackson; Bloodsport; Braddock: Missing in Action III; Off Limits; Rambo III; Red Heat; Shakedown; Young Guns.
Fewer Will Remember: Dead Heat; The Dead Pool; Iron Eagle II; Messenger of Death; The Presidio; Shoot to Kill.
Comedies
Several comedies are still as funny and endearing 25 years on.
The cheerfully macabre supernatural ditty Beetlejuice remains the purest cinematic expression of kooky Tim Burton, and boasts a supporting cast to die for.
A snappy screenplay and Tom Hanks’ exuberant Oscar-nominated performance make Big the best of the late-’80s spate of body-switching flicks, and a well-deserved blockbuster.
The intelligent and sexy sports comedy/romance Bull Durham is still considered one of the finest movies about baseball.
A Fish Called Wanda is the closest we’ve gotten to a Monty Python reunion since their breakup following The Meaning of Life (made permanent by the demise of Graham Chapman). Featuring a loony (and Oscar-winning) turn by Kevin Kline, Wanda remains a delightfully vulgar and hilariously un-P.C. comedy caper.
When it comes to mismatched buddy comedy road trips, they rarely come any better than Midnight Run. Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin make a delightful odd couple as, respectively, a former cop turned bounty hunter and a thieving mob accountant on the run. Sharply written and briskly directed, the only thing that feels dated is Danny Elfman’s obtrusive score.
Compare To: Biloxi Blues; Coming to America; Funny Farm; Dirty Rotten Scoundrels; The Great Outdoors; Hairspray; Heathers; I’m Gonna Git You Sucka!; License to Drive; Married to the Mob; The Naked Gun; Scrooged; Twins.
Fewer Will Remember: 18 Again!; Arthur 2; Assault of the Killer Bimbos; Big Business; Big Top Pee-wee; Caddyshack II; “Crocodile” Dundee II; Elvira, Mistress of the Dark; Feds; Heartbreak Hotel; Hot to Trot; She’s Having a Baby; My Stepmother Is an Alien; School Daze; Sunset; Vibes; Vice Versa.
Dramas/Mysteries
Best Picture Oscar winner Rain Man holds up splendidly, with a timeless pair of performances by Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise as two estranged brothers who bond during a unique road trip.
The flashy historical bio-drama Tucker: The Man and His Dream is Francis Ford Coppola’s finest and most accessible work since the 1970s. Jeff Bridges gleams in the title role of a post-WWII inventor-cum-car manufacturer whose revolutionary designs and innovative safety features draw the ire of Detroit’s Big Three auto makers. Stories of the little entrepreneur fighting the power of a corrupt system never go out of style, and Coppola’s assured direction, Dean Tavoularis’ rich production design and Vittorio Storaro’s magnificent widescreen cinematography all have style to spare.
Equally ageless is the story of an underdog who fights duplicity to claim his/her own, such as the corporate drama/romance Working Girl. Despite the hilarious time-capsule qualities of garish ’80s fashions and gargantuan bouffant hairdos, Mike Nichols’ film remains as poignant and inspirational as ever, with a sparkling trilateral chemistry between Melanie Griffith, Sigourney Weaver and Harrison Ford.
Underappreciated upon its initial release, Roman Polanski‘s melancholy kidnapping mystery Frantic represents one of the filmmaker’s finest efforts. As the story is told stubbornly from its jet-lagged hero’s woozy point of view, Harrison Ford is onscreen for every moment of the movie; aside from Witness and his work for Lucasfilm, this is his finest hour. Further, the Parisian setting and Ennio Morricone’s somber score lend the proceedings a classical European flavor.
Compare To: The Accidental Tourist; Bat*21; Beaches; The Big Blue; Cocktail; Colors; Dangerous Liaisons; D.O.A.; Eight Men Out; Gorillas in the Mist; The Last Temptation of Christ; Mississippi Burning; Mystic Pizza; Running on Empty; Stand and Deliver; Talk Radio; The Unbearable Lightness of Being.
Fewer Will Remember: Bright Lights, Big City; Dominick and Eugene; Little Nikita; Masquerade; Punchline; The Telephone; Tequila Sunrise.
Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror:
This is why most of us are here—our devotion to Geek Cinema.
By comparison, 1988 wasn’t as influential a year for film nerds as was, say, 1982. That year saw the release of such plentiful and diverse landmark geek fodder as The Road Warrior, Blade Runner, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, E.T., Poltergeist, and Tron.
I’ve settled on a trio of 1988 titles that continue to define their genres twenty-five years later, though one movie clearly stands head and shoulders above the others.
Even today, the old-school analog blend of live action and hand-drawn animation on display in Robert Zemeckis’ Who Framed Roger Rabbit continues to surpass the mechanical chill of most all-digital creations—including a few made by Zemeckis himself. Only through the magic of contract negotiations were cherished Disney characters permitted to share the screen with beloved Looney Tunes icons for the first time ever, and the movie’s inventive comedy/mystery plot combined with its 1940s film noir style made for—still makes for—dazzling cinema. A 25th Anniversary Blu-ray is coming in a few months. I also hear the filmmakers are still tiptoeing towards a belated sequel—better late than never.
Two other 1988 movies with cult appeal and which must be acknowledged are David Cronenberg’s dark and rueful identical twins tale Dead Ringers and John Carpenter’s Orwellian sci-fi conspiracy thriller They Live!
Dead Ringers is notable for dwelling on psychological terror rather than focusing on the gory, flesh-melting horror of previous Cronenberg classics like Scanners and The Fly. The film also immortalizes one of cinema’s finest dual performances by Jeremy Irons as twin gynecologists.
They Live! arrived at the tail end of the Reagan presidency, but its alien-takeover mind-control political satire—aimed squarely at ’80s greed, consumerism and global proliferation with an eye on fascism—is equally and frightfully relevant today. An Anniversary Edition is available on DVD and Blu-ray by Shout! Factory, and includes some fun extras, but its finest touch is a simple BUY sticker affixed to the cover.
Compare To: Alien Nation; Friday the 13th VII: The New Blood; Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers; Hellbound: Hellraiser II; A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master; The Serpent and the Rainbow; Vampire’s Kiss; Willow.
Fewer Will Remember: 976-EVIL; The Blob; Cocoon: The Return; Monkey Shines; Mac & Me; Phantasm II; Poltergeist 3; Pumpkinhead; The Seventh Sign; Short Circuit 2.
