Can you believe that the below films all turn 30 this year?

1987 was a very good year for movies. There were some absolute classics released that year and we’ve picked our 10 favourites.

Planes, Trains & Automobiles

---

This is the best road movie you will ever see. In fact it’s the best Goddamn movie you will ever see. Starring the late John Candy and the legendary Steve Martin (When he was funny). Planes, Trains and Automobiles is a comedy film written, produced and directed by John Hughes. The film stars Steve Martin as Neal Page, a high-strung marketing executive, who meets Del Griffith, played by John Candy, an eternally optimistic, outgoing, overly talkative, and clumsy shower curtain ring salesman who seems to live in a world governed by a different set of rules. They share a three-day odyssey of misadventures trying to get Neal home to Chicago from New York City in time for Thanksgiving dinner with his family.

We love this movie so much and it’s featured in 2 of our previous posts – Best John Hughes Movies and 80s Movie Playlist.

Director – John Hughes

Starring – John Candy, Steve Martin

Best Line

They both awake and realise they are holding hands. Neal then asks Del “where’s your other hand?” and Del says “Between two pillows.” Neal then shouts “Those aren’t pillows!”

The Running Man

---

Based on a short story by Mr. Horror himself Stephen King, wrote under the pseudonym ‘Richard Bachman.’ The movie is set in a dystopian USA between the years 2017 and 2019, is about a television show called “The Running Man”, were convicted criminal “runners” must escape death at the hands of professional killers. Sounds like a great idea to me!

Director – Paul Michael Glaser

Starring – Arnold Schwarzenegger, María Conchita Alonso, &  Jesse Ventura

Best line

Ben “Butcher of Bakersfield” Richards: “Killian, I’ll be back”

Damon Killian: “Only in a rerun. Go!!

Fatal Attraction

---

The film that gave us the term “Bunny Boiler”. The film centres around Michael Douglas a married man who has a weekend affair with a Glenn Close who refuses to allow it to end, resulting in her becoming obsessed with him.

Director – Adrian Lynne

Starring – Michael Douglas, Glenn Close, Anne Archer

Best Line/s

Robocop

---

A cyberpunk action film set in a crime-ridden Detroit, Michigan, in the near future, RoboCop centres around police officer Alex Murphy (Weller) who is brutally murdered by a gang of criminals and subsequently revived by the megacorporation Omni Consumer Products (OCP) as a superhuman cyborg law enforcer known as RoboCop. See also.

Director – Paul Verhoeven

Starring – Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Ronny Cox

Best Line

RoboCop: “Dead or alive, you’re coming with me!”

and

Bixby Snyder: “I’d buy that for a dollar!”

Predator

---

The best alien sci-fi movie ever made and another classic featuring Arnie as the leader of an elite special forces team who are on a mission to rescue hostages from guerrilla territory in Central America. Little do they know that they are being secretly stalked and hunted by  titular extra-terrestrial antagonist, who is way more technologically advanced in weapons and cloaking devices. This film will get you shouting “get to the chopper”. See also.

Director – John McTiernan

Starring – Arnold , Carl Weathers, Jesse Ventura, Kevin Peter Hall

Best Line

Dutch: “Get to the Chopper!”

Dirty Dancing

---

In the summer of 1963, Baby (apparently that’s her name!) goes with her family to a mountain holiday resort. While there, she meets dance teacher Johnny Castle, who teaches her how to dance, and then she falls in love with him. However things are never quite that simple…!

Director – Emile Ardolino

Starring – Patrick Swayze, Jennifer Grey

Best Line

Johnny Castle: “Nobody puts baby in the corner”

Full Metal Jacket

---

It’s a classic movie, but I always turn over once the recruits finish their training. Its storyline follows a platoon of U.S. Marines through their training and the experiences of two of the platoon’s Marines in the Tet Offensive during the Vietnam War. The film’s title refers to the full metal jacket bullet used by soldiers. See also.

Director – Stanley Kubrick

Starring – Matthew Modine, Vincent D’Onofrio, Adam Baldwin, R. Lee Ermey

Best Line

Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: “ What is your major malfunction, numb-nuts? Didn’t Mommy and Daddy show you enough attention when you were a child?”

The Lost Boys

---

Remember in the 80s when the two Corey’s were actually bankable? Kiefer Sunderland seemed to thrive throughout the 80s as a bad guy! This is a much better teen vampire film than the crap we get now. The film is about two Arizona brothers who move to California and end up fighting a gang of young vampires. The title is a reference to the Lost Boys in J. M. Barrie’s stories about Peter Pan and Neverland, who, like the vampires, never grow up.

Director -Joel Schumacher

Starring – Jason Patric, Kiefer Sutherland, Corey Feldman, Corey Haim, Diane Wiest

Best Line

Sam Emerson: “Look at your reflection in the mirror. You’re a creature of the night Michael, just like out of a comic book! You’re a vampire Michael! My own brother, a goddamn, shit-sucking vampire. You wait ’till mom finds out, buddy!”

Evil Dead II

---

Ash (Campbell) who is a lone survivor of an onslaught of flesh-possessing spirits holds up in a cabin with a group of strangers while the demons continue their attack. See also.

Director – Sam Raimi

Starring – Bruce Campbell, Ted Raimi, Sarah Uriarte Berry

Best Line

Ash: “Then let’s head on down into that cellar and carve ourselves a witch.”

Spaceballs

---

A true Star Wars parody. The evil leaders of Planet Spaceball, having foolishly squandered their precious atmosphere, devise a secret plan to take every breath of air away from their peace-loving neighbour, Planet Druidia. They send the evil Dark Helmet to kidnap Princess Vespa on the day of her wedding, in the hope of holding Druidia to ransom. But the princess skips town and joins forces with a mercenary named Lone Starr and his sidekick, Barf.

Director – Mel Brooks

Starring – John Candy, Bill Pullman, Rick Moranis, Joan Rivers, Mel Brooks

Best Line