Its more late 70s-early 80's, but Goodfellas had some indicative cars of the era along with the clothing and decor. (and cocaine)
Vacation was made in 1983 and its all about a road trip. Plenty of cars, fashion, and 80s culture there (albeit a bit slapstick)
Say Anything was good too
License to Drive
Marjorie Suddard wrote: Probably the last decade when just about every genre had a standout, before homogenized, serialized, blockbusting movies were the only options. Great stuff already mentioned. Also: Uber '80s:: Clueless Less Than Zero '80s futuristic(because sometimes a decade reveals itself best when it tries to go somewhere else) Bladerunner The Last Starfighter '80s bring lawyers, guns and money: Blues Brothers Scarface '80s kids are alright: Goonies Stand By Me '80s noir: Body Heat Who Framed Roger Rabbit '80s horror: Poltergeist Motel Hell (just do it) Strong thread of zero-berkeleys and drug-enhanced balls running through almost all these choices. Not entirely a bad thing. Margie
I forgot about Less Than Zero, that was a good one. Thank you!
The Lost Boys
Some of my favorites that really nail the 80's vibe:
Better Off Dead
The Goonies
Short Circuit
National Lampoon's Vacation
Ghostbusters 1 and 2
The Back to the Future trilogy
The Wraith
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (they hang out in 1987 San Francisco for most of the time, saving whales, so 80's )
The Karate Kid
Rocky IV
Big Trouble in Little China
Top Gun
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
...and the list goes on and on. So many good 80's movies!
It's a current show, but "The Americans" on FX really nails the early 80s cars, fashions, gadgets, etc. It also happens to be a damn good show.
For movies, has anyone mentioned "Heathers" yet?
KyAllroad wrote: License to Drive
+1 Any of the "Corey" movies are pretty 80's.
"Halt and Catch Fire" is doing a good job as an 80's period peice.
Cannonballrun 2 has lots of 80's oddballs in it.
One of the worst movies ever, They Live staring pro wrestler Roudy Roddy Piper. 1988
https://youtu.be/UwtJy7hOUdw
The famous line, "I've come here to chew bubble gum and kick a$$, and I'm all out of bubble gum."
New Jack City
Coming to America
Tron
No Man's Land. Lots of Porsches....great 930 and Camaro chase seen. So awesome.
Also, Against All Odds.....great Porsche/Ferrari race seen. Lead track by Phil Collins!
What about RAD?
My vote for the quintessential 80's movie would have to be "Roadhouse". It has everything you could want in an 80's movie. Patrick Swayze, Sam Elliot, over the top bar fights, a smokin' hot blonde showing the goods, Swayze ripping a guy's throat out, the real Bigfoot monster truck smashing through a Ford dealership showroom, explosions, vigilante justice, and a rocking soundtrack. If I had one movie to show someone the 80's, this would be it.
Scarface wins and I want the Impala.
Marjorie Suddard wrote: '80s kids are alright: Stand By Me
Wasn't that set in the '50s?
JamesMcD wrote: What about RAD?
I came Here to say this, I'll also add Weird Science
In reply to Tom_Spangler:
I was just coming to post the Americans. Beside being a really good show they nailed the 80s pretty well.
In reply to Keith Tanner:
Yeah. I kinda got off in a tangent of good movies I remembered being released in the '80s. Didn't even get that right. I feex. Been a long week so far. 
As a mea culpa, what about...
Any movie with Molly Ringwold
And the Brat Pack.
Margie
Cadillac Man?
I came to say Big Trouble in Little China, but I was beat to it.
War Games?
I watched "Chuck Norris vs. Communism" last night on Netflix. It's about the communist regime in Romania in the 80's when VHS became popular.
It was illegal for western media but everyone was watching Hollywood films where a Romania woman dubbed voices over the top. It's really interesting in a movie buff / cold war historical way.
Pretty much everything I had has been mentioned. But if you want to feel some 80's nostalgia?
Kung Fury:
RED DAWN!
Wow, I posted this as a throw away as I was leaving work yesterday and missed the replies while surfing last night. What a response.
I've seen most of the movies mentioned but most miss the mark of what I'm looking for.
Marjorie Suddard wrote: Probably the last decade when just about every genre had a standout, before homogenized, serialized, blockbusting movies were the only options. Great stuff already mentioned. Also (edited to correct some anachronisms): Uber '80s:: Less Than Zero
Belive it or not I've never seen this, I must rectify.
Tom_Spangler wrote: It's a current show, but "The Americans" on FX really nails the early 80s cars, fashions, gadgets, etc. It also happens to be a damn good show. For movies, has anyone mentioned "Heathers" yet?
Funnily enough we went to the library on Monday, but they didn't have disc 1, season 1 on DVD, we're waiting to watch that one, so many of our friends (you included) have told us it's awesome it's already on our list.
The issue with most of the movies people have suggested so far is that they are either movies made in the 80's about other things/times. Blade runner is amazing, I'm desperatly trying to talk my 15 year old daughter into seeing it as she loves Syd Mead, but the concept doesn't appeal. I'm going to have to tie her down and confiscate her phone, tablet and laptops so she has to watch it. It has a great 80's vibe, but it wasnt' in and about the 80's.
Other movies were more about 'regular' people in the 80's. what appeales to my inner 15 yearold is that Miami Vice and Scarface is they show the cloths, cars, god awful over the top fashion that I wanted to aspire to as a teenager in Northern Rural England. Not much in the world seemed cooler than Don Johnson in an Armani suit with pastel T shirt and no socks getting into a Ferrari leaving a party full of scantily clad hiotties with Glen Fry playing smugglers blues and Phil Collins escaping in a white Jalpa (or was it black, i don't recall now). That's the vibe I'm looking for. 80's to the max, forget the little people, forget the Aliens and vampires, show me pure to the max Hollywoodized 'reality' of the rich and seedy!!!
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