Netflix Celebrates Classic ’80s Movies 40 Years Later
80s and Netflix are a great combination.
The streaming giant is going all 80s with a special movie collection.
They got the idea after celebrating the films from 1974 that turned 50.
This month they are uploading a group of more than 20 titles that were originally released to theaters in 1984
Yes, that was 40 years ago.
I know. Take a deep breath.
Funny, because I just rewatched “Beverly Hills Cop” and while I enjoyed the nostalgia, I was surprised at how SLOW it was.
Even the opening scene with Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) hanging on for dear life in a tractor trailer/police chase that basically DESTROYS a Detroit neighborhood.
My biggest takeaway is that Murphy is a born star. He carries that movie. Although Bronson Pinchot’s brief appearance is the stuff of comedy legend.
They’re only offering two of the highest grossing films of the 80s: Beverly Hills Cop (which, coincidentally, Netflix has made a new sequel to, coming later this summer) and Footloose.
Netflix Does the 80s
It does at least have the year’s Best Picture winner — Amadeus — and another one of the Best Picture nominees (A Passage to India.)
Other titles on Netflix include:
- 2010: The Year We Make Contact
- A Nightmare on Elm Street
- Against All Odds
- Beverly Hills Cop
- Birdy
- Body Double
- Conan the Destroyer
- Falling in Love
- Firestarter
- Firstborn
- Iceman
- Joy of Sex
- Micki & Maude
- Moscow on the Hudson
- Places in the Heart
- Repo Man
- The River
- Sixteen Candles
- Starman
- Top Secret!
Of those, my favorites include “Falling in Love” starring Meryl Streep and Robert DeNiro. Yes, it’s about cheating, but there’s something about these two and this movie is both infuriating and hopeful. Also, the Dave Grusin score is just the best.
Oh, and remember “Firstborn”?
“Robo Cops'” Peter Weller stars as Teri Garr’s TERRIBLE boyfriend and Christopher Collet is Jake, who has to defend his family. Cameos include Robert Downey Jr., Corey Haim and Sarah Jessica Parker. Also, a warning about “Sixteen Candles”. It doesn’t age well. At all.
All of these films went up on Netflix on April 1.