The 1980s saw the eruption of Mount St. Helens, killing 57 and causing billions of dollars in damage. A series of tornadoes struck Grand Island, Nebraska, causing millions of dollars in damage, killing 5 people and injuring over 250. Former Beatle John Lennon dies in the hospital after being shot outside his New York City apartment.
The 80s wasn’t all gloom; for me and many others growing up in the 80s we remember the video game craze. On the Big Screen ET and on the small screen there was Alf. The D.A.R.E. program debuted in our schools. Then on Thursday nights we all enjoyed the antics of every bodies favorite TV dad Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable. Yes The 80s marked an amazing time in our world, and now thanks to Mill Creek Entertainment we can relive the cinema of the 80s all over again with their newest release The Excellent Eighties! Now lets take an in depth look at the 50 movie collection.
Our Rating System:
**** = Don’t Miss it!
*** = Worth a look.
** = An Ok way to spend an evening.
* = You haven’t missed anything.
Disk One:
Dear Mr. Wonderful (1982) Ruby Dennis (Joe Pesci) owns a bowling alley and nightclub in Jersey, but has his sites set on making it big in Vegas. **
Intimate Agony (1983) This made for TV drama deals with herpes as a growing epidemic and how people deal with sexually transmitted diseases. **
Second Sight: A Love Story (1984) A stubborn and independent blind woman named Alexandra McKay played by Elizabeth Montgomery, distances herself emotionally from everyone, but becomes attached to her seeing-eye Labrador Retriever companion, Emma. **
Minor Miracle (1983) A group of orphans and their guardian try to save an orphanage. **
Disk Two:
Agency (1980) This political thriller involves an advertising copywriter Philip Morgan (Lee Majors) who discovers the agency he works for, run by Ted Quinn (Robert Mitchum), is using subliminal advertising to manipulate a presidential election. **
The Train Killer (1983) True Story of the man who blew up the Orient Express. **
Lamb (1985) Michael Lamb (Liam Neeson) is a priest questioning his calling, in a Reform School in Ireland. ***
My Mom’s A Werewolf (1989) The frustrated housewife Leslie visits an animal shop to purchase a flea-collar. Unknowing that the owner is a werewolf, through a bite she starts to transformation in a werewolf. **
Disk Three:
Bail Out (1989) A trio of hapless bounty hunters are recruited by a shady bail bondsman to try to keep a witness in drug trial alive to testify. Stars David Hasselhoff. **
When the Bough Breaks (1986) Ted Danson plays the crime-solving forensic psychologist Alex Delaware in this made for TV movie based on the novel by Jonathan Kellerman. ***
Lady and the Highwayman (1989) This UK swashbuckling TV movie stars Hugh Grant (in one of his earliest appearances) as highwayman Silver Blade. **
Liar’s Moon (1982) A poor kid elopes with a banker’s daughter. Stars Matt Dillon. **
Disk Four:
Toby McTeague (1986) A teenager who does not care much about school. In fact, he has his eyes on the title of a prestigious dogsled race. **
Dog Day (1984) A criminal shows up at a farmhouse with the law on his heels and several million dollars in his possession. **
Scandal Sheet (1985) The publisher of a celebrity gossip tabloid sets out to destroy an aging actor, whose career is foundering and who is also facing a battle with alcoholism. **
Hunk (1987) A computer nerd makes a deal with the Devil and gets a new, "beefcake" body. **
Disk Five:
Choices (1981) A high school student has it all; spot on the football team, playing music in the orchestra and a girlfriend, but will it all change with a visit to the school doctor? Stars Demi Moore. **
A Hazard of Hearts (1987) When compulsive gambler Sir Giles Staverley has lost his estate and all his money playing dice, he realizes that he only has one thing left of value: his daughter Serena. **
High Risk (1981) Four American friends, badly needing money, decide to make a commando-like raid into a South American. **
The Kidnapping of the President (1980) This political thriller was based on Charles Templeton’s novel and stars William Shatner, Hal Holbrook, Van Johnson and Ava Gardner. **
Disk Six:
The Day Time Ended (1980) Aliens visit the solar-powered house of a middle-class family, and the house is suddenly sucked into a time warp that transports it back to prehistoric times. **
Laser Mission (1989) Michael Gold (Brandon Lee) a mercenary is sent to convince Dr. Braun (Ernest Borgnine), a Laser specialist, to defect to the United States before the KGB acquire him and use both his talent and a stolen diamond to create a nuclear weapon. **
Blunt, The Fourth Man (1985) This made for TV film is based on the true account of Sir Anthony Blunt’s role in the 1951 spy scandal. ***
Shadows in the Storm (1988) Thelonious Pitt (Ned Beatty), a daydreaming businessman, goes to the Redwood Forests of California. Where he meets, Melanie, a beautiful woman that looks like the woman he has been seeing in his dreams. *
Cave Girl (1985) On a class excursion to a cave with stone age paintings the clumsy Rex gets lost. A mysterious crystal opens a gateway in time and sets him back to the stone ages. **
Disk Seven:
Shaker Run (1985) With the accidental discovery of a lethal bio-agent at her research facility, Dr. Christine Ruben decides to double cross her own government by stealing the deadly formula to keep it out of the clutches of the military, whom she doesn’t trust. **
Hard Knox (1984) A retired fighter pilot becomes the head of his alma matter military high school for two weeks with hilarious consequences. Robert Conrad stars in this made for TV comedy. **
Reborn (1982) A man discovers that his girlfriend is a "stigmata" and tries to keep her out of the hands of a greedy TV preacher who plans to exploit her. This film stars Dennis Hopper. **
Saigon: Year of the Cat (1983) Barbara Dean, an assistant manager in a foreign bank in Saigon, begins a relationship with American Bob Chesneau of the CIA. Chesneau realizes that the fall of Vietnam to the North Vietnamese is for the very near future. **
Disk Eight:
Act of Love (1980) A tragic motorcycle accident leaves one brother paralyzed while the other brother is left guilt-ridden. This TV Movie stars Ron Howard. **
Delta Force Commando (1987) Latin American revolutionaries invade a military base on Puerto Rico, and steal a nuclear bomb, killing a pregnant woman in the process. **
Tuareg, the Desert Warrior (1984) In a desolate section of the Sahara once ruled by the French, two thirsty men stumble into the camp of a Tuareg warrior where they’re given water and shelter. **
My Chauffeur (1986) A free-spirited young woman (Deborah Foreman) upsets the status quo at a stuffy Brentwood limousine service. **
Disk Nine:
Twisted Obsession (1989) Dan Gillis (Jeff Goldblum), an American screenwriter living in Paris, recently abandoned by his wife, and getting used to his new life as a bachelor while trying to take care of his son, becomes involved with a young incestuous brother and sister. *
Portrait of a Showgirl (1982) The story of three Las Vegas showgirls, each at a different stage in her career. Stars Leslie Ann Warren and Tony Curtis. ***
Night of the Sharks (1988) David Ziegler (Treat Williams) must fight for his life against the gangsters who killed his brother for a CD filled with proof of their illegal activities. **
Tomboy (1985) Tomasina "Tommy" Boyd (Betsy Russell) works as a mechanic and dreams of becoming a stock car driver. **
Disk Ten:
Callie & Son (1981) Callie was a teenage mother in trouble. Fresh out of the delivery room, her son was taken from her and sold on the black-market. She vowed to find him some day. Lindsay Wagner stars in this made for TV movie. **
Slipstream (1989) In the near future, where Earth has been devastated by an environmental disaster, bounty hunter Matt kidnaps a murderer out of the hands of two police officers, planning to get the bounty himself. **
Cold War Killers (1986) A missing 1950s era airplane is found 27 years later at the bottom of a lake. British and Soviet spy agencies are intensely interested. **
We Think the World of You (1988) When Johnny, is sent prison he entrusts his beloved dog, Evie, to the care of his former lover and best friend, Frank. When he gets out of prison, he has to face difficulties at home. **
Disk Eleven:
Christabel (1988) This made for TV drama mini-series was edited into a movie and is about Christabel Bielenberg, an English woman married to a German lawyer during World War II. **
Mesmerized (1984) An orphaned New Zealand girl married to an older, wealthy businessman learns to deal with his strange sexual desires. This film stars Jodie Foster and John Lithgow. **
Somewhere, Tomorrow (1983) Young Lori Anderson (Sarah Jessica Parker) lost her father in a plane crash. While her mother appears to be picking up the pieces of her life, Lori isn’t. **
A Time to Die (1982) A World War II vet sets out in 1948 to avenge the death of his wife at the hands of Nazis. **
Disk Twelve:
Savage Journey (1983) They forged a new land in the untamed wilderness – with their heart, their hands, and their faith in god. Made for TV Movie about Brigham Young’s journey. **
Casablanca Express (1989) In, 1942 a commando (Jason Connery) is assigned to protect Winston Churchill when it is learned that the Nazis are plotting to kidnap him. **
Scarecrows (1988) Five war criminals steal three million dollars from Camp Pendleton. As the robbers fly towards Southern waters, one of the robbers steals the loot and parachutes into a dark field. The scarecrows guarding surrounding graves come to live and begin to slaughter the trespassers. **
The Patriot (1986) Agent tries to track down terrorists who are intercepting government nuclear weapons. **
Deathrow Gameshow (1987) Chuck Toedan host’s a game show featuring death row convicts competing in life-or-death contests in hopes of cheating the executioner or, at the very least, winning some nice prizes for their next of kin. **
In the final analysis this is not the best of the five decade collections, but there is a lot of entertainment value here. While the video quality is not pristine, it‘s not bad.
If you remember the 80s fondly as I do you and you want to relieve the cinema of the 80s there is no better way that with this huge collection. I recommend you head on over to Amazon or your local DVD store and pick up a copy of "The Excellent Eighties" from Mill Creek Entertainment and take a trip back in the time machine to The Excellent Eighties.
Moral Rating: Some Adult Situations
Audience: Parental Guidance
Genre: Muti-Genre
Length: Almost 80 hours
Released: 2012
Our Rating: B-
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