Welcome to an exciting year-long project here at The Nerdy. 1986 was an exciting year for films giving us a lot of films that would go on to be beloved favorites and cult classics. It was also the start to a major shift in cultural and societal norms, and some of those still reverberate to this day.
We’re going to pick and choose which movies we hit, but right now the list stands at nearly four dozen.
Yes, we’re insane, but 1986 was that great of a year for film.
The articles will come out – in most cases – on the same day the films hit theaters in 1986 so that it is their true 40th anniversary. All films are also watched again for the purposes of these reviews and are not being done from memory. In some cases, it truly will be the first time we’ve seen them.
This time around, it’s September 26, 1986, and we’re off to see Crocodile Dundee, Down by Law, and The Name of the Rose.
Crocodile Dundee
This movie did more for Australia than I think anyone cares to admit.
Susan Charlton (Linda Kozlowski) is a reporter on assignment in Australia when she hears a tall tale of a man who lost half of his leg in a crocodile attack but survived. She seeks him out and meets Michael J. “Crocodile” Dundee (Paul Hogan). Yes, he was attacked, but it wasn’t quite as severe as the tale made it out to be. He takes Susan to the locations where it happened and teaches her about how dangerous the outback can be. Then he heads with her to New York City and learns what it feels like to be in an environment he doesn’t understand.
The movie does some interesting things by giving us essentially two “fish out of water” stories for the price of one. Luckily the leads also have an easy chemistry that makes them almost immediately captivating.
The film holds up, and is still amusing. Just don’t expect a laugh riot.
Where to watch: Available to stream.
Down by Law
A surprising slice of life of three men forced together in a prison cell, and the unlikely bonds they form.
Zack (Tom Waits) is a down-on-his-luck DJ who accepts an unusual job that lands him in prison. Jack (John Lurie) is a pimp who gets set up by his rival in such a way that he will end up doing a long stretch as well. After the two men have spent some time in their cell, a third man, Roberto (Roberto Benigni), joins them, who has been locked up for killing a man in self-defense. Roberto finally comes up with an escape plan, and the three men go on the run through the Louisiana swamps.
The main issue with this film is it simply takes too long to get us to the prison. While the characters’ backstories are important, I would say the relationship they form in that cell matters even more. Zack and Jack take a while to warm to Roberto as he speaks very little English, but they eventually treat him as one of their own. While they do give us a glimpse of that, I’m not sure we needed such an incredibly long scene of Zack’s girlfriend (Ellen Barkin) throwing him out, followed by a scene of him changing shoes because she threw his favorite ones out the window.
I still enjoyed the film, but it was in desperate need of stronger editing.
Where to watch: Available to stream.
The Name of the Rose
What if Sherlock Holmes, but a monk?
Franciscan friar William of Baskerville (Sean Connery) and his novice, Adso of Melk (Christian Slater) arrive for an important Church conference at a Benedictine Abbey. It just so happens that before they arrive, a murder has occurred, and luckily William loves a mystery.
Here’s the thing: this movie is insanely silly. Despite that, it still entertained me, but at every turn the time period this is set in feels so arbitrary. The main focus is just “Look how smart William is!”
The time period does play a role in the third act, but otherwise it feels like an afterthought, as William uses his brain more than anything to solve the mystery. How he knows so much is never entirely clear. But he’s essentially a one-man 14th-century CSI.
The film is about as silly as you can imagine, but it’s never outright bad. It just feels like a very odd marriage of setting and theme.
Where to watch: Available to stream.
1986 Movie Reviews will continue on Oct. 3, 2026, with Children of a Lesser God, ‘Round Midnight, and Tough Guys.
