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. We also watch all films again for these reviews, so they’re not from memory. In some cases, it truly will be the first time we’ve seen them.
This time around, it’s November 14, 1986, and we’re off to see Every Time We Say Goodbye, Heat, Hoosiers, Quiet Cool, and Streets of Gold.
Every Time We Say Goodbye
This movie is a real head scratcher.
Lt. David Bradley (Tom Hanks) is an American who joined the RAF via Canada. After being shot down, he spends some time in Jerusalem recovering, where he meets Sarah (Cristina Marsillach), a teenage girl of Spanish Jewish descent. They are almost immediately smitten with each other, and a love story follows.
I had never seen Marsillach in anything before, and she was by far the highlight of the film. Hanks… Hanks was horribly miscast. Never for a second did I buy him in this role. He was clearly having issues breaking away from his comedic acting, and he never convinced me in this role.
The movie isn’t bad, it’s just very poorly cast.
Where to watch: Available to stream.
Heat
Bring a neck brace because the tonal shifts in this movie may give you whiplash.
Nick “Mex” Escalante (Burt Reynolds) is a former soldier of fortune who does work-for-hire around Las Vegas. From pretending to get beat up so another guy can impress his fate, to ‘chaperoning’ gamblers at the casino, he does a bit of it all. When he learns his friend Holly (Karen Young), a prostitute, has been savagely beaten by a client, he agrees to help her get revenge, knowing it will put him in a precarious position with some of the underworld of Vegas.
This movie can’t decide what it is. About halfway through, we randomly learn that Mex has a gambling addiction that really has no impact on the story for the rest of the film. We just get a very extended scene of seeing how bad his addiction is, and then we just pretty much move on from it.
It’s clear that Reynolds’ career was starting to suffer at this point because this movie just doesn’t feel like a fully formed idea.
Where to watch: Available to stream.
Hoosiers
This had to be the most paint-by-numbers sports movie I’ve ever watched.
Norman Dale (Gene Hackman) arrives in Hickory, Indiana, in 1951 to take over coaching a failing high school basketball team. Fresh out of the Navy, an event from his past hangs over him, but he is determined to rise above it and make something out of this team.
Let’s first get the Myra of it all out of the way. I normally enjoy Barbara Hershey’s performances, but this had to be the most phoned-in performance I’ve ever seen from her. Everything is delivered in a clipped monotone that just ripped me out of the film every time she was on screen.
I would say the largest issue with this film is that I never felt like I truly got to know anyone. Every character is painted in the broadest strokes. We never drill down on any single character, and it just left me cold.
Where to watch: Available to stream.
Quiet Cool
Was… was this originally written as a comedy?
Joe Dylanne (James Remar) is a tough-as-nails NYC cop. We know this as he rides his motorcycle through a subway train in the opening moments. When his ex-girlfriend calls him concerned about missing family members, he drops everything and heads to her small rural town to find it has been taken over by really serious and tough marijuana growers. Now he has to do whatever he can to save the town and learn what happened to the missing family members.
I know full well this wasn’t meant to be a comedy, but I laughed a few too many times for it not to be considered one.
The growers are comically villainous, down to the elite ones, each having their preferred off-beat weapon. (The guy with the lasso killed me)
The acting was bad from top to bottom, and it was just not an enjoyable experience.
Where to watch: Available to stream.
Streets of Gold
No.
Alek (Klaus Maria Brandauer) has just arrived from Russia. He was a top boxer there, but was passed over for the national team because he was Jewish. Once here he ends up training Timmy (Adrian Pasdar) and Roland (Wesley Snipes) in hopes of living through their successes.
Just… no.
It’s derivative nonsense that brings absolutely nothing new to the table.
Where to watch: Available to stream.
1986 Movie Reviews will continue on Nov. 21, 2026, with An American Tail, Defense of the Realm, Firewalker, and The Wraith.
