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 October 31, 1986, and we’re off to see Link and The Mission.
Link
I think the lesson here is just don’t mess with the natural order of things.
Jane (Elisabeth Shue) is an American zoology student studying in England. She’s anxious to learn from Dr. Steven Philip (Terence Stamp), a well-known anthropologist who has been studying the mental capabilities of chimpanzees. He invites her to live in his house during a break in class, and from there she learns that perhaps the chimps aren’t quite as excited about these experiments.
This is a generally uncomfortable film. In particular, the clear sexual tension between Link, the main ‘chimp’ (played by an orangutan, and Jane. It’s super odd and uncomfortable.
The tension was fine, the cat-and-mouse chase toward the end worked, but the overall film is just not pleasant.
Where to watch: Available to stream.
The Mission
What exactly was this movie?
In the 1750s, a Jesuit priest is killed in the jungles of Paraguay. The Jesuits refuse to give up on trying to convert the natives, but they also run into Captain Rodrigo Mendoza (Robert De Niro), a mercenary who captures the natives and sells them into slavery. Following a fight with his brother in which he kills him, he is distraught and agrees to work with Father Gabriel (Jeremy Irons) to try to cleanse his soul. Eventually, Mendoza becomes a priest, but the story is far from over.
For a historical drama, I never felt like I knew any of these characters. I couldn’t tell you who Father Gabriel is as a man, no matter how much I thought about it. Mendoza’s transformation feels sudden and unearned.
The film is pretty to look at, but the script is sorely lacking in letting you get to know these men in any meaningful way.
Where to watch: Available to stream.
1986 Movie Reviews will continue on Nov. 7, 2026, with 52 Pick-Up, Modern Girls, Something Wild, and Tai-Pan.
