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 June 27, 1986, and we’re off to see American Anthem, Labyrinth, Running Scared, and Ruthless People.
American Anthem
When your film immediately starts with an 80s montage, it feels as though the film has already thrown in the towel.
Steve Trevere (Mitch Gaylord) is a former gymnast, turned football player, and motorcycle mechanic who decides he wants to get back to gymnastics. His alcoholic father however, says some stern words about it to try to stop him. And once he is back in the gym, he falls for newcomer Julie Lloyd (Janet Jones) whom seems to fall for him in .3 seconds.
I hated this movie. The acting is awful. The plot is contrived and nonsense. Even shot angles feel like they just placed a camera down and went “good enough.”
Newsflash, it was, indeed, not “good enough.”
I am hoping the 80s obsession with gymnasts who do 50 other things (I’m looking at you Gymkata) is coming to an end.
Where to watch: Available to stream.
Labyrinth
About as 80s as it gets.
Sarah (Jennifer Connely) resents her step-mother and her new half-brother. And she especially resents having to babysit him. When the parents head out on a Saturday night, Sarah, who enjoys fantasy stories, makes a wish to the Goblin King (David Bowie) to kidnap her brother. When he disappears, Sarah has 13 hours to make it to the Goblin King’s castle to win back her brother.
Is it all a fantasy of Sarah’s? Maybe? You just never know for sure.
This film bombed at the box office, but it found a long life in home video and showings on HBO and became a beloved film. I’m not sure I ‘loved’ it, but I found it enjoyable on this rewatch. It’s definitely a hallmark of 80s kids, and worth a watch for that reason alone.
Where to watch: Available to stream.
Running Scared
When talented people make a lifeless film.
Ray Hughes (Gregory Hines) and Danny Costanzo (Billy Crystal) are detectives in Chicago that really want to take down upcoming drug lord Julio Gonzales (Jimmy Smits). But after a forced vacation to Key West, the two are starting to question if it’s all worth it.
This movie had some ideas, but it didn’t trust any of them to carry the whole film. Smits’ character is a lot of the issue in that he just felt so underdeveloped. He talked a big game, but rarely did we see anything but incompetence as Ray and Danny kept getting one over on him.
Hines and Crystal are good, but the script is soft and leaves you feeling pretty empty by the conclusion. It needed to cut back on just one aspect of plotting, not even a particular one, and it would have allowed the rest some more room to breathe.
Where to watch: Available to stream.
Ruthless People
This film, I am happy to say, works way better than the premise would lead you to believe.
Sam Stone (Danny DeVito) plans to kill his wife (Bette Midler) for her money, but before he can carry out the plan, he arrives home to discover she has been kidnapped. Ken (Judge Reinhold) and Sandy (Helen Slater) have a personal grudge against Sam for stealing skirt designs from the latter. It seems like a straightforward plan, but everything that can go wrong does, and in the best ways possible.
I watched this film in the 80s and enjoyed it. I enjoyed it even more this time. What could have been a very simple farce peppers in just the right amount of low-brow humor and comes up with something pretty fresh.
Well worth your time.
Where to watch: Available to stream.
1986 Movie Reviews will continue on July 4, 2026, with About Last Night, Big Trouble in Little China, The Great Mouse Detective, Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf, Psycho III, and Under the Cherry Moon.
