100 Movies: A Gen Xer's Cultural Formation

Here are the movies from the 80s and 90s that made me who I am. How does having a shared movie canon strengthen culture? How does declaring your odd tastes help you find your friends?

I was chatting with

Steve Knepper

yesterday over text yesterday regarding New Verse Review business when he mentioned that

Alice Allan

over at

Matthew Buckley Smith

’s SLEERICKETS podcast said that she watched Footloose (#54) the because I had mentioned it to her. Steve then went on to say that over the weekend he introduced his niece and nephew to The Lost Boys (#17) which I said was one of my favorites. This led into a much larger discussion about how we seem to have a similar quirky taste in films, and we wondered about the movies that helped shape the cultural sensitives of the rest of the NVR masthead (

D.A. Cooper

,

Mary Grace Mangano

,

Carla Sarett

,

Ethan McGuire

and

Daniel Cowper

).

This morning I decided to quickly type up my favorite 25 movies, and as you can obviously see, my project spiraled out of control. I made my limit 50 for my most formative works and then created two tiers of 25. There will be constant reordering and shuffling as I revisit these lists.

Some obvious omissions are the Indiana Jones, Back to the Future, Terminator, Star Trek, and Star Wars movies, which were of course highly influential to me and are part of the cultural zeitgeist, but I consider large franchises to be separate creatures. However, I make an exception with Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn (#4) because it is so imprinted into my psyche unlike any other franchise movie. Similar story for Terminator 2 (#45).

With the exception of Shawshank Redemption (#25), all of my top 25 are from the 1980s, which makes sense because a person is pretty moldable as a kid. I was a high school student from 1988 to 1992, but I was attracted to scary movies when I was much younger, as you can probably guess from this list. And I have to admit that watching the first two movies — The Princess Bride (#1) Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (#2) — in my formative pre-teen years likely shaped my (probably unrealistic) ideas of friendship and romance.

My taste in films from 1994 onward was greatly influenced by my then-boyfriend/now-husand, Jeff. We, along with our friends Matt and Louisa (who were also going out and are still together) were officers in our college’s film society. Louisa and I first met when we were extras in Clint Eastwood’s In the Line of Fire (#67) . I am happy to say that the passion never went away for Louisa Moore who is now a successful movie critic.

In many ways, my formation ended in 2000 when Jeff and I got married and shortly thereafter started a family. Having children tends to dramatically change the nature and number of movies one sees.

And now, in order of influence, the movies from the 80s and 90s that made me the weirdo I am today….

The 50

1. The Princess Bride (1987)

2. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)

3. Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983)

4. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn (1982)

5. Clash of the Titans (1981)

6. Highlander (1986)

7. The Neverending Story (1984)

8. The Last Unicorn (1982)

9. Poltergeist (1982) 

10. The Breakfast Club (1985)

11. The Dark Crystal (1982)

12. Gremlins (1984)

13. The Outsiders (1983)

14. Aliens (1986)

15. Stand By Me (1986)

16. The Lost Boys (1987)

17. Labyrinth (1986) 

18. The Black Cauldron (1985)

19. Dune (1984)

20. Crocodile Dundee (1986)

21. Ladyhawke (1985)

22. Ghostbusters (1984)

23. Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

24. The Secret of NIHM (1982)

25. Shawshank Redemption (1994)

26. Henry V (1989)

27. The Goonies (1985)

28. Office Space (1999)

29. Heathers (1989)

30. Bladerunner (1982)

31. Galaxy Quest (1999)

32. Wargames (1983)

33. Thelma and Louise (1991)

34. Babette’s Feast (1987)

35. Big Night (1996)

36. Top Gun (1986)

37. Die Hard (1988)

38. Goodfellas (1990)

39. Silence of the Lambs (1991)

40. Se7en (1995)

41. The Sixth Sense (1999)

42. A Few Good Men (1992)

43. Dirty Dancing (1987)

44. Beetlejuice (1988)

45. Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991)

46. Pulp Fiction (1994)

47. Apollo 13 (1995)

48. Glory (1989)

49. Groundhog Day (1993)

50. E.T the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

What could this list possibly mean about a person?

25 Next Formative Movies

These films just missed the cut — many were extremely close. I’ve listed them according to the year of their release:  

51. Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)

52. A Christmas Story (1983)

53. Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)

54. Footloose (1984)

55. Platoon (1986)

56. Full Metal Jacket (1987)

57. The Last Emperor (1987)

58. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)

59. Dead Poets Society (1989)

60. The Little Mermaid (1989)

61. Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989)

62. Ghost (1990) - At the time I really loved this movie. 

63. Beauty and the Beast (1991)

64. Reservoir Dogs (1992)

65. Wayne’s World (1992)

66. In the Line of Fire (1993)

67. Jurassic Park (1993)

68. Interview with a Vampire (1994)

69. Braveheart (1995) - A sentimental choice because Jeff’s grandfather was a Wallace.

70. The Usual Suspects (1995)

71. Fargo (1996)

72. Trainspotting (1996)

73. Jackie Brown (1997)

74. The Matrix (1999)

75. L.A. Confidential (1997)

And 25 Honorable Mentions

A number of these movies deserve to be in my top 50 but they didn’t have the same transformative effect on me as the others. Some of these films are ones I don’t remember well, or about which I have developed conflicted emotions. Feel free to ask me why any of these didn’t make it to the top list. 

Listed in order of theatrical release:  

76. Fame (1980)

77. Excalibur (1981)

78. Flashdance (1983)

79. Krull (1983)

80. Risky Business (1983)

81. Amadeus (1984)

82. The Bounty (1984)

83. Sixteen Candles (1984)

84. Brazil (1985)

85. Blue Velvet (1986)

86. Pretty in Pink (1986)

87. Good Morning, Vietnam (1987)

88. The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)

89. Batman (1989)

90. Say Anything (1989)

91. Edward Scissorhands (1990)

92. Misery (1990)

93. Time Bandits (1991)

94. Dracula (1992)

95. Schindler’s List (1993)

96. Babe (1995)

97. Scream (1996)

98. Good Will Hunting (1997)

99. Starship Troopers (1997)

100. Saving Private Ryan (1998)

     ---

     Yet to be watched…

I suspect they may bump off one of the current top 50 if I watch them. I also feel a sense of embarrassment for not having gotten around to watching these. It is the same type of embarrassment that I feel for not having finished Middlemarch, for which everyone seems to be raving. 

Listed in order of theatrical release:

• Raising Arizona (1987) 

• Akira (1988)

• Pretty Woman (1990) - I know,

  Alice Allan
  . I know!

• The Big Lebowski (1998) 

• Army of Darkness (1992) I don't remember enough of it so it’s like I never watched it.

I will avoid any further explanation because this post is already too long, but I am interested in hearing what you have to say.

BIG EDIT…

Yes, it looks like a forgot some doozies! Baz Lurhmann’s Romeo + Juliet (1996), Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome (1985), A Simple Plan (1998) and many more. Yikes! I need to boot some of these already named 100 of the list to make room for these other movies.

I think amending this post is going to be a “NeverEnding Story"! This is, by the way, a Little Free Library that I jog past on the regular. Isn’t it awesome? (Credit: Zina Gomez-Liss)

What movies made you who you are today?

What are your favorites from this list? What am I missing?

How does having a shared movie canon strengthen culture?

How does declaring your odd tastes help you find your friends?

Thank you for reading a post that is a little out of the ordinary. More poetry, literary criticism, and serious classical wisdom is planned for the near future.