Badmovies.org Forum

Ah..
The 80's teen comedy.  They sure don't make 'em like they used to!
They all had an endearing quality that you just don't see anymore.

I can watch most of the above films over and over and never get tired of them.

I'd have to say that my all time favorite 80's teen comedy is a toss-up between The Breakfast Club and Better Off Dead.
Ultimately, I had to go with Better Off Dead.   :thumbup:
That movie brings back so many memories for me and has so many memorable quotes!

Heathers runs a close 3rd.

I tried to compile a complete list but still have this nagging feeling that I've left out a few films.
Also, I purposely tried to avoid including movies that aren't primarily comedy such as The Lost Boys or other movies that take place mostly in college.
(Revenge of the Nerds was one exception)

How about you?
What's your favorite 80's teen comedy and why?

Gotta go with Fast Times at Ridgemont High, it's just the classic.  Fabulous characters, and it's been copied so many times.  Honorable mention to Valley Girl, I love the way that fleeting slice of Southern California pop culture in the early '80s is preserved forever in that movie.  Secret Admirer is another favorite, if for no other reason than that I've always had a crush on Lori Loughlin and she looks fabulous in that movie.  Heathers is another favorite for the dark humor side. 

There's so many classics on that list.  I picked Just One OF The Guys.  Underrated classic there that doesn't get named much.

I also like Teen Wolf, The John Hughes Series, and Summer School.  Bill and Ted too.

It's kind of a family comedy but Back to the Beach was great!

great list

Back to the Future is not only a great 80's comedy film but it's also a modern classic.  I had to go with Marty, Doc and the DeLorian.   :thumbup:

Revenge of the Nerds, Back to the Future and Ferris Bueller are all classics. I can watch any of them over and over. One Crazy Summer isn't bad either. However, I've always had a soft spot for Weird Science. I can still remember a bunch of us gathering at a friend's house on a summer afternoon to watch a rented tape of it, back in the days when a VCR was still something of a luxury item. Weird Science was by far the best of the science-themed teen comedies that enjoyed a brief popularity. Interestingly enough, I now own that very tape, having bought it off my local video store's previously-viewed shelf during the great purge of the late 90s, when they cleared out a lot of their early selection.

I voted CLASS of 84...except I'm gonna puzzeled as to why it's on here...as it's not a comedy at all! Unless sadistical punk  kids tormenting Perry King and Roddy McDowall is your idea of fun....

http://youtube.com/watch?v=1B94KZWZFm0.......... :tongueout:

I'm going to go with One Crazy Summer. I know most people prefer Better Off Dead, but One Crazy Summer was just so crazy. One of my favorite comedies of all time.

I had to go with one of my favorites of all time: Heathers

-great cast, great story, great humor, oodles of easter eggs, and the most memorable quotes!

"F## me gently with a chainsaw; do I look like Mother Theresa?" -Heather #1

BIG FUN!

I went with Bill & Ted because it holds a special place in my heart.  That and its one of few time travel movies I don't challenge. 

This was a hard decision though.  The 80s had some of the best teen comedies ever. 

Good list, Ash.  Very complete.

I think BACK TO THE FUTURE is the best of the movies on the list: original, well-plotted, funny, likeable characters.  But it's not my personal, subjective favorite.

The John Hughes films were all very formulaic and predictable, but he worked the formula so well that they all end up very watchable, if none of them are great.

PORKY's and FAST TIMES seem to have set the template for the "teen-sex" branch of the teen comedy.  FAST TIMES is not a bad flick at all. 

I enjoyed the exploitative, brain-dead T&A knockoffs like PRIVATE SCHOOL (Betsy Russell doing a Lady Godiva impersonation---what's not to like?)  Haven't seen one of these in decades, though.

My personal favorite is HEATHERS, because it's so subversive to the genre and full of great quotable one-liners ("I love my dead gay son!" "God, the afterlife is so boring. If I have to sing Kumbaya one more time...").  As well as the one Mortal Envelope mentioned.

Curious...would ROCK and ROLL HIGH SCHOOL qualify as a teen comedy? If so...it's got my vote!

I also liked Lucas.

"Risky Business" here. Never liked Cruise, but he does get a great week. Plus it has Rebecca DeMornay, a flooded Porsche and a haunting Tangerine Dream score.

I remember liking better "The Breakfast Club" and "The Goonies" back then, but RB is the only one I feel like watching again at this moment.

I went with Revenge of the Nerds, though I had a hard time not voting for some of the others. Bill & Ted, Back to the Future, Ferris Beullher, Better Off Dead, One Crazy Summer, Heathers--they're all favorites, and I could watch them over and over. Nerds has a special place for me both for the nerds and for the music (and the spy cam scenes ain't too shabby, either  :buggedout:).

Thanks, Ash, for bringing up some good memories!

Quote from: RCMerchant on February 15, 2008, 06:54:48 PM
Curious...would ROCK and ROLL HIGH SCHOOL qualify as a teen comedy? If so...it's got my vote!

I'd consider it one, yes.  Probably wasn't considered because it was released in 1979, though.

Quote from: RCMerchant on February 15, 2008, 11:03:06 AM
I voted CLASS of 84...except I'm gonna puzzeled as to why it's on here...as it's not a comedy at all! Unless sadistical punk  kids tormenting Perry King and Roddy McDowall is your idea of fun....

Whoops!
When I was compiling the list, it was in with a bunch of other teen comedies so I added it...not knowing it wasn't a comedy.
(I've never seen it.   :tongueout:)

I originally had Rock & Roll High School in the list because I was thinking it came out in 1980.
I checked the IMDB and it is from 1979, so it was removed.

Hey RCMerchant Rock and Rock High School was made in 1979 this is about 80's teen comedy movies.

My vote definitely goes to "Heathers". Someone introduced it to me waaay back, because I reminded him of the main character. Since I do not look very much like Christian Slater, I wonder if it was the character of this Character...?

Very close second is "Breakfast Club".

I enjoyed the usual suspects, like Back to Future and Ferris Buehller, as a kid, but I think I wouldn't want to watch them now.

Unfortunately I haven't heard of half of them, maybe because they run with a different title over here, which is usually not a direct translation. I'd probably be interested in "Better off dead", since it has been mentioned together with my favorites and the plot at imdb doesn't sound familiar.

Tough decision, but I went with VALLEY GIRL.  Nicolas Cage was perfect for his role . . . and how can you forget the VERY 1980s soundtrack, including music by (uh) Josie Cotton?

I like all of them all specially Better Of Dead with Those Newspaper Boys ( I Want My Two Dollars!). :bouncegiggle:

There were some shiney plastic beads in the food-poisoned oyesterbed of the 80s, but I still say this decade needs to be the end of nostalgia. Nearly everything good about it was but a cry of desperation against everything bad about it which, again, was pretty much everything.

Surprised I voted for Heathers?  :wink:

I would have to say the one that sticks in my mind most is The Last American Virgin (1982)

Some of those I've seen, others no.  But from the list I would say my fave would have to be Better Off Dead and Weird Science, in that order.  Followed very closely by Ferris Bueller.

They certainly don't make comedies like that any more.

I had to go with HEATHERS as out of all of the films, and I've seen most of them, that made the strongest impression. 
I think SIXTEEN CANDLES is quite watchable, BREAKFAST CLUB holds up fairly well, and I also think BACK TO THE FUTURE is in a different league. 

Whatta 'bout ROCK and ROLL HIGH SCHOOL? (1980)? Not only is it a great teen comedy,it's a great musical! Heck...it's one of the BEST MOVIES EVER MADE!!!!

I really liked Uncle Buck. It gave me some great ideas on how to treat any possible suitors that my daughter brought home.

Rock and Roll High School was made in 1979 RCMerchant sorry to say this but look it up. :lookingup:

My Science Project..
John Stockwell and Fisher Stevens made one hell of A Buddy Team!
And Danielle von Zerneck was Very Easy on the Eyes!

Here's a pretty dandy movie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBXeXrbciOY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nly-bfguf4k

Sometimes (every Saturday night) I like to turn the lights off and pretend Elizabeth Shue is dancing just for me.  :wink: