Lost movies of the 1980's- the HBO years
 

Got to thinking from the best of the 80's thread. Many of the films on my list I may never see again!

I really miss the HBO of the early 1980's. Not only did you get to see all of hits, but it was really a great mixed bag. Disney movies before the Disney Channel. Oliver! every Xmas. And some great, small, relatively unknown movies which seem to have been lost with time.

Here's a list of movies that have all but disappeared in the 20 or so years since I saw them on HBO. Can only hope they see the light of day again sometime down the road.


I GO POGO - great claymation adaptation of the daily strip, involving the voice talents of Paul Frees, Stan Freeberg and Jonathan Winters. Also just a great political satire.

The ADVENTURES OF MARK TWAIN - Claymation film about Mark Twain's trip to meet up with Halley's Comet on the year of its return. Great animated sequences of stories from Twain's collection..esp. those involving the Mysterious Stranger.

TWICE UPON A TIME - Another animated flick, this time produced by Geroge Lucas. Done in the Lumage process, which involved the cutting out of pieces of fabric. Has been released in past years on videotape and LD, but never with the original more adult soundtrack originally aired on HBO.

CANNERY ROW - Great moody John Steinbeck adaptation, containing a strong lead performance by Nick Nolte and a boatload of great character actors. Beautiful cinematography and exceptional voiceover work by John Huston.

ROCK AND RULE - Animation again. This time from Nelvana. Really grounbreaking for 1983, and a great head trip.

GET CRAZY - The funniest film no one has ever seen. From Alan Arkush (director of Rock and Role High School). The goings ons at a New Years Eve rock concert, with hysterical turns by Malcom McDowell, Lou Reed and Bill Henderson.


Anyone else know of any other great films from the heyday of HBO that have basically vanished????

Lost in nostalgia,

i remember when i was a kid i used to sneak downstairs late at night to check out T&A flicks. my favorite was called "Going All The Way". havent seen it since.

and is Twice Upon a Time the animated flick with a robot that would play movie clips back (from Raiders of the Lost Ark, specifically) to communicate?

i think this was an hbo made movie (mostly australian actors and locations if i recall).

title was Fortress and starred rachel ward as a schoolteacher who (along with her class) is kidnapped and held for ransom. i think it was available on vhs but nothing on dvd to my knowledge.

anyone remember this one other than me.

would love to get this on dvd

is 'just one of the guys' in that era youre speaking of? they played it all the time. that movie is amazing plus a boob shot at the end!

I remember this one.


Two other movies I saw quite often on HBO were the Mother Lode and TAG: The Assasination Game. I would like to see Mother Lode come out on DVD, but I have a feeling that TAG probably didn't age that well.

These were HBO mainstays for me...

Animalympics & Under the Rainbow.

Top 5 movies of the 80s that were always on HBO:

The Beastmaster (of course)
Yor, The Hunter From the Future
Pete's Dragon
Super Fuzz
Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins

[QUOTE=zak52]I remember this one.


Thats the one my man. Glad someone else was up that late at nite watching those great childrens programs ;)

Wow, I used to love Fortress. I wonder if it would still hold up today.

The one I remember watching constantly was On The Right Track with Gary Coleman, which still has one of the most bizarre premises for a film in that Gary lives inside a locker at Grand Central Station and is somehow a prodigy at predicting horse races. It was also my first exposure to the wonder of Vincent Schiavelli.

Wow - good call! I forgot about that one.

I've seen it a few times since and it holds up quite well. It's pretty good thriller (believe it debuted as an Australian TV movie).

Father Christmas was one scary villain! :up:

I have "Twice Upon a Time" on VHS. I had no idea it had a different soundtrack. It's still a pretty kick-ass movie (and funny!) and I'd love to get it on DVD.

Not a movie, but there was a one-hour comedy special on HBO featuring a comedian named Steven Banks. He was attempting to work from home but kept getting distracted by things around his house. It occurred in real-time, as he wandered around his apartment set. He was a fairly accomplished musician, playing the guitar, drums and several other instruments around the stage. He had nothing in his cupboards but chocolate chip cookies and ended up getting fired at the end but scored a band gig so he was happy.

It was HILARIOUS and I wish it was still available somewhere :(

anyone remember HBO's show of trivia, puzzles, etc called "Brain Games"? my brother and I loved watching these.

Loved 'em.

Also, neglected to mention Looker.

Fortess was awesome. Some really great bits in there.

One that freaked me out was, when, toward the end, the one girl took off, and they were calling out to her... "Norelle! Norelle!" and the kidnapper, who was pursuing them, was calling out the name, too.

oh yeah. now the real question... who owns the rights to this film?

never watched it, but will never forget the title to Finnegan Begin Again from those days.

Rock 'N' Roll High School Forever and The Private Eyes are two personal favorites that I used to watch on HBO all the time in the '80s. Where is the Rock 'N' Roll DVD?

I remember every Christmas you could count on HBO bringing you three movies/specials:
Oliver!
Emmet Otters Jug Band Christmas
Rich Little's A Christmas Carol-great showcase for the man to do his impersonations

I also remember seeing the movie Goin Ape! with Tony Danza, Danny DeVito, and three Orangatuans a lot. I also remember a movie about Gary Coleman being in the boyscouts and saving his troop who got lost in a cave.

Right here (my hand is raised) I watched it everytimg it came on when I was a kid.

Definitely I also loved the close up shots on Father Christmas :up:

I have Fortress. Got a used VHS tape off of ebay last year. I used to have nightmares about this movie for years and years, I always dreamed I was one of the kidnapped kids. Father Christmas mask is just freaky. The movie holds up really well and is still quite effective. Don't know why my mom let me watch it so much as a kid. It is one of the last movies on my top 100 list that has yet to make it to dvd, I hope for it one day though. The movie is truly good, check ebay, it is worth a cheap vhs price just to see the movie again.

I also remember watching Cannonball Run on numerous afternoons when I got home from Kindergarten; loved the days when school ended at 12:00 noon!!!
What stinks is that I remember renting a PG version of VHS a few years back and because I had seen it so many times as a kid, knew where all of the obscenities fell. I was quite frustrated to see that it had been edited!!!!

It's actually a 70's movie, but the very first movie I remember seeing on HBO (At a friend's house) was Tubby The Tuba. Never seen it since.

Body Slam was another one that aired frequently. Aint seen that one in awhile either.

I'm glad someone made this thread, because there's a question about this very type of thing that's been bugging me for some time. I'll describe it the way I remember it, so I don't have to keep saying "I seem to remember this" or I seem to remember that."

Early, early HBO days...
made-for-HBO...
starred E.G. Daily...
movie was called "Josie", or something like that.

I've looked and looked for information about this all over the internet, and come up with nothing. I know I didn't just dream it, because I basically "fell in love" with E.G. Daily watching that, and everything I saw her in after that always reminded me of seeing that early movie.

Does anyone know what the hell I'm talking about? Do I know what the hell I'm talking about? -confused-

i seem to remember this movie with a bunch of kids, including Chunk from Goonies, where they hatch this elaborate scheme to break into some clinic or something and free animals.