jeffkjoe

I have a question for you twentysomethings...

I was watching ROCKY IV and FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF this holiday weekend, and I was wondering what modern-day twenty-somethings think when they view this movie (considering, these flicks were made when they were born.)

I mean, when I look at movies that were made during MY youth like the 1976 KING KONG remake, THE TOWERING INFERNO, and especially SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER, the OUTDATED-ness (is that a word?) realllllly comes through. The hairdos, the bell-bottoms, the bow-chicka-wow-wow of the soundtrack...


But ROCKY IV and FERRIS are 2 flicks that, in my opinion, still look as if they could have been made yesterday - save for the occasional flock-of-seagulls hairdo and gigantic brick-size cellphones.


Do you twentysomethings snicker at point your fingers at the screen when watching these mid-eighties gems?

(I think so. I think somewhere between 1984 and 1987, movies start to look less their age.)

SeekOnce

Yes, absolutely. And for the most part, it'll deter me from watching those movies. Yea, it's a silly reason but it completely removes me from the flick.

RichC2

Depends, some movies from the early 90s look absolutely atrocious as well.

But yes, the older visual techniques and film does deter me, occasionally, from watching an otherwise excellent movie.

DonnachaOne

Yes, they seem incredibly dated. I was born in 1982.

It's just a generational thing - different generations notice how things differed in look from age to age, whereas that time's generation still sees it as normal. It'll be the same in ten years, when my grown-up nephew and niece will think [b]Jurassic Park[/i] is silly-looking.

PopcornTreeCt

Yeah, it seems dated. I don't understand 80's movies, it's like they didn't even try. Every movie nowadays is made to look as cool and authentic as it can be, even comedies nowadays have a subtle humor about them. 80's movies, to me, are not legit enough to evoke any other emotion out of me besides laughter. Did the studios even try to make good movies? Granted, Back to the Future is one of my favorite movies of all time but that's a comedy so my point still stands.

Johnny Boy

I was born in 1979. I think most 80s movies look very dated. I can pretty much look at a random movie without even knowing anything about it and be able to tell whether it was made in the 80s. However, the fact that most of them look dated isn't necessarily a bad thing by any means.

wm lopez

I know back around 1974 the Franky Avolon & Annette beach movies looked so dated on t.v. and that was only like a 10 year differance. So I can imagine what a 20 year old movie must look like to a 20yr. old.

Count de Monet

DOOM
VAN HELSING
DIE ANOTHER DAY
THE SCORPION KING
DAREDEVIL
ELEKTRA
FANTASTIC FOUR
ALIEN VERSUS PREDATOR
...just to name a few.

RAGING BULL
RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK
THE ELEPHANT MAN
BLADE RUNNER
PLATOON
THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
ALIENS
WITNESS
BRAZIL
THE RIGHT STUFF
...just to name a few.

To lift a line from FERRIS BUELLER: "I weep for the future."

mndtrp

They look dated to me (25), but it usually doesn't bother me too much.

Bateman

Good question. Many of the better films from the 80's don't really have a huge 80s feel to them (see Count de Monet list for starters). However some of them seem pretty dated to me (Im 25).

I think its mostly whether the movie has a lot of 80's pop culture and music in it. The 70s films with the same attributes tend to have a dated feel for the same reason. One that comes to mind is To Live and Die in LA. Its a really solid action flick but it has a very 80's soundtrack and feel to it.

UAIOE

Yeah some look dated.

But i'm the wrong person to ask because i cared very little for the clothing/hairstyles of the 1980's. Sometimes its not the style of clothes so much as the horrible visual effects.

"Back to the Future" & "Ghostbusters" seem live on today unscathed. However thier sequels tend to seem more "dated" as i can vividly recall thier arrival in theaters and thier impneding arrival on cable.

FRwL

The '70s decade is most pronounced in style in proportion to any other decade's styles, because of that out going mentality (disco, long-hair, hippiness) they had, the decade looks more dated.

DonnachaOne

Aside from Witness, all of the films you list are period pieces, whether they be the past or the supposed future. These films don't try to hide the fact that they look dated - it's what the film's setting is built on. They don't try to show off a view of the 1980's "Present Day". The 1930's and 1970's, etc. were carefully replicated, and the sci-fi films are completely imagined. The attention to detail in creating a time period go a long way in creating the look and feel, and that's one reason why so many of the films you mentioned are still timeless.

Were you referring to the look and feel of the films? If that is the case, I think The Empire Strike Back and Blade Runner are very dated. They may be sci-fi films, but they're certainly products of 1980's thinking. No surer way to see what was hot in a certain time period than to look at its popular sci-fi!

"Hey, big high-top basketball shoes are popular... so in the future, they must be EVEN BIGGER!"

UAIOE

No matter what decade the sci-fi/future films made during that time will always have a "stamp" or an indication of the era or decade they were made in.

"Forbidden Planet" was set in the future yet it all the futuristic computers are still the size of dishwashers.

1950's sci-fi movies still have some idea or ideal that is purely 1950's and has somehow made its way "into" the future.

Bateman

Defintly agree with this. Something with the technology or culture always points out the time.

The only two I can think of are that may not fit this pattern are Solaris and 2001. They were both made in roughly the same time period but aside from some special effects do not seem all that dated or tied to the time they were made. Aside from being able to travel to Jupiter a few years ago I guess.

Linko

They all look dated to me for the most part but that's what I like about them. If it looked like a 90's or current movie then it wouldn't be as cool!

Count de Monet

Please re-read my post and this time, pay attention to the quotes I was directly responding to. Doing so would have saved you a lot of typing.

DonnachaOne

I read your post and your quotes. However, this thread is about how films from a certain time look dated, so your post leads readers to believe your post concerns films that are "good films from the 1980's" and that don't "look dated".

If you're telling me that was not your purpose, and all you posted was an off-topic and irrelevant post, then I'm sorry for you.

Count de Monet

To anyone who knows how to read, they would be led to believe that I was directly responding to PopcornTreeCt's claim that all films made today are cool and authentic-looking while no one cared about making good films in the '80s. I disagreed with this notion and presented evidence to the contrary.

Then, by your rules, I was merely responding to an off-topic post to begin with. Then that means that you also went off-topic by responding to my off-topic response to PopcornTreeCt's original off-topic post which I directly quoted for all to see. Sorry that you decided to contribute an even more irrelevant post to the off-topic trainwreck.

StuddThunders

What strikes me - or struck me, rather - was when I got to high school, everyone was my age, not in their twenties like they were in the 80s high school movies.

Hiro11

Have to disagree with you there... Blade Runner has a much better look than any other present day "dystopian future" movie I can think of and tackles themes of identity and mortality that most present day sci-fi can't approach.

Also, isn't the "dating" effect present in any movie from any time period? For example, I don't know about you guys, but the wrap-around sunglasses/vinyl outfit/black overcoat look of "The Matrix" seems very "five years ago" to me at this point. Add the terrific-at-the-time-now-cliche bulletime and the first Matrix will be harder and harder to remove from 1999 as time goes on.

DVDho78DTS

Why would I want a movie made in the 80's to look like a movie in the present?

Obviously the special effects in some films could be better.

If people can accept period pieces why can't you accept movies made in the same time period?

What is the difference in watching the Wedding Singer (1998) and a comedy of your choice from the 80s?

Hiro11

Settle down, Beavis.

(now I'm dating myself)

jeffkjoe

I guess, what I'm trying to say is that it's NOT difficult to watch a movie nowadays from the 80's, or even from the '70's, for that matter.


It's just that effect that I get when I'm flipping through the channels and come across, say ANNIE HALL, and I think (for a second of two) how big the afros are, or how gaudy the fashion was back then.

It doesn't detract from the quality of the movie, by any means.

Libby

I tend to really notice it when watching the star wars movies 4,5,6 compared to 1,2,3 but then I try to imagine how amazing it must have seemed for its time back then. ET was another one that came to mind.