We were having a debate in our SS dept. as to what the most quintessential 80's film was.

The one that embodies exactly what a good 80's movie was all about. The best example of all films made in that decade.

Of course, many of the John Hughes classics were strewn about (The Breakfast Club being a great one), but the two it seemed to come down to was The Flamingo Kid or Red Dawn, which is funny considering both were 1984 releases and 1st ever PG-13 movies.

My pick goes to Red Dawn. Just love everything about it and with the cast, the Cold War paranoia, it epitomizes what the 80's was all about.

So what do you think is the most quinessential 1980's flick?

The Last Dragon

While it was cheese then and cheese now, it plays like an exaggeration of everything 80s. Amazing!

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Blue Velvet

There's no such thing.

But if there were such a thing, I'd either want it to be John Woo's The Killer (or A Better Tomorrow) or Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire.

It would have to be something that features a lot of the best music from the 80's, like Fast Times at Ridgemont High or Last American Virgin.

The quintessential '80s movie would not be a good movie, since good movies were so rare in that coke-frenzied era.

It would have to be something like FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH, or the one I would nominate as a perfect representation of that horrible period: TOP GUN.

Scarface

and have at least one arcade game in it, at least in passing in the background.

Die Hard or Lethal Weapon

Wall Street is very 80s. I also think of Big when I think of the 80s.

Beverly Hills Cop
Lethal Weapon
Die Hard

reminds me of Squid and the Whale, a great non-80s, 80s movie.

"The Breakfast Club". It had the '80s clothes, slang, music and attitudes. All of that, with its derrogatory portrayal of adults, its heavy dose of teen angst and its use of Brat Pack actors, combine to make "TBC" a great candidate for quintessential '80s film.

Yeah, not a fan of 80's or this film but I would say it's Ghostbusters.

Karate Kid. Case in point, the remake looks like shit.

The Wizard. I don't think you could hide the fact that it's a giant commercial in today's market.

Flight of the Navigator and Explorers...both films cut from the same cloth. Something about them just conjures up growing up in the '80s. I don't think you could replicate those films today.

Although not made in the 80s, the best film that represents the 80s is:

The Beastmaster. Totally serious here.

I'd say Mannequin; it has many different 80's elements wrapped into one mediocre package: budding romance, fashion, nerds, shop/mall setting, supernatural elements, intro credits set to cartoon, various regular and high-speed montages set to 80's music, dancing sequence, ending credits with freeze-frame to Starship, good vs. greed, G.W. Bailey reprising a security/cop role, low-bar action sequences, a speedbike, and a car chase.

Came here to post this, agree with you totally.

The Breakfast Club
The Karate Kid
Back the the Future

Many others. Tough choice.

Flashdance

You might as well have asked "What 80's films do you like?"

Cocktail (1988) captures the spirit of the decade, but doesn't really capture the fashion/music of the time.