40 for 40: 1986
We get to talk about Aliens, Ferris Bueller, and more.
Good morning.
We’re continuing this 40 for 40 series today. As a refresher: This is where I, because I am turning 40 later this year, pick one movie from every year I’ve been alive if I could only have one movie from that year to watch for the rest of my life.
Last time, we did 1985 and the pick was Back to the Future.
Today, we move on to 1986.
I’ll be back tomorrow or Monday with some media thoughts and links.
Ah, 1986, what a year! It was the year of (asks ChatGPT for a brief summary of notable events from the year) the Challenger Disaster and, oh, the Iran-Contra controversy and…um…Chernobyl.
Oh, boy.
Well…at least the Mets won the World Series!
Either way, there were again some excellent movies. This year isn’t as strong as 1985 and it's not going to be as strong as some of the major years coming up (1989 is a big one and let’s not start talking about 1993), but it has a lot to choose from.
This was the long list I came up with
Stand by Me
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
Top Gun
Hannah and Her Sisters
Highlander
Back to School
Aliens
An American Tail
The Color of Money
You have some absolute iconic flicks in there. Again, some of these are movies that have been written about so many times that it’s not worth spending a lot of time talking about how important they are, how much they have been referenced, and how much they have made up the fabric of anyone’s working knowledge of pop culture over the last 50 years.
So let’s get to choosing.
American Tail was a very important film for me growing up. My dad worked for Pioneer and we had this among our LaserDisc collection. Ah, the LaserDisc! Something that became an object of fascination for my friends in the 1990s, when nobody in the world seemed to have LaserDiscs except for us. “There Are No Cats In America” remains a touchstone song for me, but I haven’t watched this movie in years.
We have our first Rodney sighting! Back to School is an important movie simply because it has Rodney Dangerfield in it. But it also has the famous Triple Lindy scene, which was one of the first “you have to see this scenes” I remember my dad talking to me about as a kid. But this was never really one of “my” movies.
Highlander. Is there anything else to say other than, “Who wants to live forever? Who wants to live forevvaaah!” It’s hard to do late period Queen justice. This movie is absolutely ridiculous and has such a vibe. I love when I happen to catch it on Sling these days, but it certainly can’t be the pick.
Can’t talk about Woody Allen anymore, but Hannah and Her Sisters is the kind of family drama I’m drawn to in books and movies.
And, of course, there’s Top Gun. What guy in his thirties or forties didn’t grow up watching this countless times on HBO after school at his friend Jeff’s house? Back in the day, this was one of those rite of passage movies you had to see if you were 10-12 years old. But there was always something off. I never loved it as much as I felt I should.
OK, now we get to the hard part.
Aliens
Stand by Me
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
The Color of Money
Cameron. Reiner. Hughes. Scorsese.
Those are the last names of directors. In fact, those are the last names of the directors who directed these films.
Aliens. What is there to say? This movie is sick. It’s an all-timer. The only thing, for me, though is that I’m more of a worshipper in the branch of Alien church built by Ridley Scott. By that I mean: I’m more interested in, say, how the Engineers created their tech-aesthetic and what other instruments the android David played besides the flute than I am in space marines. I like the Alien series for the dread and the H.R. Giger vibes and the way it makes me wonder “if these things are out there, then what the hell else is out there?” more than for action. So this can’t be the pick.
Then you have Stand by Me. This is Rob Reiner on the come up in a period where he kinda dominated in making crowd-pleasers, which we’ll be covering over the next six years coming up. I love this movie. It both reminds me of my relationships with my childhood friends and what life was like growing up on Long Island and also seems so completely foreign. I could watch this movie over and over again, but if I had to pick one movie from this year—it wouldn’t be it.
That comes down to the choice between Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and The Color of Money.
Ferris Bueller is another one I grew up watching on LaserDisc. I’ll never forget how when you’d flip the disc side, the second side would start with the Star Wars theme and the two parking lot attendants flying in the air in Cameron’s dad’s car. You don’t need me to tell you about Ferris Bueller. This is a joy of a movie. A wonder that never gets old. Matthew Broderick is so good in this movie that I, like I imagine many other kids, thought he was actually singing during the “Twist and Shout” parade performance. That part is maybe one of the most insane, nonsensical, but purely joyous scenes in movie history, which makes its complete lack of logic work. Everyone is flipping out over a guy doing karaoke on a parade float in the middle of Chicago!? What!? I have watched this movie too many times and could watch it maybe every day for the rest of my life. And yet…
I’d prefer to watch The Color of Money more than any other movie released in 1986.
I came late to appreciating this movie, but it's now one of my all-time favorites. Maybe it's because I’m a sucker for late-period Newman and think this version of him is one of the most captivating screen presences ever. I love the soundtrack to this movie, I love how warm Scorsese’s direction is, I love all the locations, I love how stupid Tom Cruise plays in this movie, and I love how unbelievably beautiful Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio looks. You can’t take your eyes off her.
Whenever, Newman shoots his final break, says, “Hey—I’m back” and then the movie freeze-frames and rolls to credits, I want to start the whole thing over again.
It’s official. That one was fun to write too. We’ll keep doing these all the way through. And if you’re not into it, no offense if you say ✌️.