In 1986,
Pixar Animation Studios opened;
Halley’s Comet made its second visit to our solar system in the twentieth century;
The The Legend of Zelda was released;
A mishandled safety test at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant killed over 4000 people;
The Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated 73 seconds after launch;
Len Bias died of a cocaine overdose 48 hours after being selected 2nd in the NBA Draft by the Boston Celtics;
The first film from Studio Ghibli, Castle in the Sky, was released;
The Oprah Winfrey Show debuted;
The Andrew Lloyd Weber musical The Phantom of the Opera opened in London;
Mike Tyson won his first world boxing title;
Peyton Hillis, Mischa Barton, Lauren Conrad, Amber Riley, Charlotte Church, Jerod Mayo, Brittany Snow, Jamie Bell, Alexandra Daddario, Scott Eastwood, Lee DeWyze, Leighton Meester, Amber Heard, Marshawn Lynch, Jenna-Louise Coleman, Robert Pattinson, Lena Dunham, Grace Gummer, Megan Fox, Rafael Nadal, Oona Chaplin, Shia LeBeouf, Kat Dennings, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Lindsey Lohan, Armie Hammer, Florence Welch, Lea Michele, Shaun White, Emmy Rossum, Heidi Montag, Drake, Emilia Clarke, Oscar Pistorious, Jimmy Graham, Desean Jackson, Jamaal Charles, and Ellie Goulding were born;
While Christopher Isherwood, Donna Reed, L. Ron Hubbard, Adolph Caesar, Ray Milland, George O’Keeffe, James Cagney, Simone de Beauvoir, Jean Genet, Otto Preminger, Wallis Simpson, Broderick Crawford, Tenzing Norway, Fritz Pollard, Theodore White, Sterling Hayden, Benny Goodman, Kate Smith, Rudy Vallee, Vincente Minnelli, Murray Hamilton, Forrest Tucker, Scatman Crothers, Cary Grant, Desi Arnaz, Elsa Lanchester, Harold Macmillan, and Andrei Tarkovsky died.
The following is my list of the top ten films released in 1986:
Twelve-year-old David Freeman falls into a ravine is abducted by an alien race and taken to their home planet, 560 light years away. Because he traveled at the speed of light, time dilation meant he was gone for under five hours, while years passed on earth.
When the aliens return him, their ship is captured by NASA scientists. Through a series of unfortunate coincidences, information in David’s brain is vital to the return trip.
In many ways it feels like an ET knock off, part of the 80s trend towards alien / monster films which cast humans as the bad guys. This strain of thought would later develop into self-loathing, but this is pure escapism. It’s fun seeing the underrated Howard Hesseman and a young Sarah Jessica Parker, and pre-Pee Wee Paul Reubens is a blast as the voice of the robotic commander.
Based on Umberto Eco’s first novel, the film abandons many of the more complicated aspects of the book to squeeze into its two hour run time. What’s left is a dense movie which wildly speculates why Aristotle’s Second Book of Poetics (describing the philosopher’s theory of comedy) was destroyed in the Middle Ages.
While flawed, it’s a tantalizing exploration of the power of laughter and the complex relationship between faith and science. It works because of our enduring love of conspiracy theories and peak Sean Connery.
8) Stand By Me
When author Gordie Lachance (Richard Dreyfus) learns his childhood friend Chris Chamber has died, he recollects the time he, Chris, and two other boys searched for a rumored dead body, hoping to report it to the authorities and gain notoriety.
The four young actors are phenomenal: Will Wheaton as young Gordie, Jerry O’Connell as Vern, Corey Feldman as Teddy, and especially Rivers Phoenix as Chris who skyrocketed to superstardom.
Keifer Sutherland is great as the villainous Ace, while Rob Reiner proved he was capable of more than the light satire of This is Spinal Tap, setting the stage for a decade long run as a top flight director.
Based on a Stephen King short story, this coming of age movie is a touchstone for every boy growing up in the 1980s and continues to resonate today. It’s influence, particularly the way characters relate to each other through popular culture and the serious opinions they have about decidedly unserious things.
7) Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Still reeling from his resurrection in the previous film, Mr. Spock is feeling his way back to the beloved Vulcan we know and love, allowing the writers to experiment with the series central relationship of Kirk, Bones, and Spock.
Still on board a stolen Klingon vessel, the crew of the Enterprise return to earth to face the consequences of their actions, but find the planet under attack by an alien probe attempting to communicate with long extinct humpback whales.
In a last ditch attempt to save their planet, they ricochet around the sun to go back in time and retrieve a pair of whales.
A major departure from the usual Star Trek films, this features more humor and copious use of “colorful” language making it closer to the kinetic, tongue in cheek feel of the original series than the more serious films.
Hannah (Mia Farrow) is married to Elliot (Michael Caine) who’s having an affair with her sister Lee (Barbara Hershey). Meanwhile, Hannah’s neurotic ex-husband Mickey (Woody Allen) begins a tentative relationship with Hannah’s other sister, aspiring actress and former drug addict Holly (Dianne Wiest).
Mickey’s personal epiphany during a screening of Duck Soup is one of the best scenes Allen has given us.
The ensemble cast features numerous amusing cameos by Maureen O’Sullivan (as the mother of her real life daughter’s character), Max von Sydow, Sam Waterston, and Carrie Fisher, and a brief appearance by Allen’s future wife Soon-Yi gives the film a voyeuristic layer of intrigue.
It’s not Allen’s best, but it’s one of his better films.
5) Mauvais Sang
In this pseudo-science fiction film, a mysterious illness kills anyone who has sex without being in love, and the only known cure is locked in a vault.
Two aging thieves recruit Alex (Denis Lavant) the son of a former colleague to help steal the serum.
Although he’s in a relationship with Lise (Julie Delpy), Alex is drawn to Anna (Juliette Bincohe), the moll of one of the thieves.
Director Leos Carax is a hyper-intellectual, French amalgam of Noah Baumbach, David Lynch, and Jim Jarmusch. Delpy, Binoche, and Lavant are stellar. There are amazing set pieces, including one with a helicopter, but the film never forgets it’s a quirky character study.
Lavant’s hypnotic run through the streets to a David Bowie soundtrack is one of the purest cinematic experiences.
Alexander lives a quite life with his wife and mute son Little Man. But when his birthday dinner is interrupted by the announcement of impending war, he vows to sacrifice everything he loves to avert disaster.
Andrei Tarkovsky’s last film is a brilliant exploration of modern alienation and how we deal with the daily despair of life. We know death is approaching, but, most of the time, we’re content to be distracted by the latest bauble. The threat of war gives us a keener understanding of our own mortality and propels us to desperate attempts at cobbling together a cohesive explanation for our lives.
High school student Ferris (Matthew Broderick) fakes an illness to enjoy a day in Chicago and convinces his best friend, Cameron and Cameron’s girlfriend Sloane to join him.
They steal Cameron’s dad’s car and go to Wrigley Field, the Sears Tower, and the Art Institute. They crash the Von Steuben Day Parade where Ferris leads the crowd in a rousing edition of “Twist and Shout.”
Most film directors are lucky to create a single masterpiece, even fewer comedy directors do. John Hughes’s brief shining career produced several, and Ferris’s chaotic day is one of them.
2) Aliens
The rare sequel to improve upon its predecessor, this film from James Cameron follows Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) as she returns to the planet where she first encountered the viscious alien creatures.
When Ripley and crew arrive at the colony, the aliens have already killed most of the inhabitants. Ripley’s make-shift relationship with Newt, a surviving oprhaned child, forms the emotional core of the film and gives the character a motivation missing from the first film.
In a rare dramatic turn, Paul Reiser is believable a greedy capitalist with the Weyland-Yutani Corporation; Lance Henrikesen is excellent Bishop, Ellen’s unlikely android ally; Bill Paxton is fun as a badass marine commander; and the climatic battle with the alien queen is a master class in action cinema.
This film solidified Weaver as an preeminent figure in science fiction and its success catapulted director James Cameron to new heights.
Seymour Krelborn (Rick Moranis) and Audrey are coworkers at Mushnik’s Flower Shop. The shop is struggling until Seymour showcases an unusual plant he bought from a rival Chinese florist. The only problem: this plant, which Seymour names “Audrey II,” is actually an alien which needs human blood to survive.
The movie features Steve Martin as a cruel dentist, Miriam Margoyles as his nurse, Bill Murray as his masochistic patient, and John Candy as a radio DJ.
Directed by Frank Oz, this surreal, dark comedy is an adaptation of an off-Broadway musical inspired by a 1960 film. What sets it apart is the astounding energy in every scene. Like a bizarre children’s version of Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), this is as chaotic as Airplane! (1980), and as surreal as a Dali painting, with a catchy rock soundtrack.
It’s a tad too cynical (in the original ending, Audrey II destroys the world), but the relentless gallows humor is so infectious and irrepressible, it’s impossible not to love.