Film Inquiry Recommends: 1986 In Film
Over at our official Facebook page, we are currently posting daily film recommendations, with each week being a different theme. This is a collection of those recommendations! This week’s theme is the year of 1986. The 80’s are generally considered as one of the worst decades in cinema, mainly due to its influx of blockbusters in a post-Jaws/Star Wars era, the increased use of drug use influencing film production and the beginning of special effects usage which wasn’t quite up to par yet.
1986 is a year filled with classic films, with titles such as Top Gun, Platoon, Aliens, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Blue Velvet, Manhunter, The Fly, The Sacrifice, Labyrinth and many more, these films demonstrating that it was one of the strongest cinematic years in the much reviled 80’s.
1. 52 Pick-Up (1986, John Frankenheimer)
John Frankenheimer was one of the greatest American action directors of the 20th century, able to juggle action and story whilst injecting enough creativity to keep them interesting. Whilst his reputation has been ruined due to his last couple of films (Reindeer Games and The Island of Dr. Moreau), he has a large list of great titles.
Sadly, one of John Frankenheimer’s more underrated features, 52 Pick-Up, is one of his more darker and action-packed films which he directed later in life, before his decline into director-for-hire jobs. 52 Pick-Up is about Harry Mitchell (Roy Scheider, who plays a sympathetic-yet-flawed person, in one of his darker roles), who is a successful car manufacturer manager with an affair with a random woman. She turns out to be linked to a gang that tries to blackmail Harry with the tape of his affair. Refusing to pay, Harry starts to slowly turn the members on the gang on each other, which descends into chaos for all.
The ending for the film is slightly over-the-top (it stretches credibility considerably), but overall it is a cool pulpy thriller, which features a cast of characters who are all people with problems trying to exploit others to get what they want. The way Harry goes about his plan to stop the gang is creative and interesting to watch play out on screen. Based on an Elmore Leonard novel, whose works has pumped out some great films over the years, 52 Pick-Up is a sleazy action film that’s definitely different from the rest and worth checking out purely for that fact.
2. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986, John McNaughton)
Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer is independent filmmaking at its best, a director using his low budget and limited resources in a creative and original fashion that demonstrates that you don’t need lavish budgets or crazy effects to make a great horror film.
Made on a small budget of $110,000 (funded by the budget of a failed documentary), John McNaughton’s feature film debut has become a horror classic, one which launched the career of actor Michael Rooker, who is best known nowadays for his starring roles in The Walking Dead and Guardians of the Galaxy. The film’s production was done in a very grassroots/DIY fashion, with the budget so limited it forced the small crew to use their friends/family as actors and most props/locations being ones that were already owned.
One of Robert Rodriguez’ big lessons from his independent filmmaking days was that people making their first feature by themselves shouldn’t make what they know, but make a film with what they have. This film is a terrific demonstration of that thought process, taking an interesting premise (a character study of a human serial killer) and building it with resources that you have at your disposal with minimal actors/ambitious scenes in order to cut costs creatively.
Based on the real life serial killer Henry Lee Lucas, Rooker stars as Lucas, a cold-hearted serial killer who lives with Otis, a simple-minded Otis (Tom Towles), his murderous partner in crime. The pair operate under a code of never killing someone in the same way twice as to avoid police suspicion and giving off the typical signs of a predictable serial killer. When Otis’ sister, Becky (Tracy Arnold), moves in with the pair, we start to see the dual side of Henry’s cold personality – the typical every-man side which allows him to freely operate throughout society and the cold evil side which he uses when committing murder and other heinous acts. The dynamic that Becky introduces starts to shake up the roommates lifestyle, leading to harsher and more cruel murders from the pair. When Becky starts to fall for Henry, things start to go to complete hell.
The film is a stark and often confronting character study of a human serial killer, a very realistic and brutal depiction of a subject usually fraught with jump scares and exaggerated supernatural elements. Michael Rooker delivers a commanding lead performance, one that sucks you in and makes you genuinely afraid of what he’s going to do next, as his coldness means that he could do anything – his lack of caring about the consequences makes his unpredictability frightening. Sadly John McNaughton hasn’t made a film this strong since, making a mix of genre and comedic cinema which hasn’t reached the popularity of Henry’s cult status.
3. A Better Tomorrow (1986, John Woo)
John Woo’s hugely influential breakout hit A Better Tomorrow was his first film to demonstrate his well-known action film skills that would build throughout his Hong Kong period of his filmography. Technically, Heroes Shed No Tears is the first Woo film which features the typical Woo elements: bonds between men, brilliantly choreographed gunfight action sequences and progressive uses of slow-motion.
Heroes Shed No Tears was a military-themed Dirty Dozen like action film which was shot before A Better Tomorrow but was shelved due to Woo’s dislike of the final product, only for it to be released after the huge success of the previous film. The movie is produced by Tsui Hark, a juggernaut in Hong Kong cinema (a relationship that would end horribly, with Hark using his power to effectively blacklist Woo out of work for several years). The film is a remake of a 1967 Cantonese film called Ying xiong ben se, a movie which Hark had been keen to remake for quite a long time.
The Sung brothers, Sung Tse-Ho (Lung Ti) and Sung Tse-Kit (Leslie Cheung) work at the opposite sides of the law. Ho works for the Triad as a counterfeiter with his best friend Mark (Chow Yun-Fat) whilst Kit has just gotten a job as a police officer, unknowing of Ho’s criminal activities. When the Sung’s dying father begs Ho to quit being a gangster to help his brother, he does so, but the decision puts his life in jeopardy, leading to the death of his father, Ho being stuck in prison for three years, Mark being left a cripple and Kit turning his back on his brother after learning of the revelations behind his brother’s true lifestyle. Once Ho is released from prison, he attempts to go straight and fix his relationship with his now-distant brother, but his ties to the Triad and revenge-obsessed Mark plan to put a stop to his peaceful actions.
Woo had come from a history of comedies and standard martial arts films, none of which featured his well-known trademarks. After the success of this film, the rest of his Hong Kong filmography were very similar styled gangster films which were all terrific, with his directional skills building with each film. Whilst his best known works from the period include The Killer and Hard Boiled (Hard Boiled is a film I’d gladly call one of the greatest action films of all time), some of Woo’s other Hong Kong filmography usually go underrated. Bullet in the Head is a terrific action-packed riff on The Deer Hunter, which thematically comes very close to the themes and story presented in A Better Tomorrow. Whilst sadly Woo’s American filmography is overall quite poor and lacking in any of his previous brilliance (even though there seems to be a cult around Face/Off), Woo’s Hong Kong work post-A Better Tomorrow is essential cinema for anyone interested in action cinema – wanting to direct it or just a fan of the genre.
4. In A Glass Cage (1986, Agustí Villaronga)
There’s quite a list of films that are well-known because of how controversial they are. Controversial cinema is essential for stretching the boundaries, pushing the envelope in different ideas, visuals and techniques that can be done on-screen. Whilst there can be some films which are made purely to be controversial for the cheap publicity (A Serbian Film is one that’s so over the top in its sexual violence that it becomes cartoonish and annoying rather than effective) there’s a lot of mainstream and arthouse films which are well-known for their controversial status.
Big examples include Antichrist (for its violence and depictions of sex), Passion of the Christ (for its mix of religion and violence), Salo (for pretty much everything) and The Exorcist (for the boundaries it pushed in mainstream horror films). In A Glass Cage is not as well known as these previous films, but its graphic nature and mix of controversial themes has made it an underground classic, with its legacy kept alive by its provocative nature.
In A Glass Cage is about Klaus (Günter Meisner), a former Nazi German doctor who had a sadistic practice of torturing young boys. With World War II over, Klaus kept performing horrible abuse on kidnapped children, until he has a moment of emotional clarity and attempts suicide by jumping off a building. His attempted suicide has left him in an iron lung, making his wife and young daughter struggling to look after his constant needs.
One day, a mysterious scarred male nurse, Angelo (David Sust), suddenly shows up. As Klaus insists that he stay, his wife agrees to hire the unexplained man. It is slowly revealed that Angelo was a victim of Klaus’ awful abuse many years ago and has grown up seeking revenge upon the man. With Klaus unable to do anything, Angelo starts to slowly take over his life and continue the cycle of abuse that Klaus had started many years ago.
As you can see by the plot description, the film is quite a bleak, often confronting horror film built for an extremely niche audience. The different themes of Nazism, paedophilia, torture and homosexuality make for quite a brutal mixture of subjects, but the film never comes off as giddy or enjoying the violence. Director Agustí Villaronga makes sure that the violence/abuse committed on-screen is depicted as cruel and miserable to watch.
The film avoids the pitfalls of films like A Serbian Film, where it doesn’t get so exaggerated that it takes away from the brutal impact that the film leaves you with. Whilst not for most people, those willing to stomach the bleak themes should check it out. The DVD comes with a ringing endorsement from director John Waters, who stated that “it’s a great film that I’m too scared to show to any of my friends”.
5. Down By Law (1986, Jim Jarmusch)
Jim Jarmusch described Down By Law as a “neo-beat-noir-comedy”, a cool mix of words that perfectly describes Jarmusch’s directional style as a whole. Whilst widely known within arthouse film circles, Jarmusch is an alternative director that still hasn’t broken through into mainstream fame, much like similar directors Wes Anderson and Wim Wenders, represented by the fact that Jarmusch struggled to find funding for his last feature, the seductive Only Lovers Left Alive.
Jarmusch’s style is a very laid back, cool feeling that evokes the filmography of previous pop-culture infused directors such as Seijun Suzuki, Jean-Pierre Melville and Yasijuro Ozu. Indicators of a Jarmusch film include non-traditional casting (musicians, non-actors), a dynamic jazzy soundtrack, slow-burning stories and gorgeous cinematography. Down by Law is just an example of Jarmusch’s deliberate style, not for mainstream audiences, but loved by arthouse fans worldwide.
A small prison cell within a downbeat New Orleans jail brings together three very different cell mates who are forced to bunk together. Zack (Tom Waits) is a depressed newly-single man who, in a moment of weakness, accepted a shoddy deal by a mysterious mobster that lead to him to be falsely accused of murder when a anonymous body is found in the boot of his car. Jack (John Lurie) is a small time pimp who was lured into meeting a prostitute but is entrapped in a police sting, who had planted an underage girl in order to arrest him.
As tensions between the two men boil up in the rundown jail cell, happy-go-lucky Italian Roberto (Roberto Benigni) shows up, who has just been incarcerated for killing a man who caught him cheating in poker. Whilst the inclusion of Roberto has lead to a peaceful little atmosphere within the cell, the three men are desperate to escape. Roberto forces them to escape with him one day, which leads to further problems as the men are then stuck with no resources in the dense Louisiana bayou.
Whilst the film may lack a fast-paced narrative, what Jarmusch is able to achieve is a really laid-back atmosphere, fuelled by the mix of John Lurie’s terrific soundtrack and Robbie Muller’s striking black and white photography. Much like his previous genre films, Jarmusch has been able to take a conventional genre (the jailhouse pic) and put his own unique spin on it. Tom Waits described the film as “A Russian Neo-Fugitive Episode of the Honeymooners” which sums it up in a pretty nice way.
6. Sid & Nancy (1986, Alex Cox)
Outside of his off-beat directional work, Alex Cox should be recognised for his outspoken work in keeping cult and arthouse cinema alive, most notably through his UK-bound Moviedrome series. Starting in 1988, Alex Cox hosted the BBC series Moviedrome, where every week, he would introduce and show an alternative/arthouse film, at a time when film information wasn’t so obtainable to get.
His energetic introductions brought forth a plethora of obscure movies for a new generation of filmwatchers, expanding their internal catalogue of films. Whilst the internet has made these types of programs redundant nowadays (even though Trailers From Hell have done a great online version of this same format), it is important to keep the spread of information of obscure/underrated films alive through any means, which is one of the big reasons behind the writing of these recommendation articles.
Sid and Nancy tells a mostly fictional depiction of the relationship between Sid Vicious (Gary Oldman), the bassist of the hugely influential punk band The Sex Pistols and his girlfriend Nancy Spungen (Chloe Webb). The film details the destructive and downward-spiralling relationship between the two, as they first meet in 1977 when Nancy was a groupie who sold Sid heroin, which sparked a drug-fuelled love affair that would result in the tragic deaths of both of them, heavily affecting the The Sex Pistols band and all those involved.
Cox’s attitude toward his subjects is purposefully unapologetically pessimistic, describing Sid’s life as “Sid had sold out, contributed nothing of value, died an idiot.” This negative portrayal is quite evident within the film, as the film shows Sid as a trashy musician who died in obscurity thanks his drug addiction and toxic relationship with Nancy. Some people have viewed the film as quite endearing in its depiction of the titular couple, showing that outside of the horrendous drug use and deteriorating physical states, there was a rather sweet romance in the centre of it.
Whilst that can be argued, you can see Cox’s pessimism for the subject matter seep through at the end, when Sid and Nancy “die”, shown through a metaphorical scene of them heading in the back of a dingy taxi and flying off into the sky, a greasy punk-rock take on the famous last scene of Grease. Instead of the scene being this romantic heavenly like image, Cox reduces it to an artificial grungy affair, stripped of any delightful romanticism. This example just shows Cox’s interesting directional style, his punk-rock pop culture infused films which have become increasingly underrated as the years roll on.
7. Back To School (1986, Alan Metter)
Whilst mostly known today for the punchline of “No Respect” and his stand-up work, comedian Rodney Dangerfield acted in quite a few films, with one of his best works being Back To School. His best known acting roles include Al from Caddyshack, Monty in Easy Money (co-starring with Joe Pesci) and Mallory‘s Dad in Natural Born Killers (a truly unsettling role). Whilst Back to School can be easily dismissed as a dime a dozen bawdy college comedy that was one of the many rip-offs that followed after the success of Porky’s and Animal House, Back to School is elevated by the comedic stylings of Dangerfield and the lack of focus on pointless sexcapades and nudity.
Thornton Melon (Dangerfield) is upset when he finds out that his college-bound son Jason (Keith Gordon) doesn’t want to go. In order to encourage him to go, Thornton buys out part of the college, giving him the power to enlist himself as a student alongside his son. Thanks to his wealth and lack of educational care, Thornton turns into a huge party animal and becomes the most popular student on campus, over-shadowing his quiet son.
As his partying becomes quite influential on the college life of Jason, Thornton starts to realise that maybe the care-free party-filled lifestyle isn’t the best way to get through college, especially for Jason who actually needs to get ahead in life. Another notable cast member in the film is Derek Lutz, played by a young Robert Downey Jr in his earlier comedic days, in this film sporting a multi-coloured hairstyle (much like Max Landis’ current ‘do).
Cameo appearances from Ned Beatty, Sam Kinison and M. Emmett Walsh bolster the film’s strong comedic cast, raising the comedic potential offered by the pretty standard script. Whilst the film isn’t game-changing nor particular memorable when it comes to filmmaking, especially compared to other films of 1986, it does the important thing for a comedy – it’s funny. Nowadays it’s quite hard to find a genuinely funny film, especially one that is shed of any ham-fisted politics or delivered in a mumblecore ironic fashion. Back to School is a simple film which just wants to make you laugh and deliver an entertaining 90 minutes, which is exactly what it does.
What are some other films from 1986 that you can recommend?
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