1986 had a lot of movies in the middle.  It also had one heck of a bad movie I paid good money to see.  I wasn’t a Howard the Duck comic book fan but I definitely got caught up in the hype. That was a pretty awful movie.

I was a big fan of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.  It was the capstone of the first phase of John Hughes’ career – which makes sense as it’s about leaving highschool behind (and of course, goofing off) where all of his previous movies had taken place.  But I will give Aliens the nudge if for no other reason it’s was one of the first action or horror movies I had seen where not only was it good but no one seemed to do anything incredibly stupid in an obvious way to make the story more suspenseful.  James Cameron has a Spielberg like touch with his movies – they are hugely entertaining thrill rides.

Blue Velvet was a revelation. Dennis Hopper was about the creepiest character onscreen I could imagine at that time.  Everything was so gloriously weird in it.  I should write more about the other top ten but, eh, it’s Friday.

HAVE SEEN: Stand By Me, Aliens, Top Gun, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Platoon, Labyrinth, Star Trek IV, Blue Velvet, Nine and 1/2 Weeks, Pretty In Pink, Color of Money, Big Trouble in Little China, Short Circuit, Little Shop of Horrors, The Fly, Three Amigos, Hoosiers, Crocodile Dundee, Howard the Duck, Back to School, The Golden Child, The Money Pit, The Mosquito Coast, Crossroads, Peggy Sue Got Married, F/X, The Hitcher, Ruthless People, One Crazy Summer, Something Wild, The Big Easy, Running Scared, Gung Ho, Down and Out in Beverly Hills, Tough Guys, Soul Man, April Fool’s Day, House

HAVE NOT: Flight of the Navigator, Highlander, The Name of the Rose, The Mission, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Hannah and her Sisters, Syd & Nancy, Heartbreak Ridge, Down by Law, Betty Blue, River’s Edge, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Lady Jane, The Clan of the Cave Bear, Mona Lisa, Matador, She’s Gotta Have it, Nothing in Common, True Stories, Absolute Beginners, Children of a Lesser God, Heartburn, Jumpin’ Jack Flash, Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling

TOP TEN

1. Aliens
2. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
3. Blue Velvet
4. Star Trek IV
5. Stand By Me
6. Platoon
7. The Big Easy
8. Three Amigos
9. Labyrinth
10. One Crazy Summer