Teen Films of the 80s

I have been going in chronological order by decade from the first post, so for this post I am going to jump to something different. When trying to think of the topic for this week's post, I happened to notice a recurring pattern in films from the 80s that I have seen. The theme that I have observed is the aim towards a teen-aged audience that these films displayed.


The trend for youth films began with a number of late 70s and early 80s films with young actors and actresses. One theory is that the trend toward teen-aged cinema can be attributed to the tremendous success of Star Wars (1977) with youth audiences. The films were geared for entertaining teenagers and younger pre-teen audiences (both were becoming sizeable segments of movie theatre attendance). At the end of the previous decade, Steve Tesich's Oscar-winning screenplay helped to highlight Peter Yates' oft-overlooked, youthful film Breaking Away (1979), about four boys (Dennis Christopher, Dennis Quaid, Daniel Stern, and Jackie Earle Haley) and their frustrations/hopes in a recession-affected Midwest college town - it was a portent of the times. Writer/director Barry Levinson's debut film Diner (1982) was a bitter-sweet, rites-of-passage tale of six male buddies in their twenties growing up in the late fifties in Baltimore and hanging out in the local diner, Fells Point - with remarkably realistic dialogue scenes. [Levinson would proceed in making other Baltimore-themed films in the same decade, including Tin Men (1987) and Avalon (1990) - and later Liberty Heights (1999).]

One of the earliest youth-oriented films was actually responsible for also launching the teen-sex film. This film was Porky's (1982) (followed by its sequels: Porky's II: The Next Day (1983) and Porky's Revenge (1985)). The R-rated film was typical of sex-drenched, lame films (with lots of gratuitous female nudity) telling about a group of horny males who sought sexual experiences and the loss of virginity through various sexual encounters and schemes (often humiliating) and by voyeurism. Further exploitative comedies were released, such as Screwballs (1983), Revenge of the Nerds (1984), and Hot Dog: The Movie (1984).
Female director Amy Heckerling's energetic, candid and unassumingly real Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), her directorial debut feature film, was the quintessential teen film of the 1980s. It included a number of stereotyped but realistic roles derived from screenwriter Cameron Crowe's (a former Rolling Stone writer) undercover study-exposé of L.A. high school life during a year at a San Diego HS:

• stoned, unforgettable, bleached blonde California surfer dude Jeff Spicoli (Sean Penn) with checkered sneakers: "I've been stoned since the third grade"
• pudgy teenaged high-school freshman Stacy Hamilton (Jennifer Jason Leigh) who awkwardly lost her virginity in a baseball dugout to older stereo salesman Ron Johnson (D.W. Brown), and after another sexual experience became pregnant and had an abortion
• Stacy's 'worldly' friend Linda Barrett (Phoebe Cates) who taught her with a carrot, in the school's cafeteria, about how to deliver oral sex
• strict US history teacher Mr. Hand (Ray Walston)
• ticket-scalping lecherous male Mike Damone (Robert Romanus) who impregnated Stacy during a quick sexual encounter in a pool bathhouse

[The film was also notable for being the American Graffitti (1973) and American Pie (1999) of its decade, because it introduced so many new and future stars, including Jennifer Jason Leigh, Phoebe Cates, Judge Reinhold, Sean Penn, Forest Whitaker, Eric Stoltz, Nicolas Cage, and Anthony Edwards).]
Heckerling's only other notable film in her career was another teenage film - Clueless (1995) - a satirical, funny tale that was loosely based on Jane Austen's Emma, about an adorable but rich, bratty, self-obsessed and shallow Beverly Hills teenager named Cher Horowitz (Alicia Silverstone), memorable for her color-coordinated designer wardrobe, and rich California slang.
Also, Francis Ford Coppola's two films of disaffected, angst-ridden youth in the early 80s were both adapted from S.E. Hinton novels and starred Matt Dillon:

• The Outsiders (1983) - with the tagline: "They grew up on the outside of society. They weren't looking for a fight. They were looking to belong" - about 1960s Oklahoma teens divided into two gangs: the underprivileged greasers and elitist Socs (pronounced so-shes); with mostly unknown actors who would later become stars -- Patrick Swayze, Ralph Macchio, C. Thomas Howell, and Matt Dillon, and known for the catchphrase: "Let's do it for Johnny!"
• Rumble Fish (1983) - about the love between two brothers: The Motorcycle Boy (Mickey Rourke) and kid brother gang leader Rusty James (Matt Dillon); made as an experimental art film in black and white

In the 1980s, the most consistent output, and the most watchable and solid films of the sub-genre of youth-oriented teen comedies starring teenage characters (who were experiencing adolescent angst) were from writer/director John Hughes. Hughes had first made himself known in the early 80s by co-writing National Lampoon's Vacation (1983) and scripting Mr. Mom (1983). He was responsible for a number of comedic, "teen"-oriented coming-of-age or 'rites of passage' films directed toward a youth audience, frequently emphasizing the tensions of the adolescent and post-adolescent years, the problems of growing up, the high school years, aspects of peer pressure, teen parties, money, rebellion, friendship, romantic relationships among teens, and family strains.

Paul Brickman's satirically funny Risky Business (1983) (with its quoted line: "What the f--k?") commented on the decade's materialistic greed by portraying a conservative teen named Joel Goodson (Tom Cruise in an early starring role) - noted for dancing in his underwear to "Old Time Rock & Roll" - who held an outrageous party in his house, and set up a profitable hooker-business (with call-girl Rebecca DeMornay) as a school project during his parents' absence. And director Susan Seidelman's successfully-marketed feminist screwball comedy Desperately Seeking Susan (1985) starred Rosanna Arquette and pop singer Madonna (in her film debut). It was set in the hip, 80's New Wave culture of New York's Lower East Village SoHo, and helped popularize the chart-topping song "Into the Groove." One of the best teen movies ever made was Rob Reiner's second feature film -- the romantic comedy The Sure Thing (1985), with 17 year-old John Cusack (as Walter "Gib" Gibson) searching for romance with beautiful, white-bikinied and California-tanned Nicollette Sheridan ("The Sure Thing") while finding real love with prim student Alison Bradbury (Daphne Zuniga) on the roof-top by film's end.

One of the best teen romance/comedies of the decade was Cameron Crowe's directorial debut film Say Anything... (1989) with John Cusack (as underachieving, trench-coated Lloyd Dobler) and Ione Skye (as beautiful valedictorian Diane Court) in outstanding roles as high-school graduates and unlikely lovers - the film was most noted for a boom-box blaring Peter Gabriel that he held above his head to serenade his girlfriend. Paul Schrader's naturalistic, melodramatic Light of Day (1987) starred Michael J. Fox and real-life rock star Joan Jett (in her debut film) as brother and sister (in a dysfunctional family headed by Gena Rowlands), who played rock musicians in a local Cleveland band named the Barbusters.

By really looking into why these films were so popular during this time period, I have found that it seems to be a similar trend to my previous blog post about the fifties, in that it was Hollywood’s way of attempting to cater to the appropriate audience to make the most profit. This theme, however, is still seen today, and I don’t think that Hollywood is going to begin to ignore the teen-aged film audience anytime soon.

Sources:
Teen Movies: American Youth on Screen by Timothy Shary
Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers by Alissa Quart
Fast Times: The Rise and Fall of the Teen Romantic Comedies of the 1980s by Erin Nicole Ford University of Tennessee - Knoxville
http://www.imdb.com/