Previous Post I think that most of the 80's movies in particular have probably aged and dated the worst. I think that 70's movies like Taxi Driver, The first two Godfathers, Chinatown, etc, are timeless, but I kind of cringe when I rewatch The Star Wars (And even Indiana Jones.) movies, etc. So, what are the best movies from the 80's that have stood the test of time? My favorite movie from the decade would probably be Once Upon A Time In America (The REAL, uncut and unedited version.). I think that Blue Velvet (Another favorite.) would still hold up. Even one of my favorites like The Stepfather (With a FANTASTIC Terry O'Quinn!) doesn't really hold up all that well. I still have to catch Raging Bull, which is considered by many to be the BEST movie of the decade. What do you guys think?

I guess it depends what you mean by hold up. Every movie will get dated, it's a product of the time it's made. That used to turn me off of old movies. I eventually got over it. Even movies that come out now and are modern can have terrible special effects, terrible acting, etc. So I can enjoy an old movie with dated effects or dated style if it's got a good story or is made fairly well. Does that mean it held up?

Carpenter's The Thing was always one of my favorites but I can see effects in it that are not as good as others. I still prefer practical effects to CGI generally, but practicals have gotten much better since the 80s and some of them don't hold up. I still like the movie.

Terminator's stop-motion robot at the end is a dated effect that isn't really used anymore. But it's more fluid and moves better than the clunky animatronic ones in T2. It doesn't bother the movie for me.

You know what I find worse? RoboCop, which has held up better than Terminator probably, has the most terrible stop-motion puppet when Ronny Cox falls out the window at the end. Compare it to the green screen shot of Alan Rickman falling at the end of Die Hard just one year later. I love RoboCop but that shot kills me.

Otherwise I agree with many of the movies other people have mentioned. And I tend to watch Die Hard at Christmas, Gremlins and Monster Squad at Halloween. I don't know if I'd show my teen Revenge of the Nerds because it's a bit rapey.