MY WORLD IN A YEAR IN FILM: 1986

A Year in Film: 1986 brings back my wonder years. 

Watching the upcoming episode of A Year in Film :1986 from Hollywood Suite brought back so many memories, feelings and emotions when it came to how things were back then.  Much of those memories were fond of the timeless classics that were brought that year in film but I had to be reminded of where we were politically and socially to look at how far we have progressed.  The comments and analyses that were made from respected Toronto-based film experts such as Alicia Fletcher, Geoff Pevere and Cameron Maitland just to name a few really put things into perspective and why these films became so intertwined with pop culture.  There was so much greatness in film that was all packed into one year.   To understand what it was like to grow up as a tween when we ourselves did not know the term even existed was something else when growing up with these films.

For starters, you were not able to watch certain films like The Fly and Aliens which had the label “Restricted”.   So a kid who was a decade-year-old was not able to get into these films even with the accompaniment of an adult.  Remembering that Aliens would play at the Square One Cinemas in THX Dolby in Cinema 4 and hearing all the loud gunfires that would come out of the closed cinema doors while taking a trip to the washroom would ring up any kid’s curiosity of what the hell is playing in the theatre.  There was no way a kid would be able to sneak into these theatres because all of the older looking ushers would spot you out in an instant with their flashlights and tell you to get out of the theatre.  Movie classifications were strict back then and all movie theatres took this seriously.

What a child like myself had to do back in the day was to get his cash-strapped single mother to subscribe to First ChoiceSuperchannel to even get a remote chance to watch The Fly or Aliens.  Both of these films would from what I remember only play once or twice that month with a late schedule.  So you had to plan to watch these films by getting and reviewing the First Choice Superchannel guide that was mailed to you.  You had to record these films with your VCR and set it that it would start recording late at night usually starting at 11:00 PM because you were hiding the recordings from your parents.    If your mother was not shouting at you to get to bed because she was just way too tired at that time or already sleeping then you were ecstatic beyond belief to watch Aliens or The Fly and it was a taboo underground and sinful experience.  When you were a kid you knew who David Cronenberg was because your parents rented Scanners and you accidentally watched a head blow up with an intense pulsating soundtrack in the background throughout the whole film.    Maybe your parents were less strict and let you watch it because you wouldn’t be able to understand so it was okay because they probably did not understand either.  It was just background noise.

The other manner as to how you were able to get to watch some of these classics is to go to your local video store.  Blockbuster Video did not exist at the time but I had to go to the non-corporate Video 99 store where an older Chinese man ran the store and was very strict.  He was like the gatekeeper and of course, would not allow you to rent certain movies especially if they were restricted.  I was able to get a hold of movies such as John Hughes‘ classics Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Pretty in Pink because there were so many copies of them that were available.  Ferris Bueller’s Day Off was the film that I remember every single line to and would be the conversation piece during recess because we were all inspired to be like him once we got to high school.  I would have watch parties at my house because it was such an event for us tweens.  No need to re-rent this film over and over again because you had two VCRs going and were able to pirate these films into your own collection and because this film was from Paramount Pictures, it was not a problem.    The one thing that struck me at the video store was that there was only one copy of River’s Edge and it was always rented out.  I don’t remember if I was not allowed to rent this film or not but this cult classic that starred a young Keanu Reeves had an alternative.

That movie happened to be Stand By Me which almost had the same premise as River’s Edge where a dead body is found or sought after.  Already a must-watch for girls in elementary school, because they had the hots for River Phoenix, Stand By Me was a film that sold to tweens because it was the four boy’s desire for adventure and freedom.  Again we were all inspired to take those little adventures with our good pals as far away as we could from our parents.  It was weird that the film was not marketed towards the fact that Stephen King wrote the story at least from what I can remember.  Films like Maximum Overdrive, Christine and Cujo were films that we associated with Stephen King but if us tweeny boppers knew that the legendary author had his hands on this film then we would have looked the other way.  Stand By Me had that “Goonies” feel to it that every young tween moviegoer loved and made us all feel comfortable at being that age.  One of the major factors that sold Stand By Me was the resurgence of Ben E. King‘s song “Stand By Me” which helped ticket and soundtrack album sales skyrocket.

“If You Leave” by OMD helped market the film Pretty In Pink as well as its soundtrack album sales so this was a great period for soundtracks for films and records stores such as Sam the Record Man or A&A who had these albums smack dab in front of the store.  Nothing took the cake more than Top Gun in which Kenny Loggin‘s “Danger Zone” inspired many young boys to become fighter pilots and wear the same type of flight bomber jackets that Tom Cruise wore.  “Take My Breath” away from Berlin was one of those songs you would play on cassette at those tweeny birthday parties in elementary school where you wanted to slow dance with your crush.   It was the start of being curious when it came to love, sex, romance and relationships in which we had no clue about.  The Top Gun soundtrack was heavy and it all made an impact on all of us young people because to us the songs were bigger than the film itself even though it was number one at the box office that year.

If A Year in Film: 1986 did not mention the film Howard the Duck then I would have not remembered how much of a hassle it was to see this film.  It was rated AA and nobody in my family wanted to see the film let alone bring me along with them to go see it for reasons I was not too sure of.  Even trying to sneak into the Eaton Centre Cinemas to watch the film was not doable.  Nevertheless, I had to wait for it to come out on First Choice Superchannel as well to see what all the fuss was about.  Low and behold the film was not meant for delinquents like myself and that it had many adult-like controversial moments in it.  Excited to see some superhero-like moments in the film, the film did not make much sense to me as I child and why it was even made.  For many little boys though, Lea Thompson was our celebrity crush back in the day because of films like Back to the Future and SpaceCamp.   Lea Thompson was the redhead that we boys coveted not Molly Ringwald.  To see her in her skimpy pink underwear and getting into bed with Howard the Duck was a moment that we could not forget.   It was a lot for us back then in which today would be nothing sadly.  It was probably the only thing we boys were able to get a hold of.

A Year in Film:  1986 premiering December 13, 2020, at 9:00 pm ET on Hollywood Suite 80s Movies (HS80)