Following on from my recent post about TV programs from my childhood I thought I would recall some of the films that defined my childhood. Being a child of the 80’s there are some pretty icon films that I grew up with. Mind you there are some pretty damn crap ones as well, still at least I managed to avoid the detritus of the 70’s 
.
While it might not be the most iconic of films, the first one on a list makes it simply for the fact that it is the first film I can ever remember going to see at the cinema. I also remember falling asleep watching it! It’s not the most complicated of plots, basically George Henderson (John Lithgow) takes some road kill home. Only when he gets home he realises that it’s not actually kill! The ‘road kill’ turns out to be Bigfoot (or Harry). The story revolves around the idea that the ‘beast’ is just as human as the rest of us! It’s by no means the best film out there but it works well as a sentimental family piece.
I’m sure even people who didn’t grow up at the same time as me have heard of this one. E.T. is an iconic film for a lot of people, to some extent it is the most memorable film of my childhood. It’s another sentimental family film, about an alien who comes to earth and befriends a young boy. It’s notable for a few reasonsm it’s one of the first Steven Spielberg Films I watch for a start but it also gave us the star that is Drew Barrymore as well as having future Baywatch girl Erika Eleniak.
A bit of a departure for my third film. It’s probably not the first 15 plus movie I saw but The Lost Boys stands out in my mind as the first vampire film I saw. It’s what defined my interest in horror films, it also what perked my interest in vampire stories, leading to me reading such things as Bram Stokers Dracula! It’s not the best acted film out there, or the best written. The final twist is hideously stupid but still I thank this film for a lot of what I am now.
Are you noticing a patten yet? I like a little sci-fi in my films, even from when I was a kid. Flight of the Navigator always sticks in my memory for the premise. A young boy gets carried 8 years into the future, awaking to find his family have aged while he hasn’t, his younger brother is now older than him. Now he has remarkable knowledge of the galaxy and the power to fly a shiny space craft, it’s a growing boys dream I tell you!
I don’t know why I like this film. Actually I don’t know if I’d actually say I like this film, it just sticks in my head. The story of the boy who couldn’t speak but did actually fly. It’s kind of got a romantic story link (yes sometimes I have a romantic side to me shock horror) but it also has a bitter sweet ending where the boy has to leave before he’s taken away to be studied.
Every boy (and quite a lot of girls) dream about going on an adventure, all the excitement, the thrills, the spills and the chances of finding treasure! What growing boy wouldn’t want that. Basically every boy dreams of being a Goonie. A gang of kids who have the adventure that we all wanted. It’s got humour, its got the thrills. It’s definitely a film all children should be forced to watch growing up.
Got any others to add?