About This Quiz
Undeniably, during the 1980s, there was an electric energy that seemed to hum through the streets, inspiring people in almost every field. The portable movie industry was in its infancy with two formats, VHS and Betamax, battling it out to see which device would live in family homes. While many consider the Betamax to be a far superior recorder, one major drawback was that each tape was only 60 minutes long, making it difficult to record anything of considerable length. Even though the VHS recorder was declared the winner by the late 1980s, it was already becoming obsolete: the DVD was getting ready to make its way onto the scene, providing a space-saving medium for consumers to enjoy their favorite films on the go. Of course, right now, the DVD is drawing its dying breath: streaming has become the most recent advancement in the portable media war, eliminating storage space for any recording equipment. Of course, in the 1980s, how you watched your movies wasn't the only competition: there was also the hottest actor category.
Which of the two Coreys was your favorite? Was it Corey Haim, the shy quiet type, or was it the in-your-face Corey Feldman, who took no prisoners with his antics? ÂWith a budget of $13M, "Turner & Hooch" had an impressive U.S. box office: in its opening weekend, it pulled in $12M. By the end of its run, $71MM was made. This is almost four and a half more times than what was originally budgeted.
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In the 1980s, Dan Aykroyd also played Dr. Raymond Stantz in "Ghostbusters." For almost 40 years, he has played this character: there are currently 14 different occurrences of this character in TV, video games, and film.
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Only two years after the release of "The Blues Brothers," John Belushi was found dead in his hotel room at the age of 33. The coroner ruled the death as an accidental overdose.
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To make the portrayal of cartoon society accurate, a pivotal scene was made: a piano duet featuring Warner Brothers' Daffy Duck and Disney's Donald Duck. Prior to this, Disney and Warner Bros. had been in competition, and to date, this is the only time that a crossover has been made between the two animation studios.
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In addition to "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids," Moranis had a couple of other screen credits of note. He portrayed Lewis Tully in "Ghostbusters," Seymour Krelborn in the film adaptation of "Little Shop of Horrors," and Dark Helmet in the sci-fi spoof, "Spaceballs."
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Not only did Henry Thomas get a chance to shine in his role as Elliot, there was another lesser known actress in the film at the time: Drew Barrymore. At the age of 7, she portrayed Elliot's younger sister, Gertie.
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Before playing the bullied Daniel in "The Karate Kid," Macchio played the ill-fated Johnny Cade in Francis Ford Coppola's "The Outsiders." Other cast members included Matt Dillon and Patrick Swayze.
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Patrick Swayze wasn't only known for steaming up the silver screen. He was in the civil war mini-series "North & South," a tale about two friends struggling to keep their friendship together during the war.
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When it comes to film, this isn't Reeves' only jaunt into the science fiction genre. He later would become Neo in the film that dared you to question reality, "The Matrix."
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When it came to filming the first of the "Nightmare on Elm Street" series, Robert Englund accepted the role as the iconic Freddy Krueger because it fit into his schedule, which thrilled the horror movie fan. He has played Freddy Krueger in 13 occurrences, including a spot on the 1980s' sitcom, "The Goldbergs."
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In addition to performing as an actor, Kevin Bacon is one of the frontmen for his band, The Bacon Brothers. He plays opposite his brother, Michael, making an eclectic brand of music, creating eight albums over the past 20 years.
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Filmed in 1987, Kirk Cameron's dance card was quite full when it came to acting: when he wasn't filming movies, he was playing Mike Seaver on "Growing Pains."
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In addition to the "Arthur" franchise, Moore was also known for his work in "10," playing beside Bo Derek as George Webber, a music composer going through a midlife crisis.
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James Garner didn't only play film roles, he had a couple of television roles to his credit as well. He portrayed Jim Rockford on "The Rockford Files," Bret Maverick in "Bret Maverick," and after John Ritter's unexpected death in 2003, Jim Egan, the father of Cate Hennessy (the widow) on "8 Simple Rules."
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Rutger Hauer seems to have a thing for playing bad guys. In addition to "The Hitcher," Hauer starred opposite Harrison Ford in "Blade Runner" as Roy Batty, a renegade replicant.
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Michael J. Fox's career came to a pause when in 1991, he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. While he was able to play a small role on the series "Spin City," but the disease made it difficult for him to remember lines. He founded the Michael J. Fox Foundation, which helps fund Parkinson's disease research.
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When it came to filming Disney's "Aladdin," very little guidance was needed when it came to Williams' Genie. Most of what you see on the screen was performed by Williams off script!
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Before making "Lethal Weapon," Danny Glover was one of the leading men featured in "The Color Purple" opposite Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey. Not only was "The Color Purple" nominated for 11 Academy Awards, it was the first film to include three black actors of either gender to be nominated in a single category.
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When he first began his career, Leslie Nielsen wanted to be a dramatic actor. He always wanted to do comedy but he lacked the courage to do so. We're very lucky that he got over his jitters and gave us some amazing performances!
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"The Terminator" series wasn't the only franchise that Arnold Schwarzenegger started in the 1980s. He also starred in two "Conan the Barbarian" movies.
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One of Carl Weathers's more recent roles was on the revived sitcom "Arrested Development": he portrays himself as Tobias's acting coach.
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In 2010, Stallone gave action film fans something they had been craving: "The Expendables." This film, directed by and starring Stallone, featured action stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jet Li, Jason Statham, and Dolph Lundgren as a team of mercenaries.
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Before "Masters of the Universe," Sweden-born Lundgren portrayed Drago, the Russian boxer who became known for killing Apollo Creed, Rocky Balboa's former rival. By the time "Rocky IV" ended, Rocky had defeated Drago and restored faith in the American people.
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Many fans of the television series, "Moonlighting," were disappointed in its final seasons. Season four had Willis juggling the second "Die Hard" film as well as performing as David Addison Jr., one half of the Blue Moon Detective agency. Because of this, his story lines got more and more ridiculous as the season progressed.
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After "The Lost Boys," Jason Patric went on to perform in "Rush," a crime drama. Patric portrayed a seasoned cop who, after taking on a new partner, ends up going undercover, where both officers end up falling victim to drug addiction.
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One of Keifer Sutherland's best performances was when he performed as the lead vampire, David, in "The Lost Boys." This baddie, combined with both of the Coreys and Jason Patric, make for some really fun movie watching.
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"Moonstruck" won three Academy Awards, including Best Actress for Cher's performance asLoretta Castorini, a lonely bookkeeper from Brooklyn.
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Before "Top Gun," Tom Cruise had quite a few successful films under his belt. In 1981, he was in the military drama "Taps," in 1983 he became a household name by dancing in his underwear in "Risky Business," and in 1985, he got to battle demons in the cult fantasy film, "Legend."
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By the time the first "Indiana Jones" film was released into theaters, Harrison Ford already had a few blockbusters under his belt. He was Han Solo in every "Star Wars" film, up until 2015, where in "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" Solo meets his maker at the hands of an enemy.
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When he's not on the big screen battling space baddies, Mark Hamill lends his voice to several cartoon characters. One of his most notable voices it that of Batman's archnemesis, the Joker.
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In addition to "The Witches of Eastwick," Jack Nicholson was in 11 other films in the 1980s, two of which are still being talked about today: Jack Torrence, the tortured writer in Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining" and Jack Napier/The Joker in Tim Burton's "Batman."
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Written by John Hughes, this heartwarming story shows the trials and tribulations of what motherhood is and how raising children is a shared task. Keaton gives an almost adorable performance as the dad in distress.
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Not only was "Beverly Hills Cop" a commercial success, but the theme song was as well. Harold Faltermeyer's "Axel F" spent 19 weeks on the Billboard charts, peaking at the No. 3 slot on June 1, 1985.
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"Pee-Wee's Big Adventure" was so much of a success, that it created not only a second movie ("Big Top Pee-Wee"), but it also gave many kids additional joy when a Saturday morning show was produced. The show ran for four years and several famous personalities loaned their names to the project: Phil Hartman played Captain Carl, Lawrence Fishburne played Cowboy Curtis, and Dweezil Zappa provided some of the music. Another creepy fact? Rob Zombie was a production assistant for the show during its debut season in 1986.
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In 1987, when "3 Men & a Baby" was released, Ted Danson was a pretty good guy. He played retired baseball player Sammy Malone in the TV show, "Cheers." The show ran for a little more than a decade and introduced an angst-ridden Frasier Crane, who later got his own spin-off series.
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While this isn't the first scientist that Goldblum played, he's better known as Dr. Ian Malcolm, a mathematician whose specialty is the chaos theory. In "Jurassic Park," he made this role his own, and reclaimed it in 2018's, "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom."
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Bill Murray is, by far, one of America's funniest guys. If you're looking for an example of his best comedic performances, look no further than the classic "Caddyshack," released in 1980.
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If you're looking to laugh at Steve Martin's brilliance, but only have a short amount of time, you can check out his novelty song, "King Tut." Released in 1978, Tut spent 15 weeks on the Billboard Music Charts.
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One of Christian Slater's more recent roles didn't actually involve him going into makeup. He portrayed a CIA agent named Slater on the FX show,"Archer." This character made its first appearance in season five.
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In 2015's "Vacation," not only did Chevy Chase reprise the role of Clark Griswold, but his co-star, Beverly D'Angelo, rejoined him as Ellen Griswold. Unfortunately, "Vacation" wasn't as well received as the 1983 classic.
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