Lambcast #689 Decade Lookback 1985

by Richard Kirkham · June 5, 2023 · Featured, LAMBcast · No Comments

Boomers and Gen Xers get together to remind everyone, including the Millennials and Gen Z, about some great movies from 1985. You won’t hear a word about Rambo: First Blood Part II or Back to the Future and Max has nothing to get Mad about except that he got left out of this show. There are a few well known films that get discussed, but most of the movies on this episode are unlikely to be on your radar.

David Brook, from Blue Print Review, goes down his familiar path with action films from Hong Kong. If you can find “Mr. Vampire” you have to let the rest of us know where you located it because after hearing about it, we all wanted to see it. 

1985 seems to have been a primo year for the kinds of chop socky films that many of you crave and David recommends five that sound like they would be totally awesome to fill a Saturday afternoon with. Be careful though, you may find yourself ordering a Box Set of films just to get the one’s he suggested.

Our other Dave on the show has a few horror films that might well be up your alley if you are especially fond of Zombie fare. He also has the rarest of film genres from the 1980s to recommend, but you have to listen to the show to find out what that is. Here is a hint, in 2019, it was the March MOTM.

Howard Casner likes to tout the films he sees as the best of the year when he joins these lookback shows. No surprise that Woody Allen finds a spot, and we get a breakout performance from Daniel Day Lewis. Be warned however, that a Russian film about an insurgency against Nazi’s, may be hard to take.

Todd Liebenow does not stray far from his own sweet spot of Forgotten Films. He digs up a Jeff Goldblum/Michelle Pfeiffer action-comedy-mystery, as well as a Muppet Movie that is often overlooked. There is both a teen rom com and an adult one as well on his list.

If you cannot get enough Steven Spielberg, don’t worry, the 1980s were filled with imitations that are often pretty good. Ron Howard, Joe Dante, Barry Levinson, Richard Donner and Wolfgang Peterson all do credible impressions of the Blockbuster King in 1985. If you did not get enough “Temple of Doom” or “E.T.”, some one on Richard’s list will help you out.

We skipped a game but the Exit Question of the week:  “What  Movie from the 1980s would have been more successful if the lead role had been recast? Who would you have replaced the actor/actress with?” Gives everyone a chance to play casting director and try to fix a problem or generate more box office, even if the original actor was fine.

Introduction

Round 1 3:44

Round 2 28:30

Round 3 51:35

Round 4 1:18:11

Round 5 1:31:18

Exit Question 1:53:41

Plugs 2:03:00

Todd Forgotten Films

David Brook Weekend of Trash

Howard Pop Art 100th Episode !!!

Dave Anderson Free Kittens Movie Guide

Richard KAMAD 1975 Throwback Thursdays

The show can be found, of course, via iTunes – just do a search for “LAMBcast.” Also, I always post a link to the show on the LAMBcast’s Facebook page, and there’s a player there if you’d like to listen online. Find the show here:

https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/lambcast/episodes/2023-06-05T11_12_30-07_00

If you’d ever like to catch up on back episodes, go there. If you’re interested, you too can be a LAMBcaster – we love new blood! For more information on the LAMBcast, check out the topic at the LAMB Forums. Music provided royalty-free by Kevin MacLeod’s Incompetech website. Big thanks to Kevin for providing this service. Closing song by Cake. The LAMBcast loves feedback, too – if you’d like yours read on a future show, leave it in the comments section at the LAMB. Please visit and like our Facebook page, and finally, we’re on iTunes, and would still love a review, even if it’s a bad one. Thanks for listening!