The Eighties Online

1981 was another banner year at the movies. Many favorite stars from the past were making movies and many great new actors were appearing on the scene.

Some of the little known actors of 1981, such as Denzel Washington, have gone to become “Mega Stars”

Here’s a list of the top 25 box office stars of 1981, some of the top movies of 1981, and promising new actors from that year.

“On Golden Pond” and “Raiders of the Lost Ark” are the two movies from 1981 that should be most remembered 27 years later.

So if you’re looking for a movie to rent or download, the movies and stars listed below can be a good place to find one you might have missed or would like to see again.

Top 25 Box Office Stars of 1981

1. Burt Reynolds

“The Cannonball Run”

“Sharkey’s Machine”

2. Clint Eastwood

3. Dudley Moore

“Arthur”

4. Dolly Parton

5. Jane Fonda

“Rollover” Co-Starring Kris Kristofferson

Co Starred in “On Golden Pond” with Henry Fonda and Katherine Hepburn

6. Harrison Ford

“Raiders of the Lost Ark”

7. Alan Alda

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I remember it like it was yesterday. My jaw hit the floor as Michael slid across the stage that night in 1982, with his skinny tie, sequined jacket, high-water slacks, and white-gloved left hand.

Was the Motown 25th Anniversary the beginning of the end for Michael?

Little did we know then what was to come later. Michael was eccentric. That was obvious.

The surgery to bob his nose and cleave his chin, a llama, a giraffe and and ostrich roaming his estate in Southern California and a failed bid for the Elephant Man’s remains were, while odd, not totally unusual for a celebrity.

In the early 80s, Michael Jackson was the biggest star in the music since Elvis and the Beatles. Album sales for Thriller surpassed even these biggest of acts in the music business, and the records still stand to this day.

Michael was electrifying! But, oh what a fall! I guess we’ve heard the last of him.

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I just wanted to take a moment with our readers to share our support for Patrick Swayze and his family. We would love to see one of our favorite 80s stars, Mr. Swayze get on with his acting career and to beat the dreaded caner that has so abruptly intruded upon the life of a quiet and generous hollywood star.

Patrick Swayze was on M.A.S.H. very early in his career, which many did not know. Watch for this episode in the reruns and check the credits if you don’t believe me.

Many will remember 1990’s “Ghost” with Demi Moore when thinking of Mr. Swayze, however I enjoyed “Red Dawn” co-starring Lea Thompson the most of all his roles. But, “Dirty Dancing” is really deserving of a place in the top ten movies of the 1980′.

The doctor is optimistic about Mr. Swayze’s chances at a full recovery, according to news reports.

Our hopes for a speedy recovery!

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The 80s decade started off with some movies that have really stood the test of time.

The first year of the 80s, 1980, saw several promising actors that are still going strong well into the 21st century.

The Star Wars franchise was going strong in 1980. And with the release of Empire Strike Back in 1980, Star Wars and the action figures and other merchandise were officially pop-culture.

1980 was a pretty good year at the box office.

The 1980 Academy for Best Film went to “Ordinary People” starring Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore and a very young Timothy Hutton.

Robert DeNiro won the Academy Award for Best Actor in the 1980 boxing drama, “Raging Bull”

The Academy Award for Best Actress went to Sissy Spacek for “Coal Miner’s Daughter”

And the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor was awarded to Timothy Hutton for “Ordinary People”

Mary Steenburgen won the Best Supporting Actress award for “Melvin and Howard”

The Top 25 Box Office Stars of 1980 - As Ranked by John Willis Screen World 1981

1. Burt Reynolds

“Smokey and the Bandit II”

“Rough Cut”

2. Robert Redford

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In the early 1980s thousands of UK bands hoped to make it like Duran Duran.

The second British invasion helped to power the new wave music explosion in the U.S. as many bands and artists were picked up by MTV and recording companies.

The list of eighties bands from the UK includes many thousands of lesser known 80sUK bands.

It was a great opportunity for bands and artists from the UK to do something different.

While inspired by a fusion of punk and synthesizers, the new wave music of the 80s was a musical genre or style all its own.

A few recommended 80s music artists like Howard Jones, Thomas Dolby, The Waitresses, The Cure, Haircut 100, Squeeze or Split Enz offer excellent examples of the new wave 80s music from the UK.

A-ha - Take on Me

ABC and Martin Fry - The Look of Love

Alphaville - Big in Japan

Anything Box

Basil, Toni - Hey Micki

Berlin - The Metro

Book of Love

Bow Wow Wow - I Want Candy!

Boy George - Karma Kameleon

Bronski Beat - I Feel love

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Bright lipstick, bright eyeshadow, big jewelry and big hair were all the rage in the mid 80’s.

Short hair behind the ears with height on top (poofy) were definitely the thing. Big gaudy earrings and as many bracelets as you could fit on your wrist.

The early 80’s involved bright neon colors such as pink and green on your clothing color, your hair pieces, shoes and jewelry. The brighter the better.

The invention of hair gel brought a shift away from the hairspray 60s hairstyles the parent’s of the 80s kids wore. While in the 70s it seem the straighter and less styled look prevailed. No hairspray, no gel, and no big hair.

But, in the 80s for men it was cool to wear gel to spike up the hair or to get that 50s look that was popular in movies like “Back to the Future” and “Peggy Sue Got Married”. More movies made the 50s hairstyles popular in the 80s such as “La Bamba” and “The Buddy Holly Story”.

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Why would anyone want to murder John Lennon? I don’t have an answer for that. It is tragic that we lost such an artist and human being as John Lennon.

The last day in John Lennon’s short, prolific life was like a death in the family for more than Lennon’s wife and son, Julian.

John Lennon’s murder was, is, and always will be a great loss. When John Lennon was assassinated on Dec 8, 1980, many people, old enough to remember, would recall today exactly where they were, who they were with and what they were doing when they heard John Lennon was killed.

It is interesting to speculate, as a music lover, how much wonderful music Lennon would still be making today.

I listened to the Beatles as early as 1972. I remember spinning “hand me down” vinyl LP’s on my plastic phonograph. I was blessed with copies of The Beatles “Magical Mystery Tour” and the 1966 masterpiece, “Rubber Soul”. They were well played and scratched, but they sounded awesome.

Paul McCartney was going strong in the 1980s, recording hit singles with Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder, as well as recording several solo hit singles. I’m sure he missed his songwriting partner and childhood friend. And still does.

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The mountain’s crater had been rumbling and steaming for several weeks. I was camping near a mountain stream in the Cascade Mountain Range over 300 air miles from the mountain when it blew. What I heard sounded like blasting nearby.

Odd for early Sunday morning. But our party didn’t think much of it until we boarded our rigs for the trip home and tuned in the radio.

As it turned out, a tremendous explosion of trapped gases, generating about 500 times the force or the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima, blew the entire top off Mount St. Helens.

In a single blast Mount St. Helens was transformed from a picture-perfect symmetrical cone 9,667 feet high to a flat-top 1300 feet lower. Clouds of hot ash made up of pulverized rock were belched twelve mile into the sky.

The force of the prolonged energy burst rocketed into the upper atmosphere and slapped the skies. Vertical ripples spread through the atmosphere causing lazy fluctuations in the air. Hours later in Washington D.C., scientists would record gravity waves from Mount St. Helens crossing the Eastern Seaboard.

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