The 10 Best Casts From 80s Movies

The 10 Best Casts From ’80s Movies

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‘80s cinema is filled with great movies that rely on their casts. And these casts stand out as the 10 best from ‘80s movies.

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The 10 Best Casts From 80s Movies

Every great movie needs a great cast. To truly stand out, a movie’s characters have to be memorable. The actors have to bring them to life. ‘80s cinema is filled with iconic heroes, from Indiana Jones to Axel Foley, Ferris Bueller to Sarah Connor, and the actors who played them are irreparably tied to those characters for life.

A really terrific cast is hard to come by, because the actors have to not only embody their own roles, but have palpable chemistry with one another to create a dynamic between their characters. That’s why the best ones always stand out. So, here are the 10 best casts from ‘80s movies.

10 Stand By Me (1986)

The 10 Best Casts From 80s Movies

Casting a movie with children in the lead roles is always tough, because even the most talented child actors struggle to disappear into a role and make audiences forget they’re watching a performance. But Rob Reiner found a fantastic quartet of actors when he adapted Stephen King’s short story “The Body” as Stand by Me.

Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, and Jerry O’Connell were all the perfect choices for their roles, and they all shared such great chemistry that they felt like actual childhood friends. To top it off, Richard Dreyfuss is memorable as the older Gordie and Kiefer Sutherland is suitably menacing as Ace, the gang leader.

9 Full Metal Jacket (1987)

The 10 Best Casts From 80s Movies

Full Metal Jacket, Stanley Kubrick’s cinematic critique of the Vietnam War, is filled with powerhouse performances. Matthew Modine’s Joker begins the movie as a wisecracking recruit, but ends it with harrowing experiences of the true horrors of war.

Vincent D’Onofrio’s brief, but massively affecting turn as Private Pyle in the first half of the movie sets the bleak tone for the second half, in which his unseen presence looms large. And last but not least, actual drill instructor R. Lee Ermey’s unforgettable portrayal of Gunnery Sergeant Hartman steals the whole movie.

8 The Goonies (1985)

The 10 Best Casts From 80s Movies

The peak of the Amblin era, The Goonies wouldn’t work nearly as well without its incredible ensemble cast. Sean Astin, Corey Feldman, Jonathan Ke Huy Quan, and Jeff Cohen all share terrific chemistry, unafraid to take shots at each other and developing a real on-screen rapport.

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A young Josh Brolin paves the way for his entire career with a hilarious turn as the unfortunate Brandon Walsh. Anne Ramsey, Robert Davi, and Joe Pantoliano are seriously threatening as the villains, while John Matuszak gives a heartwarming performance as Sloth.

7 Blue Velvet (1986)

The 10 Best Casts From 80s Movies

David Lynch’s surreal take on the dark side of American suburbia, Blue Velvet, had the perfect cast to bring it to life. Future Twin Peaks star Kyle MacLachlan acts as the Lynchian everyman in the role of Jeffrey Beaumont, but the true standouts are his co-stars. Isabella Rossellini commits wholeheartedly to Dorothy Vallens’ tragic arc, while Dennis Hopper is unforgettably sinister as the villain, Frank Booth.

There’s also an early-career performance by Laura Dern and stellar supporting turns from acting veterans such as Brad Dourif, Hope Lange, and Dean Stockwell, for good measure.

6 Ghostbusters (1984)

The 10 Best Casts From 80s Movies

Director Ivan Reitman didn’t stick too closely to the script when he helmed Ghostbusters. Stars Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis had written the script with the intention of doing a lot of improvisation, and their close colleague Bill Murray was more than happy to go along, ad-libbing some of the funniest dialogue in the movie.

Sci-fi legend Sigourney Weaver is brilliant as usual as the love interest, Dana Barrett. Although he had his role cut down significantly, Ernie Hudson still shines as Winston Zeddemore, and Rick Moranis and Annie Potts also leave a hysterical impression in their minor roles.

5 The Shining (1980)

The 10 Best Casts From 80s Movies

The actors in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining are perfectly matched to their roles, and commit to them fully. Jack Nicholson has the perfect look in his eye when he delivers otherwise harmless dialogue as Jack Torrance that fully conveys his descent into madness. Shelley Duvall throws herself into the role of Wendy Torrance (and it even led to stress-related medical issues after filming) and even young Danny Lloyd brings an unforgettable flourish to Danny Torrance (Danny speaking to his finger was actually Lloyd’s idea; he started doing it in the audition and Kubrick loved it).

Scatman Crothers brings a mild-mannered charm to the heroic, but ultimately doomed Dick Hallorann, while Philip Stone’s creepy, disturbing Delbert Grady contributes a lot to the film’s horror.

4 The Breakfast Club (1985)

The 10 Best Casts From 80s Movies

Director John Hughes assembled the “Brat Pack” that would go on to define ‘80s teen cinema for The Breakfast Club, an intimate portrait of high school archetypes told over the course of a Saturday detention.

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There’s a sense of meta deconstruction as Hughes casts the biggest stars of the ‘80s as stock characters – Emilio Estevez as a jock, Molly Ringwald as a popular girl, Anthony Michael Hall as a nerd etc. – and then breaks those stereotypes down to reveal five human beings who aren’t so different after all. The actors in The Breakfast Club rehearsed the script like a play before filming, and the movie has some of that raw, spontaneous energy.

3 Die Hard (1988)

The 10 Best Casts From 80s Movies

Every major character in Die Hard is memorable, because they’re played by brilliant actors who got into the heads of their characters and went above and beyond with their performances. Bruce Willis is the ultimate action hero as John McClane, the everyman caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, and Alan Rickman is the ultimate action movie villain as Hans Gruber, an Eastern European criminal mastermind with an extremist agenda.

Everyone else, no matter how small the role, is fantastic: Bonnie Bedelia as McClane’s estranged wife Holly; Reginald VelJohnson as Powell, the only cop outside the building that McClane wants to talk to; De’voreaux White as McClane’s limo driver Argyle; Hart Bochner as sleazy Gordon Gekko wannabe Harry Ellis; and William Atherton as the cocky reporter, Richard Thornburg, who Holly takes down a peg in glorious fashion.

2 Raging Bull (1980)

The 10 Best Casts From 80s Movies

Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci lived together before shooting Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull, so they could get into the mindset of a brotherly relationship. In the movie, De Niro plays Jake LaMotta, a boxer with trust issues and a violent temper, and Pesci plays Joey LaMotta, his brother and manager.

Cathy Moriarty, at the beginning of her acting career, gives a powerful portrayal of a beleaguered Vickie LaMotta opposite De Niro’s constant aggression. The movie’s standout supporting performances include Frank Vincent as Salvy Batts and Nicholas Colasanto as Tommy Como.

1 Back To The Future (1985)

Robert Zemeckis’ time travel comedy Back to the Future is as close to perfect as a movie can be. The script is airtight, with a wonderfully complicated plot and fleshed-out characters to populate its world. The cast goes a long way towards selling those characters, particularly Michael J. Fox playing Marty McFly as a lovable everyman who’s flustered by traveling back in time and Christopher Lloyd’s manic, all-over-the-place line delivery as Doc Brown.

Lea Thompson and Crispin Glover nail both the younger and older versions of their characters, while Thomas F. Wilson depicted the quintessential meathead bully in Biff Tannen.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/best-1980s-movies-casts/

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