a star as the legendary crocodile hunter who finds
a different set of dangers while visiting New York
City.
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off(Paramount; dir. John
Hughes) A teenager (Matthew Broderick), fa-
mous for cutting class, stages one final, elaborate
day off before graduation. One of Hughes’s big-
gest hits blends slapstick with social commentary.
Hannah and Her Sisters(Orion; dir. Woody Allen)
The prolific Allen’s best film of the decade pre-
sents the tangled personal lives of three quite dif-
ferent sisters (Mia Farrow, Dianne Wiest, and
Barbara Hershey). Wiest and Michael Caine, as
Farrow’s husband in love with Hershey, won their
first Oscars for their supporting roles, and Allen
won for his original screenplay.
Platoon(Hemdale/Orion; dir. Oliver Stone)
Stone’s first film about his Vietnam War experi-
ences finds innocent Charlie Sheen affected by
the contrasting personalities of his sergeants: the
corrupt Tom Berenger and the saintly Willem
Dafoe. It won four Oscars, including Best Picture
and Best Director.See alsomain entry.
She’s Gotta Have It(Forty Acres and a Mule Film-
works/Island Pictures; dir. Spike Lee) Ground-
breaking for both independent and African Amer-
ican filmmakers, Lee’s comedy finds a young
Brooklyn woman (Tracy Camila Johns) trying to
maintain her personal freedom while juggling
relationships with three men (Tommy Redmond
Hicks, John Canada Terrell, and Lee himself).
Top Gun(Paramount; dir. Tony Scott) Military
clichés were reborn in the year’s box-office cham-
pion as navy pilot Tom Cruise carries on a ro-
mance with civilian consultant Kelly McGillis while
conducting a rivalry with fellow pilot Val Kilmer.
“Take My Breath Away” won the best-song Oscar.
1987
Broadcast News(Twentieth Century-Fox; dir. James
L. Brooks) Television news producer Jane Craig
(Holly Hunter) is good at her job but not her
personal life. Reporter Aaron Altman (Albert
Brooks) secretly yearns for her, while Jane falls for
a dumb anchorman (William Hurt) against her
better judgment. Jack Nicholson offers a delight-
ful cameo as the smarmy lead anchor. The film
was nominated for seven Oscars but did not win
any.
Dirty Dancing(Vestron; dir. Emile Ardolino) One
of the most popular teen films in a decade dom-
inated by the genre finds Baby Houseman (Jen-
nifer Grey) spending the summer of 1963 in the
Catskills and learning sexy dance moves from Pat-
rick Swayze. “The Time of My Life” won the best-
song Oscar.
Fatal Attraction(Jaffe-Lansing Productions/Para-
mount; dir. Adrian Lyne) The one-night stand of
a married man (Michael Douglas) and an unbal-
anced woman (Glenn Close) leads to terror.See
alsomain entry.
Full Metal Jacket(Warner Bros.; dir. Stanley Ku-
brick) Kubrick’s Vietnam drama focuses first on
the training of Marine recruits and then on their
combat experiences. Vincent D’Onofrio famously
gained seventy pounds to play a Marine who
cracks under pressure.See alsomain entry.
Lethal Weapon(Warner Bros.; dir. Richard Donner)
A reckless Los Angeles police detective (Mel Gib-
son) becomes partners with a family man (Danny
Glover) whose goal is to stay alive. The film was
one of the first to be even more popular on video
than in theaters, leading to sequels.
Moonstruck(MGM/United Artists; dir. Norman
Jewison) Loretta (Cher), a widowed Brooklyn
bookkeeper on the verge of marrying a man
(Danny Aiello) she does not love, finds herself
falling for his younger brother (Nicolas Cage). It
won Oscars for Best Actress, Best Supporting Ac-
tress (Olympia Dukakis as Loretta’s mother), and
Best Original Screenplay by John Patrick Shanley.
The Princess Bride(Act III/Twentieth Century-Fox;
dir. Rob Reiner) A pirate (Cary Elwes) strives
to rescue his true love (Robin Wright) from an
evil prince (Chris Sarandon). William Goldman’s
adaptation of his tongue-in-cheek fairy tale did
modest business in 1987 but has developed cult
status.
RoboCop(Orion; dir. Paul Verhoeven) A dead po-
liceman (Peter Weller) is resurrected as a half-
human, half-robot fighting force.See alsomain
entry.
The Untouchables(Paramount; dir. Brian De
Palma) De Palma and screenwriter David Mamet
transformed the popular 1959-1963 television se-
ries into a crime epic as Federal Bureau of Investi-
gation (FBI) agent Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner)
goes up against the powerful gangster Al Capone
(Robert De Niro). The film’s set piece is a stair-
way shootout patterned after a scene in Sergei1080 Entertainment: Major Films of the 1980’s The Eighties in America