has tragic consequences. Tom Shulman’s original
screenplay won an Oscar.
Do the Right Thing(Forty Acres and a Mule Film-
works/Universal; dir. Spike Lee) Lee’s look at ra-
cial tensions in his native Brooklyn earned him
acclaim as a major American filmmaker.See also
main entry.
Driving Miss Daisy(Zanuck Company/Warner
Bros.; dir. Bruce Beresford) A wealthy Jewish
woman (Jessica Tandy) and her black chauffeur
(Morgan Freeman) struggle to understand
changes in the South during the civil rights era.
Alfred Uhry’s adaptation of his Pulitzer Prize-
winning play earned four Oscars, including Best
Picture, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay.
Drugstore Cowboy(Avenue Entertainment; dir. Gus
Van Sant) Matt Dillon leads a gang of misfits who
rob pharmacies to feed their drug habits in in-
dependent filmmaker Van Sant’s breakthrough
film.
Field of Dreams(Gordon Company/Universal; dir.
Phil Alden Robinson) W. P. Kinsella’s 1982 novel
Shoeless Joeis the basis of one of the most popu-
lar baseball films ever. An Iowa farmer (Kevin
Costner) recruits a reclusive writer (James Earl
Jones) and a doctor (Burt Lancaster) who played
one game in the major leagues to witness a mira-
cle in his cornfield.
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade(Lucasfilm/Par-
amount; dir. Steven Spielberg) Spielberg’s third
Indiana Jones film finds Indy (Harrison Ford)
joining his father (Sean Connery) on a quest for
the Holy Grail in 1938. The film, which won a
sound-effects Oscar, set a record by grossing fifty
million dollars during its first week of American
release.
The Little Mermaid(Buena Vista/Silver Screen
Partners IV/Walt Disney; dir. Ron Clements) Dis-
ney began recovering its reputation for quality
animation with this box-office hit about a teen-
ager whose father is king of the sea. Alan Menken
won Oscars for best song and score.See alsomain
entry.
sex, lies, and videotape(Outlaw Productions/
Miramax; dir. Steven Soderbergh) The decade’s
most acclaimed independent film launched
Soderbergh’s career and boosted those of stars
Andie MacDowell, James Spader, Laura San Gia-
como, and Peter Gallagher.See alsomain entry.
When Harry Met Sally...(Castle Rock Entertain-
ment/Nelson Entertainment/Columbia; dir. Rob
Reiner) The most popular romantic comedy of
the 1980’s shows how longtime friends (Meg Ryan
and Billy Crystal) slowly fall in love.See alsomain
entry.Further Reading
Biskind, Peter.Down and Dirty Pictures: Miramax,
Sundance, and the Rise of Independent Film. New
York: Simon & Schuster, 2004. Entertaining, in-
formative look at the birth of independent Amer-
ican films.
Brode, Douglas.The Films of the Eighties. Secaucus,
N.J.: Carol, 1990. Heavily illustrated overview of
the decade’s films.
Diawara, Manthia, ed.Black American Cinema. New
York: Routledge, 1993. Includes essays on the de-
cade’s biracial buddy films and the rise of black
independent films.
Haines, Richard W.The Moviegoing Experience: 1968-
2001. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2003. Explains
how distribution changes, multiplexes, and home
video affected the film industry.
Nowlan, Robert A., and Gwendolyn Wright Nolan.
The Films of the Eighties. Jefferson, N.C.: McFar-
land, 1991. Encyclopedic look at 3,400 films.
Palmer, William J.The Films of the Eighties: A Social
Histor y. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University
Press, 1993. Analysis of how the decade’s films re-
flected American society.
Toplin, Robert Brent, ed.Oliver Stone’s USA: Film,
Histor y, and Controversy. Lawrence: University of
Kansas Press, 2000. Essays provide a detailed ex-
amination of Stone’s work as a director and screen-
writer.
Michael Adams1082 Entertainment: Major Films of the 1980’s The Eighties in America