Mental Floss

THE '80S

Sally Ride being interviewed by the media in 1983.

"Everybody wanted to know about what kind of makeup I was taking up," Sally Ride said about the questions she was asked ahead of her historic flight into space. "They didn’t care about how well-prepared I was to operate the arm or deploy communications sa

Chris Higgins


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David Beckerman decided he was done peddling plaid golf pants. The 1966 University of New Haven graduate had been a salesman at a Duckster sporting goods store when he realized that the bland clothing on the racks held little interest for casual sports fa

Jake Rossen


A still from Steven Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982).

With his newfound success following the back-to-back smash hits of 'Jaws' in 1975 and 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' in 1977, director Steven Spielberg wanted to tell a smaller, more personal story for his next film: 'E.T.'

Sean Hutchinson


ABC Television/Courtesy of Getty Images

Based on the British sitcom 'Man About the House,' 'Three's Company' starred physical comedy champion John Ritter in his breakout role as Jack Tripper, a culinary student who crashes a party and wakes up in Janet Wood (Joyce DeWitt) and Chrissy Snow’s (Su

Roger Cormier


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No scene in late 1980s cinema is more iconic than Lloyd Dobler (John Cusack) holding a boombox over his head with the song “In Your Eyes” blasting in an attempt to win his girlfriend back.

Garin Pirnia
Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton, and Jane Fonda star in 9 to 5 (1980).

Whether you think of it as a statement on female empowerment or simply a fun workplace comedy, the 1980 hit '9 to 5'—which featured Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, and Dolly Parton as a trio of secretaries who turn the tables on their "sexist, egotistical, lying

Jennifer M Wood




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After his career-changing performance in 'Airplane!,' Leslie Nielsen teamed up with Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and David Zucker again for the ABC parody show 'Police Squad!' in 1982.

Roger Cormier




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Think Chewbacca’s luxurious brown mane is wash-and-go? Guess again. 'Allure' beauty writer Jenna Rosenstein recently interviewed Maria Cork, the Jedi Master—ahem, supervisor—of the hair department in creature effects on 'The Force Awakens.'

Kirstin Fawcett

In the 1980s, the lure of cheap commercial time led to many legendary mail order offers. There was the Ginsu knife, the 'Sports Illustrated' football phone, and a laundry list of compilation records that assembled hit songs without the pain of B-side clun

Jake Rossen


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Sean Connery helped guide Terry Gilliam through the beginning—and the ending—of the children's (sort of) classic.

Roger Cormier




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Paul Newman won an Oscar for his second go-around as “Fast Eddie” Felson in 1986's 'The Color of Money,' a one-time collaboration between the iconic film star and acclaimed director Martin Scorsese.

Roger Cormier


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The movie has scared audiences for over 30 years, and has remained popular to this day thanks to a 2015 reboot and continued discussion over the 1982 movie’s controversial production and alleged curse.

Roger Cormier
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In what would be their final movie together, in 1983 the classic comedy troupe Monty Python gave the world a collection of funny sketches meant to document every stage of a person's life, from “The Miracle of Birth” to “Death” (give or take a Terry Gillia

Roger Cormier