Mental Floss

THE '80S

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Mel Brooks hadn’t directed a movie in six years when he committed to 1987’s 'Spaceballs,' a joke-saturated spoof of 'Star Wars' and other popular genre films of the era.

Jake Rossen


Paramount Pictures

In the face of a looming mid-1980s writers strike, John Hughes presented Paramount executive Ned Tanen with a one-sentence pitch: "I want to do this movie about a kid who takes a day off from school and ... that's all I know so far."

Roger Cormier






LightFieldStudios/iStock via Getty Images

The 1980s were a magical time that gave birth to so many things that have become commonplace in our lives, including personal computers, 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' movies, and two-pound cell phones.

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20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

In one of Die Hard's most memorable scenes, John McClane stumbles upon criminal mastermind Hans Gruber, who puts on a pretty good American accent and pretends to be a hostage. McClane realizes Gruber is up to no good, though—but how?

Jennifer M Wood


Chris Gentile

On the surface, it seemed like an impossible task. Take an $8800, NASA-approved interface glove running on $250,000 worth of computer hardware, then replicate the performance in a consumer-grade toy with parts costing less than $26.

Jake Rossen


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It's hard to imagine that a movie as well known and dissected as 'Ghostbusters' can show us anything new, but according to the film's production company, some previously unreleased footage from the original 1984 film has just been found.

Jason Serafino




YouTube

Tom Cruise admitted that the film was not a "crowning jewel" in his career, but—nearly 20 years later—it's still a beloved guilty pleasure.

Roger Cormier






Courtesy of Tim Finn // A Real American Book

Opening on May 22, 1985, 'Rambo: First Blood Part II' was a fantasy fever dream of jingoism, Sylvester Stallone’s titular character a monosyllabic redeemer of an America that had failed itself in Vietnam.

Jake Rossen