The Year in Review- 1986

   It was the year Oliver Stone returned to the jungle and James Cameron unleashed the most frightening aliens in film history. Tom Cruise took flight, Mathew Broderick took a day off, and Dennis Hopper lorded over David Lynch's sordid slice of suburbia. Gene Hackman was a hard-ass, four kids found a dead body, and a Woody Allen movie actually made money. Here are the ten best films in order for 1986.

1. "Platoon"(1986)
Countless films have depicted the horrors of the Vietnam War, but none contained as much raw power and chaotic fury as Oliver Stone's visceral masterpiece. The fearless auteur was uniquely qualified to bring this infamous conflict to the big screen because he was actually there, and there's nothing glamorous or  'Hollywood' about his unsparing presentation. A previously-unknown Charlie Sheen is the college-age grunt standing in for the legions of voiceless young men who left their innocence in that hellish jungle. Willem Dafoe and Tom Berenger leave lasting images as sergeants with wildly opposite temperaments, to earn Supporting Actor nods, while the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Director couldn't have gone to anyone but Stone without a massive protest. Simply put, this is one of the greatest war movies of all time.

2. "Aliens"(1986)
When James Cameron, hot off the heels of his instantly iconic breakthrough "The Terminator", took the reigns from Ridley Scott for this sequel to his 1979 classic "Alien", he didn't take things to the next level. He took it a couple levels above THAT. Sigourney Weaver cemented Ripley as a pop culture heroine of the highest order on her return trip to planet LV-426 with the rough-and-ready Colonial Marines, played by Cameron regulars Michael Biehn, Bill Paxton, and Jennette Goldstein. Stan Winston's Oscar-winning FX are still amazing over a quarter century later, and the last hour is an exhilarating blast of balls-to-the-wall action. All subsequent "Alien" films never had a chance of measuring up to this.

3. "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"(1986)
Has anyone in the history of film ever captured the world of teenagers better than '80s maestro John Hughes? "Sixteen Candles" and "The Breakfast Club" displayed a keen awareness of the under-18 crowd, but those films were a mere warm-up for this joyride around Chicago, in perhaps the most epic teen movie ever made. Matthew Broderick never came close to matching his seminal role as high school legend Ferris Bueller who makes leisure an art form. He's seventeen and practically untouchable and every adult is lame and/or stupid and that's why a sequel wouldn't have worked. Ferris only had one day to con his way into our hearts, so savor it because life moves pretty fast.

4. "Top Gun"(1986) Tony Scott built his legacy off the back of one of the most popular films of the 1980s. We'll take it a step further- this movie IS the 1980s, for better or worse. Scott deserves a lot of the credit for constructing the Cruise persona that led to global superstardom, because his camera lingered on his grinning, cocksure 24 year old leading man as much as it did on the kinetic aerial sequences. Super-producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer(hot off "Beverly Hills Cop") secured the full cooperation of the U.S. Navy to achieve a surprising level of technical integrity. Military recruitment skyrocketed as "Top Gun" became the year's highest grosser, and I'm sure there's still plenty of guys that dream of being the impossibly cool Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell.

5. "Hoosiers"(1986)
Any list you find compiling the best sports movies will surely have this uplifting drama on or near the top. Loosely based on an underdog Indiana high school basketball team's victory in the 1952 state championship, a story that may have been overly familiar or predictable is made thoroughly entertaining thanks to it's effectively simple and straightforward style and tone. Gene Hackman is typically great as tough but tender coach Norman Dale, and the big climactic game is genuinely exciting. This was a small movie that turned into a big winner.

6. "Salvador"(1986)
A jumpy James Woods is at his best as a strung-out journalist entangled in the Salvadoran Civil War in another grim Oliver Stone historical document. Yeah, Stone was really in the zone in '86. This film isn't nearly as popular as "Platoon" and only did a fraction of it's box office, but I suspect that's why you're reading this blog. Cinema's premier provocateur doesn't care if you'd rather NOT know about guerilla warfare, death squads or the failures of our own government. He's telling you about it anyway, so buckle up and forget what you've been told because we're entering the Oliver Stone era.

7. "Blue Velvet"(1986)
The late, great Dennis Hopper probably should have had an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor on his resume for his career-saving turn as the deranged Frank Booth, but there probably weren't any clips appropriate for the Oscar telecast(curiously, he got a conciliatory nod for his less deserving role in "Hoosiers"). Hopper is unquestionably the main attraction of director David Lynch's surreal exploration of a sleepy town's sordid underbelly. Educated film buffs know that words like 'weird' and 'bizarre' are redundant when used to describe the works of Lynch. He sure isn't everyone's cup of tea and you may not love this most celebrated entry in his fucked-up filmography, but you're not likely to forget it, either.

8. "Stand by Me"(1986)
Childhood memories are rife with nostalgia, and so is the career of director Rob Reiner. Before his sharp and sudden decline, Meathead was annually cranking out well-reviewed hits in every genre, which included this definitive coming-of-age tale based on a Stephen King novel. Reiner's young ensemble perfectly captured the rambunctiousness of adolescence, and he enlisted Keifer Sutherland, Richard Dreyfuss, and John Cusack for the small but pivotal 'adult' roles. Let's get back to the kids, though. Corey Feldman was a pretty hot property(again, ONLY in the '80s), and the film gained further albeit eerie resonance from the fate of River Phoenix whose death was as untimely as his reflective ringleader Chris Chambers.

9. "Sid and Nancy"(1986)
A wiry English chameleon named Gary Oldman exploded onto U.S. movie screens in this turbulent tale of Sex Pistols controversial front-man Sid Viscous and his destructive, drug-fueled union with ill-fated girlfriend Nancy Spungen(Chloe Webb). Oldman is so good, that it took at least a decade for mainstream moviegoers to connect the dots and credit his eclectic filmography(where was this man's Oscar??!!). For some reason, music is an acceptable backdrop for degenerate behavior, and Alex Cox's bawdy biopic doesn't shy away from illustrating Sid's lack of talent and productivity. If this is rock 'n' roll, I'm not sure I like it.

10(tie). "Manhunter"(1986)
Nine years before "Heat" placed him at the forefront of Hollywood directors, Michael Mann was the first to tackle the unsettling literary works of Thomas Harris in this visually-arresting thriller. A pre-"CSI" William Petersen is an intense FBI profiler on the trail of a brutal serial killer known as the 'Tooth Fairy'(Tom Noonan). Remade in 2002's "Red Dragon", this forgotten gem only came into the general public's awareness in the wake of it's unofficial sequel, the Oscar-winning phenomenon known as "The Silence of the Lambs". Anthony Hopkins made Hannibal Lecter a legend, but a subdued Brian Cox is arguably as effective in his brief appearance as the imprisoned portrait of evil.

10(tie). "Hannah and Her Sisters"(1986)
Few filmmakers in history can match the productivity of neurotic extraordinaire Woody Allen. He's produced a film almost every year for the last forty-plus years, and while I'm not suggesting that all of his output is worth your time, that's still a phenomenal feat. This insightful ensemble tale of three sisters and the men who weave in and out of their lives was by far his most successful offering of the decade, with the Oscars for Best Supporting Actor/Actress being awarded to Michael Caine and Dianne Wiest, and a(then) career-high box office tally for it's bespectacled star-director.

Honorable Mentions- "Youngblood"(1986) Rob Lowe is the Rocky of hockey. "Nomads"(1986) John McTiernan turned heads in his directorial debut. "Down and Out in Beverly Hills"(1986) Nick Nolte is a dirty bum. "F/X"(1986) I'll bet you forgot about this Bryan Brown-Brian Dennehy thriller. "Wildcats"(1986) Goldie Hawn coaches high school football. "The Delta Force"(1986) Chuck Norris and Lee Marvin vs. Middle Eastern terrorists. "Pretty in Pink"(1986) Molly Ringwald stars in this Brat Pack classic. "At Close Range"(1986) Sean Penn vs. Christopher Walken. "Gung Ho"(1986) Michael Keaton and Ron Howard reunite for this culture clash comedy. "Lucas"(1986) R.I.P. Corey Haim. "Just Between Friends"(1986) Just between Mary Tyler Moore and Christine Lahti. "Sweet Liberty"(1986) Alan Alda, Michael Caine, and Michelle Pfeiffer in a small-town showbiz send-up. "Highlander"(1986) There should have been only one.

"Short Circuit"(1986) Johnny Five is alive. "Mona Lisa"(1986) Bob Hoskins protects high-priced hookers. "The Karate Kid Part II"(1986) Daniel-san and Mr. Miyagi journey to Okinawa. "Ruthless People"(1986) Danny DeVito doesn't want Bette Midler back. "Running Scared"(1986) Billy Crystal and Gregory Hines clean up Chicago. "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home"(1986) The most financially-successful "Trek" yet. "The Great Mouse Detective"(1986) is on Disney+. "About Last Night"(1986) Relationship drama with Demi Moore and Rob Lowe. "Heartburn"(1986) Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson marry for Mike Nichols. "The Fly"(1986) Jeff Goldblum + David Cronenberg = a sci-fi horror hit. "Nothing in Common"(1986) Tom Hanks and Jackie Gleason(in his final role) are father and son. "The Name of the Rose"(1986) Sean Connery and Christian Slater in 14th Century Italy. "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer"(1986) Michael Rooker's mass murderer has an underground following. "Extremities"(1986) Farrah Fawcett vs. James Russo.

"Crocodile Dundee"(1986) Paul Hogan in the decade's unlikeliest blockbuster. "Children of a Lesser God"(1986) Marlee Matlin is the first deaf Best Actress winner. "Peggy Sue Got Married"(1986) Frances Ford Coppola directs Kathleen Turner in this comic fantasy. "The Color of Money"(1986) Martin Scorsese directs Paul Newman and Tom Cruise. "Jumpin' Jack Flash"(1986) Whoopi Goldberg stars in Penny Marshall's directorial debut. "Deadly Friend"(1986) Kristy Swanson kills for Wes Craven. "Something Wild"(1986) Ray Liotta is Melanie Griffith's psycho ex. "52 Pick-Up"(1986) Murder and blackmail with Roy Scheider and John Frankenheimer. "The Mission"(1986) Robert De Niro and Jeremy Irons in Roland Joffe's 18th Century epic. "Mosquito Coast"(1986) "Witness" reunion for Harrison Ford and Peter Weir. "Heartbreak Ridge"(1986) Clint Eastwood leads the Marines into Grenada. "Three Amigos"(1986) are played by Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, and Martin Short. "No Mercy"(1986) Richard Gere and Kim Basinger sizzle in New Orleans. "The Morning After"(1986) Jane Fonda is a boozy murder suspect in Sidney Lumet's murder mystery. "Crimes of the Heart"(1986) Diane Keaton, Jessica Lange, and Sissy Spacek are Southern sisters in this Bruce Beresford Oscar bait.