70's - 80's film references in Netflix's "Stranger Things" Season 1

• Stephen King's "Stand By Me" (train track scenes, being hassled by older bullies)
• Stephen King's "Firestarter" has a girl with telekinetic powers, likewise King's 1976's adaptation "Carrie".
• Opening titles are a homage to 80's graphics accompanied by John Carpenter-esque electronic music ("Hallowe'en", "Escape from New York")
• The monster is a cross between "Alien" (tube down Will's esophagus) and  John Carpenter's "The Thing". 
• Teenage romance and misfits - John Hughes comedies, take your pick. The Duffer Brothers chose great English alternative music, too. But this is another matter.
• "E.T." - BMX bikes, El(even) is hidden in a bedroom closet, a garden shed, shown Star Wars models by her new friend, a mysterious government agency is pursuing her. She even points (E.T.like) in on scene.
• Film posters on kids' bedroom wall: "'The Evil Dead"
• The monster's shape making a wall elastic-like ("A Nightmare on Elm Street")
• Dustin refers to El as the "weirdo on Maple Street". Am I drawing a long bow with the last one?

The battle of the i-pod playlists

On a road trip at the moment, travelling from Melbourne, north to Sunshine Coast, around 4000 km round trip.  It is the battle of the i-pod playlists in the car.

My wife’s playlist is a lot broader than mine and a lot more hard core:

The Beat, House of Pain, Cypress Hill, Sex Pistols, Stranglers, Joy Division, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, The Models, Hunters And Collectors, The Clash, Ian Dury, Roxy Music, UB 40, Simple Minds, Echo and the Bunnymen,  The Smiths, Sigue Sigue Sputnik, Nick Cave, Butthole Surfers, Wall of Voodoo, Nina Hagen, Malcolm McLaren, The Cure,  Souxie and the Banshees , Rammstein - mainly 70’s and 80’s alternative (like being stuck in a John Hughes movie),  with a smattering of 90’s and newer stuff.  Some opera, “Ride of the Valkeries” and “Madam Butterfly” is in the mix too.

My playlist sounds very gay in comparison – some musical soundtracks (mainly Sondheim), Pet Shop Boys, The Presets, Scritti Politti, Heaven 17, New Order, Culture Club (“Time”), Mental As Anything (“Berserk Warriors”), EMF (“Unbelievable”) Hurts, Blur, Kate Bush, The Police,

We have some overlaps:

U.K. Squeeze “Kool  for Kats”, Lou Reed “Walk on the Wild Side”, New Order “Bizarre Love Triangle”, “World in Motion”, The Clash “Rock the Casbah”, The Church “Under the Milky Way”, Amy Whitehouse “Back in Black”, Violent Femmes  “Blister in the Sun”, Duran Duran “Planet Earth”, The Verve's "Bitter Sweet Symphony"

Anyway, it made the kilometres pass.

Paramount movies - my guilty pleasures - no classics here

Image Copyright Paramount Pictures/media.photobucket.com

1961  The Ladies' Man (only for the knockout multi-level set)
1962  nil
1963  The Nutty Professor (Jerry Lewis's best solo effort - love "Buddy Love")
1964  The Carpetbaggers (delightful trashy - cross reference with The Aviator)
The Fall of the Roman Empire - Samuel Bronson productions were over-the-top historical epics with fat budgets
Seven Days in May  this is a classic, couldn't resist putting it in - haven't seen it in decades
1965  Crack in the World  great British sci-fi
1966  Assault on a Queen (only for the cool 'big band' musical score, Sinatra misfire)
1967  Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feeling So Sad  funniest thing in this movie is the title, the title was the theme song as well - so bad, you watch it with your mouth wide open.
1968  Barbarella .... of course, "my pretty-pretty..."   just for the opening titles, those snapping dolls and the origin of Duran Duran.
Danger: Diabolik  John Phillip Law again. Amazing 60's production design. Recommended.
No Way to Treat a Lady  Rod Steiger always plays the best nutjob.

1969  True Grit  "Fill your hands, you sonofabitch!"
The Italian Job - makes you want to buy a mini, plus Noel Coward and Benny Hill, "I like 'em big"
1970  W.U.S.A. great cast and New Orleans setting, Catch 22 (brave film adaptation, incredible cast)
1971  Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory  Gene Wilder as Wonka nails it.
1972  Play it Again, Sam  great Woody Allen romance, priceless ending
1973  Don't Look Now dig the dwarf in the red poncho, incredibly creepy Venice locale
1974  The Parallax View (great Warren Beatty political thriller) Chinatown one of those films you could watch countless times and get more out of it .... it is a classic but it's my blog and I want to include it!
1975  The Day of the Locust (30's L.A.); Three Days of the Condor (Faye Dunaway, again)
1976  Marathon Man  "Is it safe??"  The Last Tycoon another 30's Hollywood setting, great De Niro performance;  The Big Bus funny disaster movie send-up
1977  Looking for Mr Goodbar;  Black Sunday (chalk and cheese)
1978  Heaven Can Wait  Dyan Cannon is priceless in this.... plus James Mason as an angel!
1979  The Warriors  nasty street gangs, it ain't West Side Story
1980  Airplane!  see Airport 75 first for added enjoyment
1981  Mommie Dearest ...say no more, Faye Dunaway=camp classic
1982  48 Hrs  Remember when Eddie Murphy made good movies?
1983  Trading Places  Remember when Eddie Murphy made good movies? Jamie Lee Curtis = great rack
1984  Top Secret! (from creators of Airplane!)
1985  Young Sherlock Holmes  Don't miss the quick scene after the closing credits!
1986  Ferris Bueller's Day Off   John Hughes at his best.
1987  The Untouchables  3 reasons: De Palma's direction of the baby carriage scene; Sean Connery; Ennio Morricone's sublime music

Guilty pleasures - Universal Studios films

This is an old family photo, but I got sick of citing Copyright

I am starting at 1960 (I was 4 years old, old enough to remember a movie, I reckon).

• 1960 Midnight Lace; Spartacus (chalk and cheese)
• 1961 Curse of the Werewolf (Hammer horror, with a young, but still creepy, Oliver Reed) 
• 1962 Cape Fear; That Touch of Mink (bleak black&white nail-biter meets glossy Eastmancolor fluff)
• 1963 40 Pounds of Trouble (as a kid I loved the Disneyland locations); The Birds (knockout phone booth scene)
• 1964 The Chalk Garden (had a crush on Hayley Mills); Charade (great Mancini score)
• 1965 The Warlord (Chuck Heston); I Saw What You Did (creepy little William Castle B flick)
• 1966 Gambit (lots of caper movies in the mid 60's), Blindfold (liked the bayou setting)
• 1967 Thoroughly Modern Millie (fun, but too long)
• 1968 Coogan's Bluff (Clint Eastwood, on the verge of superstardom)
• 1969 Colossus, The Forbin Project (taut sci-fi sleeper about a supercomputer - years before War Games)
• 1970 Airport (cheesy but compelling)
• 1971 The Andromeda Strain (great start, stunning production design, but God, it is so talky; Play Misty For Me (Clint's first time as director - has he ever directed a crap movie, even Hereafter?)
• 1972 Frenzy (Hitchcock back in London and a return to form - rape screen in dating agency office is a worry "....Lovely.....Lovely" - chills the bones)
• 1973 American Graffiti;  Day of the Jackal; The Sting (what a year)
• 1974 Earthquake (saw it in "Sensurround", basically big speakers under the seats so they seemed to shudder in seismic scenes.
• 1975 Jaws (of course)
• 1976 The Seven-Per-Cent-Solution (what a cast, love to see it again)
• 1977 The Last Remake of Beau Geste (very patchy, some good sight gags)
• 1978 National Lampoon's Animal House ("To-ga, To-ga, To-ga!")
• 1979 Dracula; The Seduction of Joe Tynan
• 1980 Coal Miner's Daughter; The Blues Brothers
• 1981 Ghost Story (the book's better, but look at the stars: Fred Astaire, Douglas Fairbanks Jr, Melvyn Douglas, John Houseman, Patricia Neal - like Cocoon does Horror)                                        On Golden Pond (another movie full of old fogeys - Fonda and Hepburn)
• 1982 The Thing (holds up very well compared with recent remake, mind-blowing Rob Bottin make-up)
• 1983 Scarface (boffo finale, but 170 minutes ????)
• 1984 Sixteen Candles (this film and Ferris Bueller's Day Off are John Hughes' best films - delightful throughout, great ensemble cast, great score - as you would expect in a John Hughes flick)
• 1985 The Breakfast Club (this is No3, Simple Minds music helps)