Stop the clock!
Do you realize that The Outsiders came out 22 years ago? (Related: Coppola Returns to ‘The Outsiders’ and ‘The Outsiders’ Cast 20 Years Later)
In November, I’m attending my 20-year high school reunion!
In two years, one of my favorite movies, Wall Street (which I’m watching for the millionth time), will be 20 years old. I remember going to see it with my parents during a college break. The movie came out 18 years ago. What’s that about?
Charlie Sheen’s “Bud Fox” was a naïve pup who learned to roll with the big dogs. When he found out his idol and mentor Gordon Gekko was about to destroy his father’s airline, Fox used the same illegal and unethical tactics Gekko had taught him to stop him. In the end, the student outwitted the teacher because he embraced something the teacher had long since rejected: love.
Gekko called love the “oldest myth running,” something created by people to keep them from killing themselves. Bud’s love for his father gave him the power to defeat the great Gekko. That’s some myth.
Michael Douglas won an Oscar for his performance as Gekko, which was loosely based on real-life crook Ivan Boesky. Most famous is Gekko’s speech at a shareholders’ meeting:
The point is, ladies and gentlemen, greed is good. Greed works, greed is right. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed in all its forms, greed for life, money, love, knowledge, has marked the upward surge of mankind — and greed, mark my words — will save not only Teldar Paper but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA…Thank you. (script )
I’m not into popular culture the way I used to be, but when I was in, I was in deep. I was a teenager in the 1980s, and like most “old heads,” I consider movies, TV shows, and songs from previous decades to be better than anything on the market today. When you start reminiscing about what happened 20 years ago, you’re getting up there.
Where has the time gone? Somebody slow it down..
OK. Lunch is over. Back to work.
{ 16 comments }
Hey hey heeeey I graduated in 1985 too and I’m not considered an old head yet!!! Slow down Lashawn. “Breakfast Club” and Purple Rain were my favorite. I was dreaming about sex all day back then not Power and money…..LOL!
Breakfast Club and Purple Rain, classics. I was a diehard Prince fan back in the day.
1985…back when Michael Jackson was still talented and I was still in diapers.
You’re still just a young pup! I graduated in 1974. Next month I’ll be 50… Over the hill and gaining speed on the downward slope!
I was diehard Prince Fan back then also (1984 graduate). NTW, Wall Street was on last night.
I remember the 80’s not for the movies, but for the SUPERIOR MUSIC:
IRON MAIDEN
TWISTED SISTER
MOTLEY CRUE
DEF LEPPARD
And my personal fave, SAXON
I think it’s worth noting that my generation HATED MTV; the only reason we put up with it is because the radio stations weren’t playing the bands we wanted to hear. We’d watch all day for one video.
LOLOL Get over it, Lashawn, you are getting old! HAHAHAHA But, seriously, consider the alternative – we could be talking about you. ‘Hey, guys, remember LBC? Boy was it great!’
Hey, L….it’s me…
If you’re old then I’m old and that isn’t possible.
I graduated in 86
I’m an ‘89 almost graduate, and I have “Purple Rain” in my car CD player right now! (I was having this urge to hear “Computer Blue”: love that guitar!)
Loved the movie too. I have it on DVD but I won’t watch it in mixed company and I have to keep my finger on “mute” and “fast-forward”!
That’s a lotta work for a movie isn’t it?
If you think you’re out of the entertainment cultural loop now, wait’ll you’re 60. My parents registered major disapproval when I used their money to buy Elvis records.
Good comment on greed.
In fact, the most harmful greed is not of “the rich” to get richer. This is what makes the world go round.
The most harmful greed is that of “the poor” – to not only request but demand that others “pull the wagon” from them.
The sorriest of all are “the poor” who simply waited for someone to take them out of New Orleans while autos were abandoned – stealing a car is better than drowning.
Others walked out of town rather than drown.
I was just thinking about the culture of 1985 the other day, when I broke out one of my Mylon LeFevre cassettes from that year(any other 1980s Jesus rock addicts out there?). I was 15 in ‘85. Does seem like a long time ago, and yesterday, all at the same time.
The Breakfast Club – CLASSIC! Around the World In A Day was a very disappointing follow-up to Purple Rain. And yes, 1985 was a VERY LONG time ago. How long? The Kansas City Royals won the World Series. Check out the standings for this year (and each of the last 10) and that really seems remarkable!
Time flies when you’re having fun……
My 20th reunion is coming in ‘06, but I feel healthier, better, and more free than ever before.
I feel my bones creaking now. My “must be gettin’ old” moment came when I overheard a couple of young uns describing ‘The Princess Bride’ as “this really old movie.”
Oh well, old or not, it was a wonderful movie, and after I saw a ‘Biography’ featuring Andre the Giant where he expressed how much he enjoyed acting in ‘The Princess Bride,’ I just liked it that much more.
Goodness, posts like this make me feel like a baby. I was born in 1984 and y’all were graduating. I loved “Wall Street”. We watched it in my Econ class.
Thanks for sharing LaShawn.
I wore my Purple Rain tape out! For the most part, Prince went down hill after that. My kids looked at my Thriller cd (wore that tape out too), and said “That’s Michael Jackson?!” I told them that at one time he was cute.
Heh, 1985 and movies: Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. To this day, I wish I had left well enough alone and settled for Tina’s We Don’t Need Another Hero video.
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