The 80s Movie Podcast

This week on The 80s Movie Podcast, host Edward Havens continues his unofficial Martha Coolidge miniseries with a look back at her 1984 comedy Joy of Sex, arguably the strangest and most troubled film of her career. Released by Paramount Pictures and loosely inspired by the bestselling sex manual by Alex Comfort, the movie attempted to turn a controversial cultural phenomenon into a mainstream teen comedy… with mixed results.

Edward dives into the bizarre production history behind Joy of Sex, including abandoned versions involving Dudley Moore, Monty Python, John Hughes, John Belushi, and director Penny Marshall, before Martha Coolidge finally stepped in under intense studio pressure. Plus: why the film struggled to connect with audiences, its ties to National Lampoon-style comedies, and how a cast featuring Michelle Meyrink, Christopher Lloyd, and Ernie Hudson became trapped in one of the oddest forgotten movies of the 1980s.

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This week on The 80s Movie Podcast, host Edward Havens looks back at Valley Girl (1983), the beloved teen romance that helped launch the career of Nicolas Cage and established director Martha Coolidge as one of the most exciting filmmakers of the early 1980s. Loosely inspired by Romeo and Juliet and fueled by the Southern California “Valley Girl” phenomenon, the film follows rebellious Hollywood punk Randy and San Fernando Valley teen Julie as they fall for each other despite pressure from friends, expectations, and social divides.

Edward explores the fascinating production history behind the movie, from the influence of Frank Zappa and Moon Unit Zappa’s hit song “Valley Girl” to the film’s famously chaotic soundtrack rights issues and how a tiny independent production unexpectedly became one of the defining teen movies of the decade. Plus: why Deborah Foreman deserved a bigger career, how Valley Girl transformed Nicolas Cage into a rising star, and why fans still consider it one of the most iconic and endlessly quotable 80s movies ever made.

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This week on The 80s Movie Podcast, host Edward Havens takes a deep dive into the filmography of John Landis with a look back at his strange, stylish, and often overlooked 1985 thriller-comedy Into the Night. Starring Jeff Goldblum as an insomniac aerospace engineer and Michelle Pfeiffer as a mysterious smuggler on the run, the film turns one sleepless night in Los Angeles into a surreal odyssey of hitmen, stolen jewels, celebrity cameos, and unexpected romance.

Edward explores the complicated legacy of John Landis in the wake of the Twilight Zone helicopter accident, the unusual production history behind Into the Night, and why a stacked cast featuring David Bowie, Dan Aykroyd, and dozens of blink-and-you’ll-miss-them cameos couldn’t turn the film into a major hit.

Plus: how the movie helped connect future collaborators like David Cronenberg and Jonathan Demme with their future stars, and why this quirky late-night Los Angeles noir still deserves rediscovery.

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This week on The 80s Movie Podcast, host Edward Havens looks back at the bizarre history of Up the Academy (1980), the only major Hollywood studio comedy directed by cult independent filmmaker Robert Downey Sr. and a forgotten attempt by Mad Magazine to create its own version of National Lampoon’s Animal House. Featuring an early role from Ralph Macchio years before The Karate Kid, the film followed a group of rebellious cadets at a chaotic military academy, and quickly became one of the strangest studio comedies of the early 1980s.

Edward dives into the unusual production history behind Up the Academy, why Mad Magazine publisher Bill Gaines tried to distance the magazine from the movie, how the film unexpectedly turned a profit despite poor reviews, and what happened to the career of counterculture filmmaker Robert Downey Sr. after his one Hollywood experiment. Plus: the surprising connections to Animal House, the early career of Ralph Macchio, and the legacy of one of the weirdest forgotten comedies of the decade.

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This week on The 80s Movie Podcast, host Edward Havens dives into one of the strangest entries in the career of legendary filmmaker Robert Altman: O.C. and Stiggs (1987), a chaotic teen satire adapted from the pages of National Lampoon. Originally filmed in 1983 but shelved for years by MGM, the movie follows two suburban pranksters waging war against consumerism, authority, and one deeply unfortunate Arizona family in what may be Altman’s most divisive film.

Edward explores the bizarre production and release history behind O.C. and Stiggs, from Altman’s unusual working methods and reported clashes with MGM to the film’s delayed release after years sitting on the shelf. Plus: the surprising cast packed with future stars including Jon Cryer and Cynthia Nixon, why the movie struggled to connect with audiences, and whether this misunderstood cult curiosity deserves a second look or really is the low point of Altman’s legendary career.

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The 80s Movie Podcast concludes its Vestron Pictures series with Part Three, covering the company's final releases from 1989 through its bankruptcy filing in 1991. Host Edward Havens traces how a studio that needed one more hit instead got a string of commercial disappointments, including Bob Balaban's cult horror comedy Parents, Bernard Rose's Paperhouse, the Corey Feldman and Corey Haim vehicle Dream a Little Dream, Ken Russell's The Rainbow, and Julien Temple's musical comedy Earth Girls Are Easy, the De Laurentiis pickup starring Geena Davis, Jeff Goldblum, Jim Carrey, and Damon Wayans. Furthermore, the episode examines how the Lightning Pictures imprint's Far From Home, starring a 14-year-old Drew Barrymore, opened on the same day Vestron's bank terminated its $100 million line of credit and effectively ended the company's theatrical operation in a single afternoon.

However, the collapse of Vestron's distribution arm is only part of the story. Along the way, Edward traces what happened to the titles left behind when the company folded, including films sold off to other distributors and others that went directly to video without any theatrical release at all. At the same time, the episode follows Vestron's assets through bankruptcy court to Live Entertainment, then to Artisan Entertainment, and finally to Lionsgate, explaining why so many of the films Vestron released remain nearly impossible to find today. Consequently, the Vestron story becomes a case study not just in how independent studios fail, but in how film history gets buried under successive waves of corporate ownership.

In addition to the release histories, this episode surfaces several remarkable footnotes. Earth Girls Are Easy gave Jim Carrey and Damon Wayans enough chemistry that Wayans later pushed for Carrey to join In Living Color, a decision that changed the course of American comedy. Wonderland featured an early Hans Zimmer score and an early role for Robbie Coltrane. And Paperhouse launched the career of the director who would go on to make Candyman. For listeners who followed the full Vestron series, this episode delivers a fitting and genuinely surprising conclusion.

This week on The 80s Movie Podcast, host Edward Havens continues a three-part series on Vestron Pictures, focusing on the company’s rapid expansion in the 1980s home video era. However, success brings new pressure as Vestron moves beyond its early distribution model. As a result, the company begins operating on a larger and more complex scale. The VHS market continues to grow, but competition increases across both theatrical and home video releases.

Following the breakout success of Dirty Dancing, Vestron enters a new phase of aggressive growth. In addition, the company expands its release slate and takes on higher financial commitments. This includes a broader mix of theatrical titles and international acquisitions. Meanwhile, expectations rise as the industry looks for another major hit. Because of this, decision-making becomes more risk-sensitive and increasingly complicated.

At the same time, Vestron’s 1988 strategy shows both ambition and strain. Some releases struggle to find audiences. Others reflect the pressure to maintain momentum after Dirty Dancing. As a result, the balance between expansion and instability becomes more difficult to manage. Ultimately, this episode explores how rapid success begins to create structural challenges that will shape the company’s future.

This week on The 80s Movie Podcast, host Edward Havens begins a three-part series on Vestron Pictures, a company that helped define the 1980s home video boom. However, its story begins with instability rather than certainty. Vestron entered a rapidly shifting entertainment landscape as video rental stores changed how audiences discovered films. As a result, demand for home video content expanded quickly. The company positioned itself early in this new market. In addition, it built a distribution model based on speed, volume, and risk-taking. Because of that approach, Vestron moved fast, but often without long-term security. This episode covers the beginning of the company’s rise and sets the stage for what follows in the series.

As Vestron expanded, it built a recognizable identity in the VHS marketplace. It acquired and distributed a wide range of films, from modest releases to cult titles that gained new life in rental stores. For example, some films found audiences years after theatrical release. Meanwhile, others became steady performers through repeated home viewing. As a result, the Vestron label became a familiar presence on video shelves. It represented discovery for audiences exploring beyond traditional theatrical releases. However, this growth also pushed the company into higher financial stakes and greater industry visibility.

That shift becomes most apparent with Dirty Dancing. The film became a major commercial and cultural success, exceeding expectations across box office, soundtrack sales, and home video performance. Because of this success, Vestron’s profile rose significantly in a short period of time. In turn, the company moved from niche distributor to major industry player. Nevertheless, this breakthrough also introduced new pressure and higher expectations. Ultimately, this episode focuses on Vestron’s early rise, the momentum it built, and the turning point that reshaped its future trajectory.

 

This week on The 80s Movie Podcast, host Edward Havens revisits The Marvel Cinematic Universe of the 1980s, an exploration of the early and often chaotic attempts to bring Marvel Comics characters to the big screen long before the modern MCU existed. During the 1980s, studios and independent companies experimented with adapting properties like Spider-Man, Captain America, The Fantastic Four, and Iron Man, but most of these projects stalled in development or collapsed under shifting creative teams, limited budgets, and uncertain studio support.

In this episode, Edward examines how companies like Cannon Films repeatedly tried to launch major superhero franchises, cycling through writers, directors, and concepts that often misunderstood the source material or struggled to balance comic book mythology with the era’s filmmaking constraints. He also looks at the long development history behind projects like Spider-Man and Captain America, and how rights issues, financial instability, and changing industry priorities repeatedly reshaped what Marvel adaptations could look like during the decade.

Finally, Edward breaks down how Howard the Duck became the first theatrically released Marvel film, why it struggled to find an audience, and how its legacy fits into the broader story of Marvel’s early cinematic experiments. Taken together, these films and failed projects reveal an alternate timeline of superhero cinema that helped set the stage for the eventual rise of the Marvel Cinematic Universe decades later.

This week on The 80s Movie Podcast, host Edward Havens dives into one of the most ambitious and technically daring science fiction films ever made.

James Cameron refused to take the easy path. Instead, he pushed filmmaking into uncharted waters with The Abyss. We revisit the remarkable story behind a production that tested its cast, challenged its crew, and redefined what audiences expected from visual effects. Released in 1989, the film combined deep-sea adventure, Cold War suspense, and emotional drama with groundbreaking technology. As a result, it became one of the decade's most ambitious productions. Although its theatrical release divided audiences, its reputation has continued to grow with time.

Edward explores how Cameron transformed an impossible idea into a cinematic reality. Along the way, we examine the demanding underwater production and the extraordinary performances from Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, and Michael Biehn. We also look at the practical effects that pushed the limits of filmmaking. Meanwhile, new digital techniques opened the door to a new era of visual storytelling. Those innovations influenced films that followed, including Terminator 2, Jurassic Park, and Cameron's own Titanic and Avatar. The episode also revisits the film's extended cut and explains why many viewers now consider it the definitive version.

Today, The Abyss stands as more than an unforgettable science fiction adventure. It represents a turning point in modern filmmaking. We revisit its lasting legacy and explore why it remains one of James Cameron's most personal achievements. Whether you first experienced the film in theaters or discovered it years later, this episode reveals why The Abyss continues to inspire filmmakers and audiences around the world.