Midnight Run (1988)

Robert De Niro (a bounty hunter) escorts Charles Grodin (an embezzler) from New York to Los Angeles, and they’re a fantastic comedy team in an action road picture. The duo spends most the film handcuffed — De Niro the put-upon ex-cop and Grodin perfectly droll.

d: Martin Brest | imdb.com | trailer | These things go down.
Only Good Movies: Best Action Comedy Films

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)

Ferris Bueller is the most popular kid in school, the son of doting parents. Why exactly does he need a day off? Matthew Broderick is charming as Ferris, especially when breaking the fourth wall. Jennifer Grey plays his jealous sister with glee.

d: John Hughes | imdb.com | trailer | Jeanie Bueller’s Day Off

The Best of Times (1986)

Robin Williams can’t live down his dropped pass in a high school football game 13 years ago. Kurt Russell is his quarterback and straight man. Ron Shelton wrote the screenplay, his first sports movie about fragile male egos and male-female relationships.

d: Roger Spottiswoode | imdb.com | commercial | interview

The Breakfast Club (1985)

Life must be a bitch in this suburban Chicago high school, where John Hughes employs stereotypes in an overwrought attempt to dispel them. Anthony Michael Hall and Ally Sheedy can act. The affected Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald and Emilio Estevaz can’t.

d: John Hughes | imdb.com | trailer | JCPenney

Beverly Hills Cop (1984)

Audacious at the time: I was 11 years old, watching an R-rated movie with Eddie Murphy using the “fuck” word a lot. Murphy and producer Jerry Bruckheimer invented the buddy cop-action-comedy genre that is now such a cliché. Or maybe it was “48 Hrs.”

d: Martin Brest | imdb.com | trailer

The Karate Kid (1984)

John Avildsen (“Rocky”) directs another underdog story — a real crowd-pleaser that honors karate and friendship. The bullied teenager (Ralph Macchio) is a little too precious, but Pat Morita’s Oscar-nominated turn as Mr. Miyagi gives the film its heart.

d: John Avildsen | imdb.com | trailer | You’re the best.