FATAL ATTRACTION (1987), GOOD MORNING VIETNAM (1987), MOONSTRUCK (1987)

What were the top five box office movies for each year of the 80's? Which ones were my favorites? Which were my least favorites? I'm not sure...I'll have to think about it. And without any further ado...

80's top box office month: (1987)

1. Three Men and a Baby
2. Fatal Attraction
3. Beverly Hills Cop II
4. Good Morning, Vietnam
5. Moonstruck

Least favorite movie from the top 5: Three Men and a Baby. Despite the fact that I'm not real fond of Beverly Hills Cop II, Three Men and a Baby is the winner (loser) here. I mean really? That's the number one movie of the year? A pretty bland remake of a French comedy starring Steve Guttenburg was the number one movie of the year? I ask again. Really?

Three Men and a Baby

Favorite movie from the top 5: I have three 1001 movies left of the top five from 1987. They are  Fatal Attraction, Good Morning Vietnam and Moonstruck.

Fatal Attraction

No movie was more talked about in 1987 than Fatal Attraction. Part horror film, part romance gone wrong, part thriller, it was a film about the possible consequences of infidelity that seemed to hit the theaters just at the right time. Glenn Close as the lovelorn psychopath probably would have been my choice for the Academy Award, but is the film itself my favorite of these three?  

Good Morning, Vietnam

Good Morning, Vietnam was Robin Williams finally getting a movie that was a good fit for his improvisational talents. It came out the year after Platoon and Full Metal Jacket, but is a Vietnam comedy more in the vein of MASH than those other two films. And I'm a Robin Williams fan, but is it my favorite of the three?

Moonstruck

The last film of the three on this list is Moonstruck and was the one film of the three that I wasn't looking forward to seeing again. I hadn't seen it since it was new twenty-something years ago.

So, I put in the Blu-Ray I rented late and night and fell asleep after about ten minutes. I tried again the next night and fell asleep after about thirty minutes. I gave it one more try the next night starting with the parts I nodded off during the previous night. I finally managed to stay awake and see the whole thing and you know what? I really enjoyed it. It's  very well written (by Oscar winner John Patrick Shanley) and observant comedy with a truly fine cast (Vincent Gardenia as the dad is my favorite) and reminiscent of the Woody Allen comedies of the era.

And much to my surprise...Moonstruck is my favorite of the three.

If Music Be the Food of Love, Play On: The importance of music in all three of these movies is worth noting.  The baker Ronny Cammereri (Nicholas Cage) in Moonstruck loves Pucchini's La Boheme, which he listens to before taking Loretta Castorini (Cher) to the opera of the same name which leads to his successful wooing of the girl.

The Psychotic Alex (Glenn Close) listens to Madame Butterfly while turning on and off the light switch in her apartment in one of Fatal Attraction's most famous scenes.

Adrian Cronauer (Robin Williams) doesn't go for opera. In fact, spinning the hits with The Beach Boys and James Brown is what gets him in trouble at his Vietnam radio station in the first place. But I do wonder, if those albums weren't allowed to be played on the air, why were they at the radio station in the first place?