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Do you remember 1989? When it comes to the movies, in retrospect, there truly was a pretty amazing lineup of films that were released to theaters that year. There was the return of old friends, like Indiana Jones, Back to the Future‘s Marty McFly and Doc Brown, James Bond, Batman, the crew of the starship Enterprise from Star Trek, the Ghostbusters, and Lethal Weapon‘s Riggs and Murtaugh.
There were connections with Vietnam all over the place, involving actors like Tom Cruise, Michael J. Fox and Bruce Willis. Some amazing romantic comedies, like John Cusack iconically raising a boombox above his head to proclaim his love in Say Anything, or Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally. And unbelievable star power, including Michelle Pfeiffer, Kevin Costner, Sally Field, Julia Roberts, Robin Williams and Sean Connery. We were introduced to the singing Ariel in Disney’s animated classic The Little Mermaid, and met those wacky time travelers Bill and Ted.
While you had to be there to truly appreciate what it was all about, the guide that follows (the latest in a series that has looked at the films of 1969 celebrating 50 years and the films of 1979 celebrating 40) is the next best thing.
Scroll down to relive some movie magic from 30 years ago!
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Universal Pictures
‘Back to the Future Part II’
There are few film trilogies as delightful as Back to the Future. The original was the top grossing film of 1985 and there was some question of how director Robert Zemeckis and writer Bob Gale were going to be able to top themselves. Maybe they didn’t, but, man, did they continue the adventures through time of Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) and Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) in style. Using the Doc’s souped-up DeLorean, they first head to the future of 2015 (remember, the film came out in 1989) to a time-altered 1985, which in turn leads them back to the 1955 setting of the first film to stop Biff Tannen (Thomas F. Wilson) from changing history so that he’s rich and powerful to pretty much everyone else’s detriment. Truly inventive. Followed six months later by the Old West-set Back to the Future Part III.
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Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images
‘Batman’
Today, the idea of a new Batman movie (such as the currently-in-development The Batman) is nothing new, but in 1989 it caught people by surprise. All anyone who hadn’t read the comics had to base their perception of the character on was the Adam West TV series from the 1960s, and all the media outcry over Michael Keaton being cast in the then-new film from Tim Burton. Well, it became a global pop culture phenomenon and set the path for everything to follow. Besides Keaton, the film also stars Jack Nicholson as the Joker. Learn about this film’s history in our podcast interview with producer Michael Uslan.
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Orion Pictures
‘Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure’
Whoa! Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves are high school students in a band who are in danger of failing history — until they meet George Carlin’s Rufus, a traveler from the future where it seems the duo’s band serves as the basis of a perfect society. For that to happen, though, they have to pass history, so they use Rufus’ device to hit key points in time to achieve the answers they need. There was a sequel and an animated series, and now there’s rumblings of a new film. That would be excellent.
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Universal Pictures/Getty Images)
‘Born on the Fourth of July’
After the success of Top Gun, Tom Cruise pursued a number of roles to shake things up, including Vincent Lauria in 1986’s Color of Money, Brian Flanagan in 1988’s Cocktail (okay, not much of a shake-up, we’ll give you that), and Charlie Babbitt in Rain Man. But in this film, based on a true story, he stars as Vietnam vet Ron Kovic who, after being paralyzed in the war, comes back to America and becomes an outspoken critic of the government’s foreign policies.
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Sunset Boulevard/Getty Images
‘Casualties of War’
Like Tom Cruise, Michael J. Fox also attempted to change his image to something a little more serious with films like Light of Day (1986), Bright Lights, Big City (1988) and his own journey to Vietnam with this film. As Pvt. Max Eriksson, he refuses to participate with his squad in the abduction of a Vietnamese woman to be used as a sex slave which creates a division between them that could be deadly for him.
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Touchstone Pictures/Getty Images
‘Dead Poets Society’
One of the late Robin Williams’ most acclaimed performances, he stars as English teacher John Keating at the all-male elite prep school Welton Academy in 1957. There he proves an inspiration to many students, among them Ethan Hawke’s Todd Anderson.
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Warner Bros
‘Driving Miss Daisy’
Based on the Off-Broadway production, Morgan Freeman plays Hoke Colburn, a chauffeur hired to serve as the personal driver to retired schoolteacher Miss Daisy (Jessica Tandy), deemed too old to drive. What follows over the course of many years is their growing friendship that flew in the face of the racial prejudices of the time. The film would go on to win four Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
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Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images
‘The Fabulous Baker Boys’
The casting of this one alone made it worth the price of admission. Real-life brothers Jeff and Beau Bridges playing fictional siblings Jack and Frank Baker, a pair of struggling musicians who find their career and their relationship with each other altered when they begin working with up-and-coming singer Susie Diamond, played by Michelle Pfeiffer. Written and directed by Steve Kloves, who would go on to adapt all but one of the Harry Potter films.
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Universal Pictures
‘Field of Dreams’
They built it and people came … to the theatres. Baseball fan Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner), an Iowa farmer, hears voices that are commanding him to build a baseball diamond in his field. He does so, resulting in the arrival of the 1919 Chicago White Sox and a connection with his own father. Nominated for Best Picture.
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Columbia Pictures
‘Ghostbusters II’
They still ain’t afraid of no ghosts! The cast from the first film (including Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd) reunite when there’s a resurgence of spectral activity in New York. While a box office hit, it’s really repetitive of the 1984 original.
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New World Pictures
‘Heathers’
Veronica Sawyer (Winona Ryder) is part of a high school clique known as The Heathers, the other members consisting of Heather Duke (Shannen Doherty), Heather McNamara (Lisanne Falk) and Heather Chandler (Kim Walker). When she has a falling out with the others, Veronica finds her reputation being destroyed by them. Becoming fascinated with sociopath J.D. Dean (Christian Slater), a plot to eliminate her enemies comes to fruition. Plenty of twists and turns in this black comedy.
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Walt Disney Pictures
‘Honey, I Shrunk the Kids’
Scientist Wayne Szalinski (Rick Moranis) has created a shrinking ray, which is inadvertently turned on his kids and their friends, who must fight to survive in what feels like a whole new world while he attempts to find a solution to their height problem. Marcia Strassman (Welcome Back, Kotter) plays his wife, Diane.
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Warner Brothers/Getty Images
‘In Country’
And Bruce Willis makes the third (following Tom Cruise and Michael J. Fox) actor to want to shake up his image by using Vietnam as a connection. In this film he’s troubled veteran Emmett Smith, who is approached by his niece to help her find out more about her father who was killed in the war.
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Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images
‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’
In the third chapter of the saga, Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) goes in search of his missing father, Dr. Henry Jones (Sean Connery) who has vanished while pursuing the Holy Grail. Eventually estranged father and son are reunited as they go up against the Nazis who are after the Grail as well. Rousing adventure from director Steven Spielberg, but the real magic here is the chemistry between Connery and Ford.
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Warner Bros
‘Lean on Me’
Morgan Freeman is Joe Clark, a dedicated and uncompromising principal of a decaying inner-city school who is determined to improve his students however he has to. This true story is directed by Rocky and The Karate Kid‘s John G. Avildsen.
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Warner Bros
‘Lethal Weapon 2’
Riggs and Murtaugh (Mel Gibson and Danny Glover) are back in a sequel that’s as good as if not better than the 1987 original. This time the cops are in pursuit of South African diplomats who are committing criminal acts and getting away with it due to their diplomatic immunity. Great action from director Richard Donner, and the rapport of Gibson and Glover is pure magic.
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Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images
‘Licence to Kill’
Timothy Dalton makes his second and final appearance in this James Bond film that has 007 on a personal mission of vengeance against a drug lord (Robert Davi) who maimed his friend and CIA agent Felix Leiter (David Hedison). One of the darkest entries in the series, it didn’t go over very well with audiences (preceding Daniel Craig’s similar and far more successful efforts by about 15 years).
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Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images
‘The Little Mermaid’
The Disney animated classic (currently in development as a live-action film) introduced the world to the mermaid Ariel (voiced by Jodi Benson), who strikes a deal with evil sea-witch Ursula (Pat Carroll) to be able to walk the land as a human. The price is her voice, which nearly denies her true love. But, c’mon, this is Disney, and love wins out in the end.
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TriStar Pictures/Getty Images
‘Look Who’s Talking’
It’s a high concept that plays well. Kirstie Alley is Mollie, a career-minded woman pregnant with a married man’s child, who falls in love with taxi driver James (John Travolta). Bruce Willis provides narration as the voice of the unborn and then bouncing baby boy, Mikey.
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Paramount Pictures
‘Major League’
When the new owner of the Cleveland Indians purposely puts together a terrible team so that they’ll lose and she’ll be able to move them, that team, upon uncovering the truth, fight to become winners. The cast includes Tom Berenger, Charlie Sheen and Corbin Bernsen.
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Warner Bros
‘National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation’
More zaniness with the Griswolds (led by Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo) as plans for a big holiday celebration goes awry in the usual insane ways.
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MGM/UA
‘Road House’
A guilty pleasure largely because of the charisma of Patrick Swayze, who was coming off of Dirty Dancing and prior to his huge success in Ghost. He’s James Dalton, hired as a bouncer at a newly-refurbished bar in Missouri. As such, he finds himself going up against a local corrupt businessman, played by Ben Gazzara. A Star is Born‘s Sam Elliott also stars.
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20th Century Fox
‘Say Anything’
The unlikely romance between master underachiever Lloyd Dobler (John Cusack) and valedictorian Diane Court (Ione Skye) that forms right after high school. It chronicles the challenges facing two people who are so different. The film also represents what is probably the most iconic use of the boombox ever!
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Paramount Pictures/Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images
‘Star Trek V: The Final Frontier’
Taking place after Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (the one with the whales), this one has Captain Kirk (William Shatner), Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) and the rest of the Enterprise crew going in pursuit of … God. You kind of predict the outcome pretty early on, but only Captain James T. Kirk would have the chutzpah to ask the Almighty, “What does God need with a starship?”
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TriStar Pictures
‘Steel Magnolias’
A young beautician, newly arrived in a small Louisiana town, finds work at the local salon, where a small group of women share a close bond of friendship, and welcome her into the fold. Check out this cast: Sally Field, Shirley MacLaine, Daryl Hannah, Olympia Dukakis, Julia Roberts, Tom Skerritt and Sam Shepard. Julia won the Golden Globe in the category of Best Supporting Actress.
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Universal Pictures
‘Uncle Buck’
Silly but fun, as the late John Candy’s Buck Russell, pretty much a low class loser, finds himself babysitting for his brother’s rebellious kids, but somewhere along the way they learn from each other. Pre-Home Alone (barely) Macaulay Culkin is one of the kids.
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20th Century Fox
‘The War of the Roses’
Thirty years ago people thought that this was a follow-up to Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner’s Romancing the Stone and Jewel of the Nile, but it was anything but. This time they’re Oliver and Barbara Rose who are going through a divorce, and are pushed to psychotic levels as they try to get the other to leave their home.
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20th Century Fox
‘Weekend at Bernies’
This is a pretty twisted one. Andrew McCarthy and Jonathan Silverman decide to pretend that their murdered boss is still alive, dragging his corpse around and using his wealth to have a good old time — until his murderers come to think that he’s still alive and start pursuing them to finish the job.
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Columbia Pictures
‘When Harry Met Sally’
This remains the perfect romantic comedy (and there’s no better way to round off our guide to 1989 films). In 1977, college graduates Harry Burns (Billy Crystal) and Sally Albright (Meg Ryan) share a contentious car ride from Chicago to New York, during which they argue about whether men and women can ever truly be strictly platonic friends (he says no, she says yes). Ten years later, Harry and Sally meet again at a bookstore, and in the company of their respective best friends, Jess (Bruno Kirby) and Marie (Carrie Fisher), attempt to stay friends without sex becoming an issue between them. Naturally, it does and that’s when the fun starts. We’re pretty sure you’re gonna cry at the end (in a good way). Directed by Rob Reiner.

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