Cinema normally associates the 1980s with splashes of color. After all, there was great experimentation in the fashion space during the decade. People also stepped out more and enjoyed the best of what nature had to offer. Making a black-and-white film in this decade was thus a risky move guaranteed to deny audiences a proper chance to appreciate the costumes and scenery.
Generally, monochrome was considered a thing of the past, and most filmmakers preferred sticking to the changing technology than to the nostalgia of the Silent Era. Thankfully, a few individuals and studios were bold enough to make monochrome films and the results were spectacular. Some of these movies evoked memories of Hollywood’s Golden Age, while others had everything considered essential for an ‘80s movie.
10 Bless Their Little Hearts (1984)
Perhaps Bless Their Little Hearts could have been a bigger hit if it was titled No Romance Without Finance. In it, director Billy Woodberry delivers a painful reminder that marriages often crumble without money. When Charlie Banks (Nate Hardman) loses his job, his wife becomes hostile and even falsely accuses him of infidelity. Fed up, he decides to go ahead and do the actual cheating.
A Film Meant for the Everyday Person
Bless Their Little Hearts was meant to be part of director Billy Woodberry’s UCLA thesis and in it, he doesn’t try so hard to create something artsy. He simply serves a film that either touches on the current predicaments of most audience members or reminds them of past woes. Nothing ever gets better for the principal character, and at some point, he starts wondering whether “the light at the end of the tunnel” is a myth that people came up with to make themselves feel better.
Whenever the camera isn’t focusing on the Kramer Vs Kramer kind of arguments between husband and wife, it switches on wonderful tracking shots. One powerful scene shows Charlie wandering the streets for minutes, unaware of where to go and what to do. Morality is a recurring theme too, making this the perfect film for anyone eager to never make the wrong choices in life.
Rent it on Apple TV+
9 Raging Bull (1980)
Before Raging Bull, Giacobbe “Jake” LaMotta wasn’t a widely known boxer. After all, he was a middleweight puncher in an era dominated by heavyweights. Thankfully, Martin Scorsese developed an interest in the man’s life story and adapted his memoir, Raging Bull: My Story.
The film follows LaMotta (Robert De Niro) as he rises from a nobody to the top of his division. Sadly, he keeps growing paranoid that his wife is cheating on him, causing him to lose focus. Consequently, a fall from grace happens.
The Greatest Boxing Movie of All Time
Raging Bull is widely regarded as the greatest movie of all time, and that’s hardly surprising, given the neat camera angles and well-choreographed fight sequences. Up until that time, boxing movies had mostly shown fight scenes from outside the ropes. However, for his Oscar-nominated flick, Scorsese ordered his cinematographer Michael Chapman to get close to the boxers to capture their pain and anxiety.
According to the book, Scorsese on Scorsese, the director chose black and white because he wanted the movie to be different from everything else coming out at the time. There was also another major reason. Scorsese had filmed a huge chunk of the film in color before British director Michael Powell pointed out that ‘60s boxers only used black, maroon, and oxblood, yet none of those appeared in the movie.
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8 The Elephant Man (1980)
The Elephant Man is the biographical story of Joseph “John” Merrick, a deformed freak show performer who grew popular with the elite because of his intelligence. In the movie, David Lynch takes time to show exactly how this happened.
Initially, John (John Hurt) is assumed to be dumb and is mistreated by his ringmaster. Soon, Dr. Frederic Treves (Anthony Hopkins) takes an interest in him and brings him under his care. It doesn’t take long for the doctor to discover that John is smart. Word then spreads around, turning John into an influential person.
Groundbreaking Make-up Effects
The film has all the David Lynch trademarks, from creepy noises and surreal atmospheres to people with unusual appearances. It’s by meticulously focusing on the latter that The Elephant Man truly shines. So good are the make-up effects that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences decided to create the Oscar for Best Make-up the following year. In total, the biopic was nominated for eight Oscars at the 53rd Academy Awards, tying Raging Bull.
Stream it on Prime Video or rent it on Apple TV+
Related
Best Movies That Mix Color with Black and White
From Schindler’s List to Raging Bull, here are the best movies that mix color with black and white.
7 To Sleep So as to Dream (1986)
In To Sleep So as to Dream, aging Japanese Silent Era actress, Madame Cherryblossom (Fujiko Fukamizu), hires two private eyes to track down her missing daughter, Bellflower (Moe Kmaura). The two do a great job of deciphering clues, and their search eventually leads them to a film studio. From there, things take a strange turn.
A Modern Day Silent Film
Great characters make great movies and the two P.I.s in To Sleep So as to Dream have a wealth of interesting attributes. They ask few questions but can draw whole chapters worth of conclusions from the brief answers they are given. They are also addicted to boiled eggs, making them somewhat of a cross between a noir duo and a buddy comedy duo.
Besides, in what is a move deliberately chosen to honor its premise, the film is mostly silent. The dialogue is revealed through intertitles, and for the most part, only the surrounding noise is heard.
Stream it on Prime Video and Plex
6 My 20th Century (1989)
My 20th Century is one of the films where one actor plays twins. Dorotha Segda stars are Lila and Dora, sisters who are adopted by two different families after being orphaned at a young age. In adulthood, they have a chance meeting after they both book tickets on the Orient Express passenger locomotive. Dora is now a seductress keen on scamming wealthy men, while Lila is a revolutionary, hoping to blow up the train to assassinate a politician.
Conflicting Ideologies Bounded by Love
As is the case with most films about twins, the performance is the strongest pillar. Dorotha Segda outdoes herself in the dual role of two characters who have totally different personalities.
To spice things up, there is a head-spinning romance angle. A male passenger falls for both women, believing they are the same person. He thus keeps wondering why one is so receptive to his advances while the other is ready to call security even when he gives a genuine compliment. Thanks to the romance arc, audiences also get roped into the complex game of who is who.
Buy it on Amazon, Vudu, Apple TV+, and Google Play
5 Chan is Missing (1982)
Chan is Missing follows San Francisco cab driver Jo (Wood Moy) and his nephew, Steve (Marc Hayashi), as they search for the missing broker Chan. Jo wanted to buy a taxi license and Chan promised to make it happen, but after getting the money, he was nowhere to be found. Their search becomes difficult because each Chinatown resident they speak to has a different idea of what happened.
A Refreshing and Funny Asian-American Saga
In the ’70s and ’80s, both Hollywood and Asian film industries were heavily biased towards kung-fu films or action comedies. Luckily, there came Chan is Missing, which steered clear of the tropes and focused on laughs. As dire as the situation is, the characters never stop having fun.
And it isn’t just Jo and Steve who get the spotlight. There are other supporting San Franciscans, like Henry the Cook, who never stops dishing one-liners. Calling the film enjoyable would be an understatement.
Buy it on Amazon and Google Play Movies
4 The Gold Diggers (1983)
The Gold Diggers’ focus is on two women searching for answers to different questions in their lives. Ruby (Julie Christie), is looking for her mother, as well for information about her father, who used to be a gold prospector. Elsewhere, Celeste (Colette Laffont), a bank computer clerk, seeks to learn more money and power but is dismissed by the men in suits. Soon, the two women cross paths and realize they have plenty in common.
The Intertwining of Finance and Female Empowerment
By the time The Gold Diggers was coming out, there was still a great gender imbalance in corporate spaces and several other industries. For example, only one British film made by a woman (Jane Arden’s The Other Side of the Underneath) was released theatrically throughout the ’70s. This motion picture, therefore, helped improve things by not only proving what filmmakers could do, but also rooting for women in the workplace.
Apart from the themes, the visuals are stunning, and the narration is soothing. There is minimal dialogue, allowing audiences to digest the proceedings much better, and appreciate the characterization.
Stream it on Prime Video
3 Looking for Langston (1989)
Langston Hughes is one of the greatest poets of all time, but Looking for Langston isn’t really about him. It’s about Harlem’s gay scene in the ‘20s and ‘30s. Some of the characters are shown to deeply adore Hughes, viewing him as an LGBTQ icon. They honor his poetry, while trying to live their normal lives. Portions of footage of Hughes’ life are also inserted into the film.
There was some controversy surrounding the release of Looking for Langston as Hughes’ statement denied he was gay and even attempted to block the release. Still, this remains a powerful film about the roots of the LGBTQ community in America. It’s commonly assumed that gay people only started out in the ’50s and ’60s, yet they were doing so as early as the ’20s.
Most importantly, the common gay oppression narrative is avoided in favor of merriment and optimism, making the film perfect for both entertainment and educational purposes.
Buy it on Amazon or rent it on Apple TV+
2 Damnation (1988)
In Damnation, the depressed, Karrer (Miklós B. Székely), spends his days at a local bar, and it’s only a matter of time before he falls for a married torch singer. Unfortunately for him, she ends the affair, because she fears it will ruin her chances of becoming famous. However, Karrer doesn’t go away quietly. When he is offered a high-stakes smuggling gig, he decides to rope in the singer’s husband, further complicating matters.
Gloomy, Rainy Atmosphere
Damnation is hoisted by its cinematography more than its plot. Apart from Karrer remaining obsessed with the singer and trying to find ways to get rid of her husband, nothing much happens. However, there is much to admire from the camera’s lens. Most of the film is shot in the rain, meaning there is plenty of mud and an endless gray hue. There are no quick switches either. Each scene is covered for at least a minute.
Stream it on fuboTV or IndieFlix
1 Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)
Tetsuo is a horrific story about a white-collar worker labeled The Salaryman (Tomorowo Taguchi). One night, he and his girlfriend accidentally hit a metal fetishist while driving. They dispose of his body and try to go about their normal lives, only for strange proceedings to unfold. As the days go by, parts of The Salaryman’s body begin turning into metal, freaking him out and putting him on a desperate quest to fix the situation.
Short and Bizarre
Tetsuo is only 70 minutes long, hence it’s easy viewing for anyone wishing to see it out of curiosity. Despite its brief nature, the film leaves plenty to ponder. Numerous bizarre scenes keep popping up, notably one where The Salaryman tries to make love to his lover only for his penis to turn into a metallic drill. Apart from that, genre fans can look forward to one of the most mindblowing climaxes, involving a meeting between the man and the victim who survived the accident.
Stream it on Shudder
