Titles tagged with ‘1980s’
42 titles - sorted alphabetically or by year
A
Around the World in 80 Ways feature film – 1986
Eddie and Wally Davis fake a round-the-world holiday for their senile old father.
B
The Big Gig – Series 1 Episode 1 television program – 1989
There’s a rowdy beer-hall type atmosphere to this comedy-variety show, which tapped into a vibrant ‘80s live comedy scene in Melbourne.
Blue Murder television program – 1995
This outstanding mini-series about police corruption is memorable for the controversy surrounding its release, but it is the superlative scripting, acting and production that secure it a place in Australian television history.
BMX Bandits feature film – 1983
A young Nicole Kidman stars in a story of BMX bikes and wannabe bandits.
Buddies feature film – 1983
Buddies is a comedy, dressed up as a frontier romance, and it is relatively unknown and underrated.
Butterfly Island – Series 1 Episode 1 television program – 1985
A young Vietnamese refugee on the run complicates the Wilson family’s attempts to save idyllic Butterfly Island from a crooked resort developer.
C
The Chain Reaction feature film – 1980
The lives of car mechanic Larry and his wife Carmel are placed in danger following an accident at a nuclear waste facility in central Australia.
The Clinic feature film – 1982
Medical student Paul Armstrong spends a day at a Melbourne VD clinic.
The Coca-Cola Kid feature film – 1985
The Coca–Cola company sends its top trouble shooter to boost sales in Australia. He plans to win customers away from a much loved, old-style soft-drink maker.
Cop Shop – Episode 485 television program – 1983
This episode is a good example of the relatively adventurous single-episode stories featured in Cop Shop at this point in its run. These appeared alongside the more usual crime and soap-oriented plotlines.
D
Dead-end Drive-in feature film – 1986
In the 1990s authorities convert a drive-in into a jail for unemployed youths. Falsely imprisoned with his girlfriend, Jimmy ‘Crabs’ Rossini attempts to escape.
Down Under music – 1981
Released in 1981, this catchy pop song was written as a light ‘tongue-in-cheek’ dig at Australian values. It became a number one hit in Australia, the UK and US and is still played regularly today as an unofficial Australian national anthem.
E
Emerald City feature film – 1988
Successful screenwriter Colin Rogers moves from Melbourne to Sydney and becomes involved with commercial movie hustler Mike McCord.
Evil Angels feature film – 1988
Evil Angels is a highlight of ‘80s Australian cinema but did not perform as well locally as it deserved, perhaps because it presents the dark side of the easygoing ‘g’day mate’ nation.
An Exercise in Discipline: Peel short film – 1982
In Jane Campion’s Palme d’Or winning student short, a bickering red-headed family on a weekend road trip reach a standoff by the side of a country road.
F
The Final Winter feature film – 2007
Matt Nable drew on his rugby league career to write the script but it was his natural skill as an actor that scored him a Hollywood gig.
The Flying Doctors – Public Property television program – 1986
The Flying Doctors is a drama series set in the fictional town of Coopers Crossing and based on the work and lives of the men and women of the outback medical service.
Fran feature film – 1985
A vivacious young mother is married to a violent man. Her desperate need for love leads her to some tragically inappropriate choices.
Friends and Enemies documentary – 1987
The story of a machiavellian plan to destroy union power, Friends and Enemies follows the bitter fight between Joh Bjelke-Petersen’s Queensland government and the ACTU.
G
Going Down feature film – 1983
Four women friends leave behind the feral days of youth after a night of uncontrolled excess in inner-city Sydney during the early 1980s.
Gold Gold Gold: 4 x 100 Metres Men’s Medley Relay spoken word – 1980
Norman May’s dramatic swimming-race call at the 1980 Olympics which has remained close to the hearts of Australians.
Greetings from Wollongong short feature – 1982
Writer-director Mary Callaghan’s film provides an insight into the creativity and friendships that give meaning to an otherwise desperate existence.
I
I Should Be So Lucky music – 1987
The second single from Kylie’s debut album, Kylie (1988), penned by English pop writing-producing phenomenon Stock, Aitken and Waterman.
Incident at Raven’s Gate feature film – 1988
Strange things are happening around the remote homestead of Raven’s Gate.
J
Jailanguru Pakarnu (Out from Jail) music – 1983
'Jailanguru Pakarnu’ ('Out from Jail’) was the first rock song recorded and released in an Aboriginal language (Luritja).
K
Kaboodle – Series 1 Episode 1 television program – 1987
An anthology of stories for children aged 5-12 years old produced by the Australian Children’s Television Foundation in the late 1980s.
Kingswood Country – There’s No Place Like Rome television program – 1980
A sitcom that lampoons suburban Australian culture, while being equally fascinated with it.
L
Living Room documentary – 1988
This beautiful, unsettling experimental documentary is a meditation on Australian suburbia and notions of home.
M
Man of Flowers feature film – 1983
An elderly aesthete who regularly hires a young woman to strip for him finds his life becoming entwined with hers.
N
The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey feature film – 1988
Medieval Britons journeying through time and space find a contemporary city, where they attempt to fulfil a prophecy that will save them from the plague.
Next of Kin feature film – 1982
On her mother’s death, Linda Stevens inherits an isolated retirement home. Strange events occur, leading Linda to believe an evil force dwells in the house.
Not Quite Hollywood documentary – 2008
Not Quite Hollywood is a good-humoured, highly entertaining look at the exploitation movies made in Australia in the 1970s and ’80s.
S
Serious Undertakings documentary – 1983
Serious Undertakings breaks new ground in understanding the construction of meaning and exemplifies the impact of 1970s screen theory on making independent films.
A Street to Die feature film – 1985
A Vietnam veteran and his wife fight for legal recognition of the damage done to him by the defoliant Agent Orange.
The Surfer feature film – 1986
Vietnam veteran Sam Barlow uncovers a conspiracy in Surfers Paradise involving police, politicians and a Vietnamese gang.
Suzi’s Story documentary – 1987
A mother who has contracted AIDS bravely decides to make a film of the experience.
T
The Time Guardian feature film – 1987
The Time Guardian is one of the great missed opportunities of Australian cinema and symbolic of its wavering fortunes in the 1980s.
V
Voss music – 1987
Voss is an opera about the fateful outback expeditions of Ludwig Leichhardt, as recreated by Patrick White in his iconic novel.
W
We Have Survived music – 1981
The No Fixed Address version of Bart Willoughby’s ‘We Have Survived’ has became an unofficial anthem for Australia’s Aboriginal community.
Wings to Victory documentary – 1984
Celebrating the win by 12-metre yacht Australia II, this was the first time that America had lost the America’s Cup in 132 years.
Winter of Our Dreams feature film – 1981
It was surprising that this uncompromising film about a junkie prostitute’s failure to find love, would work so well with audiences.
Women in the Surf documentary – 1986
Documentary on the battle for women to take to the waves, from Isabel Letham in 1914 to Pam Burridge in the 1980s.
