OF "MOST PHENOMENALLY RIDICULOUS MONTAGES FROM 80's MOVIES"
"In the scope of cinematic expression and visual storytelling," notes Collider's Ryan Heffernan, "montages can be used by filmmakers to find meaning and supply information on anything from character or story to theme quickly and effectively. They can fast-track a journey to be told in minutes, splice image and sound together to discover theme, intertwine adjacent storylines, heighten tension, reveal character, and even deliver gags."
Heffernan continues, "Of course, the 80s were a bit different in a lot of regards, and filmmaking was no exception. Joyously unafraid to be cheesy, ridiculous, and borderline nonsensical, the decade’s blockbuster, mainstream cinema was best defined by muscles, mayhem, and montages. From sports dramas to schoolyard comedies, there is an abundance of brilliantly bonkers montage scenes from the 80s which have, if anything, become even more staggeringly fantastic over time."
Heffernan then presents a list of film montages from the 1980s, in no particular order. He includes the "Push It To The Limit" montage from Scarface:
It’s ambitious to give a criminal anti-hero in a violent gangster movie his very own 80s montage, but Brian De Palma was never one to shy away from creative risks and this particular montage has everything. With multiple business ventures, a wedding, a pet tiger, and obscene drug use, the scene is a realization of Tony Montana’s (Al Pacino) ambitions.Also included is the "mastering dance" montage (or montages?) from Footloose, which was edited by Paul Hirsch:At the peak of his powers at the time, it showcased the building and legitimization of his multi-million dollar drug empire and what it meant for his family and friends. While things started to go downhill for Tony not long after, the montage is an encapsulation that, for a short while at least, crime sometimes does pay.
Rock n roll and dancing has been banned, and Kevin Bacon is the teenage hero to hit the sanctimonious small town with a shot of youthful rebellion. The story is undeniably silly, but the execution was to a standard that encapsulated the adolescent angst of the decade’s kids, and the cheesiness of the montages has a lot to answer for.Dancing all around town, Ren (Bacon), teaches Willard (Chris Penn) how to boogie ahead of the prom. While the dancing at the prom reveals Willard learned very little, if anything, the sequence has a lot of heart and oozes the charming ridiculousness of the 80s.