7 Movies From 1986 That All 1970s Kids Still Love Today

Published Oct 30, 2026, 12:55 PM EDT Simon Gallagher has worked in movie and TV journalism for more than 17 years. He has written more than 6000 articles and reviews, and edited thousands more. He is an expert in the entertainment industry, particularly in the golden age of screen superheroes. Simon is also a Rotten Tomatoes approved critic. Remembering the 1980s’ cinematic landscape conjures images of major blockbusters and genuine heart. After a decade of building the blockbuster era, Hollywood’s biggest studios recognized the power of family money, and sequels were beginning to take a real hold. By 1986, Disney left money on the table by releasing only one animated movie, which was outperformed by the distinguished competition of Don Bluth. But even without the biggest studio in family film-making underperforming, there were still some great movies aimed at kids and teenagers in particular, with new genre additions refusing to talk down to younger audiences, and movies built on spectacle and wonder capturing the hearts and minds. Hits like Crocodile Dundee, The Karate Kid Part II, Pretty in Pink, and Little Shop of Horrors drew in broad audiences, and the battle of An American Tail and Disney’s The Great Mouse Detective was compelling, without either movie being top tier. On the flip side, Platoon and Aliens were masterpieces, but strictly aimed at adults, but it would take a while for 1970s kids to get to truly appreciate them. But the following seven movies captivated kids and teenagers who were born in the 1970s and grew up in front of silver screens in 1986. 7 Ferris Bueller's Day Off As you get older, watching John Hughes’ greatest antihero defiantly steal a day back from Big Academia feels very different when you realize his prospects may not be exactly rosy, but in 1986, he was an instant icon. Thanks to Matthew Broderick’s incredibly charming lead performance, it was impossible to resist the allure of what Hollywood’s favorite slacker was selling. We were all Alan Ruck’s Cameron Frye, when you think about it. How could you not be enthralled by Bueller’s triumphant strike for independence? He constantly gets one over on pompous authority, mostly escapes punishment (the destroyed car scene probably hides the truth of what comes next), and is the poster boy for every young adult on the cusp of real adulthood and responsibilities. The movie is funny, full of heart, and has a disarmingly good message to say about conformity. 6 The Transformers: The Movie Despite the billions of dollars the live-action Transformers movie franchise has made over the last two decades, for many movie fans, the greatest of them all came 40 years ago. In the summer of 1986, when The Transformers: The Movie landed in cinemas, you could have been forgiven for expecting a feature-length Saturday morning cartoon, but you would have been shocked, to say the least. Directed by Nelson Shin, the cult classic was a shockingly dark take on the IP, starting with the death of Optimus Prime, which traumatized and outraged a generation. The backlash might have been intense - leading to his resurrection in Season 3 of the show - but the movie is legitimately great, with a stunning cast that includes Orson Welles, Judd Nelson, and Leonard Nimoy alongside Transformers favorites like Peter Cullen and Frank Welker. This is a far more character-driven Transformers movie than Michael Bay’s metallic orgies, which captured the spirit of the cartoon without over-relying on just giving us an extended episode. It’s brave, it’s bold, and it has only gotten better for original Transformers fans who saw it on release. 5 Short Circuit With so much sci-fi in the 1980s shifting towards bleak dystopian images of the future, alien attacks and killer robots, Short Circuit was a heartwarming breath of fresh air. Not unlike Pixar’s sci-fi masterpiece Wall-E, the story of Johnny 5 is about the subtle hope of deprogramming. In this case, the robot starts as a military weapon, is gifted messy sentience by a rogue lightning strike and sets out on a journey of self-discovery while trying to understand humanity. He’s a very different image of technological progress than the modern reality, but Johnny 5’s quest for “more input” is a touching, innocent story, and the human cast, led by Ally Sheedy and Steve Guttenberg is equally delightful. The animatronics work is still great, and in a cinematic age defined by the Terminator’s evil, Johnny 5 was the perfect family-friendly alternative. 4 Stand By Me Based on Stephen King’s novella The Body, Stand By Me is about the closest distillation of young childhood friendships there’s ever been on screen. The story may be about the mission to find a dead body, but it’s really about nostalgia for a lost youth that remarkably felt just as real to kids watching it in 1986 as it did to adults looking back on their own youth. The key was in the casting and the perfect chemistry between Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, and Jerry O'Connell in instant star-making roles. Stand By Me came quite early in Rob Reiner’s ridiculously rich vein of form that started two years earlier with This Is Spinal Tap, and captured exactly the kind of heart and wit that made his movies so essential. He also wasn’t afraid of avoiding a sugar-coated idea of nostalgia, giving each of his leads something to deal with, introducing genuinely threatening bullies - led by the excellent Kiefer Sutherland. It only gets more complex and more rewarding as you get older and rewatch it, but on release it was still a beautiful portrait of friendship and curious misadventure. 3 Flight of the Navigator Like Short Circuit, Flight of the Navigator is a hopeful sci-fi with a darker edge under the surface, marrying the childhood dream of adventure with the peril of traumatic loss. The story of David Freeman’s loss of 8 years and the unpicking of the mystery that reveals he was kidnapped by a curious alien ship seeking to map the universe is a great inversion of the E.T. story and bears all of the same Spielbergian hallmarks. Paul Reubens playing the scatter-brained alien AI Max (who starts robotic but has his programming corrupted by a mind-meld with David) is a joy, and it helps that Joey Cramer played David with a wide-eyed awe that immediately makes him work as an audience surrogate. The puppetry is still charming, and there's something to be said for David's bravery at the end to choose a return to the happiness and freedom of 1978 despite the very real threat of being vaporized. 2 Labyrinth Labyrinth obviously has a particularly creepy undercurrent thanks to the teenage seduction of Jennifer Connelly by the ancient Goblin King, Jareth (David Bowie), but it’s also a delightful fantasy gem that has thankfully defied the urge to remake it for four decades. Bowie’s performance is mesmerizing; a blend of rock star mystique and languid lizard king, and the costume department went hard on his iconic look. Ignoring the ickiness, Labyrinth also has a deeper subtext about familial disruption that isn’t immediately obvious, but which connected with kids across the world. Connelly’s Sarah is wrestling with the new family dynamic forced on her by her new stepfather (also played by David Bowie, but only shown briefly in newspaper clippings in the opening sequence) and baby half-brother. She’s young enough that her selfishness feels both sympathetic and harsh, and that complexity is what drives the story. The world-building is genius, the characters - backed up by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop - are glorious, and there are few 1980s movies with this level of genuine artistry. 1 Top Gun While its impact on military sign-ups is legendary, you cannot overlook how big of an impact Top Gun also had on wide-eyed kids who saw it in cinemas and helped make it the biggest box office success of 1986. It was a massive cultural event, with a story that works on both a complex and straightforward level, and Tony Scott’s breathtaking action sequences were magic for teens who saw it that summer. Maverick was also the ideal Hollywood hero for that audience; brash, cocky, and uncompromising, and his high-octane life became instantly aspirational. Rewatching Top Gun today confirms why it remains an absolute classic of action cinema; nothing ever captured the thrill of flying like it, and the themes of rivalry, tragedy, and redemption are universally gripping. Tom Cruise’s Hollywood legend was built on multiple movies, but for 1970s kids, this was the one.