Dig out your Sony Walkman and tease your hair high! The Lindsay Theater and Cultural Center is opening up a cinematic time capsule with its Summer Series: Rhythms of the '80s, a selection of eight of the most iconic films from that memorable decade.
These films made stars out of actors and actresses we're still watching today, and coined catch phrases we've never forgotten. One film even put a certain city we all know and love into the national filmmaking spotlight for the first time.
The fun starts Thursday, June 6, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, June 16, at 1 p.m. with Caddyshack, which ESPN calls "perhaps the funniest sports movie ever made." Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Ted Knight and Rodney Dangerfield star as the snobs take on the slobs and an eccentric groundskeeper takes on a very determined gopher. "The film is a goldmine for quotable lines that'll leave you laughing," declares the UK's Platform magazine. "Let's just say that the delivery from the cast shows them at their peak and Caddyshack is a film full of great comedic performances."
Caddyshack is followed by these gems:
Everybody cut Footloose! Screening Thursday, June 20, at 7 p.m. and Thursday, June 27, at 7 p.m., this music-and-dance-filled treasure features Kevin Bacon as the city kid who moves to a town where dancing is banned and falls for the local preacher's daughter. "With vibrant energy, memorable (Oscar-nominated) soundtrack and themes that perfectly encapsulate the essence of the 1980s," Footloose is iconic, says Facts.net. We dare you not to walk out humming the theme song by the master of '80s soundtrack hits, Kenny Loggins.
Top Gun, screening Wednesday, July 3, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, July 14, at 1 p.m., changed the movie industry and society, declares ABC News, making the Navy "cool" and "Tom Cruise the biggest movie star on the planet." BBC News.com raves, "Top Gun is the type of movie that turns the screen into an altar. Kneeling before its slick façade of 1980s magnificence, you are in the shadow of a film that has defined the modern-day action blockbuster." The film's soundtrack achieved nine-time Platinum certification and its theme song, Take My Breath Away, scored an Academy Award and Golden Globe.
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A beloved summer staple at The Lindsay since the Theater's opening in 2017, Cinema Paradiso screens Thursday, July 11, 7 p.m. and Sunday, July 21, at 1 p.m. "Ask me what it is about movies I love so much, and I'll tell you to see Cinema Paradiso for your answer," declares The MacGuffin. A celebration of the joys of cinema, the film snagged both the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and the Cannes Film Festival's Grand Prix, and, according to Empire, is one of the greatest films of all time. "Still rapturous after all these years, Cinema Paradiso stands as one of the great films about movie love," raves the Washington Post.
Find out how many local landmarks you can identify when Flashdance, one of the pioneering made-in-Pittsburgh films, screens Thursday, July 18, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, July 28, at 1 p.m.
"In 1983, Pittsburgh needed to redefine itself. Enter Flashdance," said Pittsburgh Magazine in a 2023 retrospective. "Alex's story captures the emotions of a city in transition." A welder by day and barroom dancer by night, Alex (Jennifer Beals) dreams of joining the Pittsburgh ballet school. The theme song Flashdance...What a Feeling by Irene Cara won the Oscar for Best Original Song, with Maniac by Michael Sembello also nominated. The film was No. 3 for the year in domestic grosses.
Just in time for Shark Week, Jaws screens Thursday, July 25, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Aug. 4, at 1 p.m. "When it comes to this kind of thriller, no movie has been able to top Jaws, although many have tried. And, as the years go by, it seems increasingly unlikely that anything will come close," declares Reel Views. The late critic Roger Ebert added, "Jaws is a sensationally effective action picture, a scary thriller that works all the better because it's populated with characters that have been developed into human beings we get to know and care about."
Yes, Jaws was released in 1975, not the '80s, but it took a bite of both decades and is a summer staple at the Theater!
If you want to know who was as big a star in 1984 as Taylor Swift is today, come see Prince in Purple Rain, Thursday, Aug. 1, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Aug. 11, at 1 p.m. The Purple One had the No. 1 film, song and album in the country, all at once. "Purple Rain became a generational manifesto while providing the largest megaphone yet for one of the greatest geniuses in pop music," NPR observes. At 26, Prince became the youngest person to win the Academy Award for Best Score, including When Doves Cry, the year's top song, which Prince wrote in one evening after being asked to add another song to the film.
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"Released in 1989, Lean on Me is undoubtedly one of the classic films of Black cinema," says Source.com. It screens Thursday, Aug. 8, at 7 p.m., and Sunday, Aug. 18, at 1 p.m, with the inimitable Morgan Freeman as Principal Joe Clark, called to turn around an inner-city high school at risk of being taken over by the state unless students improve their test scores. Winner of two NAACP Image Awards (Outstanding Motion Picture, Outstanding Lead Actor), Lean on Me is "a tender movie with a tough message," says the Cleveland Call and Post. The New York Times also praised Freeman's "fiery and compelling performance."
The Lindsay is offering this summer series alongside new releases and other programming. Located at 418 Walnut St. in Sewickley, The Lindsay is an independent, film-driven arts nonprofit.
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