Growing up, our generation bridged the gap between adjusting the rabbit ear antennas on our television sets and eagerly watching the launch of MTV as video killed the radio star. Movies and entertainment are the ties that bind us. Gen X movies helped portray the angst, cynicism, and fears that run deep in a generation of latch key kids imprinted by divorce, economic uncertainty, and the end of the Cold War.
How many of us use iconic lines from movies such as “I want my two dollars,” only to have our kids look at us like we have truly lost it. Tell me you weren’t waiting for the day you could watch 16 Candles with your kids, only to realize when you did that it was a lot more racist and misogynistic then you remembered and not as appreciated in the midst of the #MeToo movement?
Looking through the list, I realize how far we have come in terms of diversity in Hollywood — not that there isn’t sooo far still to go. Looking through a more mature and evolved lens, I’m always curious to see which movies stand the test of time and which fall flat.
Yet these are the movies that shaped us. Movies that can still make us laugh just thinking of certain scenes. Movies that we can recite by heart. Movies of OUR generation.
Gen X Movies
How many of these have you seen? Leave a comment below to let us know. And yes, I’m sure I have missed so many that are important to you. Have a movie that you love that you think should be on this list? Add it in the comments as well.
These are in no particular order. I’ve also resisted the urge to group them by decade or genre, because it makes the scanning of the list for new discoveries more fun.
Want to know if these are available digitally? Try using JustWatch to figure out where you can stream it.
- The Breakfast Club
- 16 Candles
- Fletch
- Say Anything
- Fast Times at Ridgemont High
- Pretty in Pink
- Better off Dead
- Stripes
- Top Gun
- St. Elmo’s Fire
- Risky Business
- Titanic
- Nightmare on Elm Street
- Stand by Me
- Forrest Gump
- Halloween
- E.T.
- Jaws
- Jurassic Park
- Grease
- Friday the 13th
- Star Wars: A New Hope
- Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back
- Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
- Schindler’s List
- Saturday Night Fever
- Scream
- The Goonies
- Gremlins
- I Know What you Did Last Summer
- Officer & a Gentleman
- Boyz n’ the Hood
- Animal House
- The Shining
- Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
- Back to the Future
- Ghostbusters
- Raiders of the Lost Ark
- Terminator
- Pretty Woman
- The Princess Bride
- Alien
- Caddy Shack
- Heathers
- Poltergeist
- Dirty Dancing
- Beetlejuice
- Do the Right Thing
- The Godfather
- Airplane
- Platoon
- Rambo First Blood
- A Christmas Story
- This is Spinal Tap
- Lethal Weapon
- The Little Mermaid
- Rocky
- Footloose
- The Lost Boys
- The Karate Kid
- Weird Science
- When Harry Met Sally
- Beverly Hills Cop
- Mad Max
- Splash
- Flashdance
- Steel Magnolias
- Purple Rain
- American Pie
- Mystic Pizza
- There’s Something About Mary
- Mr. Mom
- Scarface
- Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure
- Pulp Fiction
- Goodfellas
- Matrix
- Silence of the Lambs
- Fargo
- Clueless
- The Lion King
- Trainspotting
- Saving Private Ryan
- Good Will Hunting
- Home Alone
- The Usual Suspects
- Blair Witch Project
- Braveheart
- Men in Black
- City Slickers
- The Truman Show
- Independence Day
- The Big Lebowski
- Dumb & Dumber
- Apollo 13
- Mrs. Doubtfire
- National Lampoon’s Vacation
- Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
- Die Hard
- Tommy Boy
- The Sixth Sense
- Trading Places
- Alladin
- The Outsiders
- Ghost
- Philadelphia
- Jerry Maguire
- Beauty & the Beast
- Speed
- The Exorcist
- Monty Python and the Holy Grail
- Superman
- Close Encounters of the Third Kind
- Wayne’s World
- Coming to America
- Police Academy
- Spaceballs
- Three Men and a Baby
- Romancing the Stone
- Desperately Seeking Susan
