80s film reel

It's rare that I have the patience to sit down and watch an entire movie, but this weekend I stayed glued to the TV for the entire requisite two hours because of Daniel Larusso and his crazy ass pelican kick. This movie took. me. back. I mean, I really don't think I've seen The Karate Kid since I had My Little Ponies. Certain movie images somehow crawl into your brain, nestle down for a long stay, and then generate some vicious deja vu when you watch it again 12 years later. Now my memory is just a constant rotation of short-term input. But as kids our minds were cavernous. I started thinking about the movies I watched the most as a kid, trying to remember what stuck around in my brain and what got kicked out later by calculus rules and postcolonial literature.

I may have watched these movies with my parents or maybe some of them I actually liked...I don't really remember. What I do know is that it's a peculiar list to define someone's childhood. Shouldn't I have been watching stuff like The Land Before Time? Here is the Top 10, in no particular order:

1) Baby Boom (1987). Diane Keaton somehow acquires a baby and quits her high-power job to move to the country, where she falls in love with a vet and makes a lot of baby food.

2) It (1990). Stephen King movie starring the clown that scarred me for life. For a year after I saw this movie, I was afraid to go in the bathroom (he could be hiding behind the door), to sleep alone (um, clowns love it when kids are alone), and to sleep with my mom when I was too scared (because she could be It, disguised...duh).

3) Beetlejuice (1988). I think about this movie anytime I see someone with a little head. Which is not all that often, fortunately.

4) War of the Roses (1989). Michael Douglas and his chin fight Kathleen Turner to the death during a bitter divorce. There's some irony in this making the list.

5) Roxanne (1987). A witty firefighter with an obscenely large nose falls in love with a foxy astrologist that's new to town. Love you, Steve Martin.

6) Dirty Dancing (1987). Twenty years later, I still love to shake it on the dance floor.

7) The Little Mermaid (1989). Ariel is single-handedly responsible for me having more redheaded friends than anyone else...ever.

8) Working Girl (1988). Tess McGill is a young whose boss steals her business proposal. More importantly, Melanie Griffith and Harrison Ford are hott.

9) Overboard (1987). Consequently, I named my first goldfish Goldie.

10) The Princess Bride (1987). How I learned that the only way to really prove your love is by fighting a rodent in a firey sandpit.

So it's a quirky collection. But I'm dying to know if anyone else saw these movies as much as I did! Or was everyone else watching Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

What's on your list?