On Sale: Oct 7, 2025
Page Count: 288 pages
Publisher: Running Press Adult
ISBN-13: 9780762489664

$25.99

$34.99 CAD

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Take a trip back to your favorite video store with this in-depth journey through the highs and lows of ’80s cinema—with profiles of hundreds of films—and how Hollywood studios around the globe reflected a period of cultural change.

The movies were flying blind in 1980. “New Hollywood” was over and the era of auteur-driven, personal films that had defined moviemaking since the late ‘60s came to a symbolic end with Heaven’s Gate (1980), replaced by a new world of multiplex blockbusters supported by massive marketing campaigns. But beyond the high-school comedies and hardbody action films came a new wave of cinematic excitement—an era defined by Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Purple Rain, When Harry Met Sally, E.T., and Top Gun, each of which are now classics for a new generation of nostalgic movie lovers. The decade saw works that uniquely captured an era of cultural and technological change, from new indie auteurs to the highs and lows of animation, an emergent LGBTQ+ cinema, the last days of the Cold War, and the explosive impact of MTV. With wit and authority, author John Malahy provides fresh insight about the films, filmmakers, and stars who illuminated each of the exciting new facets of Hollywood throughout the decade.

Illustrated with more than 200 full-color photos, Rewinding the ’80s is a lively, intelligent, and immersive look at an indelible moment in modern history.

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Turner Classic Movies

“[An] entertaining chronicle of the blockbuster films of the 1980s. . . . Using quotes from critics, interviews with actors and directors, and more than 200 photographs, Malahy takes readers for an enjoyable ride through a decade of excess.”
Library Journal
“[Malahy] manages to touch on hundreds of films while still creating a rich throughline of a defining decade at the multiplex. Rewinding the ‘80s like totally takes it to 11 on the nostalgia scale, showcasing why we’ve yet to put away our legwarmers and Aviators. . . . Teen cinephiles will appreciate this easy-to-digest compilation representing what would be, for them, ‘old Hollywood.’”
Booklist
“A coffee table compendium that covers a heroic amount of ’80s cinema. It’s equal parts guidebook and catalog, with attention to exploring something beyond the blockbusters and Brat Pack epics that make up so much of our cultural-visual shorthand for the Reagan Era.”
Nashville Scene
“A brightly illustrated, fun to read look back at the decade, the era when home video (primarily VHS) and cable provided new production channels for filmmakers and new ways for audiences to watch. Music videos proliferated, multiplexes mushroomed despite competition from home entertainment and ‘’the robust market for soundtrack albums’ changed the way music was used in movies.”
Shepherd Express
“Fans of ’80s pop culture and film will be delighted by this fun and informative trip down movie theater memory lane! Malahy’s text is comprehensive and complete. . . . The book is just the right size to curl up with and comb through its pages. . . . essential reading for anyone who grew up during the time period, and for those who wish to know more about the circumstances which brought so many iconic franchises and movie moments to life.”
Conskipper
“Rewinding the ‘80s will fill you with joy and fond memories along with providing a wealth of information. It reminded me of so many beloved treasures that I had forgotten about while introducing me to new films that I can’t wait to discover.”
Cinema Sentries
“Does a superb job in reevaluating the decade and showing just how much value it had.”
DVDCorner.net

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John Malahy

About the Author

John Malahy is a film lover, a veteran of Turner Classic Movies, and a product of the 1980s. He is the author of Summer Movies: 30 Sun-Drenched Classics and the editor of Sidney Poitier: The Great Speeches of an Icon Who Moved Us Forward.

Learn more about this author