Dad-Dad-Daddy-Nooooo!!!

The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Rating: PG

Runtime: 124 minutes

Box Office (in today’s dollars): 593 million (approximately)

Characters: Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo, Chewbacca, C-3PO, R2-D2, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda, Lando Calrissian, Darth Vader, Boba Fett, Emperor Palpatine

Cool Stuff: AT-AT Walkers, Carbonite, Lightsabers, Millennium Falcon

Cool Music: Opening Theme, Darth Vader’s Theme

Cool Quote: “I am your father.”

So ... what makes a great eighties movie? I had a hard time answering that question. But I think I narrowed it down to the essential qualities: cool characters, cool stuff, cool music, cool quote ... and something that you could probably qualify as an “it” factor: its importance to the eighties. So here is my first review.

I have to admit, I cheated and watched Star Wars before I watched The Empire Strikes Back. I wanted to get a good idea of the trilogy because I would be reviewing both The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi in this year’s tournament. Star Wars is probably my favorite, so I am glad that I don’t have to choose it against the other two in my bracket this year.

Ok, now that all that is said ... to the review. Empire (I am going to call it that to save time) is pretty awesome. The whole gang is back from the first movie ... mostly. The stormtroopers are not in it as much (sorry, Garth). Grand Moff Tarkin and the Death Star didn’t make the sequel either, but we got some cool new characters and weapons. Yoda is my favorite and Lando Calrissian is pretty smooth. Boba Fett and Emperor Palpatine fill in nicely for the losses from Star Wars, and the AT-AT Walkers are fantastic. Oh, and we are introduced to carbonite!

We are all familiar with the opening theme to the movie, and every time Darth Vader enters a room he has his own music. Both songs are still cool today. Han Solo and Yoda both have many, many quotable lines, but when Darth Vader cuts of Luke’s hand and reveals his deep dark secret, his line steals the movie ... and leads to possibly one of the greatest, if not the greatest, movie twists of all time!

So yeah, a great way to kick off the eighties reviews and I look forward to Jedi and seeing how the two compare through Salty’s eyes ...

Next movie to review: The Blues Brothers

The Essential Eighties

Salty Chewbacca is back!

When it comes to movies, trilogies are always the best. After a successful first tournament in 2013, in which Hoosiers defeated Teen Wolf to claim greatest basketball movie of all time, and an even more successful second tournament in 2014 where The Little Mermaid defeated Beauty and the Beast to earn greatest Disney Movie of all time ... my third tournament is here to decide which is the greatest eighties movie of all time.*

Well ... more like 2^nd greatest eighties movie of all time. In my opinion, Back to the Future is the greatest eighties movie ever; it’s probably one of the best movies ever. So when deciding which 32 movies I was going to watch and review to determine a champion, I decided to leave Back to the Future out. I would have a hard time being fair to the other 31 movies, and everyone would have known I would choose it as the tournament favorite.

As you read my reviews you may think I have left some of your favorites out. It was really hard to narrow the list down to 32. I decided to leave the most critically acclaimed movies of the decade out because I feel like you could do a bracket just including those; so no Do the Right Thing, Platoon, Raging Bull.... I also decided to keep it light and not scary, to make it family friendly; so no Dead Poets Society, Stand By Me, Big ...

So then the list got a little smaller. I then figured I would try to limit one movie per huge actor/actress. Harrison Ford and Eddie Murphy could have had several movies each, so I tried to pick the one that represented them best. So no Blade Runner or Coming to America. I also left out some of my girlfriend Rebecca’s favorites so I would not be tempted to advance those movies in the bracket to make her happy. So no Big Trouble in Little China, The Thing, or The Last Unicorn.

After that the list was easy to make. Oh, and I decided not to include Hoosiers or The Little Mermaid, even though they are both deserving; they both already had their one shining moment in past blogs/tournaments. I feel like it is a well-rounded list, including movies from all different genres.... Except I realized after making my final cuts, I had no John Cusack movie! But don’t be sad ... next year may be an all John Cusack blog/tournament!!!!!

So let the reviews begin, and let the excitement build to what I hope is the best Salty Chewbacca Tournament Challenge ever!