No good punks

August 27, 2007 4:49 PM

80's movies featuring really lame punk gangs?

You know the type... Return of the Living Dead, Police Academy 2, Short Circuit. The lamer the better. Has to be the 80's. Can you dig it?

posted by ReiToei to media & arts (33 comments total)

Surf nazis must die
posted by goml at 4:54 PM on August 27, 2007

I hope Lost Boys counts. Valley Girl, maybe, but they're the protagonists.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 5:02 PM on August 27, 2007

Bill Paxton's gang in The Terminator.
posted by kirkaracha at 5:08 PM on August 27, 2007

One year off (1979), but The Warriors is pretty funny. Also, scenes from Escape From New York and The Outsiders? Don't forget Repo Man.
posted by aberrant at 5:12 PM on August 27, 2007

Does 1979 count? The Warriors?
posted by themadjuggler at 5:13 PM on August 27, 2007

"Warriors, come out to play-ay." Still makes me snort-laugh two and a half decades later.

Class of 1984.
posted by jamaro at 5:20 PM on August 27, 2007

Weird Science
Some kind of wonderful
posted by dersins at 5:22 PM on August 27, 2007

The embarrassing Penelope Spheeris flick Suburbia features a punk gang called "T.R.," which stands for "the Rejected." It's not a good movie, but it was actually surprisingly popular among 14-year-old punk kids when I was a 14-year-old punk kid.
posted by craichead at 5:27 PM on August 27, 2007 [2 favorites]

I suppose the punk gang (of three) in Repo Man was kind of lame, but then, I think in that particular case that was the point.
posted by Brak at 5:38 PM on August 27, 2007

Don't forget the Los Locos from Short Circuit 2!

Well. Los Locos or Los Lobos. One or the other.
posted by Atreides at 6:01 PM on August 27, 2007

Seconding Repo Man - Otto was badass, but the other crew was pathetic, especially when the punker boy runs out of the liquor store and runs into the crotch-level pole in the parking lot. Or when he talks about settling down with the punker chick.
posted by porn in the woods at 6:08 PM on August 27, 2007

Prayer of the Rollerboys is one of Corey Haim's finest. It is from 1991 and I challenge you to find a lamer gang-- they rollerskate.
posted by sneakin at 6:14 PM on August 27, 2007 [3 favorites]

I can't believe nobody has mentioned charles bronson's absolutely horrible death wish 3. notice how the only way these punks move is jumping sideways. I'd call michael winner the worst director in the world but we all know that's udo kier.
posted by krautland at 6:20 PM on August 27, 2007

actually ... uwe boll is way worse.
posted by krautland at 6:23 PM on August 27, 2007

The gang from Crocodile Dundee 2?
posted by Jazz Hands at 6:39 PM on August 27, 2007

Thirding the gang from Repo Man. I think this little exchange sums them up pretty well:

Debbi: Duke, let's go do some crimes.
Duke: Yeah. Let's go get sushi and not pay.

posted by barnacles at 6:41 PM on August 27, 2007

King Vidiot and his crew from 'Joysticks'.
posted by schoolgirl report at 6:53 PM on August 27, 2007

Class of Nuke 'Em High. Also, The Toxic Avenger has a smallish gang-oid.

What's the movie where some frat boys somehow end up in the punky gangy part of town and murder etc ensues? I know it was filmed in Austin. ISTR it had a high leg-warmer quotient.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 7:15 PM on August 27, 2007

Full Contact for an Asian perspective. It's 1993 but fashion, back then, moved slowly - by about 5 years.
posted by porpoise at 7:54 PM on August 27, 2007

Man, I liked Suburbia! Terrible acting, sure, but an early performance by a young fella going by "Mike B the Flea" (who later dropped the first three parts of that name). And, a great exchange:

Suburban Dad to punk in army pants and no shirt, "Where's the war?
Shirtless Punk, "Up your ass".

Brilliant!
posted by Richat at 8:11 PM on August 27, 2007

Return of the Living Dead has lame punk rockers in it. I actually went to the premier and they kept giving us free posters, etc,. because they thought we dressed up for the movie. Which made me feel, well, lame...
posted by sfkiddo at 9:34 PM on August 27, 2007

Does the "bad" dojo gang from Karate Kid qualify as punk?
posted by p3t3 at 9:43 PM on August 27, 2007

Bobcat Goldthwaite played Zed, the leader of the punk gang, in the lame comedy Police Academy II: Their First Assignment.
posted by faceonmars at 10:13 PM on August 27, 2007

Uh... like all of them. Check out some of the punksploitation info (namely this FPP in the blue)
posted by spiderskull at 10:48 PM on August 27, 2007 [1 favorite]

I know it's not a movie, but no student of lame 80's punks can afford to miss the punk rock episode of Quincy.
posted by melissa may at 12:44 AM on August 28, 2007

These are all awesome... thanks a million folks :)
posted by ReiToei at 3:42 AM on August 28, 2007

Thirding Suburbia (and I liked it too, back in my "hate everyone" punk days).

Jack (Chris Pederson), the lead in the movie, went on to star in Platoon, and even appeared on Baywatch. He and Bill Coyne, who played Ethan, were the only professional actors (at the time) in the movie. It also features performances by TSOL, DI, and The Vandals.
posted by tr33hggr at 7:16 AM on August 28, 2007

I can't believe nobody has mentioned Adventures in Babysitting. They stabbed Brad in the foot!
posted by PFL at 7:33 AM on August 28, 2007 [1 favorite]

What was the name of that movie from the early 80's with James Spader, Jim Carrol was in it as a rock star, he sang "All the People Who Died"? There was terrible dancing and punk rock idiocy - Oh yeah, "Tuff Turf"
posted by pomegranate at 8:15 AM on August 28, 2007

i think Back to the Beach might count. can't go wrong with the mighty Pee Wee.
posted by annoyance at 8:18 AM on August 28, 2007 [1 favorite]

Suburbia *rocks* My favorite snatch of dialog:

"Tom, wake up and smell the coffee maaaan. It's hopeless."

"Yeah, seems like if they run us out of this place ..."

"They'll just run us out of the next place we find."

"My old man's coming back later and we're still here, here's gonna shit Twinkies!"
posted by kuppajava at 11:33 AM on August 28, 2007

Rock and Roll High School and Rock and Roll High School Forever. The latter includes Cory Feldman as a "punk."
posted by klangklangston at 11:42 AM on August 28, 2007

Thrashin' has an extremely lame skate gang and stars the oldest kid from the goonies gang.
posted by pilibeen at 6:41 PM on September 20, 2007