I'll allow it. But I can see taking The Octagon as an early harbinger of two MAJOR trends that would come to define 80s action: Ninja Bullshit and Golan-Globus Chuck Norris joints.

The idea that comment section comments are user opinions seems painfully self evident, but we live in an age of fine print…

I could see that going either way. Road Warrior cemented the post-apoc aesthetic for a generation. Raiders cemented Harrison Ford as an icon. It was also more family friendly than most that have come before.

Oh, for sure. I think I'm gonna show it to my kid this weekend.

Do I really need a disclaimer on all my posts that the opinions expressed are solely those of yrs truly and may not be reproduced without the express written consent of Major League Baseball?

She's dangerous in a different way than some of the more openly villainous characters. She clearly fucked up Yoga Jones' shit (and Luschek's), but she didn't physically harm anyone.

Well, yes.

I dunno - I remember being weirded out that the Back to the Future sequels were right on top of one another, though.

On one level, this is a classic Western plot - Western as in the genre, not "Europe and the U.S.". The cowboys are holed up in the fort or whatever and they have to wait for the cavalry to bail them out.

And based on another conversation in this thread, 1986 has to be Top Gun, an early and trendsetting instance of the Military/Hollywood partnership.

Aliens was what, '86? The only other contender that year would be Top Gun, I think. (Other notables: Highlander, Cobra, and Big Trouble in Little China)

Australia's ecosystem would eat the U.S. ecosystem for lunch.

Yeah, but the James Bond ninjas weren't NINJAS!!!! in the modern sense, with the pseudo-mystical assassin bullshit. They were basically just commando troopers. And it didn't stick like it did in the 80s.

I mentioned this in another fork of this thread, but 1980 gave the U.S. Eric Van Lustbader's The Ninja, the TV adaptation of Shogun, and The Octagon, all of which heavily featured ninjas.

Mmmmaybe. I double-checked, and the first of those Eric Van Lustbader "Ninja" novels also dropped in 1980. Between "The Octagon" and "The Ninja", I think it's fair to call 1980 the start of Ninja Fever in the U.S., even if it didn't hit peak frenzy for another year or two.

Have we attempted to forecast the rest of the list, incidentally? If 1981 isn't Raiders of the Lost Ark, I'll be shocked.

Octagon predates the Kosugi films by a couple years, as well as Frank Miller's "Hand" stuff on Daredevil. I would be willing to go on a limb and suggest that the The Octagon definitely inspired Miller, and likely led to at least the first Kosugi film getting greenlighted.

Kangaroos are as common as white-tail deer are in the U.S., except instead of running away, they'll fucking fight you, mate.

Seriously, The Octagon isn't important because of Chuck Norris. It's important as the first U.S. film to have FUCKING NINJAS as villains.

The Octagon essentially kickstarted "NINJAS!" as a force in American popular culture. Fuck Chuck Norris, but without him? No Snake-Eyes. No Storm Shadow. No Godfrey Ho "ninjer" movies. No Shinobi or Ninja Gaiden. No Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. No 9 1/2 Ninjas!