Movies - Retroland

Stand By Me

Based on a Stephen King novella about a group of young boys who take a trek to find a dead body in the woods, Stand By Me is a touching, coming-of-age tale about four inseparable friends growing up in Oregon during the late fifties. With an extraordinary ensemble of young actors, led by the directing skills of Rob Reiner, the film quickly endeared itself to millions for its poignant look at the power of childhood friendships.

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

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Wonka Bars and golden tickets, Oompa Loompas and a chocolate river, snozzberries and lickable wallpaper, golden eggs and seven-course gum, Everlasting Gobstoppers and the Wonkavator. In a world of pure imagination, all things are possible. This was the world of Willy Wonka - candy man, inventor, and scourge of naughty children. Like the Roald Dahl book on which it was based, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory was a dark fantasy with strong ideas about the nasty habits of children. It is also one of the most beloved children's films ever created. Let's take a stroll to the chocolate factory and revisit this childhood classic.

The NeverEnding Story

Blazing Saddles

My Bodyguard

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The pressures of grade school are traumatic enough for most kids. Throw a bully into the mix, however, and they become far more complicated. Such were the tribulations of a boy named Clifford in the cult-classic film from 1980, My Bodyguard.

The Breakfast Club

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"How come Andrew gets to get up? If he gets up, we'll all get up, it'll be anarchy!" And as soon as hooligan John Bender took that screw out of the library door in 1985's The Breakfast Club, that's exactly what erupted. It was anarchy because members of five different high school social cliques got together, and even better than that, they actually got along. It was anarchy because by the end of the movie, the five high-schoolers were volumes more enlightened and mature than when they were dropped off just a few hours earlier. If Saturday detentions really taught so much about life, love, growing up and the regrettable fact that they just don't make overhead roof ducts as sturdy as they used to…well then, lock us all up.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail

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Cat abuse, snooty French guards, perilous virgins, animated monsters, killer rabbits, holy hand grenades, clacking coconuts, and Knights Who Say "Nee" were just a few of the zany contributions from the madcap Monty Python group to the Arthurian legend, in the 1975 film, Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

A Christmas Story

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Humorist Jean Shepherd's memoirs of his youth in the early 1940's were compiled into a Christmastime feature in 1983, with Shepherd himself as the off-screen narrator. The result was a film that may have looked and sounded like a period piece, but A Christmas Story's nostalgic wit turned it into an undeniable, modern-day holiday classic. Let's take a look back at this beloved film.

Santa Claus Conquers the Martians

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Earthlings have long held an affinity for the jolly bearded fellow in the red suit that hands out Christmas presents each year. Is it any wonder that other planets might just be a little jealous that we haven’t shared St. Nick with the rest of the galaxy? Well, that all changed in 1964, when the Martians took matters into their own hands in the campy sci-fi classic, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. It might not have given Citizen Kane a run for its money in terms of quality, but that hasn’t stopped numerous generations from gleefully embracing this one-of-a-kind B-movie that remains popular to this day.