In the scope of cinematic expression and visual storytelling, montages can be used by filmmakers to find meaning and supply information on anything from character or story to theme quickly and effectively. They can fast-track a journey to be told in minutes, splice image and sound together to discover theme, intertwine adjacent storylines, heighten tension, reveal character, and even deliver gags.
Of course, the 80s were a bit different in a lot of regards, and filmmaking was no exception. Joyously unafraid to be cheesy, ridiculous, and borderline nonsensical, the decade’s blockbuster, mainstream cinema was best defined by muscles, mayhem, and montages. From sports dramas to schoolyard comedies, there is an abundance of brilliantly bonkers montage scenes from the 80s which have, if anything, become even more staggeringly fantastic over time.
Bloodsport - Training Montage
A marquee member of the 80s martial arts movies which earned cult classic status, 1988’s Bloodsport not only shot Jean-Claude Van Damme to stardom, but also offered an excitingly violent alternative to the mainstream fighting movies of the time. And, of course, there was a training montage.
Spanning five and half minutes, it sees Van Damme being rag-dolled, serving tea blindfolded, and being forced to do the splits in a contraption which makes audience's eyes water. Unsurprisingly he emerges from the montage with honed instincts and advanced skill which allows him to excel in the tournament.
Over the Top - ‘Winner Takes It All’
A movie about a truck driver who enters intense arm-wrestling competitions, flaunting a family drama subplot, and starring Sylvester Stallone? Sounds like a movie that could only have been made in the 80s, and its brilliantly cheesy montage of the tournament’s early rounds boasts all the decade’s crowning glories.
With manly grunting, bulging biceps, and Sammy Hagar’s appropriately titled ‘Winner Takes It All’ blaring, the sequence’s heavy-handedness sees the movie live up to its title. The cheesiness certainly helped the film cement its place as the penultimate film about truck-driving arm-wrestlers of the 80s, or of any decade for that matter.
Rocky III - ‘Eye of the Tiger’
By Rocky III it was well known that any Rocky movie would make ample room for a good montage, but the introduction to the third installment of the franchise remains as electrifying today as it was in 1982. Buoyed by Survivor’s hit song which became a sporting anthem the world over, the montage showed Rocky Balboa’s (Stallone) successful title defenses, but went on to do so much more.
It established Clubber Lang (Mr. T) as the film’s villain and foreshadowed Rocky’s lifestyle softening him as a competitor. Honorable mentions goes to the training montage later in the film and the final bout itself, but the rock n roll re-introduction to the Rocky story was the perfect blend of exposition and craziness.
Teen Wolf - Basketball Montage
Truth be told, there is nothing really shocking or subversive about a sports montage in a high school movie. Even the one in Teen Wolf is running along routinely… until Scott Howard (Michael J. Fox) transforms into a werewolf in the middle of the court.
Stranger still is the response from the onlookers who are stunned, horrified even, for all of about ten seconds before the urge to play ball overwhelms them again. Looking like a Chewbacca Halloween costume, Howard ends up being a pretty handy player in his wolf form, which only adds to the head-scratching peculiarity within this wonderful nugget of 80s wackiness.
Footloose - Mastering Dance
Rock n roll and dancing has been banned, and Kevin Bacon is the teenage hero to hit the sanctimonious small town with a shot of youthful rebellion. The story is undeniably silly, but the execution was to a standard that encapsulated the adolescent angst of the decade’s kids, and the cheesiness of the montages has a lot to answer for.
Dancing all around town, Ren (Bacon), teaches Willard (Chris Penn) how to boogie ahead of the prom. While the dancing at the prom reveals Willard learned very little, if anything, the sequence has a lot of heart and oozes the charming ridiculousness of the 80s.
The Karate Kid - 'You're The Best'
The All Valley Under-18 Karate Championships was not a tournament to be taken lightly, especially since seemingly half the state was in attendance. While Daniel’s (Ralph Macchio) uplifting finale may be the emotional highlight of the film, the montage contenders battling through the early rounds is just as unforgettable.
With Joe Esposito’s ‘You’re the Best’ famously the soundtrack, the scene exudes the wish-fulfillment narrative of fighting to the top which defined The Karate Kid and many movies in the same vein. Yet it - both montage and movie - has never been surpassed when it comes to infectious energy, divine absurdity, and pure triumph.
Commando - Gear Up
The only thing more 80s than a music-fuelled montage is the unbridled, balls-to-the-wall, explosive carnage of an action-blockbuster. Despite the montage going for just twenty seconds, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s gearing up scene is one for the ages.
It starts off simply enough with boot laces and vest zippers, but then proceeds with shotgun shells, machine gun mags, two pistols, a knife, grenades, and even a freaking bazooka. Even people who haven’t seen the movie know that the bad guys are about to meet their maker.
Rocky IV - 'Hearts on Fire'
The Italian Stallion has featured on this list already, but when you’re the undisputed master of the movie montage, you get to appear a couple of times. On a mission to avenge his fallen friend, Rocky agrees to fight Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren) in Russia, leading to one of the most aggressively American training montages in film history.
Pitting the imposing Russian giant backed by Soviet super-tech up against the hard-working American who trains in a frost-bitten shack, the film had no bashfulness about what it was doing. Still, ‘Hearts on Fire’ is, to this day, a flawless training tune, and one which helped this particular montage stand out in a movie which had almost a third of its runtime dedicated to montages.
Scarface - Push it to the Limit
It’s ambitious to give a criminal anti-hero in a violent gangster movie his very own 80s montage, but Brian De Palma was never one to shy away from creative risks and this particular montage has everything. With multiple business ventures, a wedding, a pet tiger, and obscene drug use, the scene is a realization of Tony Montana’s (Al Pacino) ambitions.
At the peak of his powers at the time, it showcased the building and legitimization of his multi-million dollar drug empire and what it meant for his family and friends. While things started to go downhill for Tony not long after, the montage is an encapsulation that, for a short while at least, crime sometimes does pay.
Top Gun - Volleyball Montage
In the 1994 film Sleep With Me, there is a famous scene where Quentin Tarantino speculates Top Gun to be not about fighter pilots, comradery in the armed forces, or even military propaganda, but to be about “a man’s struggle with his own homosexuality”. Looking at the volleyball montage - which is completely relevant to the plot - it is hard to argue with him.
With Kenny Loggins’ ‘Playing With the Boys’ the soundtrack for the sequence, the montage features the four high-flyers entrenched in a rivalry over beach volleyball. Shirtless, sweating, and soaked in baby oil, we still don’t know what exactly the scene was trying to say, but we do know its unhinged ridiculousness has not been forgotten all these years later.