10 Teen Movies I Grew Up Watching That Were Way Better Than The Hunger Games

When I was growing up in the 1970’s and 80’s, there were so many movies out there for young people that would so never be made today. They were filled with forbidden romance, amazing hairstyles, drug use, drinking, heavy petting, and amazing soundtracks, usually featuring Donna Summer. They don’t make amazingly great movies like this anymore! All kids have today are The Hunger Games and movies featuring sparkly vampires and dystopian futures and more vampires. I’m not knocking The Hunger Games franchise, mind you, that’s all fine, but can it really compete with Matt Dillion or a movie featuring The Ramones?

Endless Love 

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Starring Brooke Shields and Martin Hewitt as teenage lovers who spend all their time together until their parents decide it’s just too much. After the mom watches them bone on the living room rug in front of the fire. They spend so much time doin’ it that Jade (The Brooke Shield’s character) is so exhausted that she never gets any sleep at night, falls asleep in schools, and gets busted stealing one of her dad’s sleeping pills. Tom Cruise‘s character suggests to Hewitt’s David that the only way to rectify this situation is to set the family’s victorian home on fire and rush in and save the day. David goes to trial, gets sent to a mental institution, and sends Jade a mess of whiney love letters she never replies to. After he is released he goes to Manhattan to find Jade, her mom tries to bone him and Jade’s dad is hit by a car. Then David goes to prison but Jade is still all Endless Love about him so the movie ends with her going to the prison where he is being held. But the theme song sung by Lionel Richie and Diana Ross is still awesome.

Sooner Or Later 
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A 13-year-old girl gets a makeover at the mall where Rex Smith, playing Michael Skye, the lead singer of the Skye Band, is playing a rockin’ show. Because malls used to have bands play at them. The young girl, Jessie, lies to him and claims to be 16 because makeup makes everyone look older and she starts taking guitar lessons from Michael and they slowly fall in love, until Michael pulls some dudebro move on her and she freaks out and confesses her real age and then goes home and eats an entire pan of brownies while crying. Eventually they get back together and Michael says he will “take it slow” and she gets the groovy long haired rock dude who will wait to take her virginity.

 Foxes 
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“They dare to do what others dream of.. they’re foxes.” This movie about a group of four friends growing up in the San Fernando valley has everything you could ever want in a teen movie, a virgin, disco, drug use, a fatal car accident, and Scott Baio. It was also Jodi Foster‘s last major movie before she went to college at Yale. Are you a Jeanne , a Deirdre, a Madge or an Annie? Annie, played by Cheri Curie (Yeah, the lead singer of the Runaways) was obviously the coolest but she ended up dead in a car wreck so there ya have it.

 Ice Castles
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Why they ever remade this movie I have NO idea because the original had Robby Benson in it! The story of a girl..who refused to forget… she was once a champion! 

The Boy In The Plastic Bubble 
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This is a 1976 made for TV movie and possible one of the best movies ever made. because it’s that bad. Starring John Travolta, it tells the true of a boy who lacked an effective immune system so he had to fall in love with his next door neighbor while wearing a spacesuit. Immune disorders are scary things, but this movie is so over-the-top and sappy that it’s hard to feel sympathy for the character because you are too busy watching his lower lip quiver, all Travolta-style.

The Blue Lagoon 
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The boy and the girl grew strong and tall and beautiful, and also cousins who eventually bone each other and have a baby. Also starring Brooke Shields, this “sensuous story of natural love” is a whole lagoon of creepy and awesome. Bonus clip of Brooke Shields getting her period for the first time underwater and being all hormonally ragey!
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Valley Girl 

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This 1983 movie starring Nicholas Cage is about a girl from the valley who meets a boy, Randy, and they fall in love despite her having shallow friends. Awwww. They break up, but get back together at the prom, and the soundtrack features bands like The Plimsouls and The Psychedelic Furs.

 Little Darlings 

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Starring Tatum O’Neil and Kristy McNichol , this 1980 movie tells the story of two girls who go to summer camp and compete to lose their virginity, McNichol’s to Matt Dillion, hubba hubba, and O’Neil’s to her much older camp counselor played by Armand Assante, again, hubba hubba. This movie could never be made today because it tackles the topics of young girls (15!) wanting to lose their virginity and the resulting emotional complications that arise from it.

 The Little Girl Who Lives Down The Lane 
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 Koa Beck recently watched this 1976 movie and I totally need to revisit it. I know it starred Jodi Foster and I know it involved a lot of creepy old dudes bugging Foster who lived alone in the movie, who ended up poisoning a mess of people using cyanide.

 Rock ‘N Roll High School 
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P.J. Soles plays Riff Randall , who attends Vince Lombardi high and loves rock and roll, namely The Ramones. The school gets an evil new principal who hates rock and roll and burns all the records and Joey Ramone serenades a towel-wearing Riff in her bedroom. The Ramones become honorary high school students and blow up the school. With an amazing soundtrack that also includes Nick Lowe and Devo and The Ramones, of course, I actually went and saw this one in theaters with my older sister and her friend when I was like 9-years-old. For some reason this same theater was showing a re-release of The Exorcist and I saw a preview for it and it scared me to death.

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