Well the 80’s is probably the best decade for movies, as it directly precedes the slow crawl of injected political correctness. The 80’s was just wide open, brazen machismo with in your face stereotypes. Completely unapologetic about it too, making it the best.
The Karate Kid is the best movie ever, better than Rocky as an underdog story, that also dealt with bullying, and also how a young man needs a father in his life. Shows how a mother cannot possibly provide all essential needs of an adolescent.
Red Dawn.
Conan The Barbarian.
John Milius wrote and directed those two films, and his true American patriotic spirit shows through both. Milius is and always will forever be America’s finest homegrown film maker. Conan in particular is an extraordinarily well made film, which unfairly doesn’t get judged as a great epic adventure due to being labeled a sword and sorcery genre flick, which is a shame.
Rambo II and Predator are two of the finest action films ever made. Schwarzenegger and Stallone went head to head for a decade, and produced some eternal action and sci-fi flicks.
Platoon
Full Metal Jacket
80’s movies are like comfort food for me, when I want to feel good. Footloose, Top Gun, The Last Starfighter, TRON, Total Recall, Over The Top and on and on...
This is from a 1993 movie, but it speaks to your comment: