Chasing the Eighties: The Ultimate North American Movie Location Roadtrip

by Spencer Austin

Chasing the Eighties is a journey of cure and a trip under the skin of what the eighties mean to not only those who grew up in them, but those from other generations who've likewise been snared by the Goonies, the Ghostbusters, and the Guttenberg. Surely, more than 100 locations and 25 interviews with film and TV stars will dampen those nostalgic twinges once and for all! From the Police Academy building to breakfast with The A-Team 's Murdoch to beers with Chunk from The Goonies—the authors of this exciting book did the lot. They ate omelettes with Louis Gosset Jr. after shaving their heads and spending the night at the Officer and a Gentleman barracks; met Bubba Smith (Hightower in Police Academy ), played football against a vampire hunter from The Lost Boys , were taught the Karate Kid "crane kick" by its creator and recreated "that" moment in the very seats Harry and Sally lunched in. They even saw Rusty from National Lampoon's European Vacation  make a fool of himself and witnessed Breakfast Club teacher Paul Gleason proclaim the movie as just "kinda silly."

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction

272 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2008

Reviews

[Francesca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant. Very funny but with really poignant moments.

I'm slightly biased - he's my friend - but it's genuinely a great, entertaining book.

The publishers didn't bother proof-reading it though which is a source of major irritation to Spencer...

[Johnboy Somerville · Rating 3 out of 5]

An awesome nostalgic journey with some great cameos - sadly I didn't take to Spencer, particularly on film sets he didn't connect with - this book would have been better narrated by Tom Thostrup.

[Tito Quiling, Jr. · Rating 3 out of 5]

As someone who was born in the 1990s, this was rather relatable given the amount of nostalgia that one carries as one enters adulthood, and movies are part of pop culture that defines one's youth and particular generations that use them as a link. More than that, being a film major made it easy to look through some of the information that the authors included in their work, since a number of them are quite famous and some, are defined by genres that used to be sleeper hits, if not popular. What I also liked about the book is that there is a sustained effort to keep the spirit of adventure and map out parts of the US using the filming locations of these films. If only this has more proofreading before publishing the book, that would make it stronger because some errors are quite significant and jarring to read through. But if you are looking to combine films and travel, this is a decent work to keep.

[Cath · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book - a complete nostalgia-fest, although I am a purist and a terrible pedant at times, and I found I disagreed with a couple of 'facts' from the book, sending me on a wild-google-chase to see who was right! It wasn't the most technically-competent piece of writing I've experienced, but that was forgivable, as the subject matter was so close to my heart.

[Tomi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book! They took a trip I'd love to take! :-) Goonies never say die!!