Blame It on Rio : People LOOKED better in the 80s

People LOOKED better in the 80s

I can't believe how *different* people look nowadays with the prevalent gym culture and alleged modern health methods and whatnot. I mean I guess our diets are obviously WORSE nowadays in the US than what prevailed in the 80s.

This Joe Bologna in this movie, was FIFTY years old, and in excellent lean shape. Natural lean, not like today.

Same with Michelle Johnson. She is NOW about 43. COmpare her look (not as healthy kind of forced, gaunt-skinny) with movies showing other approx. 40yr olds from prior periods, like Jaws-I (Roy Scheider, lead actor, was 40 then. again that clean lean look, not bloated!). it is striking. check out "Queimada" from 1969. Brando, lead actor, 45 yrs old. Stunning clean looks. healthy glow. compare todays "top" 40yr olds, not a chance. Also, Steve McQueen etc.

Something in either our environments, diets, water, air has gone for the worse!

Re: People LOOKED better in the 80s

Too bad they didn't shave like they do now.

http://us.imdb.com/name/nm2339870/

Re: People LOOKED better in the 80s



Nah. People have always looked the way they do. It's just that styles change, the people we want to see onscreen change. These days we're more interested in looking at 'real' people like James Gandolfini from the "Sopranos", that guy from "Kings and Queens", Jim Belushi and such. We still got our lean actors too.

But I do agree with you overall. People just looked better in the 80's. Women especially. No tatoos for one thing.

Re: People LOOKED better in the 80s

TexasGreek wrote:
"Nah. People have always looked the way they do. It's just that styles change, the people we want to see onscreen change. These days we're more interested in looking at 'real' people"
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Hardly. The people in movies looked a hell of a lot more "real" prior to the 1980s. James Gandolfini is just a novelty actor who was elevated to stardom by a show that needed a scummy looking mafia guido. He would've been nothing but a marginal actor otherwise. By contrast, in the 50s, 60s, and 70s gruesome looking guys with personality like Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, and George Kennedy were bonafide movie stars, with showcase roles across a wide variety of genres. You NEVER see guys like this elevated to star status in the same way these days. The 1980s started the beautification and wimpification of the American male actor, and in my view it has only accelerated since then. Look at the major stars that America produces these days: Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio, etc. All highly chiseled pretty boys wholly devoid of that "real" old time gravitas.

As for the ladies, they're another story for another day.

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Re: People LOOKED better in the 80s

thanks for the links! excellent work.

but, when i look at coburn and marvin etc., I agree with you they look better and it just proves my point! I think there is a tendency for modern diets to bloat people;

i mean it could be modern corporate farming methods or antibiotic and steroids in livestock. the old time natural skinny vitality was/is better than todays gym rat.

and, no paris hilton/angelina jolie/julia roberts type of deathly drug induced anorexia (considered "beauty" today) is NOT what i'm talking about when i mention "skinny".

Re: People LOOKED better in the 80s


'm not sure about that. I think people today look much younger than people of the same age in the past.

Here's Lee Marvin at age 42 in the mid-1960s:


http://www.cinemaisdope.com/news/films/professionals1966/professionals _lee_marvin.jpg

Here's James Coburn at age 45 in 1973

http://image.toutlecine.com/photos/p/a/t/pat-garrett-et-billy-the-kid- 1973-05-g.jpg

Here's Tom Cruise in 2010 at 48

http://www.imdb.com/media/rm238912000/nm0000129

And Keanu Reeves in 2010 at 45
http://www.imdb.com/media/rm2785709824/nm0000206

Marvin and Coburn look like they could be the ages of the fathers of Cruise and Reeves. They look better than Cruise and Reeves, of course, like real men, not like weird middle-aged boys, but still, they look decades older than the modern Cruise and Reeves..

I've noticed this as well. I've looked at family photos and noticed that older relatives look significantly older than relatives who are the same age or even older than the relatives were at the time the photos were taken. And like you I've noticed this in movies and other media. A lot of actors/celebs like the ones you already mentioned, as well as some more like Brad Pitt, Will Smith, Anthony Kiedis, etc. look very youthful even though they're all well into their forties.

I saw Anthony Kiedis at a restaurant in Santa Monica circa 2007 and he looked like he was around our (my brother and I's) age, even though he's about 20 years older. He was with some people our age and didn't look out of place at all. My dad, who's not really into the current celebrity culture, didn't know who he was, but thought he was around our age as well. We had to tell him who he was and how much older he was than us. People definitely tend to age better these days for some reason.

Re: People LOOKED better in the 80s

The 80s were before the health commies got so prevalent. Health commies are part and parcel with the watermelon eco movement and socialized health care. They want you and 95% of the population off the planet, and they want you to be "healthy" until you drop dead. Check out U.N. Agenda 21, also research "eugenics".

"They sucked his brains out!"

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Re: People LOOKED better in the 80s

As a man I miss the days before breast implants became popular.

Re: People LOOKED better in the 80s

OH TOTALLY. (where would hollywood be today without it!) ....and before Lip Implants, Butt Implants, Cheek pulls, botox nerve death, pencilled-in eyebrows, UGH. SICKO stuff. all paid in cash too (no insurance).

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Re: People LOOKED better in the 80s

I absolutely disagree. Compare Michele Johnson and Demi Moore(Who are reaching 50) to the 50 year olds in this movie. Also Compare Joe Bolonga and Michael Caine in this movie to Johnny Depp and Brad Pitt, who are the same age now that the other 2 were in this movie.

Re: People LOOKED better in the 80s

Granted Johnny Depp and Pitt are in v. good healthy shape. But there was this one scene where Bologna had taken off his shirt with Michele (then much younger) and it is that "lean" sort of "non-gym rat" natural physique (for Bologna) and the more curvy one for the then Michele that I thought was MORE attractive than today.
Which is also not found so much due to the diets and gym culture. (Michelle's current photo featured on Imdb is major anorex-ville)

Aside: Though Demi Moore is in excellent shape, I just don't find her that attractive, I don't know what it is.....

Re: People LOOKED better in the 80s

I completely agree. While peoples' faces look better/younger now, even without botox, bodies looked waaaaay better in the 80's. They were naturally lean and attractive, not overly-muscled/bloated/overweight/obese etc

Re: People LOOKED better in the 80s

Let me disagree on this.

First of all let's talk about real people and not ones in the movies. I think it just sort of "happened" that people in this movie look "good" by today's standards. And let's not forget that it's a movie shot in brazil where most of the people/extras are cast (eg beach scenes).

OK I can give you that men were not metrosexual than we are today. Just that, but women? No way! Most women in the 80s looked bad, not to mention ones in their 30s and 40s who looked especially horrible. Saggy boobs and bottoms and eyebrows like Ernest Borgnine's! It's not that I'm an advocate of silicone boobs but women nowadays look more refined and certainly pay more attention to themselves in terms of diet and style than in the 80s.

I still can remember girls at my high school - only just a couple looked good in the entire school but it could be just me.

PS And before you say it, OFF COURSE Michelle Johnson is absolutely hot in this movie. But that's not the point now is it.

I like Armageddon. A lot.

Re: People LOOKED better in the 80s

It was before supersized fast food and hormone pumped chicken.

Re: People LOOKED better in the 80s

I absolutely concur Chelle. As males, my friends and I comment on the figures of females. We have felt that today's processed foods and fast foods have contributed negatively. Young American women today don't seem to have the same natural curves as previous generations. When you travel abroad, you notice more pronounced shapes in most of Europe, Latin America and even Asia. There actually have been studies that have tried to explain this phenomenon. Some have mentioned stress from working long hours. I disagree since you can see this change on college campuses.

I am sure there have been changes to American males, but I don't have the same ability to perceive the changes.

Re: People LOOKED better in the 80s

Apart from the hair; the hair looked worse!






Born when she kissed me, died when she left me, lived whilst she loved me

Re: People LOOKED better in the 80s

I miss women's 80's fashion though thats for sure. Loved the big hair and spandex and leg warmers. so sexy

Re: People LOOKED better in the 80s

Demi Moore definitely looked a lot better (and much hotter) with her smaller natural breasts.

I'm a totally bitchin' bio writer from Mars!
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