In the eighties a soft rock, synthesizer laden musical montage was the way to get the audience invested in the action on-screen. Whether the montage was intended to represent a whole 60 minutes of sport in just 5, or to show months of training in seconds, the goal is always the same: to show the most exciting aspects of what would otherwise be deeply boring activity in a compressed time frame. And of course, that works best when accompanied by aspirational lyrics and music of the “we’re gonna make it” variety. Enjoy the five best!
5. “Fight to survive” from Bloodsport
Although the fight choreography might look a little ropey today, this is still a quality montage. When you look at warriors from all over the world with different martial arts styles you think only one thing….and its not Bloodsport, its Streetfighter. Nonetheless many see this movie as an inspiration to the venerable fighting game franchise. Streetfighter lacks one thing too…a cheesy 80’s soundtrack!
4. “Winner takes it all” from Over the top
How do you make arm wrestling exciting? Well, you could just make it into a montage…and make all of the competitors insane. That would probably work.
3. “Win in the End” from Teen Wolf
The tale of one mans battle againt excess hair growth is one I understand only too well. In all seriousness, I think Michale J Fox is amazing and to see him come back to television (he was great in Scrubs) and battle through his illness brought a tear to my eye. Teen Wolf is a surprisingly timeless movie and showed him at his most charismatic and watchable. As for the song….pure, cheesy brilliance!
2. “You’re the best” from Karate Kid
The movie responsible for more accidental under-age face kicking’s than any other, Karate Kid remains a surprisingly watchable movie today. That’s mainly because of the infuriatingly likeable performance of Ralph Machcio and the incomparable Pat Morita channelling the quiet wisdom of Yoda, Obi-Wan and Bruce Lee all at once. In this montage we see the best of a karate competition. The rules of karate competitions are pretty tame compared with something like Kickboxer (no hands are dipped in broken glass here), so its impressive that they make the whole thing look so exciting.
1. “No Easy Way Out” from Rocky 4
There’s no question about the number one on this list. Rocky 4 is one of the most montage laden movies ever made. Seriously, like forty minutes of this movie is pure montage. At one point the movie goes from a montage into…a montage! That’s a double montage! While Burning hearts and Hearts on Fire (I detect a theme) were both great montages, this is my personal favourite from the film: