Great Star-Making Performances from Films of the 1980s

Every once in a while, an unknown or little-known actor makes such an impact that you can just tell he or she is going to become a star. This has happened since the earliest days of movies; each decade brings forth a star-making role or five or six. The 1980s cannot rightly be classified as among the greatest decades for movies of all time by anyone except those who are not knowledgeable about the history of cinematic arts. Even so, a fair number of actors suddenly burst onto the scene that went on to become if not superstars then certainly actors who experienced a warm place in the sun.

Michael Keaton in Night Shift. Michael Keaton has since his ascension to "serious" actor proven to be more of a comet who shines brightly than a star that twinkles incessantly. We should probably blame Tim Burton for destroying a once quite fecund comedic talent; after Keaton took on the role of Batman his career pretty much went down the toilet. As far as I'm concerned the single greatest entrance of any character in a 1980s movie is that of Michael Keaton as he bops down the hall and into the office of Henry Winkler while singing "Jumping Jack Flash" as Billy "Blaze" Blazejowski. Night Shift was directed by Ron Howard and it was intended to be the movie that finally gave Henry "The Fonz" Winkler the push into movie stardom that had eluded him in Heroes and The One and Only, both of which were solid enough to have done the trick, but failed to find audiences. Night Shift did find an audience, but too bad for Henry Winkler Michael Keaton walked away with the whole movie.