John Cusack didn’t look like a movie star. He wasn’t built like an action hero, he rarely got the girl the easy way, and he often seemed just as confused by the world as the rest of us. Which is probably why so many of us saw ourselves in him.
The funny thing is, he didn’t spend the ’80s making the same movie over and over. Sure, we’ll always remember the lovable underdogs and romantics, but Cusack bounced from teen comedies to baseball dramas, historical epics, bizarre cult classics and even a movie about building the atomic bomb. Some were huge hits. Others disappeared almost immediately. A few were so weird that audiences (and, in at least one case, Cusack himself) had no idea what to make of them.
So here’s my ranking of John Cusack’s best movie roles of the 1980s. I’m judging the performances, not necessarily the movies themselves. Which means a great Cusack role can show up in a forgotten film, and a beloved classic might not finish where you expect.
10. SIXTEEN CANDLES (1984): His role as “Bryce” is tiny, but we see the signs of greatness to come. Had his role been more important to the plot, this would be a Top 5 pick.
9. ONE CRAZY SUMMER (1986): Like “Better Off Dead,” a Savage Steve Holland production that confused people, including Cusack himself.
8. FAT MAN AND LITTLE BOY (1989): Totally forgotten. Cusack plays Michael Merriman, a fictional scientist (based on two real-life ones) who dies during the development of the atomic bomb.
7. HOT PURSUIT (1987): A forgotten movie worth watching. John plays a smitten high-school (presumably) student desperately trying to catch him with his vacationing girlfriend. That sounds awful, right? It’s not.
6. TAPEHEADS (1988): John and Tim Robbins make a great pair of pals.
5. STAND BY ME (1986): As with “Sixteen Candles,” his role playing big-bro “Denny” is small but integral to the plot. A great actor can make a small role memorable.
4. BETTER OFF DEAD (1985): People didn’t know what to make of it – including John himself. But it remains an enduring classic.
3. EIGHT MEN OUT (1988): Cusack as Buck Weaver? I’m sold.
2. THE SURE THING (1985): The movie that gave him his first starring role!
1. SAY ANYTHING (1988): “Lloyd Dobler” will go down as one of the most legendary sympathetic characters of the ’80s right along with Jake Ryan, Duckie Dale, and Randy from “Valley Girl.”
Worth noting: Cusack had a handful of other roles in the ’80s that didn’t merit making the list. Some in movies I never saw. And if I were able to include the ’90s, the list would blow wide open with stuff like “The Grifters,” “Grosse Pointe Blank” and my personal favorite of his, “True Colors.”