This episode is the first part of a three-part, occasionally personal, journey through one of the better summers for films during the 1980s: the summer of 1986.

This episode covers the following movies released in May and June of 1986, except otherwise noted:

American Anthem (Albert Magnoli)
Back to School (Alan Metter)
Belizaire the Cajun (Glen Pitre)
Big Trouble (John Cassavetes)
Cobra (George P. Cosmatos)
The Cosmic Eye (Faith Hubley)
Crawlspace (David Schmoeller)
Dangerously Close (Albert Pyun)
Death of a Soldier (Phillipe Mora)
Demons (Lamberto Bava)
The Eyes of the Bird (Gabriel Auer)
Ferris Bueller's Day Off (John Hughes)
Fire with Fire (Duncan Gibbons)
Floodstage (David Dawkins)
French Quarter Undercover (Joe Catalanotto and Patrick C. Poole)
Funny Dirty Little War (Hector Olivera)
Gone in 60 Seconds (July 1974, H.B. Halicki)
A Great Wall (Peter Wang)
Hard Choices (Rick King)
Home of the Brave (Laurie Anderson)
In Nome Del Papa Re (Luigi Magni)
In the Shadows of Kilimanjaro (Raju Patel)
Invaders from Mars (Tobe Hooper)
Jake Speed (Andrew Lane)
The Karate Kid Part 2 (John G. Avildsen)
Killer Party (William Freut)
Labyrinth (Jim Henson)
Legal Eagles (Ivan Reitman)
The Manhattan Project (Marshall Brickman)
Mona Lisa (Neil Jordan)
My Little Pony: The Movie (Michael Joens)
Never Too Young to Die (Gil Bettman)
Not Quite Paradise (Lewis Gilbert)
On the Edge (Rob Nilsson)
Poltergeist II: The Other Side (Brian Gibson)
Raw Deal (John Irvin)
Ronja Robbersdaughter (Tage Danielsson)
Running Scared (Peter Hyams)
Ruthless People (David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker)
Say Yes (Larry Yust)
Sex Appeal (Chuck Vincent)
Short Circuit (John Badham)
Signal 7 (Rob Nilsson)
Space Camp (Harry Winer)
Spring Symphony (Peter Schamoni)
Sweet Liberty (Alan Alda)
Tea in the Harem (Mehdi Charef)
Top Gun (Tony Scott)
Vagabond (Agnes Varda)
Vamp (Richard Wenk)
Whatever Happened to Kerouac? (Richard Lerner and Lewis McAdams)

The Summer of 1986 - Part One