1986 Movie Reviews – Blue City, Jo Jo Dancer, No Retreat No Surrender, and Saving Grace | The Nerdy

Welcome to an exciting year-long project here at The Nerdy. 1986 was an exciting year for films giving us a lot of films that would go on to be beloved favorites and cult classics. It was also the start to a major shift in cultural and societal norms, and some of those still reverberate to this day.

We’re going to pick and choose which movies we hit, but right now the list stands at nearly four dozen.

Yes, we’re insane, but 1986 was that great of a year for film.

The articles will come out – in most cases – on the same day the films hit theaters in 1986 so that it is their true 40th anniversary. All films are also watched again for the purposes of these reviews and are not being done from memory. In some cases, it truly will be the first time we’ve seen them.

This time around, it’s May 2, 1986, and we’re off to see Blue City, Jo Jo Dancer, No Retreat No Surrender, and Saving Grace.

Blue City

As thrillers go… this is one of them.

Billy Turner (Judd Nelson) returns home to Blue City, Florida and immediately learns his father was killed. He sets about trying to solve his father’s murder and reunites with some old friends to help him on his mission.

Awful. Simply awful.

Billy seems to be some sort of copy of Axel Foley from Beverly Hills Cop, and any time he talks about his father’s death it seems like an afterthought.

Add in he hooks up with Annie (Ally Sheedy), the younger sister of his friend Joey (David Caruso), and neither of them seem all that bothered after Joey gets killed, you really have no idea who these characters are.

It’s a very confused film and no one seems to know exactly what tone they are going for.

Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling

A surprisingly intimate reflection at one’s own shortcomings after one of the most public falls in history.

Jo Jo Dancer (Richard Pryor) suffers a horrible accident after freebasing cocaine, and he uses his time in the hospital to reflect on his life and what led him to this moment in time.

Yes, it is the world’s most thinly veiled look back at one’s life. Pryor famously was horrifically burned while taking drugs, and this was his way of coming back into the public eye.

It certainly is not a perfect film, but it is engaging and touching. It feels like a man who truly wanted to explore his own past and didn’t know any way to do it than through what he always knew, entertaining people.

A surprisingly candid look at one’s own life and allowing the world to take the journey with him.

No Retreat, No Surrender

Have you ever watched a movie so bad you wish it would punch you through the screen to put you out of your misery?

Jason Stillwell (Kurt McKinney) relocates to Seattle after his father’s dojo in Sherman Oaks, California is taken over by an organized crime syndicate takes it by force. Their plan? To take over every dojo in the country.

… do I need to tell you anything else about the ‘plot?’ This movie was beyond awful and I think the only reason it still exists in any form is it shows off a very young Jean-Claude Van Damme.

This is one of the worst movies I’ve seen in some time, and that’s saying a lot.

Saving Grace

It’s nice to be surprised by a movie, and it rarely happens twice in the same week.

Cardinal Bellini (Tom Conti) becomes Pop Leo XIV. After a year in the position, he gets locked out of the Vatican accidentally and decides to take the moment to reconnect with the average people. He goes to a little village he was aware of and helps them rebuild their aqueduct. Not only does he have that to contend with, but the local hoodlum, Ciolino (Edward James Olmos) doesn’t want him to succeed as he makes his money from everyone depending on him.

Yes, the fact that the fictional Pope is Leo XIV wasn’t lost on me while I was watching it.

It’s not a great movie, but I found myself engaged, and charmed by Conti’s performance. I’m not quite sure why Olmos was playing a rural Italian, but it is what it is.

It’s a charming and heartwarming film, and certainly will keep you entertained.

1986 Movie Reviews will continue on May 9, 2026, with Dangerously Close, Fire with Fire, Last Resort, and Short Circuit.