80s Body-Swap Movies

For one decade, every father in America woke up in his son's body and nobody filed a report.

Entries
10
Category
Film
Updated
  1. A birthday cake with nineteen lit candles on a table in a dim Australian farmhouse, surrounded by stone circle carvings and black candles.

    10. Alison's Birthday

    Ian Coughlan · 1981

    Australian folk horror in which a cult plans to move an old woman's soul into a girl on her 19th birthday. Shot in three weeks in 1979, rescued by a Severin box set in 2021. The only birthday on this list worse than Fred Savage's.

  2. A vintage cigar balanced on a college dorm windowsill next to a fraternity paddle and a tennis visor.

    09. 18 Again!

    Paul Flaherty · 1988

    Inspired by George Burns' 1979 single I Wish I Was Eighteen Again. A car crash puts Burns' soul in his grandson, Charlie Schlatter, and leaves Burns himself in a coma for most of the movie. Ebert: no edge. Paying George Burns to lie down is a choice.

  3. A director's chair on a studio backlot holding a canteen and a summer camp lanyard, a canoe paddle leaning against it.

    08. Summer Switch

    Ken Kwapis · 1984

    An ABC Afterschool Special from Mary Rodgers, who wrote Freaky Friday. Robert Klein's studio executive and his son, played by Scott Schwartz, swap, so the kid runs Hollywood and Dad goes to camp. Hollywood noticed nothing.

  4. A pearl necklace and a 1960s fedora resting on a park bench under cherry blossoms in Washington, D.C.

    07. Chances Are

    Emile Ardolino · 1989

    A dead DA is reincarnated as Robert Downey Jr. and falls for his own widow, Cybill Shepherd, and nearly his own daughter. Ebert gave it three and a half stars; the Cher and Peter Cetera song got an Oscar nod. A soul swap with a 23-year layover.

  5. A glass vial of glowing green liquid on a surgeon's desk next to a high school locker padlock.

    06. Like Father Like Son

    Rod Daniel · 1987

    Dudley Moore and Kirk Cameron swap via brain-transference serum, shot during a Growing Pains hiatus. Ebert called it one of the most desperately bad comedies. It made $34 million and Cameron won a Saturn Award. Desperate worked.

  6. A cardboard toy box lying open on a rainy Chicago sidewalk, with a tiny pair of striped overalls folded inside and red sneakers beside it.

    05. Child's Play

    Tom Holland · 1988

    A strangler moves his soul into a Good Guy doll with a voodoo chant to Damballa. The killer's name, Charles Lee Ray, was assembled from Manson, Oswald and James Earl Ray. Opened at number one. A body swap where only one side agreed, and it was not the doll.

  7. A black sports car parked crookedly outside a Los Angeles record store at night, a boom box on its hood, red taillights glowing.

    04. The Hidden

    Jack Sholder · 1987

    An alien slug hops from body to body across Los Angeles, robbing a Wells Fargo and stealing a Ferrari, while an alien cop wearing Kyle MacLachlan chases it. Won the grand prize at Avoriaz. It is the only film here where the swapped party wanted a Ferrari.

  8. A small ornate golden skull on a corporate desk between a briefcase and a baseball glove.

    03. Vice Versa

    Brian Gilbert · 1988

    Judge Reinhold and Fred Savage trade places via a cursed skull stolen from a Buddhist monastery. Written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais. Ebert called it one of the year's most endearing comedies. The skull did not get billing, which seems unfair.

  9. A steep stone staircase in a seaside Japanese hill town, with two school satchels tumbled at the bottom.

    02. I Are You, You Am Me

    Nobuhiko Obayashi · 1982

    Two Japanese middle schoolers tumble down a flight of stairs and get up in each other's bodies. It won best film at the Yokohama Film Festival, and Obayashi remade it himself in 2007. Every body-swap anime since owes it a fruit basket.

  10. A ceramic bowl of water on a marble table next to a man's polished wingtip shoe and a lady's pink satin slipper, a mismatched pair.

    01. All of Me

    Carl Reiner · 1984

    Lily Tomlin's soul lands in the right half of Steve Martin's body, and Martin plays a man losing a tug-of-war with himself. He won best actor from both the New York and national critics groups. For falling down a lot. Correctly.

Honorable mentions

  • A boardwalk fortune-teller cabinet glowing in the dark, an oversized floor piano keyboard stretching out in front of it.

    Big

    Penny Marshall · 1988

    Nobody swaps; a Zoltar machine just makes a kid big. But it is the year's body-swap movie anyway: the first film directed by a woman to gross $100 million, and an Oscar nod for Tom Hanks. Vice Versa and 18 Again! were in the same building that year.

Dishonorable mentions

  • A ten-speed bicycle crashed into a backyard meditation circle of lawn chairs, a fedora lying in the grass.

    Dream a Little Dream

    Marc Rocco · 1989

    Corey Feldman swaps with Jason Robards through a meditation experiment and a bike collision, with Corey Haim attached. Nine percent on Rotten Tomatoes; Ebert gave half a star and called the plot a disorganized mess. Jason Robards has two Oscars. Why.

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