10 Great 80s and 90s Michael Keaton Movies (that aren’t Beetlejuice or Batman)

Last Updated on September 29, 2024

One of the best things to happen in Hollywood in recent years is that Michael Keaton’s career got a major second wind (but don’t call it a comeback) after a somewhat lower-key period. While the extent of Keaton’s career downturn pre-Birdman has indeed been overblown (let’s not forget he was still a big enough star to play the villain in the RoboCop reboot months before Birdman came out), it can’t be denied that Alejandro González Iñárritu’s movie gave him a major boost. Since then, he’s appeared In some amazing films, including Spotlight, The Founder, Spider-Man: Homecoming, and The Trial of the Chicago 7. He has also done great TV work, such as the exceptional limited series Dopesick. 

However, Keaton’s pre- and post-Beetlejuice/Batman career tends to be overlooked when discussing his filmography, which is a shame as he was already a pretty huge star before he ever teamed up with Tim Burton. As such, are 10 great Michael Keaton movies that don’t get enough love.

10. Night Shift (1982): 

Michael Keaton became a star virtually overnight when he landed a plum comic sidekick role in Ron Howard’s first big hit as a director. To give this a bit of context, no one expected much from Night Shift. Ron Howard was best known as Richie Cunningham on Happy Days, and the idea of his directing a racy, R-rated comedy about two morgue attendants who open a bordello must have seemed like a stretch. Yet, Howard’s Happy Days pal Henry Winkler and Keaton have dynamite chemistry. Despite the premise, the movie is quite sweet (as a child, it never occurred to me that Keaton and Winkler were basically playing pimps). Keaton’s off-the-wall acting in this movie was a sensation and put him on the map in a big way. 

9. Mr. Mom (1983): 

If anything, this John Hughes-penned movie is what made Keaton a legit star, with it being one of the ten highest-grossing movies of 1983 and a favourite of many eighties kids, of which I am one. In this, Keaton plays a father who loses his job, so while his wife (Teri Garr) goes to work, he becomes a stay-at-home dad. This battle of the sexes comedy was way ahead of its time in many ways.

8. Johnny Dangerously (1984):

Amy Heckerling directed this spoof of 1930s, James Cagney gangster flicks. We previously tackled this one for The Best Movie You Never Saw (you can watch it embedded above), and we’ve always had a soft spot for this silly flick. As good as Keaton is, the film is all but stolen by Joe Piscopo as the movie’s bad guy, Danny Vermin (once Johnny. ONCE!). 

7. Clean & Sober (1988):

Perhaps to keep from being typecast, Michael Keaton starred in this dark addiction drama as an eighties yuppie who joins rehab to get a handle on his out-of-control drug habit. Keaton’s performance in this was raved about, and while it didn’t make a ton of money, the right people saw it, with the rumor being it was his performance in this that convinced the nervous producers of Batman that he was the right man for the job. 

6. The Dream Team (1989):

This was the last classic era Michael Keaton comedy, with him the leader of a gang of mental hospital patients on the loose in New York City, with them trying to find their missing psychiatrist. The supporting cast in this is stacked, with Christopher Lloyd, Peter Boyle, Stephen Furst, and more. Keaton has a great line in this one: “ah, it’s great to be young and insane.” 

5. Pacific Heights (1990):

After Batman, Keaton once again tried to escape typecasting by playing a bad guy in this classic yuppie thriller, in which he plays a border who becomes a nightmare tenant to a young couple, played by Melanie Griffith and Matthew Modine. It also has a great Hans Zimmer score.

4. My Life (1993):

This might one of the saddest movies ever made. No joke. In it, Keaton plays a dying man who spends his last few months making a series of videotapes he can leave to the child he knows he’ll never meet, with his wife (Nicole Kidman) pregnant with their son. The last scene in the movie, where Keaton is on a rollercoaster to heaven, gets me choked up every time, man. Plus, the score is by John Barry (Dances With Wolves, Out of Africa) at his tear-jerking best. 

3. The Paper (1994):

This Ron Howard drama is really underrated, with Michael Keaton playing a harried editor at a struggling New York tabloid trying desperately to clear the names of two teenage suspects being held for a violent crime they didn’t commit. Keaton is great in it, but the movie has an incredible ensemble, including Randy Quaid, Robert Duvall, Marisa Tomei, and Glenn Close.

2. Multiplicity (1996):

One problem with Keaton becoming so identified with serious roles in the wake of Batman was that, when he tried to return to zany comedy, audiences stayed away as they no longer considered him a comedy star. That’s too bad because Keaton is awesome in this as a busy father who has himself cloned. It’s a great Harold Ramis comedy, and Keaton still looks back at it fondly.

1. Desperate Measures (1998):

After opting not to make Batman Forever, Keaton tried to shake up his image by playing the bad guy in this violent thriller, which offers co-star Andy Garcia a rare heroic lead in an action flick. In it, Keaton plays a prison lifer whose rare bone marrow is a match for that of Garcia’s dying son. He agrees to provide it, but it’s only cover for a violent escape attempt, with him and Garcia playing cat and mouse over the rest of the film. The hook in this is great, in that Garcia can’t kill Keaton (or allow him to be killed) because if he does, his son will lose his only possible bone marrow match and die.

Did we leave any Keaton movies off our list? Let us know in the comments!