Top Ten movies of the '80s

Since the '90s and 2000 have been covered, let's start moving backwards a little further. What do you consider the best movies (or your favorite, however you want to phrase it) released in the years 1980 - 1989?

My list...


"It's too bad she won't live. Then again, who does?...

1. BladeRunner (1982 - Ridley Scott)
2. Do the Right Thing (1989 - Spike Lee)
3. Raging Bull (1980 - Scorsese)
4. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981 - Spielberg)
5. The Last Temptation of Christ (1987 - Scorsese)
6. Amadeus (1984 - Milos Forman)
7. The Mosquito Coast (1986 - Peter Weir)
8. After Hours (1985 - Scorsese)
9. Bird (1988 - Eastwood)
10. Brazil (1985 - Terry Gilliam)


What are your picks?

Hmmm, are you sure there's 10?

Why are people so damning of eighties cinema? What about the sixties; a cinematic era, just as bereft of imagination in terms of mainstream cinema until the arrival of Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Miller, 1967) and Easy Rider (Dennis Hopper, 1969). It is narrow-minded to suggest that the eighties is an era not worth investigating (although I hope I detect an element of humour in your post TWT!). Holden's list gives ample proof that there are films of high quality. I don't normally indulge in lists, but if it's proof you need:

Platoon (Oliver Stone, 1986)
The Last Emporer (Bernardo Bertolucci, 1987)
Born on the Fourth of July (Oliver Stone, 1989)
Reds (Warren Beatty, 1981)
The Elephant Man (David Lynch, 1980)
The Killing Fields (Roland Joffe, 1984)
Mona Lisa (Neil Jordan, 1986)
A Fish Called Wanda (Charles Crichton, 1988)
Sex, Lies and Videotape (Steven Soderbergh, 1989
Paris, Texas (Wim Wenders, 1984)
Wings of Desire (Wim Wenders, 1987)
Au Revoir les Enfants (Louis Malle, 1987)
Rumblefish (Francis Ford Coppola, 1983)
The Thing (John Carpenter, 1982)
Escape from New York (John Carpenter, 1981)
The Empire Strikes Back (Irvin Kershner, 1980)
Aliens (James Cameron, 1986)
The Terminator (James Cameron, 1984)

And there's more where that came from...

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Personality goes a long way...

You do indeed detect that. Fine detection. I always make fun of the 80s, even though I love Michael Jackson, think "You Spin Me Round" is a great movie, and admire Ronald Reagan. I guess I like to make fun of all the odd styles...clothes, hair and such.

lol.... between michael jackson and the republican party, i KNEW you would have an opinion on the 80s.

Yeah, TWTCommish, I could easily name One-Hundred great movies made in the '80s. What in the Hell do the prevailing political winds and fashion trends have to do with the best cinema?

Not surprisingly, Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo wouldn't be on my top Three-Thousand list, but I don't see what that has to do with filmmakers like Scorsese, Kurosawa, Gilliam, Polanski, Spike Lee, John Huston, etc.

But please, feel free to dismiss every single aspect of a time period based on superficialities and things that have nothing to do with Film or Art. Enjoy life with your blinders on!


For those of you who can separate these things in your minds, make a few lists.

YEAR-by-YEAR

1980: 1) Raging Bull, 2) Tess, 3) The Empire Strikes Back, 4) The Stunt Man, 5) The Elephant Man, 6) The Shining, 7) Airplane!, 8) Bronco Billy, 9) The Blues Brothers, 10) Melvin & Howard

1981: 1) Raiders of the Lost Ark, 2) Modern Romance, 3) Pennies From Heaven, 4) Blow Out, 5) Reds, 6) Time Bandits, 7) The Long Good Friday, 8) Arthur, 9) Das Boot, 10) They All Laughed

1982: 1) BladeRunner, 2) The Thing, 3) Missing, 4) Honkytonk Man, 5) Diner, 6) Tootsie, 7) The Verdict, 8) Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid, 9) Fitzcarraldo, 10) Conan the Barbarian, 11) The World According To Garp, 12) Fast Times at Ridgemont High, 13) E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, 14) Eating Raoul, 15) My Favorite Year

1983: 1) The King of Comedy, 2) Monty Python's Meaning of Life, 3) Silkwood, 4) The Right Stuff, 5) A Christmas Story, 6) The Survivors, 7) WarGames, 8) Terms of Endearment, 9) Something Wicked This Way Comes, 10) Blue Thunder

1984: 1) Amadeus, 2) Once Upon A Time in America, 3) The Killing Fields 4) This Is Spinal Tap, 5) Tightrope, 6) Ghostbusters, 7) A Soldier's Story, 8) Blood Simple, 9) Birdy, 10) All of Me, 11) Beverly Hills Cop, 12) The Pope of Greenwich Village, 13) The Terminator, 14) Romancing the Stone, 15) Starman

1985: 1) After Hours, 2) Brazil, 3) Lost in America, 4) RAN, 5) To Live & Die in L.A., 6) Witness, 7) Prizzi's Honor, 8) Fletch, 9) Pale Rider, 10) The Falcon & the Snowman

1986: 1) The Mosquito Coast, 2) Platoon, 3) Stand by Me, 4) Hoosiers, 5) The Color of Money, 6) Aliens, 7) Salvador, 8) Manhunter, 9) Blue Velvet, 10) Big Trouble in Little China

1987: 1) Broadcast News, 2) Full Metal Jacket, 3) Raising Arizona, 4) The Princess Bride, 5) Tin Men, 6) Angel Heart, 7) Roxanne, 8) Empire of the Sun, 9) RoboCop, 10) Near Dark, 11) Barfly, 12) The Hidden, 13) The Witches of Eastwick, 14) Withnail & I, 15) The Untouchables

1988: 1) The Last Temptation of Christ, 2) Bird, 3) Rain Man, 4) Midnight Run, 5) Clean & Sober, 6) Die Hard, 7) A Fish Called Wanda, 8) The Thin Blue Line, 9) Akira, 10) Eight Men Out, 11) Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, 12) Mississippi Burning, 13) Bull Durham, 14) The Chocolate War, 15) The Beast

1989: 1) Do the Right Thing, 2) Roger & Me, 3) The War of the Roses, 4) Crimes & Misdemeanors, 5) sex,lies & videotape, 6) Glory, 7) Drugstore Cowboy, 8) The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, 9) Henry V, 10) Say Anything, 11) When Harry Met Sally..., 12) How To Get Ahead in Advertising, 13) Always, 14) Heathers, 15) Breaking In

I have actually not watched many 80s movies, but I would have to say the ones I enjoy are:

Ferris Bueller's Day Off
The Breakfast Club
Men at Work
Sixteen Candles
Trading Places
Weird Science
Goonies*
Coming To America*
Stripes*
Ghostbusters*

EDIT - Forgot to add a few they have stars by them..

Yes a few Hughes movies in there, He was pretty much the man of the 80's when it came to directing teen comedies.
[Edited by spdrcr on 09-11-2001]

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"I was walking down the street with my friend and he said, "I hear music", as if there is any other way you can take it in. You're not special, that's how I receive it too. I tried to taste it but it did not work." - Mitch Hedberg

Hey, it was JUST a joke. The 80s are so amazingly easy to make fun of...almost as easy as the 70s.

I know it was a joke, that's why I included only one fewer smiley face in my reply than you did in your message.

My favorite movies of the 80s:
The Last Temptation of Holden Pike
The Holden Pike must be Crazy
The Holden Pike must be Crazy 2
Holden Pike Bless the Child
Holden Pikezilla 1985
Holden Pike of Montreal
Perfect
I could name the directors after all these movies so you'd know that I know but I don't have the time... Sorry!

Honestly though
The eighties did suck.
In every way.
Except toys in the eighties.
They kicked ***.
All the good board games, action figures, legos.
Movies?
Yeah, there're ten.
But barely.
1. A Fish Called Wanda
2. Mystery Train
3. I'm Gonna Git You Sucka
4. Raiders of the Lost Ark / Last Crusade
5. The Empire Strikes Back / Return of the Jedi
6. Ran
7. Raising Arizona
8. The Princess Bride
9. Things Change
10. Melvin and Howard

1. Rain Man
2. the empire strikes back
3. The raiders of the lost ark
4. Full metal jacket
5.Return of the jedi
6. Batman
7. Die hard
8. beetlejuice
9. Ninja turtles
10. Back to the Future

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"Who comes at 12:00 on a Sunday night to rent Butch Cassady and the Sundance Kid?"
-Hollywood Video rental guy to me

So, does Empire count? Because it was released in 1980, which was the last year of the '70s to many technical types (the types who made a big point about how the new milenium didn't start until Jan 1, 2001).

Of course, if Empire counts, then Men at Work cannot count since it was released in 1990 (unless we're talking about the Australian band "Men at Work" of "Who Can it Be Now" fame and who were very much a part of the '80s). Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie was also released in 1990.

But I can't believe that anyone would have Men at Work on their list since the only funny joke in it was stolen from "Better Off Dead" (an '80s movie that would be on my best of the '80s list).

There were lots of good movies in the '80s. Too many for me to try and list.

if ninja turtles was 1990 then move back to the future up and put back to the future 2 in there

If you can't remember a specific date then I would say it counts. ...that's just me though.

Some other 80's movies that were ok, WOW, you're right, the 80's did suck, I can't think of any other movies.

Having to think back here....

10. Tightrope
9. Rain Man
8. The Empire Strikes Back
7. Pale Rider
6. Bird
5. No Way Out
4. The Untouchables
3. Witness
2. Scarface
1. Amadeus

Hey don't knock the 80s. I grew up there.

In no particular order.

1. Raging Bull
2. Once Upon A Time In America
3. Ferris Bueller's Day Off
4. Back to the Future
5. ET - The Extra Terristial
6. The King of Comedy
7. Field of Dreams
8. Full Metal Jacket
9. Edward Scissorhands
10. Die Hard

Looking back, Scorsese was on fire in the 80s. Raging Bull and The King of Comedy rank with Goodfellas as his best work. Zemeckis, Spielberg, Burton were just starting to flex their muscles as Sergio Leone and Kubrick's own muscles were beginning to tire.

It wasn't the greatest decade for quantity but there was a lot of quality.

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I couldn't believe that she knew my name. Some of my best friends didn't know my name.

Here are my top ten of the eighties, in order:

• Amadeus
  1984 / Director: Milos Forman
• Blade Runner
  1982 / Director: Ridley Scott
• Raging Bull
  1980 / Director: Martin Scorsese
• Ran
  1985 / Director: Akira Kurosawa
• Raiders of the Lost Ark
  1981 / Director: Steven Spielberg
• Glory
  1989 / Director: Edward Zwick
• Jean de Florette
  1986 / Director: Claude Berri
• Brazil
  1985 / Director: Terry Gilliam
• Cinema Paradiso
  1989 / Director: Giuseppe Tornatore
  
• Driving Miss Daisy
  1989 / Director: Bruce Beresford

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"Today, war is too important to be left to politicians. They have neither the time, the training, nor the inclination for strategic thought. I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids."

01. Blade Runner (d. Ridley Scott, 1982)
02. Amadeus (d. Milos Forman, 1984)
03. Raging Bull (d. Martin Scorsese, 1980)
04. Brazil (d. Terry Gilliam, 1985)
05. Hannah and Her Sisters (d. Woody Allen, 1986)
06. The Last Temptation of Christ (d. Martin Scorsese, 1988)
07. Do the Right Thing (d. Spike Lee, 1989)
08. Gallipoli (d. Peter Weir, 1981)
09. The Shining (d. Stanley Kubrick, 1980)
10. The King of Comedy (d. Martin Scorsese, 1983)

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www.esotericrabbit.com

Amadeus
Platoon
The Shining
Glory
Brazil
Aliens
Pale Rider
Raiders of the Lost Ark
The Blues Brothers
My Left Foot

Guilty pleasure: The Breakfast Club…

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