10 Best Films of the 80's

A little bit more difficult.

1. Raging Bull (1980 - Martin Scorsese)
2. Thief (1981 - Michael Mann)
3. Scarface (1983 - Brian De Palma)
4. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986 - John Hughes)
5. The Shining (1980 - Stanley Kubrick)
6. Blood Simple (1986 - Joel and Ethan Coen)
7. Big (1988 - Penny Marshall)
8. The Breakfast Club (1985 - John Hughes)
9. Atlantic City (1980 - Louis Malle)
10. Raising Arizona (1987 - Joel and Ethan Coen)

Amadeus (Milos Forman;1984;USA)
Blue Velvet (David Lynch;1986;USA)
Christmas Story, A (Bob Clark;1983;USA/Canada)
Empire Strikes Back, The (Irvin Kershner;1980;USA)
Hannah and Her Sisters (Woody Allen;1986;USA)
Once Upon a Time in America (Sergio Leone;1984;Italy/USA)
Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese;1980;USA)
Shining, The (Stanely Kubrick;1980;USA/UK)
Stranger Than Paradise (Jim Jarmusch;1984;USA/West Germany)
This is Spinal Tap (Rob Reiner;1984;USA)

Honors
Batman
Beetle Juice
Born on the Fourth of July
Breakfast Club, The
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Die Hard
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
Platoon
Rain Man
Return of the Jedi
Scarface
Stand By Me
Terminator, The
Thief

I probably forgot a few.

Full Metal Jacket (1987/Kubrick)
Once Upon a Time in America (1984/Leone)
The Right Stuff (1983/Kauffman)
Raging Bull (1980/Scorsese)
The Last Temptation of Christ (1989/Scorsese)
Scarface (1983/de Palma)
The Untoucahbles (1987/de Palma)
Empire of the Sun (1987/Speilberg)
Born on the 4th of July (1989/Stone)
The Empire Strikes Back (1980/Kirschner)

Probably the worst decade ever for cinema.

I'll have to agree. It was painful to try and compile this list becasue it was kind of like the hang over after that binge we call the seventies.

Once Upon A Time in America (Leone, 1984)
Scarface (De Palma, 1983)
Caddyshack (1980, Reitman)
This is Spinal Tap (DiBergi, 1984)
A Christmas Story (Clark, 1983)
Stand By Me (1986, Reiner)
Born on the 4th of July (1989, Stone)
The Blues Brothers (1980, Landis)
Batman (1989, Burton)
Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986, Hughes)

Raging Bull
King of Comedy
Batman
Blade Runner
Empire Strikes Back
Scarface
The Shining
Do the Right Thing
Once Upon A Time in America
Back to the Future

It may be the worst decade, but you know what? Still a decade of great movies, and sure it wasn't the 1970s....but how could it compete? BTW, I'm surprised by many who pick Tim Burton's stylish-if-overrated decent BATMAN.

Top 10(for now)

RAGING BULL (1980) - Many call this the best of the decade, and they might be onto something. Martin Scorsese delivers a knock-out with this brutal drama with Robert DeNiro cementing his legendary mystique among actors world-wide. Do I have to remind everyone that this movie lost to ORDINARY PEOPLE for Best Picture?

ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA (1984) - A shame that American movie buffs didn't get to see this film, nor did Sergio Leone be redeemed in this country as well after this picture was truncated to shit upon its original Yankee release. Now restored to its complete 229 minute edit, we have a masterpiece that truely every self-described "cinema fan" has to see at least once.

THE RIGHT STUFF (1983) - Philip Kaufman's triumphant epic of Americana guts and glory with the legendary Mercury space program of NASA in the 1960s, along with iconic work from Sam Shepard, who was nominated for his part of Chuck Yeager. Winner for Best score. I need to review this sucker soon for VIDEO BIN REVIEW....sound good folks?

THE SHINING (1980) - Starting with BARRY LYNDON, critics and movie fans seem to be mixed with each succeeding motion picture from Stanley Kubrick, and the box-office tallies showed. However, with time being the true agent of weeding out the winners from the dogs, we now know that this is yet another Kubrick masterpiece...and arguably, alongside John Carpenter's THE THING, the best horror picture of the "Slasher" Decade. Here's Johnny!

FULL METAL JACKET (1987) - Kubrick is the only man to pull double duty on my list with this war classic. Sardonic black humor abounds, with many times not willing to dumb down or be "accessible" to let everyone onto the joke itself. Gave the meal-ticket lifetime of acting gigs of being the Tougher-than-Nails Sargent for Mr. Lee Ermey.

THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (1980) - Not only a superior sequel to the biggest movie ever, but since its release its been the prototypical summer blockbuster sequel, with visuals of bleakness that which Lucas could never match in terms of intensity with his $120 million-a-pop STAR WARS prequels. Especially the finale duel itself is hear-poundful thrilling.

RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981) - The most influential action movie in the last 25 years, further changing how action motion pictures were to be made for the public, with thrills every 10 minutes and Spielberg playing himself in Harrison Ford, a tough slick man who beats the shit out of Nazis.

BLADE RUNNER (1982) - Sir Ridley Scott's best technical film as a director is ALIEN, but BLADE RUNNER is his legacy. He crafts a universe onto itself of where humanity is held precious, but in name only, and still the poster-face of cinematic futuristic metropolitan landscapes.

BRAZIL (1985) - Terry Gilliam's reputation is made with this legendary gem that of which the studio almost prevented us from seeing. Fantasy and serious British satire intertwine. I'll discuss this sucker further when my upcoming CULT MOVIE REVIEW edition is posted.

SCARFACE (1983) - Weird choice for sure, but while its far from being a masterpiece or even a great movie per say, its the American 80's incarnate on the big screen. There is tacky Italian coke-art deco, with pastel fashions, cocaine, booze, and guns everywhere, and women are worth taking out your boss for. As I discussed in my livingcorpse.com review, this is of sorts a mystique tale for criminals in the underworld, where one man rose from the jails of Cuba to ruling South Florida as a conquered province...before he loses it while trying to take the whole world, and everything in it.

Its a shame there doesnt seem to be any other Coen Brothers fans here. I thought Blood Simple and Raising Arizona were both great films that came out of the 80's.

Well, they are great movies mind you. Then again, we all are subjective with our lists, now aren't we?

True, true.

I just thought I might see one of them somewhere else, but I was the only one who had either of them.

You've got me wanting to see most of your list Ronnie. Ive only seen a few of those sadly.

The Outsiders and The Boys Next Door. Both 1984 movies.

GoodFella

The thing with the 80's, for me, is that the films have, for some reason (fashion?), dated very badly.

There are exceptions, and actually many of them, if you look hard enough. Check out these masterpieces...

Blue Velvet (1986; David Lynch)
Fanny och Alexander/Fanny and Alexander (1982; Ingmar Bergman)
Kagemusha/The Shadow Warrior (1983; Akira Kurosawa)
The King of Comedy (1983; Martin Scorsese)
Krótki Film O Milosci/A Short Film About Love (1988; Krzysztof Kieslowski)
Krótki Film O Zabijaniu/A Short Film About Killing (1988; Krzysztof Kieslowski)
The Killing Fields (1984; Roland Joffe)
Once Upon a Time in America (1984; Sergio Leone)
Raging Bull (1980; Martin Scorsese)
Ran/Chaos (1985; Akira Kurosawa)

My 15 Personal Favourites of the 80s
iao:

Batman
Coming To America
Do The Right Thing
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Field Of Dreams
Gandhi
The Godfather Part III
Goodfellas (I know it was 1990)
Once Upon A Time In America
Raging Bull
Rain Man
Rocky IV
Scarface
Trading Places
The Untouchables

Sue me. :p I loved it. Nicholson pretty much made that film.

Then why put them on?

Top ten in no order in bold

Raging Bull
Diner
The Empire Strikes Back
Raiders of the Lost Arc
Amedeus
My Favorite Year
An Officer an A Gentlemen
Terms of Endearment
True Confessions
Tootsie
Angel Heart
The Right Stuff
Runaway Train
Hoosiers
Mississippi Burning
Dangerous Liasons
Stand By Me
A Fish Called Wanda
Do the Right Thing
Dead Poets Society

Capo, it all depends on how you look at the decade. Is the decade from 1980 to 1989 or from 1980 to 1990? Same with the 90s, is it from 1990 to 1999 or from 1990 to 2000?

Ah right, now I get where you're coming from. But for me, it's always zero to nine.

How you can consider 1990 part of the 80's is beyond me.

Ten years: 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89. A decade. The 80's.

1990 would be the 90's. :p

The Empire Strikes Back
Pale Rider
Scarface
Return of the Jedi
Terminator
Young Guns
Back to the Future
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom
Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade
Untouchables
Ferris Buellers Day Off
The Breakfast Club(due to personal experience as I had to do a few Saturday's of detention )

Lol! I might be slightly retarded (the jury's still out on that one) but wasn't Jan. 1, 1980 to Jan. 1 1981 exactly one year? Didn't mean to hijack the thread or anything but there you have it..

Well, not really, since there can't be two January 1's in a year.

Yes. The year stops at Dec. 31 1989 at midnight.

I do have to admit, this was a hard one to think up.

(No order)

The Elephant Man
Raging Bull
Once Upon a Time in America
This is Spinal Tap
A Christmas Story
The Shining
Rain Man
Batman
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
The Breakfast Club

My head hurts. And I'm not quite satisfied with that list.

Updated with Jim Jarmusch's Stranger Than Paradise, which is the third best film of the 80's.

Are you going to stone me to death if I add

American gigolo (1980)

to the list?

True Confessions (1981)

Always amazed at how it seems as though so few have seen this one, because if you had it would be on your list.

Salud, my Daigo Mick Friend, for at least giving it an honorable mention, along with Angel Heart, Mickey Rourke's tour de force.

It should be from 0-9, shouldn't it?

The first day of 1980 was the first day of the decade, and the last day of 1989 the last.

It certainly can't be from 1980 to 1990, because that would be 11 years, not 10.