Top Ranked Films by Year: the 80s

The top-ranked films of the 80's
© 2009, William L. Sinclair

This continues our series of top-ranked films by year, based on the Top Ranked 1000 Films on the Net that we compiled.
Total Ranked Films in the 80's: 109

- [ 1980 ] -
1. Raging Bull #24 - Scorsese, Martin (photo rt)
2. Shining, The #109 - Kubrick, Stanley
3. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back #126 - Lucas, George
4. Elephant Man, The #193 - Lynch, David
5. Berlin Alexanderplatz #196 - Fassbinder, Rainer Werner
6. Atlantic City #489 - Malle, Louis
7. Superman II #556 - Lester, Richard
8. Sauve qui peut (la vie) (1980) #717 - Godard, Jean-Luc
9. Kagemusha #756 - Kurosawa, Akira
10. Heaven's Gate #815 - Cimino, Michael
11. Mon oncle d'Amérique #818 - Resnais, Alain
12. Bad Timing #885 - Roeg, Nicolas
Best Picture: Ordinary People

- [ 1981 ] -
1. Raiders of the Lost Ark #34 - Spielberg, Steven
2. Das Bööt #243 - Peterson, Wolfgang
3. Reds #424 - Beatty, Warren (Directing Oscar, photo rt)
4. Mad Max 2 #590 - Miller, George
5. Blow Out #646 - De Palma, Brian
6. Woman Next Door, The #913 - Truffaut, François
7. Gregory's Girl #914 - Forsyth, Bill
8. Chariots of Fire #933 - Hudson, Hugh
9. Mephisto #1005 - Szabó, István
Best Picture: Chariots of Fire

- [ 1982 ] -
1. Blade Runner #13 - Scott, Ridley (photo top)
2. Fanny and Alexander #195 - Bergman, Ingmar
3. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial #204 - Spielberg, Steven
4. Scarface #210 - De Palma, Brian
5. Tootsie #212 - Pollack, Sydney
6. Gandhi #282 - Attenborough, Richard
7. Diner #342 - Levinson, Barry
8. King of Comedy, The #368 - Scorsese, Martin
9. Fitzcarraldo #565 - Herzog, Werner
10. Thing, The #639 - Carpenter, John
11. Passion #704 - Godard, Jean-Luc
12. Night of the Shooting Stars, The #806 - Taviani, Paolo & Vittorio Taviani
13. Verdict, The #853 - Lumet, Sidney
Best Picture: Gandhi

- [ 1983 ] -
1. Argent, L' #437 - Bresson, Robert
2. Sans soleil #462 - Marker, Chris
3. Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi #531 - Marquand, Richard
4. Local Hero #535 - Forsyth, Bill
5. Right Stuff, The #550 - Kaufman, Philip
6. Nostalghia #623 - Tarkovsky, Andrei
7. Videodrome #705 - Cronenberg, David
8. Zelig #864 - Allen, Woody
9. Sugar Cane Alley (Rue case negres) #899 - Palcy, Euzhan
Best Picture: Terms of Endearment

- [ 1984 ] -
1. Amadeus #63 - Forman, Milos
2. Once Upon a Time in America #161 - Leone, Sergio (photo rt)
3. Terminator, The #186 - Cameron, James
4. Paris, Texas #383 - Wenders, Wim
5. This is Spinal Tap #469 - Reiner, Rob
6. Love Streams #617 - Cassavetes, John
7. Stranger Than Paradise #627 - Jarmusch, Jim
8. Stop Making Sense #734 - Demme, Jonathan
9. Heimat (Homeland) #827 - Reitz, Edgar
10. Yellow Earth #859 - Chen Kaige
Best Picture: Amadeus

- [ 1985 ] -
1. Ran #86 - Kurosawa, Akira
2. Shoah #119 - Lanzmann, Claude
3. Back to the Future #175 - Zemeckis, Robert
4. Brazil #188 - Gilliam, Terry (photo rt)
5. Time to Live and the Time to Die, The #500 - Hou Hsiao-Hsien
6. Come and See #558 - Klimov, Elem
7. My Life as a Dog #620 - Hallström, Lasse
8. After Hours #641 - Scorsese, Martin
9. Vagabond (Santoit ni loi) #896 - Varda, Agnès
10. Witness #912 - Weir, Peter
11. Purple Rose of Cairo, The #969 - Allen, Woody
Best Picture: Out of Africa

- [ 1986 ] -
1. Aliens #159 - Cameron, James (photo rt)
2. Blue Velvet #229 - Lynch, David
3. Hannah and Her Sisters #252 - Allen, Woody
4. Platoon #390 - Stone, Oliver
5. Sacrifice, The #586 - Tarkovsky, Andrei
6. Stand by Me #621 - Reiner, Rob
7. Ferris Bueller's Day Off #766 - Hughes, John
8. Down by Law #936 - Jarmusch, Jim
Best Picture: Platoon

- [ 1987 ] -
1. Full Metal Jacket #206 - Kubrick, Stanley
2. Wings of Desire #245 - Wenders, Wim
3. Princess Bride, The #372 - Reiner, Rob
4. Dead, The #457 - Huston, John
5. Evil Dead II #640 - Raimi, Sam
6. Where is the Friend's Home? #702 - Kiarostami, Abbas
7. Raising Arizona #817 - Coen, Joel and Ethan Coen
8. Law of Desire #893 - Almodóvar, Pedro
9. Red Sorghum #926 - Zhang Yimou
10. Yeelen #949 - Cissé, Souleymane
Best Picture: The Last Emperor

- [ 1988 ] -
1. Cinema Paradiso #158 - Tornatore, Giuseppe
2. Dekalog #235 - Kieslowski, Krszystof
3. Die Hard #241 - McTiernan, John
4. Landscape in the Mist #317 - Angelopoulos, Theo
5. Hotaru no Hakaa (Grave of the Fireflies, anime) #320 - Takahata, Isao
6. Dead Ringers #350 - Cronenberg, David
7. Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown #460 - Almodóvar, Pedro
8. My Neighbour Totoro #591 - Miyazaki, Hayao
9. Distant Voices, Still Lives #648 - Davies, Terence
10. Hôtel Terminus #760 - Ophüls, Marcel
11. Time of the Gypsies #770 - Kusturica, Emir
12. Dangerous Liaisons #805 - Frears, Stephen
13. Midnight Run #831 - Brest, Martin
14. Short Film About Killing, A #849 - Kieslowski, Krszystof
15. Last Temptation of Christ, The #917 - Scorsese, Martin
16. Fish Called Wanda, A #978 - Crichton, Charles
17. Thin Blue Line, The #985 - Morris, Errol
Best Picture: Rain Man

- [ 1989 ] -
1. Do The Right Thing #112 - Lee, Spike
2. Crimes and Misdemeanors #365 - Allen, Woody
3. City of Sadness, A #509 - Hou Hsiao-Hsien
4. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade #519 - Spielberg, Steven
5. When Harry Met Sally #653 - Reiner, Rob (photo rt)
6. sex, lies, and videotape #665 - Soderberg, Steve
7. Killer, The #709 - Woo, John
8. Glory #789 - Zwick, Edward
9. Dead Poets Society #830 - Weir, Peter
10. Say Anything… #870 - Crowe, Cameron

Best Picture: Driving Miss Daisy

[Note: Where the heck is Drugstore Cowboy?]

Top Ranked of the Decade
(These are the fewest top 100 films for any decade)
1. Blade Runner #13 - Scott, Ridley
2. Raging Bull #24 - Scorsese, Martin
3. Raiders of the Lost Ark #34 - Spielberg, Steven
4. Amadeus #63 - Forman, Milos
5. Ran #86 - Kurosawa, Akira
6. Shining, The #109 - Kubrick, Stanley
7. Do The Right Thing #112 - Lee, Spike
8. Shoah #119 - Lanzmann, Claude
9. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back #126 - Lucas, George
10. Cinema Paradiso #158 - Tornatore, Giuseppe

11. Aliens #159 - Cameron, James
12. Once Upon a Time in America #161 - Leone, Sergio

Unranked Best Pictures: Ordinary People, Terms of Endearment, Out of Africa, The Last Emperor, Rain Man, Driving Miss Daisy (wow – easily the most yet)

My Favorites
1-Cinema Paradiso, 2-Hannah and Her Sisters, 3-Once Upon a Time in America, 4-Parenthood, 5-Dangerous Liaisons, 6-Aliens, 7-Field of Dreams, 8-Raging Bull, 9-When Harry Met Sally, 10-Drugstore Cowboy, 11-Gandhi, 12-The Empire Strikes Back, 13-Raiders of the Lost Ark, 14-E.T., 15-Mad Max 2 (Road Warrior), 16-Amadeus, 17-Blade Runner, 18-Fitzcarraldo, 19-Atlantic City, 20-Mephisto, 21-The Right Stuff, 22-The Last Emperor, 23-Reds, 24-Das Bööt, 25-Back to the Future

To me, this was a pretty good decade, with lots of classics, especially in science fiction (and I think Blade Runner is way overrated, good but not top 25 all-time – it’s a slow detective story, not much SF in it, I have it ranked 6th among the decades SF; P.K. Dick's novel is much better). Not sure why there are so few rated highly. Why does no one rank Drugstore Cowboy, Field of Dreams and Parenthood? (which was inspired by Hannah and Her Sisters) I have not yet seen the director's cut of The Last Emperor, running four hours.