No need to elongate this latest entry into our History of Film feature by reiterating the fact that this sort of ranking of art is arbitrary. We all know it is, and continue to indulge in this guilty pleasure-like exercise anyway. Below are ballots collected from the staff and friends of Movie Mezzanine. In the comment section, rattle off your ten favorite films from the 1980s. The results and analysis of your selections to come a month from today. Enjoy!
The Movie Mezzanine Staff
Sam Fragoso, Editor-In-Chief
1.) Blow Out
2.) Crimes and Misdemeanors
3.) Say Anything …
4.) Bull Durham
5.) Drugstore Cowboy
6.) Blade Runner
7.) Platoon
8.) Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
9.) Broadcast News
10.) The Empire Strikes Back
Tom Clift, Co-Founder
1.) The Shining
2.) Aliens
3.) Full Metal Jacket
4.) The Fly
5.) Little Shop of Horrors
6.) Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
7.) Blade Runner
8.) Blue Velvet
9.) Do The Right Thing
10.) Grave of the Fireflies
Jake Cole, Senior Editor
1.) King Lear
2.) The Green Ray
3.) Berline Alexanderplatz
4.) The King of Comedy
5.) Mauvais Sang
6.) Heaven’s Gate
7.) L’Argent
8.) Distant Voices, Still Lives
9.) A City of Sadness
10.) Body Double
Kristen Sales, LA Correspondant
1.) Possession
2.) After Hours
3.) The Elephant Man
4.) Au revoir les enfants
5.) Ghostbusters
6.) My Neighbor Totoro
7.) Broadway Danny Rose
8.) Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
9.) Mystery Train
10.) An American Werewolf in London
Christopher Runyon, Essayist
1.) The Shining
2.) Grave of the Fireflies
3.) The Last Temptation of Christ
4.) Kiki’s Delivery Service
5.) Full Metal Jacket
6.) Castle in the Sky
7.) Hannah and Her Sisters
8.) Back to the Future
9.) Blue Velvet
10.) Die Hard
Nick Usen, Columnist
1.) Radiers of The Lost Ark
2.) Raging Bull
3.) This Is Spinal Tap
4.) Top Gun
5.) Robocop
6.) Predator
7.) The Thing
8.) The Great Mouse Detective
9.) Heaven’s Gate
10.) Shoah
Jesse Knight, Contributor
1.) Possession
2.) Evil Dead II
3.) Heathers
4.) This Is Spinal Tap
5.) Brazil
6.) Crimes and Misdemeanors
7.) Modern Romance
8.) Airplane!
9.) Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
10.) Porky’s
Forrest Cardamenis, Contributor
1.) Do The Right Thing
2.) Fanny & Alexander
3.) Blade Runner
4.) Wings of Desire
5.) Isle of Flowers
6.) Nostalghia
7.) Mauvais Sang
8.) Grave of the Fireflies
9.) Videodrome
10.) The Thin Blue Line
Kevin Ketchum, Austin Correspondant
1.) Blade Runner
2.) Raging Bull
3.) Raiders of the Lost Ark
4.) Empire Strikes Back
5.) E.T. The Extra Terrestrial
6.) Ran
7.) Blow Out
8.) My Neighbor Totoro
9.) Shoah
10.) Grave of the Fireflies
James Blake Ewing, Criterion Columnist
1.) Blade Runner
2.) Paris, Texas
3. Wings of Desire
4.) A Short Film About Love
5.) Amadeus
6.) Babette’s Feast
7.) My Neighbor Totoro
8.) Koyaanisqatsi
9.) Brazil
10.) L’argent
Dan Schindel, Contributor
1.) Fanny and Alexander
2.) Brazil
3.) The Purple Rose of Cairo
4.) After Hours
5.) The Shining
6.) Sherman’s March
7.) When the Wind Blows
8.) Crimes and Misdemeanors
9.) Robocop
10.) Airplane!
Michal Oleszczyk, Contributor
1.) Distant Voices, Still Lives
2.) Once Upon A Time In America
3.) Ballad of Narayama
4.) Mrs. Soffel
5.) Something Wild
6.) Moonstruck
7.) My Dinner with Andre
8.) A Nos Amours
9.) Chameleon Street
10.) Lost In America
Odie Henderson, List-Maker
1.) Do The Right Thing
2.) Raiders of the Lost Ark
3.) Tootsie
4.) Raging Bull
5.) Coming to America
6.) Terms of Endearment
7.) The Mighty Quinn
8.) The Empire Strikes Back
9.) Raising Arizona
10.) Fanny Alexander
Friends of Movie Mezzanine
Matt Zoller Seitz, RogerEbert.com
1.) Raising Arizona
2.) Top Secret!
3.) Do The Right Thing
4.) Fanny & Alexander
5.) Blue Velvet
6.) The Fly
7.) The Right Stuff
8.) Wings of Desire
9.) The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover
10.) Hannah and Her Sisters
Kenji Fujishima, In Review Online
1.) Videodrome
2.) City of Sadness
3.) L’Argent
4.) Modern Romance
5.) Blow Out
6.) Amadeus
7.) Fanny and Alexander
8.) Sherman’s March
9.) The Thing
10.) Die Hard
Amy Nicholson, LA Weekly
1.) Pennies From Heaven
2.) The Shining
3.) Amadeus
4.) Brazil
5.) Die Hard
6.) Beetlejuice
7.) Hairspray
8.) Fizcarraldo
9.) Risky Business
10.) The Neverending Story
Andrew Parker, Dork Shelf
1.) King Lear
2.) A Nightmare on Elm Street
3.) Fitzcarraldo
4.) The King of Comedy
5.) Do the Right Thing
6.) Blood Simple
7.) Platoon
8.) Planes, Traines, and Automobiles
9.) Crimes and Misdemeanors
10.) Say Anything …
Scott Renshaw, City Weekly
1.) Airplane!
2.) Raising Arizona
3.) Hannah and Her Sisters
4.) This Is Spinal Tap
5.) Amadeus
6.) Raiders of the Los Ark
7.) The King of Comedy
8.) Bull Durham
9.) The Untouchables
10.) Brazil
Kevin B. Lee, Press Play
1.) Heaven’s Gate
2.) Berlin Alexanderplatz
3.) Zu: Warriors of Magic Mountain
4.) L’Argent
5.) Love Streams
6.) Aliens
7.) Handsworth Songs
8.) The Dante Quartet
9.) Yeleen
10.) A City of Sadness
David Ehrlich, Film.com
1.) Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
2.) Sans Soleil
3.) L’Argent
4.) The Green Ray
5.) Fanny and Alexander
6.) Broadcast News
7.) The Naked Gun! From the Files of Police Squad
8.) Paris, Texas
9.) Koyaanisqatsi
10.) The Shining
Scott Mendelson, Forbes
1.) Batman
2.) Field of Dreams
3.) Airplane!
4.) Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
5.) Raiders of the Lost Ark
6.) Do the Right Thing
7.) Empire Strikes Back
8.) Reds
9.) Lethal Weapon
10.) Killing Fields
Matt Prigge, Metro Us
1.) Modern Romance
2.) Do the Right Thing
3.)The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover
4.) Blood Simple
5.) Sans Soleil
6.) Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story
7.) Airplane!
8.) The Fly
9.) Rehearsals for Extinct Anatomies
10.) Blow Out
Matt Goldberg, Collider
1.) Back to the Future
2.) The Princess Bride
3.) Die Hard
4.) The Thing
5.) Airplane!
6.) Field of Dreams
7.) Das Boot
8.) The Wrath of Khan
9.) This Is Spinal Tap
10.) Broadcast News
Tina Hassannia, Slant Magazine
1.) The Green Ray
2.) Love Streams
3.) Vagabond
4.) Spoorloos
5.) Where is the Friend’s Home?
6.) Sans Soleil
7.) Bashu, the Little Stranger
8.) The Sacrifice
9.) Distant Voices, Still Lives
10.) Blue Velvet
Cameron Williams, Graffiti With Punctuation
1.) Back to the Future
2.) Empire Strikes Back
3.) Terminator
4.) Raiders of the Lost Ark
5.) Die Hard
6.) Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
7.) Blade Runner
8.) This is Spinal Tap
9.) The Shining
10.) Big Trouble in Little China
Ryan McNeil, The Matinee
1.) Raging Bull
2.) Raiders of The Lost Ark
3.) Blade Runner
4.) When Harry Met Sally
5.) Full Metal Jacket
6.) The Empire Strikes Back
7.) Breakfast Club
8.) Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
9.) Do The Right Thing
10.) Wall Street
James Ward, Visalia Times Delta
1.) E.T. The Extra Terrestrial
2.) Raiders of the Lost Ark
3.) The Empire Strikes Back
4.) Terms of Endearment
5.) Blade Runner
6.) Tootsie
7.) The Right Stuff
8.) Aliens
9.) The Blues Brothers
10.) Raging Bull
Germain Lussier, SlashFilm
1.) Return of the Jedi
2.) Empire Strikes Back
3.) Back to the Future
4.) Raiders of the Lost Ark
5.) Aliens
6.) Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
7.) Lost Boys
8.) Say Anything …
9.) Karate Kid
10.) Full Metal Jacket
Calum Marsh, The Village Voice
1.) King Lear
2.) A City of Sadness
3.) Love Streams
4.) The Green Ray
5.) The Sacrifice
6.) Distane Voices, Still Lives
7.) Sans Soleil
8.) Vagabond
9.) Videdrome
10.) Mauvais Sang
Carrie Rickey, The Philadelphia Inquirer
1.) Desperately Seeking Susan
2.) Angry Harvest
3.) Dirty Dancing
4.) L’Argent
5.) Do the Right Thing
6.) Babette’s Feast
7.) E.T. The Extraterrestrial
8.) Entre Nous
9.) The Fabulous Baker Boys
10.) The Long Good Friday
Allison Loring, Film School Rejects
1.) Top Gun
2.) Back to the Future
3.) Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
4.) Dirty Dancing
5.) Say Anything…
6.) The Goonies
7.) Die Hard
8.) Adventures in Babysitting
9.) Radiers of the Lost Ark
10.) Weekend at Bernie’s
Jason Bailey, FlavorWire
1.) Raging Bull
2.) Do the Right Thing
3.) Crimes and Misdemeanors
4.) Tootsie
5.) Sex, lies, and videotape
6.) Radio Days
7.) Broadcast News
8.) Hannah and Her Sisters
9.) Blue Velvet
10.) Brewster’s Millions
Peter Labuza, The Cinephiliacs
1.) Raging Bull
2.) Damnation
3.) Christine
4.) They All Laughed
5.) Ishtar
6.) Mephisto
7.) Police Story
8.) The Wind
9.) They Live
10.) My Friend Ivan Lapshin
Jordan Raup, The Film Stage
1.) The Shining
2.) Blade Runner
3.) Paris, Texas
4.) Raiders of the Lost Ark
5.) Raging Bull
6.) Fanny and Alexander
7.) Die Hard
8.) Blue Velvet
9.) Wings of Desire
10.) Do the Right Thing
Jack Giroux, Film School Rejects
1.) Raiders of the Lost Ark
2.) The King of Comedy/The Last Temptation of Christ
3.) Rumble Fish
4.) The Shining
5.) Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
6.) Blow Out
7.) Crimes and Misdemeanors
8.) Modern Romance
9.) Wings of Desire
10.) Once Upon a Time in America
Steve Greene, CriticWire
1.) Full Metal Jacket
2.) Blue Velvet
3.) Broadcast News
4.) 28 Up
5.) Raiders of the Lost Ark
6.) Wings of Desire
7.) Amadeus
8.) Brazil
9.) The Princess Bride
10.) Somewhere in Time
Chris Stuckmann, Filmmaker
1.) The Empire Strikes Back
2.) Raiders of the Lost Ark
3.) ET
4.) Predator
5.) Die Hard
6.) Back to the Future
7.) The Shining
8.) The Terminator
9.) Aliens
10.) Field of Dreams
…..
Now it’s your turn to contribute readers. In the comment section below, provide your top ten of the 1980s (1980-89), ordered from 1 – 10. Again, we thank you.
100 thoughts on “History of Film: The Best Movies of the 1980s”
Pingback: History of Film: Top 10 Movies from the 1980s | CinEffect
1) Top Gun
2) Die Hard
3) Back To The Future
4) Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
5) The Empire Strikes Back
6) Raiders Of The Lost Ark
7) The Breakfast Club
8) Predator
9) Platoon
10) Field Of Dreams
1) Brazil
2) Blow Out
3) Raging Bull
4) Raising Arizona
5) Full Metal Jacket
6) Robocop
7) The Shinning
8) The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad
9) Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn
10) This Is Spinal Tap
Let’s see… I guarantee you that I’m going to screw this up.
1. Brazil
2. Raging Bull
3. Fanny & Alexander
4. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
5. sex, lies, & videotape
6. Once Upon a Time in America
7. Fitzcarraldo
8. Full Metal Jacket
9.The Sacrifice
10. Witness
Great lists, MM!
Mine:
1. Blue Velvet
2. Hannah and Her Sisters
3. The Last Emperor
4. Do the Right Thing
5. Videodrome
6. The Decline of the American Empire
7. Raging Bull
8. Blood Simple
9. Ran
10. Atlantic City
1. Fanny and Alexander
2. Blade Runner
3. Down By Law
4. Purple Rain
5. Paris, Texas
6.Sweetie
7.Broadcast News
8. Hail Mary
9. Big Trouble in Little China
10. Kiki’s Delivery Service
Huzzah! Another fan of Kiki!
It has been a favorite for a very long time. It just makes me exceedingly happy.
1 – Once Upon a Time in America
2 – The Age of the Earth
3 – Brazil
4 – Fitzcarraldo
5 – Cabra Marcado Para Morrer (Twenty Years Later)
6 – The Last Temptation of Christ
7 – Ran
8- Pixote
9 – Escape from New York/The Thing
10 – Star Trek II – The Wrath of Khan
1. Hannah and Her Sisters
2. Do the Right Thing
3. Platoon
4. Reds
5. Raiders of the Lost Ark
6. Crimes and Misdemeanors
7. Aliens
8. Die Hard
9. Raging Bull
10. Full Metal Jacket
1. On the Silver Globe
2. The Decalogue
3. El Sur
4. Paris, Texas
5. Come and See
6. Sans Soliel
7. The Last of England
8. The Draughtsman’s Contract
9. Nostalghia
10. Damnation
1) The Empire Strikes Back
2) Aliens
3) RoboCop
4) Blade Runner
5) Raiders of the Lost Ark
6) Videodrome
7) Raging Bull
8) Predator
9) Full Metal Jacket
10) Ghostbusters
Come to think of it, isn’t it a bit weird to ask anyone to pick only 10 between hundreds of thousands of movies released over a period of 10 years all over the world? And isn’t it even weirder that most movies on the lists are American (mine included)? Didn’t the other countries produce anything more worthy of being on the best of the decade than, say, Die Hard (which I love, by the way)?
Weird is not the right word. It’s all arbitrary — as I mentioned. Ranking art is silly, though a nice way to open up discussion.
Hundreds of thousands of movies? Chances are most people haven’t seen more than a few hundred from the 1980s.
As for foreign film … that’s on you. Whether you include foreign films or not is entirely dependent on what you’ve watched.
But that’s what I mean! Having seen less than, say, 3% of the movies made in a whole decade, how can one possibly pick the 10 best ones?
So you’re basically complaining that movie-viewers aren’t omniscient cinema gods who have seen an absurd number of films before they can make a personal list of favorites? We are human beings who can only know so much. Every top x of a decade is going to be based upon an incomplete amount of knowledge.
No, of course not. I’m only saying there’s a saturation of films in English, whereas other countries and cultures also produce movies worthy of figuring on these lists which are ignored.
I’m with Sam on this one. It can be quite arbitrary. Having a top 10 list that only has American films doesn’t mean you don’t watch foreign films.
For example, you could have watched 30 foreign films and 20 American films for the decade and your top 10 could still be only the 10 American films.
It always irritates me when people make assumptions like “your favourite films are American, so you obviously haven’t watched foreign films.”
People like what they like.
Yeah, but since so many top x lists feature almost exclusively American films, what’s the logical conclusion? That the USA alone makes films better than all the rest of the world?
I agree that generally, it’s a shame that foreign films don’t get more recognition. However, I’ve seen instances were a blogger posts a top 10 list and someone criticizes them and says “not enough foreign films”. That’s what I take issue with and I find it offensive at times.
It’s simple, American films feature highly because they are more readily available. Also, I strongly believe that the best of American cinema compares well with the best of foreign film. Yes, Hollywood produces a lot of crap, but that’s expected considering the larger output. Also the crap often makes a lot the money and gets a lot of visibility, which warps of perception of the quality of American cinema.
Foreign cinema is no different actually. We only know about the best ones due to festivals etc, but there are hundreds that we don’t hear about that are just as bad as the worst of Hollywood.
But it’s unfair American movies should feature more on lists simply because they have more visibility. I mean, not to say it’s wrong that people like what they like, and of course there are lots of bad “foreign” movies (American movies are foreign to me too, so…), but maybe they should try and learn more about foreign cinema, beyond what they get through festivals etc.
It may seem unfair, but that’s the reality. Unless you’re advocating illegal downloads, I don’t see how we’re supposed to learn more about foreign cinema. We certainly don’t get many of them in theaters.
For example, I really want to watch to “Omar m’a tuer” (started watching it on a flight). It’s been 2 years and it’s still unavailable for me to watch.
Don’t you have the criterion collection and such? Don’t you get them on cable tv, netflix etc? I don’t mean all of it, of course. Sure there are lots of things which take so long to be available. But not movies of the 80s. The ones I think should be on more lists here, for example, I’ve seen on dvd – either rented or bought.
Fair point, but those are still limited to hand-picked festival favourites, select auteurs, award winners etc. Even if you decided to watch a lot of those there will still be many more American movies available to watch. In the end, those American films are often the ones that you are dying to watch because everyone is talking about them, while you’ll select a few highly-rated foreign films to watch and hopefully you’ll love them too, but there’s no guarantee.
Of course there are more American movies available to watch. I’m not saying otherwise. But if you only watch them, you’re missing some great stuff being made overseas and contributing to keep the rule of American culture intact.
It’s not weird that most of them are American because most movie-viewers that come to these sites are English speakers and watch a lot of films in English.
However, I still think it’s a problem and I’d even go so far as accuse many movie-buffs of being lazy by saturating themselves in American cinema when there are so many countries producing astounding movies in this period of time. I think the ’80s was a vibrant time for foreign cinema and it is sad to see a lot of American films dominate this list when films like Wenders, Studio Ghibli, Woo, Kiarostami and more are making fantastic films.
But you see, that’s an issue even with non-English speakers. I myself am from Brazil, and people have a culture of knowing and liking American cinema above all else. When it’s not American cinema, it’s Italian, French, you name it. Never – or rarely at best – Brazilian cinema. I don’t know how it’s like in the rest of the world but that may be the case in other countries which are more strongly influenced by American culture.
I’m DISGUSTED, if not surprised, at the sheer volume of Ferris Bueller inclusions on here. LOATH that movie.
I like it a lot, but wouldn’t dare pick it as one of the ten best movies of the entire decade
Well, you’ll just have to deal with it haha. You are in the minority on that one. Vintage 80s.
Such is my burden as someone who knows how bad that film sucks
Feelm, Feelm, Feelm.
Never had one lesson…
1. Paris, Texas
2. Fanny and Alexander
3. The Terrorizers
4. The Green Ray
5. Sherman’s March
6. A City of Sadness
7. Mauvais Sang
8. Hannah and Her Sisters
9. Vernon, FL
10. Sans Soleil
Off the top of my head…
1. The Shining
2. A Nightmare on Elm Street
3. Dead & Buried
4. The Empire Strikes Back
5. An American Werewolf in London
6. Creepshow
7. Friday the 13th Part 3
8. Poltergeist
9. The Thing
10. Clash of the Titans
1. Amadeus
2. Paris, Texas
3. Blade Runner
4. Time of the Gypsies
5. Do The Right Thing
6. The King of Comedy
7. Hannah and Her Sisters
8. Fanny and Alexander
9. The Shining
10. Wings of Desire
Shout out to: Drowning by Numbers, Out of the Blue, Mauvais Sang, Something Wild, and many more…
1) Back to the Future (1985)
2) The Princess Bride (1987)
3) Moonstruck (1987)
4) Pretty in Pink (1986)
5) Dead Poets Society (1989)
6) Big (1988)
7) The Karate Kid (1984)
8) Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)
9) Dirty Dancing (1987)
10) Lucas (1986)
Lucas and Dirty Dancing. Rotfl.
For me, Lucas is a good film because it has this Life Lesson: “Just because you like someone does not mean they will like you back,” as well as an actual discussion of Darwin and natural selection. It’s also a movie that depicts teens as humane and caring individuals rather than shallow and crude, which is a more typical characterization. Finally, I like the clapping scene in the end. It is touching. Dirty Dancing, likewise, has a profound Life Lesson: “Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.” It is a film that depicts classism (Ivy League vs. working class) and chauvinism (rape and illegal abortion) in a complete environment. A whole world is created, as opposed to a scene tacked on to a movie to give it more depth. Also, the music is fantastic, and I like the ending dance scene. Yep. Great Movies both.
“Just because you like someone does not mean they will like you back,”
You mean you had to see this movie to figure this out?
“Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.”
Sure, but respect, like money, has to be earned. If you stick your ass out to be rubbed by the groins of other men out in public, it’s hardly gonna win you any respect.
I mean if a guy with a long dick pulls down his pants and sucks his own dick in public and demands respect, most people aint gonna give him that.
if a woman sticks her ass out and farts in the bus out loud and says she wants respect, she aint gonna get it.
Sex is wonderful and why we exist. But it belongs in the bedroom. If you wanna dance like you wanna fuck, just get a hotel room and do some fucking. Better for both parties.
Re: <>
It’s a general Life Lesson taken from the movie. Wether it is the first time someone has been exposed to this idea depends on how young they are when they see the movie. But, I think it is a really hard lesson for some people to accept, the most extreme example would be stalkers and their ilk. I think it is hard for some teens to accept that the extent to which they like someone has no bearing on whether that other person will reciprocate. It’s probably one of the first heart breaks, and the movie Lucas shows this really well. It zeroes in on all of these dynamics while still being uplifting.
re: <>
We may have different definitions of respect. By treating someone with “respect” I mean being “respectful.” In its very basic form, it’s just a matter of good manners. For example, if someone says, “Hi” to you, you should acknowledge them and greet them back. Even if you don’t like them for some reason, they are still human beings. If someone extends out their hand to thank you, you should graciously accept it. In the movie, the father, who is a doctor, looks down on Johnny, and refuses to shake his hand because he thinks Johnny is a lowlife. Until the last scene, that is, when the doctor learns more about Johnny and realizes that he had misjudged him. There are more profound reasons to treat everyone with respect, having to do with living in a shared society, acknowledging other people’s pain and suffering, wanting to treat others as you would like to be treated etc. etc.
1. Raiders of the Lost Ark
2. Raising Arizona
3. The Shining
4. My Neighbor Totoro
5. Aliens
6. The King of Comedy
7. Hannah and her Sisters
8. The Princess Bride
9. Airplane!
10. The Decalogue
If for some reason The Decaloge is disqualified because it was produced for Polish State Television then
10. Die Hard
David Baruffi, from “David Baruffi’s Entertainment Views and Reviews” and here’s my Top Ten films of the ’80s!
1. The Decalogue
2. Wings of Desire
3. Pixote: The Law of the Weakest
4. Raging Bull
5. Do the Right Thing
6. This is Spinal Tap
7. My Dinner with Andre
8. Amadeus
9. Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
10. Airplane!
The Shining
Tango
Mommie Dearest
One from the Heart
Sans soleil
L’Argent
Love Streams
Crime Wave
The Fly
Do the Right Thing
One from the Heart?
1. Do the Right Thing
2. When Harry Met Sally
3. Poltergeist
4. The Princess Bride
5. The Thing
6. Raiders of the Lost Ark
7. Castle in the Sky
8. Field of Dreams
9. The Shining
10. An American Tail
1. Wings of Desire
2. Raiders of the Lost Ark
3. Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back
4. Babette’s Feast
5. Raising Arizona
6. Blade Runner
7. Midnight Run
8. A Room with a View
9. My Neighbor Totoro
10. Chariots of Fire
Ten Runners-up:
Top Secret!
The Decalogue
Empire of the Sun
Amadeus
The Princess Bride
Brazil
Hannah and Her Sisters
Distant Voices, Still Lives
Down By Law
Zelig
1. Do the Right Thing
2. Raging Bull
3. Blue Velvet
4. Fanny & Alexander
5. Brazil
6. Blade Runner
7. Down By Law
8. Videodrome
9. The Elephant Man
10. Die Hard
Once Upon A Time in America, Time of the Gypsies, Laputa Castle in the Sky, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds, Kagemusha, Prince of the City, Ran, Blade Runner, When Father Was Away on Business, Makioka Sisters, Family Game, Himatsuri, L’Argent, Atlantic City, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, Melo, Sunday in the Country, Life and Nothing But, Mon Oncle Amerique, Bubblegum Crisis original series, Utu, Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith, Year of Living Dangerously, Hope and Glory, Das Boot, Raging Bull, King of comedy, Raiders of the Lost Ark, ET, Scarface, Dressed to Kill, Violent Cop, My Beautiful Laundrette, To Live and Die in LA, Merry Xmas Mr. Lawrence, Something Wild, Melvin and Howard, Local Hero, Pelle the Conqueror, Hey Babu Riba, Reds, Midnight Run, Moonlighting, Danton, Millennial Bee, Empire of the Sun, Mystic Pizza, Ballad of Narayama, Eijanaika, Breaker Morant, Walker, Tess, Diner, Tin Men, Cinema Paradiso, Passage to India, Home and the World, House of Games, Mephisto, Tron, McCarthur’s Children, Gonza the Spearman, Do You Remember Dolly Bell?, Surefire(Jost), Desert Bloom, Jean de Florette, Lost in America, Smash Palace, Police Story, Better Tomorrow, Yes Madam, Twice in a Lifetime, Sugar Cane Alley, Stop Making Sense, Hoosiers, Coal Miner’s Daughter, The Thing, Wolfen, The Sure Thing, Woman Next Door, Rikyu, Housekeeping, Big, Miracle Mile, Tampopo, Space Adventure Cobra, Chariots of Fire, Greystoke, Revolution, Stacking, Long Riders, Shy People, Runaway Train, Planes Trains Automobiles, Risky Business, Osterman Weekend, Down by Law, Casualties of War, Airplane, Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, The Terminator, Videodrome, Ragtime, Victor/Victoria, Come and See, Entre Nous, Yeleen, Southern Comfort, Gloria, Love Streams, The Hit, Broadway Danny Rose, No Way Out, Tender Mercies, Story of Women, Apartment Zero, Tucker, Big Red
One, Open Doors, Burden of Dreams, Baby It’s You, Christmas Story, Night of the Shooting Stars, Chinese Ghost Story, Stranger(satyajit ray), Revolt of Job, Real Genius, Fandango, 1984, etc
10. The Fly
9. Broadcast News
8. Clean and Sober
7. Empire of the Sun
6. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
5. E.T.
4. Blow Out
3. The Accidental Tourist
2. Born on the Fourth of July
1. The Shining
01. Hannah and Her Sisters
02. Au revoir les enfants
03. Raging Bull
04. Blue Velvet
05. Do the Right Thing
06. The Unbelievable Truth
07. The Fly
07. The Purple Rose of Cairo
08. Another Woman
09. Zelig
10. Blade Runner
Another Woman? You crazy?
Nope. Rowlands and Allen together <3 <3 <3
1. The Big Red One (Samuel Fuller)
2. Black Rain (Shohei Imamura)
3. Zelig (Woody Allen)
4. Dead Ringers (David Cronenberg)
5. Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle (Eric Rohmer)
6. Tetsuo the Iron Man (Shinya Tsukomoto)
7. Re-animator (Stuart Gordon)
8. Fast Times at Ridgemont High (Amy Heckerling)
9. Gremlins (Joe Dante)
10.Lola (Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
Black Rain is one of Imamura’s weakest works.
#1. Stop Making Sense
#2. The Shining
#3. Grave of the Fireflies
#4. Do The Right Thing
#5. Once Upon A Time in America
#6. Back To The Future
#7. Raiders of the Lost Ark
#8. Das Boot
#9. Raging Bull
#10. Hannah and Her Sisters
1. Raiders of the Lost Ark
2. The Empire Strikes Back
3. Do the Right Thing
4. Back to the Future
5. Wings of Desire
6. The Right Stuff
7. Hannah and Her Sisters
8. The Terminator
9. Eight Men Out
10. Blade Runner
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1.Risky Business
2.Something Wild
3.Melvin and Howard
4.The Fog
5.Fandango
6.The Entity
7.Breathless
8.The Fly
9.Blow Out
10.Once Upon a Time in America
Excalibur
Woman Next Door
1. Do the Right Thing
2. A City of Sadness
3. Ran
4. Stranger than Paradise
5. The Green Ray
6. Sans soleil
7. Raiders of the Lost Ark
8. Pennies from Heaven
9. My Neighbor Totoro
10. A Better Tomorrow
You mean you actually sat through all of City of Sadness and thought it was good?
Yes.
You gotta be shitting me.
Nope.
Is Do the Right Thing the obligatory ‘white guilt’ inclusion thing?
Paris Texas, art film for spineless yuppies.
Toad Warrior… or is it the Road Warrior?
10 The King of Comedy
9 Modern Romance
8 Blue Velvet
7 Raising Arizona
6 Airplane
5 Tootsie
4 Lost in America
3 Die Hard
2 The Shining
1 This Is Spinal Tap
1. Fanny and Alexander
2. Raging Bull
3. Blue Velvet
4. Ran
5. Videodrome
6. Blow Out
7. Raiders of the Lost Ark
8. Where Is the Friend’s Home?
9. Possession
10. Once Upon a Time in America
1. Blade Runner
2. Brazil
3. Amadeus
4. Broadcast News
5. Aliens
6. The Last Emperor
7. The Empire Strikes Back
8. Tootsie
9. Full Metal Jacket
10. Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Sean Topping, Filmmaker
A hastily assembled top 10 in chronological order:
The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)
Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982)
The Thing (John Carpenter, 1982)
The Catch (Shinji Somai, 1983)
Paris, Texas (Wim Wenders, 1984)
This Is Spinal Tap (Rob Reiner, 1984)
Laputa: Castle in the Sky (Hayao Miyazaki, 1986)
Empire of the Sun (Steven Spielberg, 1987)
Raising Arizona (Joel Coen, 1987)
Dead Ringers (David Cronenberg, 1988)
1. The Seventh Continent
2. The Shining
3. A Better Tomorrow
4. Blade Runner
5. Brazil
6. Videodrome
7. Airplane!
8. The Thing
9. The Princess Bride
10. Raising Arizona
1. The Draughtsman’s Contract
2. Little Doritt
3. Company of Wolves
4. This is Spinal Tap
5. Drowning By Numbers
6. Brazil
7.Wings of Desire.
8.The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
9.The Shooting Party
10. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
1. Blade Runner
2. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
3. Stand by Me
4, Blood Simple.
5. My Neighbor Totoro
6. Vacation
7. Aliens
8. Crimes and Misdemeanors
9. The Fog
10. Broadcast News
1. Hannah and her Sisters
2. The Road Warrior
3. Blue Velvet
4. Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure
5. Drugstore Cowboy
6. Stop Making Sense
7. Sid and Nancy
8. Sixteen Candles
9. Blade Runner
10. Raiders of the Lost Ark
Flight of the Eagle by Jan Troell
10. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
9. The Purple Rose of Cairo
8. Fanny & Alexander
7. Blue Velvet
6. Brazil
5. Once Upon a Time in America
4. Blade Runner
3. The Shining
2. Raging Bull
1. Raiders of the Lost Ark
10) Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
9) Predator
8) Back to the Future
7) The Shining
6) Die Hard
5) Do the Right Thing
4) RoboCop
3) They Live
2) Platoon
1) Grave of the Fireflies
where the fuck is RAN you talentless FUCKS?!
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1) Ghostbusters
2) Ghostbusters
3) Ghostbusters
4) Ghostbusters
5) Ghostbusters
6) Ghostbusters
7) Ghostbusters
8) Ghostbusters
9) Ghostbusters
10) Predator
Ghostbusters only made one list? Seriously?
1)A Christmas Story
2)The Shining
3)The Blues Brothers
4)National Lampoons Vacation
5)Fast Times At Ridgemont High
6)This Is Spinal Tap
7)Modern Romance
8)The Dead Pool
9)Friday The 13th
10)The Toy
Personal Opinion In no chronological order…
1. A Nightmare On Elm Street
2. Back To The Future
3. Die Hard
4. The Goonies
5. Escape From New York
6. Gremlins
7. Hellraiser
8. The Thing
9. Child’s Play
10. E.T. The Extra Terrestrial
01. Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980)
02. Raiders of the Lost Ark (Steven Spielberg, 1981)
03. Back To The Future (Roger Zemeckis, 1985)
04. Ghostbusters (Ivan Reitman, 1984)
05. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (John Hughes, 1986)
06. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (Irvin Kershner, 1980)
07. The Goonies (Richard Donner, 1986)
08. Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure (Stephen Herek, 1989)
09. Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (Roger Zemeckis and Richard Williams, 1988)
10. Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (Tim Burton, 1985)
Once Upon A Time in America
Blade Runner
Kagemusha
Excalibur
Makioka Sisters
Merry X-mas Mr. Lawrence
Time of the Gypsies
To Live and Die in LA
Year of Living Dangerously
The Shining
1. The King of Comedy
2. Fitzcarraldo
3. The Thing
4. The Shining
5. UHF
6. Stop Making Sense
7. Koyaanisqatsi
8. The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover
9. Blade Runner
10. Do the Right Thing
#1 The Color Purple
#2 The Evil Dead
#3 Platoon
#4 Dead Poets Society
#5 E.T.
#6 Salaam Bombay!
#7 The Karate Kid
#8 Full Metal Jacket
#9 Aliens
#10 On Golden Pond
RIVER’S EDGE!! no one has that . wtf. u guys suck! FUCK THESE LISTS. fuckin dick blowers!
PREDATOR . good one man.loved that movie!!!
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I can’t believe no one had The Breakfast Club on their list! It might seem dated but still has so much relevance about the forms people take while teenagers…
Hated it. One of Hughes’ worst movies.
Big Time
Akira
Do The Right Thing?
Seriously does anyone like this movie?
(that doesn’t have velcro on their head)
1. Hotaru no haka AKA Grave of the Fireflies
2. Back to the Future
3. Raging Bull
4. Tenkû no shiro Rapyuta AKA Castle in the Sky
5. Die Hard
6. Crimes and Misdemeanors
7. The Empire Strikes Back
8. Full Metal Jacket
9. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
10. Sex, Lies, and Videotape
Also worth mentioning: Dead Poets Society; Platoon; Nuovo Cinema Paradiso; Amadeus; Das Boot; Empire of the Sun; The Name of the Rose; Blade Runner; Zelig; Tonari no Totoro AKA My Neighbor Totoro; Who Framed Roger Rabbit; A Fish Called Wanda; Majo no takkyûbin AKA Kiki’s Delivery Service; Do the Right Thing; The Mission; The Purple Rose of Cairo; Stand by Me; The Elephant Man; Broadway Danny Rose; Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
Like to see some of the ones on the lists that don’t get as much love. Modern Romance is a classic. Also think that while Hannah and Her Sisters was a good movie, both Crimes and Misdemeanors as well as The Purple Rose of Cairo were better movies.
So many great films. So difficult to just narrow down to 10.
01. Tenebrae.
02. Running on Empty.
03. Pink Floyd – The Wall.
04. American Pop.
05. À Nos Amours.
06. Pixote, the Law of the Weakest.
07. Prince of Darkness.
08. The Shining.
09. Come and See.
10. A Short Film About Love.