Top Movies of 1980s


The top movies of 1980s list is calculated by community movie ratings and members' "Top Movies List". Lists are updated daily.

71. Poltergeist

Year of Release: 1982
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Horror/Thriller
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: Tobe Hooper
Actors: Craig T. Nelson, JoBeth Williams, Heather O'Rourke, Richard Lawson, James Karen, Beatrice Straight
Plot: A typical suburban family is first amused, then terrorized as ghosts and other paranormal phenomena take over their home.

72. Blood Simple

Year of Release: 1985
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Crime/Drama
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Joel Coen
Actors: John Getz, Frances McDormand, Dan Hedaya, M. Emmet Walsh, Samm-Art Williams, Deborah Neumann
Plot: A wealthy bar owner in Texas suspect his wife of cheating on him. He hire an unscrupulous private investigator to confirm and kill his wife and lover. The hired man has his own plans and soon a simple murder-for-hire takes a complex turn.

73. Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior

Year of Release: 1982
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Action/Adventure
MPAA Rating: R
Director: George Miller
Actors: Mel Gibson, Bruce Spence, Michael Preston, Max Phipps, Vernon Wells, Virginia Hey
Plot: Former police officer turned "Road Warrior" Max is now in search of the most valuable commodity in Australia: Fuel. He finds a small community around a refinery, and reluctantly agrees to help defend them against a ruthless biker gang.

74. Kagemusha

Year of Release: 1980
Overall Rating: 3.1 out of 4 stars
Language: Japanese
Genre: Drama/War
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Actors: Tatsuya Nakadai, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Kenichi Hagiwara, Jinpachi Nezu, Hideji Otaki, Daisuke Ryu
Plot: When a powerful warlord dies, it is up to a low-born thief, who looks exactly like the late lord, to take his place. With this power comes a great burden and the facade cannot hold up forever.

75. The Right Stuff

Year of Release: 1983
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Drama/Historical
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: Philip Kaufman
Actors: Ed Harris, Sam Shepard, Dennis Quaid, Scott Glenn, Barbara Hershey, Fred Ward
Plot: The story of the Mercury 7 Astronauts and how the space program really got started with these aging men.

76. Beverly Hills Cop

Year of Release: 1984
Overall Rating: 2.9 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Action/Comedy
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Martin Brest
Actors: Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold, John Ashton, Lisa Eilbacher, Ronny Cox, Steven Berkoff
Plot: A Detroit cop (Eddie Murphy) takes a leave of absence to look into the murder of a troubled old friend. The trail leads to Beverly Hills, where the irreverent Murphy investigates his friend's former employer (Steven Berkoff). Improvising his way through Beverly Hills, Murphy's "bad cop" approach rubs the local "good cops" (John Ashton, Judge Reinhold, Ronny Cox) the wrong way... until his investigation actually turns up some real evidence.

77. Big

Year of Release: 1988
Overall Rating: 2.9 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Comedy/Drama
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: Penny Marshall
Actors: Tom Hanks, Elizabeth Perkins, John Heard, Jon Lovitz, Jared Rushton, Robert Loggia
Plot: A twelve-year-old boy wishes he were big and the next thing he knows he is an adult trying to make a living while his friends are still in grade school.

78. Ordinary People

Year of Release: 1980
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Drama
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Robert Redford
Actors: Mary Tyler Moore, Donald Sutherland, Timothy Hutton, Judd Hirsch, M. Emmet Walsh, Scott Doebler
Plot: A death to a family's oldest boy strains the hard nosed mother and easy going father while the younger song tries to take the blame as they battle life with out one of their family members.

79. Mirror, The ( Zerkalo )

Year of Release: 1980
Overall Rating: 3.1 out of 4 stars
Language: Russian
Genre: Drama/Biography
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky
Actors: Margarita Terekhova, Ignat Daniltsev, Larisa Tarkovskaya, Alla Demidova, Anatoli Solonitsyn, Tamara Ogorodnikova
Plot: A Russian man in his 40s is going to die - he reflects back on growing up during WWII, his adolescence and family in a film that mixes flashbacks with historical footage to tell a personal story but also explore the story of Russia itself.

80. When Harry Met Sally...

Year of Release: 1989
Overall Rating: 2.9 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Comedy/Romance
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Rob Reiner
Actors: Meg Ryan, Billy Crystal, Lisa Jane Persky, Carrie Fisher, Steven Ford, Bruno Kirby
Plot: A friendship is born basically at college between a man and a woman who think it is best to maintain friends rather than have sex ruin their relationship. 20 years or so pass and they figure maybe it's time to give it a shot.

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