Top Movies of 1981


The top movies of 1981 list is calculated by community movie ratings and members' "Top Movies List". Lists are updated daily.

1. Raiders of the Lost Ark

Year of Release: 1981
Overall Rating: 3.3 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Adventure/Action
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: Steven Spielberg
Actors: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, John Rhys-Davies, Denholm Elliott, Alfred Molina
Plot: Indiana Jones, a college professor is on an adventure with his old friend to find the Ark of the Covenant.

2. On Golden Pond

Year of Release: 1981
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Drama
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: Mark Rydell
Actors: Katharine Hepburn, Henry Fonda, Jane Fonda, Doug McKeon, Dabney Coleman, William Lanteau
Plot: An elderly couple wants to enjoy their life with their grandson.

3. An American Werewolf in London

Year of Release: 1981
Overall Rating: 2.9 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Horror/Comedy
MPAA Rating: R
Director: John Landis
Actors: David Naughton, Griffin Dunne, Jenny Agutter, John Woodvine, Lila Kaye, Frank Oz
Plot: Two students on a walking trip through England are attacked by a werewolf. One is killed, the other bitten. Villagers deny the existance of the beast, but the bitten student soon changes...

4. Christiane F.

Year of Release: 1981
Overall Rating: 3.1 out of 4 stars
Language: German
Genre: Biography/Drama
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Uli Edel
Actors: Natja Brunckhorst, Thomas Haustein, Jens Kuphal, Rainer Woelk, Jan Georg Effler, David Bowie
Plot: A teen living in 1970s Berlin finds herself drawn into the world of drugs and disco via a series of recorded tapes she made.

5. Gallipoli

Year of Release: 1981
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Drama/Historical
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: Peter Weir
Actors: Mel Gibson, Mark Lee, Bill Kerr, Harold Hopkins, Charles Lathalu Yunipingli, Heath Harris
Plot: Follows a group of young Australian men as they live their various lives behind in order to fight in WWI. The men are sent to Gallipoli where they will face the might of the Turkish army.

6. The Fox and the Hound

Year of Release: 1981
Overall Rating: 2.9 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Animation/Comedy
MPAA Rating: G
Director: Ted Berman, Richard Rich
Actors: Mickey Rooney, Kurt Russell, Pearl Bailey, Keith Coogan, Corey Feldman, Jeanette Nolan
Plot: An unlikely friendship develops between a hound dog pup, Copper and a baby fox, Tod. As they grow up, their relationship is strained as Copper is expected to hunt fox. Is their childhood friendship strong enough to survive?

7. Stripes

Year of Release: 1981
Overall Rating: 2.9 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Comedy/War
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Ivan Reitman
Actors: Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, Warren Oates, P.J. Soles, Sean Young, John Candy
Plot: John Winger, a down-on-his luck New Yorker, convinces his friend to join to army with him to impress chicks and make money. Clowning through basic training, becoming the leader of a misfit platoon, Winger somehow manages to land a plum assignment manning a new urban assault vehicle in Italy.

8. History of the World: Part I

Year of Release: 1981
Overall Rating: 2.9 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Comedy
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Mel Brooks
Actors: Mel Brooks, Madeline Kahn, Harvey Korman, Gregory Hines, Cloris Leachman, Dom DeLuise
Plot: Take a farcical journey through history as the Stone Age, Roman Empire and French Revolution are all skewered by Mel Brooks.

9. The Looney, Looney, Looney Bugs Bunny Movie

Year of Release: 1981
Overall Rating: 2.9 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Family/Animation
MPAA Rating: G
Director: Friz Freleng
Actors: Mel Blanc, June Foray, Stan Freberg, Ralph James, Frank Nelson, Frank Welker
Plot: Classic Looney Toones shorts are strung together in three different stories.

10. Escape from New York

Year of Release: 1981
Overall Rating: 2.8 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Action/Sci-Fi
MPAA Rating: R
Director: John Carpenter
Actors: Kurt Russell, Ernest Borgnine, Lee Van Cleef, Isaac Hayes, Donald Pleasence, Harry Dean Stanton
Plot: Takes place in 1998 as New York is in rubbles. The President crashes into the jailed city when a crook is sent in to rescue him because he is the only one skilled enough to do complete the job.

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