Top Films of the 1980s (Calculated)

200 movies  

Movie

Damnation (1988)
Kárhozat
director: 塔尔·贝拉 actor: Székely B. Miklós / György Cserhalmi …
other title: Perdizione / Danação …
Karrer plods his way through life in quiet desperation. His environment is drab and rainy and muddy. Eaten up with solitude, his hopelessness would be incurable but for the existence of the Titanik Bar and its beautiful, haunting singer. But the lady is married and Karrer is determined to keep her husband away...

Movie

On Golden Pond (1981)
On Golden Pond
director: Mark Rydell actor: Katharine Hepburn / Henry Fonda …
other title: Sul lago dorato / Deres sensommer …
For Norman and Ethel Thayer, this summer on golden pond is filled with conflict and resolution. When their daughter Chelsea arrives, the family is forced to renew the bonds of love and overcome the generational friction that has existed for years.

Movie

Out of the Blue (1981)
Out of the Blue
director: Dennis Hopper actor: Linda Manz / Dennis Hopper …
other title: Snack Bar Blues / Caído del cielo …
A young girl whose father is an ex-convict and whose mother is a junkie finds it difficult to conform and tries to find comfort in a quirky combination of Elvis and the punk scene.

Movie

Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985)
Kiss of the Spider Woman
director: Héctor Babenco actor: William Hurt / Raúl Juliá …
other title: Il bacio della donna ragno / Edderkoppekvindens kys …
The story of two radically different men thrown together in a Latin American prison cell. One is Valentin, a journalist being tortured for his political beliefs. The other is Molina, a gay window-dresser who fills their lonely nights by spinning romantic fantasies drawn from memories of old movies.

Movie

Man of Iron (1981)
Człowiek z żelaza
director: Andrzej Wajda actor: Jerzy Radziwiłowicz / Krystyna Janda …
other title: L'uomo di ferro / Der Mann aus Eisen …
In Warsaw in 1980, the Communist Party sends disgruntled radio reporter Winkel to Gdańsk to dig up dirt on the shipyard strikers - particularly on Maciek Tomczyk, an independent labour union leader whose father was killed in the December 1970 protests. Posing as sympathetic, Winkel interviews the people surrounding Tomczyk, including his detained wife, Agnieszka.

Movie

God's Country (1985) IMDb TMDB
God's Country
director: Louis Malle actor: Louis Malle
In 1979, Louis Malle films the thriving lives of a Minnesota farming community, but returns six years later to document its drastic economic decline, offering a poignant look at the impact of political changes.

Movie

Heart of a Dog (1988)
Собачье сердце
director: Vladimir Bortko actor: Evgeniy Evstigneev / Boris Plotnikov …
other title: Cœur de chien / Corazón de perro …
"Heart of a Dog" is a Soviet film adaptation of Mikhail Bulgakov’s iconic novella. Set in 1920s Moscow, it tells the satirical and darkly humorous story of a stray dog named Sharik, who is transformed into a human by Professor Preobrazhensky through a daring medical experiment. The resulting man, Poligraf Poligrafovich Sharikov, embodies the social and ideological tensions of early Soviet society. With its sharp critique of class struggle, human nature, and the perils of radical change, the film is celebrated for its faithful adaptation, brilliant performances, and rich allegorical depth.

Movie

Prince of the City (1981) WikiData IMDb TMDB KevGa-NeoDB
Prince of the City
director: Sidney Lumet actor: Treat Williams / Jerry Orbach …
other title: Il principe della città / Le Prince de New York …
New York City detective Daniel Ciello agrees to help the United States Department of Justice help eliminate corruption in the police department, as long as he will not have to turn in any close friends. In doing so, Ciello uncovers a conspiracy within the force to smuggle drugs to street informants.

Movie

Barefoot Gen (1983)
はだしのゲン
director: Mori Masaki actor: Issei Miyazaki / Masaki Kouda …
other title: Gen di Hiroshima / Gen Pés Descalços …
A story about the effect of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on a boy's life and the lives of the Japanese people.

Movie

The Broken Landlord (1985) WikiData IMDb TMDB NeoDB
Züğürt Ağa
director: Nesli Çölgeçen actor: Şener Şen / Erdal Özyağcılar …
other title: Züğürt Ağa
The landowner (Agha) of the Haraptar village marries off his old father with the young and beautiful Kiraz. But on the nuptial night, his father dies and everything starts to go bad for the Agha. Due to the long drought and provocations of Kekec Salman (big brother of Kiraz), the peasants steal the crops and run away to Istanbul. Without the peasants and crops, Agha is also forced to sell the village and move to Istanbul. But he cannot keep up with the big city life and consumes all his money and belongings. Agha's wife and relatives leave him during this downfall.

Movie

The Seventh Continent (1989)
Der siebente Kontinent
director: Michael Haneke actor: Birgit Doll / Dieter Berner …
other title: Il settimo continente / O Sétimo Continente …
Chronicles three years of a middle-class family seemingly caught up in their daily routines, troubled only by minor incidents. Behind their apparent calm and repetitive existence, however, they're planning something much more sinister.

Movie

Blood Wedding (1981)
Bodas de sangre
director: Carlos Saura actor: Antonio Gades / Cristina Hoyos …
other title: Bodas de sangre - Nozze di sangue / Bluthochzeit …
A dance troupe prepares for and completes a dress rehearsal of Federico García Lorca's tragic play "Blood Wedding," which is about a bride who runs away from her wedding with a former boyfriend.

Movie

Mona Lisa (1986) WikiData IMDb TMDB
Mona Lisa
director: Neil Jordan actor: Bob Hoskins / Cathy Tyson …
George is a small-time crook just out of prison who discovers his tough-guy image is out of date. Reduced to working as a minder/driver for high class call girl Simone, he has to agree when she asks him to find a young colleague from her King's Cross days. That's when George's troubles just start.

Movie

Mississippi Burning (1988)
Mississippi Burning
director: Alan Parker actor: Gene Hackman / Willem Dafoe …
other title: Mississippi Burning - Le radici dell'odio / Mississippi i flammer …
Two FBI agents investigating the murder of civil rights workers during the 60s seek to breach the conspiracy of silence in a small Southern town where segregation divides black and white. The younger agent trained in FBI school runs up against the small town ways of his partner, a former sheriff.

Movie

Mystery Train (1989)
Mystery Train
★ 7.4 (5 ratings) director: Jim Jarmusch actor: Youki Kudoh / Masatoshi Nagase …
other title: Mystery train: martedì notte a Memphis / Mystery Train - Martedì notte a Memphis
In Memphis, Tennessee, over the course of a single night, the Arcade Hotel, run by an eccentric night clerk and a clueless bellboy, is visited by a young Japanese couple traveling in search of the roots of rock; an Italian woman in mourning who stumbles upon a fleeing charlatan girl; and a comical trio of accidental thieves looking for a place to hide.

Movie

Moonlighting (1982)
Moonlighting
director: Jerzy Skolimowski actor: Jeremy Irons / Eugene Lipinski …
other title: Schwarzarbeit / Travail au noir …
A Polish contractor, Nowak, leads a group of workmen to London so they can provide cheap labor for a government official based there. Nowak has to manage the project and the men as they encounter the tempations of the West and loneliness and separation from their families. Nowak is the only one of the group who speaks English, and he uses this as a tool over his team. When the unrest in Poland leads to a military takeover, Nowak is faced with a much more difficult situation than he expected.
Reply Quote Nov. 10, 2025