Monday, December 30, 2013

The Lists: Must See Movies, 1980-1989

Once Upon a Time in America. Image courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

Boldfaced titles with asterisk (*) indicate top 10 of the decade.

Airplane (1980, David Zucker and Jim Abrahams)
American Gigolo (1980, Paul Schrader)
Atlantic City (1980, Louis Malle)
Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980, Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
Cruising (1980, William Friedkin)
Dressed to Kill (1980, Brian De Palma)
The Empire Strikes Back (1980, Irvin Kershner)
Melvin and Howard (1980, Jonathan Demme)
The Ninth Configuration (1980, William Peter Blatty)
Ordinary People (1980, Robert Redford)
Raging Bull (1980, Martin Scorsese) *
The Shining (1980, Stanley Kubrick)
Shogun Assassin (1980, Robert Houston)
Blow Out (1981, Brian De Palma)
Body Heat (1981, Lawrence Kasdan)
Chariots of Fire (1981, Hugh Hudson)
Cutter's Way (1981, Ivan Passer)
Das Boot (The Boat) (1981, Wolfgang Petersen)
The Decline of Western Civilization (1981, Penelope Spheeris)
Diva (1981, Jean-Jacques Beineix)
The Evil Dead (1981, Sam Raimi)
Gallipoli (1981, Peter Weir)
The Long Good Friday (1981, John Mackenzie)
Man of Iron (1981, Andrzej Wajda)
Mephisto (1981, Istvan Szabo)
Ms. 45 (1981, Abel Ferrara)
My Dinner with Andre (1981, Louis Malle)
On Golden Pond (1981, Mark Rydell)
Out of the Blue (1981, Dennis Hopper)
Pixote (1981, Hector Babenco)
Possession (1981, Andrzej Zulawski)
Prince of the City (1981, Sidney Lumet)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981, Steven Spielberg)
Reds (1981, Warren Beatty)
Thief (1981, Michael Mann)
Blade Runner (1982, Ridley Scott)
Diner (1982, Barry Levinson)
The Draughtsman's Contract (1982, Peter Greenaway)
E.T. the Extra Terrestrial (1982, Steven Spielberg) *
Fanny and Alexander (1982, Ingmar Bergman)
Fitzcarraldo (1982, Werner Herzog)
Gandhi (1982, Richard Attenborough)
Missing (1982, Costa Gavras)
An Officer and a Gentleman (1982, Taylor Hackford)
Poltergeist (1982, Tobe Hooper)
Sophie's Choice (1982, Alan J. Pakula) *
The Thing (1982, John Carpenter)
Tootsie (1982, Sydney Pollack)
The Verdict (1982, Sidney Lumet)
White Dog (1982, Samuel Fuller)
The Ballad of Narayama (1983, Shohei Imamura)
A Christmas Story (1983, Bob Clark)
Danton (1983, Andrzej Wajda)
El Norte (1983, Gregory Nava)
The King of Comedy (1983, Martin Scorsese)
Return of the Jedi (1983, Richard Marquand)
The Right Stuff (1983, Philip Kaufman) *
Risky Business (1983, Paul Brickman)
Sans Soleil (1983, Chris Marker)
Scarface (1983, Brian De Palma)
Terms of Endearment (1983, James L. Brooks)
Videodrome (1983, David Cronenberg)
The Year of Living Dangerously (1983, Peter Weir)
Amadeus (1984, Milos Forman)
The Cotton Club (1984, Francis Ford Coppola)
Diary for My Children (1984, Marta Meszaros)
Ghostbusters (1984, Ivan Reitman)
Gremlins (1984, Joe Dante)
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984, Steven Spielberg)
The Killing Fields (1984, Roland Joffe)
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984, Wes Craven)
Once Upon a Time in America (1984, Sergio Leone) *
Paris, Texas (1984, Wim Wenders)
A Passage to India (1984, David Lean)
Repo Man (1984, Alex Cox)
Stranger Than Paradise (1984, Jim Jarmusch)
The Terminator (1984, James Cameron)
This is Spinal Tap (1984, Rob Reiner)
After Hours (1985, Martin Scorsese)
Back to the Future (1985, Robert Zemeckis)
Blood Simple (1985, Joel and Ethan Coen)
Brazil (1985, Terry Gilliam)
The Breakfast Club (1985, John Hughes)
The Color Purple (1985, Steven Spielberg)
Come and See (1985, Elem Klimov)
The Falcon and the Snowman (1985, John Schlesinger)
Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985, Hector Babenco)
Lost in America (1985, Albert Brooks)
My Life as a Dog (1985, Lasse Hallstrom)
Out of Africa (1985, Sydney Pollack)
Prizzi's Honor (1985, John Huston)
The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985, Woody Allen)
Ran (1985, Akira Kurosawa)
Shoah (1985, Claude Lanzmann)
To Live and Die in L.A. (1985, William Friedkin)
Trouble in Mind (1985, Alan Rudolph)
Witness (1985, Peter Weir)
At Close Range (1986, James Foley)
Blue Velvet (1986, David Lynch) *
Down by Law (1986, Jim Jarmusch)
The Fly (1986, David Cronenberg)
Hannah and Her Sisters (1986, Woody Allen)
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986, John McNaughton)
Jean De Florette (1986, Claude Berri)
Manon of the Spring (1986, Claude Berri)
Mauvais Sang (1986, Leos Carax)
Peggy Sue Got Married (1986, Francis Ford Coppola)
Platoon (1986, Oliver Stone) *
A Room with a View (1986, James Ivory)
Sid and Nancy (1986, Alex Cox)
Something Wild (1986, Jonathan Demme)
Stand By Me (1986, Rob Reiner)
Angel Heart (1987, Alan Parker)
Au Revoir Les Enfants (1987, Louis Malle)
Broadcast News (1987, James L. Brooks)
Empire of the Sun (1987, Steven Spielberg)
Full Metal Jacket (1987, Stanley Kubrick)
Good Morning, Vietnam (1987, Barry Levinson)
Hope and Glory (1987, John Boorman)
House of Games (1987, David Mamet)
The Last Emperor (1987, Bernardo Bertolucci)
Lethal Weapon (1987, Richard Donner)
Matewan (1987, John Sayles)
Moonstruck (1987, Norman Jewison)
The Princess Bride (1987, Rob Reiner)
Radio Days (1987, Woody Allen)
Red Sorghum (1987, Zhang Yimou)
River's Edge (1987, Tim Hunter)
Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story (1987, Todd Haynes)
The Untouchables (1987, Brian De Palma)
Wall Street (1987, Oliver Stone)
Wings of Desire (1987, Wim Wenders) *
Withnail & I (1987, Bruce Robinson)
Ariel (1988, Aki Kaurismaki)
Bull Durham (1988, Ron Shelton)
Chocolat (1988, Claire Denis)
Cinema Paradiso (1988, Giuseppe Tornatore)
Dead Ringers (1988, David Cronenberg)
The Decalogue (1988, Krzysztof Kieslowski) *
Die Hard (1988, John McTiernan)
Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988, Terence Davies)
A Fish Called Wanda (1988, Charles Crichton)
Grave of the Fireflies (1988, Isao Takahata)
Landscape in the Mist (1988, Theo Angelopoulos)
The Last Temptation of Christ (1988, Martin Scorsese)
Mississippi Burning (1988, Alan Parker)
My Neighbor Totoro (1988, Hayao Miyazaki)
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad (1988, David Zucker)
Rain Man (1988, Barry Levinson)
Salaam Bombay! (1988, Mira Nair)
Talk Radio (1988, Oliver Stone)
They Live (1988, John Carpenter)
The Thin Blue Line (1988, Errol Morris)
The Vanishing (1988, George Sluizer)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988, Robert Zemeckis)
Born on the 4th of July (1989, Oliver Stone)
A City of Sadness (1988, Hou Hsiao Hsien)
Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989, Woody Allen)
Do the Right Thing (1989, Spike Lee) *
Drugstore Cowboy (1989, Gus Van Sant)
Field of Dreams (1989, Phil Alden Robinson)
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989, Steven Spielberg)
My Left Foot (1989, Jim Sheridan)
Mystery Train (1989, Jim Jarmusch)
Parenthood (1989, Ron Howard)
Roger and Me (1989, Michael Moore)
Santa Sangre (1989, Alejandro Jodorowsky)
Say Anything (1989, Cameron Crowe)
Sex, Lies and Videotape (1989, Steven Soderbergh)
Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989, Shin'ya Tsukamoto)
When Harry Met Sally (1989, Rob Reiner)

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