Best Films of the 1980s

Voting is now open…

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242 Responses

on August 9, 2009 at 5:19 pm | Reply Angelo D'Arminio

I’ve cleared the board and am ready to get back to work.
on August 9, 2009 at 5:38 pm | Reply Sam Juliano

Well, I will officially launch the 80’s poll with my Top 50:

1 Fanny and Alexander (Bergman; Sweden)
2 Cinema Paradiso (Tornatore; Italy)
3 Henry V (Branagh; UK)
4 The Cook, the Thief His Wife and Her Lover (Greenaway; UK)
5 Blue Velvet (Lynch; USA)
6 La Traviata (Zeffirelli; Italy; W. Germany)
7 Empire of the Sun (Spielberg; USA)
8 Hope and Glory (Boorman; UK)
9 Berlin Alexanderplatz (Fassbinder; W. Germany)
10 Jean de Florette (Berri; France)
11 Dekolog (Kieslowski; Poland)
12 A Time to Live and A Time to Die (Hsaio-Hsien; Hong Kong)
13 Once Upon A Time in America (Leone; Italy; USA; UK)
14 Santa Sangre (Jodorowsky; Mexico; Italy)
15 Parsifal (Syberberg; West Germany)
16 Field of Dreams (Robinson; USA)
17 Maurice (Ivory; USA; UK)
18 Carmen (Rosi; Italy; West Germany)
19 A Diary of Our Children (Mazaros; Hungary)
20 War Requiem (Jarmen; UK)
21 Last Exit to Brooklyn (Udel; West Germany; USA)
22 Brideshead Revisited (Lindsay-Hogg; UK)
23 Camp de Thiaroye (Sembene; Kenya)
24 Amadeus (Foreman; USA; West Germany; UK)
25 The Dead (Huston; USA; UK; Ireland)
26 Grave of the Fireflies (Takahata; Japan)
27 Jesus of Montreal (Arcand; Canada)
28 Ran (Kurosawa; Japan)
29 Driving Miss Daisy (Beresford; USA)
30 Rigoletto (Ponelle; West Germany; Italy; France)
31 Dead Ringers (Cronenberg; Canada; USA)
32 Caravaggio (Jarmon; UK)
33 The Elephant Man (Lynch; USA;UK)
34 Crimes and Misdemeanors (Allen; USA)
35 The Singing Detective (Potter; UK)
36 Come and See (Klimov; Russia)
37 Raging Bull (Scorsese; USA)
38 A Village Romeo and Juliet (Weigl; USA; UK; West Germany)
39 A Room With A View (Ivory; USA; UK)
40 Dead Poets Society (Weir; USA)
41 Atlantic City (Malle; USA)
42 Boys From the Blackstuff (UK)
43 Why Did Bodhi-Dharma Leave For the East? (Bae; Korea)
44 Au Revoir Les Enfants (Malle; France)
45 Distant Voices Still Lives (Davies; UK)
46 The Last Emperor (Bertolucci; Italy; UK; USA)
47 The Accidental Tourist (Kasden; USA)
48 Testament (Littman; USA)
49 My Life as A Dog (Hallstrom; Sweden)
50 Little Dorrit (Edzuard; UK)
Resurrection (Petrie; USA)
The Shining (Kubrick; USA)—three way tie—-

It killed me to leave these few off: (but they are all GREAT or near-GREAT)

Damnation (Tarr; Hungary)
Comrades (Douglas; UK)
The Match Factory Girl (Kaurismaki; Finland)
Heimat (Reich; Germany)
Another Country (Kanievska; UK)
Chariots of Fire (Hudson; UK)
Lola (Demy; France)
Chocolat (Denis; France)
Fitzcaraldo (Herzog; Germany)
My Beautiful Laundrette (Frears; UK)
Babette’s Feast (Axel; Denmark)
Tootsie (Pollock; USA)
Aliens (Cameron; USA)
Brazil (Gilliam; UK; USA)
Back to the Future (Zemekis; USA)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (Spielberg; USA)
Salvador (Stone; USA)
Hotel Terminus (Ophuls; West Germany; France)
My Left Foot (Sheridan)
L’Argent (Bresson; France)
Full Metal Jacket (Kubrick; USA; UK)
Do the Right Thing (Lee; USA)
Down by Law (Jarmusch;USA)
The Thin Blue Line (Morris; USA)
E. T. (Spielberg; USA)
A Fish Called Wanda (Crighton; UK)
The Navigator (Ward; New Zealand)
Gandi (Attenborough; UK; USA)
Yeelen (Ostreyego; Africa)
Pelle the Conqueror (August; Denmark)
Ordinary People (Redford; USA)
Manon des Sources (Berri; France)
Glory (Zwick; USA)
Platoon (Stone; USA)
The Pathfinder (Gaup; Lapp)
- on August 9, 2009 at 7:17 pm | Reply Bob Clark
  
  Hm, don’t mean to be a stickler here, Sam, but was the original “Singing Detective” released theatrically anywhere? Plenty of great television works were, and therefore are acceptable for our lists, but I’ve never heard of that one being shown anywhere except on the small screen.
  - on August 9, 2009 at 8:53 pm Allan Fish
    
    Bob, see an earlier piece arguing this. Basically, a TV series is eligible if it is a one off. The full Fanny and Alexander was never shown in cinemas in Sweden, yet that 5 hour version is the one to see. The extended TV versions of Dekalog and Das Boot were likewise not shown cinematically, but are the definitive versions. So long as it’s a self-contained one-off series based on a novel, play or original script, not one that runs to multi-series over many years (no Star Trek, Buffy, Doctor Who, 24, The Wire, Deadwood, Upstairs Downstairs, etc).
    
    Hope that’s clear.
  - on August 9, 2009 at 10:59 pm Bob Clark
    
    Interesting. I disagree with it completely– it ignores the inherent differences between the mediums of film and television– but it makes a certain kind of sense. Wasn’t “The Decalogue” screened in theaters in the US, though? Likewise with “Berlin Alexanderplatz”. That’s the only reason I included either of those on my list, to say nothing of the pilot fo “Twin Peaks”. If that hadn’t been screened in Europe as a feature, I never would’ve dreamed of listing it, let alone give it first place.
    
    At any rate, if you’re going to list “Singing Detective”, don’t forget Jon Amiel. Dennis Potter deserves the lion’s share of credit as the writer and creator of the landmark miniseries, but its director shouldn’t get left out, either.
  - on August 9, 2009 at 11:41 pm Sam Juliano
    
    Bob, yes both BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ and DEKALOG was initially screened in theatres. I agree they are essential choices for any who’s seen them.
  - on August 9, 2009 at 11:44 pm Bob Clark
    
    Sam, I know they were screened, just proving a point. “Berlin Alexanderplatz” is the film that changed my mind about Fassbinder. Great, great piece of work.
  - on August 9, 2009 at 11:49 pm Sam Juliano
    
    Indeed Bob. I see what you’re saying. I love films like IN THE YEAR OF 13 MOONS, MERCHANT, ALI, VERONIKA VOSS, etc., but I agree BERLIN is his masterpiece.
  - on August 10, 2009 at 3:54 am Jason Giampietro
    
    wow, Raging Bull that far down on the list and then a sentimental Spielberg in the top ten. Glad to see you’re up to your old tricks!!!!!!!!
  - on August 10, 2009 at 6:09 pm Jamie
    
    Sam nice list, I’m happy someone was able to list ‘Field of Dreams’. A movie I could watch anytime.
    
    that being said it doesn’t make my top 50 or so. oh well, at 12 when I was a baseball fanatic that and ‘Pride of the Yankees’ where my favorite films ever made.
  - on August 10, 2009 at 6:13 pm Sam Juliano
    
    Thanks Jamie. Well, FIELD OF DREAMS was the one baseball film that did receive spectacular reviews, and it made so many ten-best lists in 1989 from some of our finest critics. It left an impression on me that has never abated. That haunting and pensive piano score by Thomas Newman really set the tone, but th efilm’s universality is compelling.
  - on August 10, 2009 at 11:00 pm wondersinthedark
    
    I don’t mind Field of Dreams, but I love the way you say the film has universality, when only people who like baseball could really love it – Angelo will applaud, though, for him the universe is the 50 states.
  - on August 11, 2009 at 12:53 am Angelo D'Arminio
    
    Allan, let’s not forget Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa and all the other U.S. territories.
  - on August 16, 2009 at 5:57 pm Angelo D'Arminio
    
    Ah yes Allan is right again I listed “Field of Dreams” as number 3.
  - on August 16, 2009 at 8:56 pm wondersinthedark
    
    I’m not always right, Angelo, but I am never wrong.
  - on August 16, 2009 at 10:34 pm Sam Juliano
    
    I guess Japan doesn’t count, eh Allan?
on August 9, 2009 at 6:28 pm | Reply Dorothy Porker

My picks. Unfortunately I couldn’t make it to 50; even though I searched my brain over and over again I could only come up with 45. Oh well, here it goes:

Amadeus (Foreman; USA/West Germany/UK)
Fanny and Alexander (Bergman; Sweden)
My Life as A Dog (Hallstrom; Sweden)
Melvin and Howard (Demme; USA)
Brazil (Gilliam; UK/USA)
Coal Miner’s Daughter (Apted; USA)
Pixote (Babenco; Brazil)
Empire of the Sun (Spielberg; USA)
Cinema Paradiso (Tornatore; Italy)
The Empire Strikes Back (Kershner; USA)
Sophie’s Choice (Pakula; USA)
The Elephant Man (Lynch; USA/UK)
Raging Bull (Scorsese; USA)
The Color Purple (Spielberg; USA)
Gandhi (Attenborough; UK/USA)
Dead Poets Society (Weir; USA)
A Christmas Story (Clark; USA)
Au Revoir Les Enfants (Malle; France)
Sid and Nancy (Cox; UK)
The Last Emperor (Bertolucci; Italy/UK/USA)
Tootsie (Pollock; USA)
Glory (Zwick; USA)
The Shining (Kubrick; USA/UK)
Back to the Future (Zemekis; USA)
My Left Foot (Sheridan; UK)
El Norte (Nava; US/UK)
Full Metal Jacket (Kubrick; USA/UK)
Do the Right Thing (Lee; USA)
The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Kaufman; USA)
Running on Empty (Lumet; USA)
The Thin Blue Line (Morris; USA)
Born on the Fourth of July (Stone; USA)
E. T. (Spielberg; USA)
Ordinary People (Redford; USA)
Platoon (Stone; USA)
Silkwood (Nichols; USA)
Prick Up Your Ears (Frears; UK)
Driving Miss Daisy (Beresford; USA)
Sixteen Candles (Hughes; USA)
Terms of Endearment (Brooks; USA)
Personal Best (Towne; USA)
Maurice (Ivory; USA/UK)
Stand by Me (Reiner; USA)
Enemies, A Love Story (Mazursky; USA)
Drugstore Cowboy (Van Sant; USA)
- on August 9, 2009 at 8:30 pm | Reply Dorothy Porker
  
  The feeling, good sir, is more than mutual. By the way, I’m adding the following 5 to round up my top 50:
  
  -Matador (Almodovar; Spain)
  -Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Almodovar; Spain)
  -Scarface (De Palma; USA)
  -Fame (Parker; USA)
  -Parenthood (Howard; USA)
  
  Sorry for all the cheese, but I’m being honest 😉
- on August 9, 2009 at 11:55 pm | Reply Bob Clark
  
  “Scarface” is an essential movie, not to mention a picture that’s really definitive of the 1980’s in terms of style and politics. Plus, the edited-for-TV version is comedy gold.
  
  “Where’d you get that scar, Tony? Eating pineapple?”
- on August 9, 2009 at 11:58 pm | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  And let’s not forget the particularly creative ways that Pacino uses the F word!! LOL!!!
- on August 10, 2009 at 12:01 am | Reply Bob Clark
  
  Yes, which is exactly why it’s so funny to see censors scramble to find words to cover it up.
  
  “This town is like one giant chicken… Just waiting to get plucked…”
on August 9, 2009 at 6:52 pm | Reply Bob Clark

1) Twin Peaks (Lynch, 1989) * Released internationally in theaters, so it’s just as fair as “Fanny & Alexander” or “The Decalogue”.
2) Heaven’s Gate (Cimino, 1980)
3) The Last Temptation of Christ (Scorsese, 1988)
4) Blade Runner (Scott, 1982)
5) The Element of Crime (Von Trier, 1984)
6) ~~They Live (Carpenter, 1988)~~ The Empire Strikes Back (Lucas & Kershner, 1980) * I don’t really know what I was doing, putting “They Live” that high.
7) Blue Velvet (Lynch, 1986)
8 ) Berlin Alexanderplatz (Fassbinder, 1980)
9) The Empire Strikes Back & Return of the Jedi (Lucas, Kershner & Marquand, 1980 & 1983) * TIE: Neither one terribly important on their own, but alongside the 1977 original make up one of the most essential, influential and daring series of American filmmaking. And I list Lucas as a director on both because he was, whether he’s credited as such or not. Medea (Von Trier, 1988) * Now that I know television-entries aren’t tethered by whether or not they saw time in a theater…
10) Fitzcarraldo (Herzog, 1982)
11) The Fly (Cronenberg, 1986)
12) Hannah and Her Sisters (Allen, 1986)
13) Ran (Kurosawa, 1985)
14) The Big Blue (Besson, 1988)
15) The Shining (Kubrick, 1980)
16) Mad Max/The Road Warrior/Beyond Thunderdome (Miller, 1980/1981/1985) * TIE: The other great action trilogy of the 70’s and 80’s, a landmark of Australian cinema and heavily influential science fiction, supplying much of the post-apocalyptic visual pallate we’ve grown accustomed to. 16) The Road Warrior (Miller, 1981) * I stand by my decision to include “Mad Max” as an 80’s film due to its international release, but this sequel was the one that really set the world on fire.
17) Once Upon a Time in America (Leone, 1984)
18) The Mission (Joffe, 1986)
19) To Live and Die in L.A. (Friedkin, 1985) & Thief (Mann, 1981) * TIE: Friedkin’s downbeat coke-and-robbers thriller is a great look at police corruption, but performs an act of creative larceny of its own by lifting Michael Mann’s “Miami Vice”-style wholesale. Mann’s earlier heist-procedural is a fine starring-run for James Caan, and a great slow-burn. 19) Thief (Mann, 1981) * Sorry, Friedkin. Originality comes first.
20) Das Boot (Peterson, 1981)
21) Dead Ringers (Cronenberg, 1988)
22) The Killing Fields (Joffe, 1984) & Swimming to Cambodia (Demme, 1986) * TIE: Roland Joffe’s unflinching look at Khmer Rougue attrocities is haunting, but the best thing to come out of it might be Spalding Gray’s breakout monologue-movie, inspired by his days on Joffe’s set. 22) Swimming to Cambodia (Demme, 1986) * Joffe’s “The Killing Fields” is great, but anyone who remembers it is probably more interested in it because of its connection to the Spalding Gray classic.
23) Sex, Lies and Videotape (Soderbergh, 1989)
24) The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Kaufman, 1988)
25) Wings of Desire (Wenders, 1987)

I might return for my 26-50 later on, but these are my top 25, and I need a little rest to reconsider before I continue.
- on August 9, 2009 at 6:53 pm | Reply Bob Clark
  
  Ugh. Can somebody fix the smiley that the auto-formatting turned to my number eight slot for “Berlin Alexanderplatz”? I’m sorry, it just looks so embarassing, especially next to that film…
  - on August 9, 2009 at 7:25 pm Allan Fish
    
    I’ve changed that, Bob, but you can’t have ties for mid-point lists. If you have a tie at say 20, the next film must be 22 not 21.
    
    I’ll accept Twin Peaks if referring to the TV pilot from 1989, but if referring to the TV series, then no, as that showed in 1990-1991 and only TV series that were serials (ie. were only ever going to be one series, not several) are valid so irrespective of chronology the series is not eligible.
    
    As for Mad Max, the original was 1979, not in the 1980s.
    
    Each film must be considered separately, ties really should not be allowed. Sam only gets away with it as he’s an inbred cheat, but at least by having the tie for last place, he can get away with it.
  - on August 9, 2009 at 7:37 pm Bob Clark
    
    Thanks for the fix, and the “Twin Peaks” I’m referring to is certainly the European Pilot, which closes in the Red Room. Just so we’re on the same page here.
    
    As for ties, I’ll keep that in mind for the next 25, but perhaps the rules could be stated up front, if they’re so important? I’m sorry, I just figured that ties were fair game.
    
    RE: “Mad Max”– it was released domestically, in Australia, in 1979, but everywhere else in 1980. That’s good enough for me.
  - on August 9, 2009 at 8:48 pm Allan Fish
    
    Not your fault, Bob, we had this argument up front on earlier polls. If you look on proper polls you’ll see they do it right. If say 6 films were tied for 40th in a poll, then the next one would be no 46 as 41-45 were taken in the tie.
    
    Or in the Olympics, if there’s a dead heat for silver medal, there’s no bronze handed out, just two silvers.
  - on August 10, 2009 at 1:37 am Angelo D'Arminio
    
    Allan,
    
    Don’t worry about Sam’s ties, I only count the first film mentioned.
- on August 9, 2009 at 11:27 pm | Reply Bob Clark
  
  First of all, in the interest of complying with the rules, allow me to make the following alterations to my list:
  
  6) The Empire Strikes Back (Lucas & Kershner, 1980) * I don’t really know what I was doing, putting “They Live” that high.
  9) Medea (Von Trier, 1988) * Now that I know television-entries aren’t tethered by whether or not they saw time in a theater…
  16) The Road Warrior (Miller, 1981) * I stand by my decision to include “Mad Max” as an 80’s film due to its international release, but this sequel was the one that really set the world on fire.
  19) Thief (Mann, 1981) * Sorry, Friedkin. Originality comes first.
  22) Swimming to Cambodia (Demme, 1986) * Joffe’s “The Killing Fields” is great, but anyone who remembers it is probably more interested in it because of its connection to the Spalding Gray classic.
  - on August 9, 2009 at 11:39 pm Sam Juliano
    
    Bob those revisions are quite in order, and while I am no big fan of EMPIRE, I know I am in the minority there. Wow, MEDEA is an intriguing choice, and the Demme is loved by many!
  - on August 9, 2009 at 11:42 pm Bob Clark
    
    Sam, I’m not a huge “Empire” fan either (I’m a huge “Phantom Menace” fan– now THAT’S a minority) but it’s quite a beautiful, moody film once you get past all the Han Solo bullshit. Plus, it’s the movie that inspired David Cronenberg to team up with Peter Suschitzky, so it’s gotta count for something. “Medea” might– just might– be my favorite of Von Trier’s works, but it’d be hard to pin me down.
    
    And I’m more a fan of Spalding Gray than Demme. I wish he were still with us.
  - on August 10, 2009 at 12:27 am Tony D'Ambra
    
    Ok Bob, your vote has been revised.
- on August 9, 2009 at 11:43 pm | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  Bob, I salute you for this list. What can I say? We are lucky to have you here. Those changes will be taken into account.
  - on August 9, 2009 at 11:48 pm Bob Clark
    
    Are you counting strictly based on everybody’s top 25, or top 50? Looks like that’s what everybody else is up to. I’ll add 26-50 if it’s the correct polling procedure (there are quite a few favorites I had to leave off, even before my alterations). If it’s optional, I might just leave it be.
- on August 10, 2009 at 12:58 am | Reply Bob Clark
  
  Oh, hell with it. Here’s my bottom 25:
  
  26) Akira (Otomo, 1988)
  27) Cinema Paradiso (Tornatore, 1988) * I’m going with the longer director’s cut on this one. Not a popular choice among fans, but it’s my favorite version.
  28) Secret Honor (Altman, 1984)
  29) Brazil (Gilliam, 1985)
  30) Do the Right Thing (Lee, 1989)
  31) Thriller (Landis, 1983) * Recieved a limited theatrical engagement in the hopes of garnering an Academy Award nomination for best short film, arguably Landis’ most widely seen and influential fifteen minutes of film. Plus, the kid singing the song is pretty good, too.
  32) Someone to Watch Over Me (Scott, 1987)
  33) Laputa: Castle in the Sky (Miyazaki, 1986) * The only Studio Ghibli effort which doesn’t get wearisome or annoying to me.
  34) Roxanne (Schepisi, 1987) * Schepisi’s direction is vivid and smart, but special credit is due for Steve Martin’s tender performance and deft script. An all around admirable adaptation of “Cyrano”. My one complaint: we don’t get to see Daryl Hannah’s butt.
  35) Withnail & I (Robinson, 1986) * My kind of comedy. Funny, withering and sad. Why hasn’t Richard E. Grant ever been tapped for “Doctor Who”?
  36) Bring On the Night (Apted, 1985) * A great music-documentary following Sting during his “Dream of the Blue Turtles” days.
  37) Henry V (Brannagh, 1989)
  38) Tanner ’88 (Altman, 1988) * I might’ve placed this even higher, had I known that limited television-projects were acceptable without theatrical distribution. A fine work from Altman and Trudeau.
  39) Altered States (Russel, 1980) * The most Cronenbergian movie Cronenberg never directed. And a decent adaptation of a trully bizarre Chayefsky book.
  40) Red Dawn (Milius, 1984)
  41) The Day After (Meyer, 1983)
  42) Aliens (Cameron, 1986) * A landmark feminist action movie.
  43) Manhunter (Mann, 1986)
  44) The Elephant Man (Lynch, 1980)
  45) Videodrome (Cronenberg, 1983)
  46) Roger & Me (Moore, 1989)
  47) Kagemusha (Kurosawa, 1980)
  48) Ferris Beuler’s Day Off (Hughes, 1986) * The late writer/director at his most heartfelt and inventive.
  49) They Live (Carpenter, 1988) * I think this is about right.
  50) Return of the Jedi (Lucas & Marquand, 1983)
  - on August 10, 2009 at 3:59 am Bob Clark
    
    Honorable mentions:
    
    Willow (Lucas & Howard, 1988) * I love this film dearly, and frankly think that it’s a much better fantasy epic than Peter Jackson’s bloated “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. But it’s little more than a cult-film curiosity at this point, and while I’d love to shovel all my favorite movies onto a “best-of” list, I need more of an excuse than this lovely, lovely film merits.
    
    Raising Arizona (Joel & Ethan Coen, 1987) * A fine movie, full of the Coens’ trademark wit with characters, dialogue, slapstick and action. Better, I’d argue, than “Blood Simple”, but it only hints at the impressive work they’d make in the 90’s. If “Miller’s Crossing” had come out a year earlier, their names might’ve made the list.
    
    Tron (Steve Lisberger, 1982) * A cult-sensation, a milestone in CGI filmmaking and a visual masterpiece. A great film? I’m still not sure about that. But Jeff Bridges does a good job sharing the excitement and fun he’s having with the audience, and David Warner pulls off a great triple-threat villain. Smart fun.
    
    Steven Spielberg’s films in general– Let’s face it, any list of the best films of the 80’s that leaves of Spielberg is commiting a major sin of ommission that, if not atoned for, must at the very least be explained. The man was easily the most productive and influential director of the decade, with heartfelt contributions as varied as science-fiction (E.T., The Extra Terrestrial, 1982), historical literary adaptations (The Color Purple, 1985 & Empire of the Sun, 1987), and his landmark collaboration with George Lucas, the Indiana Jones series (Raiders of the Lost Ark, 1981, Temple of Doom, 1984 & The Last Crusade, 1989).
    
    But just because these films were popular with critics, audiences and future generations of filmmakers alike, it’s impossible to dismiss the unhealthy level of plainly manipulative sentimentality these products endorse, a lack of sophistication which even eternally-adolescant peers like George Lucas and John Milius never shared. Like them or not, there’s more intellectual maturity in Lucas’ “Return of the Jedi”, with its cackling Emperor and singing Ewoks, or Milius’ “Red Dawn”, with its Reagan-era nighmares tellingly blending with its Neo-Con wet dreams. Throughout the 80’s, Spielberg was a child who refused to think in any other terms than as a child, and while his best films could exploit that angle– the generational us-versus-them attitude of “E.T.”, the Ballardian juvenile shell-shock of “Empire of the Sun”– it was also a weakness that fells some of his less convincing efforts– he brings the childhood trauma of “The Color Purple” to life rather vividly, but the racial and lesbian aspects go completely over his head.
    
    The Spielberg of the 80’s was a wonder-kid, but one who still had a lot of growing up to do. He’d do that growing up in the 90’s, and while he’s never really been the same since, at least he graduated to what we can all agree is adult filmmaking. It’s just too bad that, unlike Lucas, he was never able to keep that youthful enthusiasm alive alongside the grown-up’s matured perspective.
    
    Raging Bull (Scorsese, 1980) * This is good, a classic to be sure. I just get tired of seeing it on every goddamn countdown of 80’s movies, and thought his other great film of the decade deserved to be recognized. It is accomplished.
  - on August 10, 2009 at 6:21 pm Sam Juliano
    
    Just read through all these Bob. I don’t know what to say. The choices and the commentary are simple incredible. I wouldn’t know where to begin, Sir.
on August 9, 2009 at 7:01 pm | Reply Dave

Ah… to get to make another list! Some interesting positions of films in your list, Sam, and many of the selections highlight why I’m going to wait a little bit before submitting my own list for this decade — there are some on their that I have waiting to be watched and others that need to be re-watched after having seen them so long ago.
- on August 9, 2009 at 11:44 pm | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  Dave, you and I both are spending our lives making lists! LOL!
  - on August 10, 2009 at 10:27 pm Allan Fish
    
    But Dave doesn’t revise them ten times to cover his Alzheimer’s and then still get it wrong.
on August 9, 2009 at 8:48 pm | Reply Kaleem Hasan

My list in no particular order except that I am more confident of the top few choices perhaps (and even here the order could be different)…

1)Fitzcarraldo (Herzog)
2)Ran (Kurosawa)
3)Kagemusha (Kurosawa)
4)Dekalog (Kieslowski)
5)Camp de Thiaroye (Sembene)
6)Raging Bull (Scorsese)
7)Almanac of Fall (Tarr)
8)Wings of Desire (Wenders)
9)Rat-trap (Gopalakrishnan)
10)And the Ship sails on (Fellini)
11)Where is the friend’s home? (Kiarostami)
12)Red Sorghum (Yimou)
13)Taipei Story (Yang)
14)Terrorist (Yang)
15)Nayakan (Rathnam)
16)Ghulami (Dutta)
17)Time to live time to Die (Hsiao-Hsien)
18)City of Sadness (Hsiao-Hsien)
19)Once Upon a Time in America (Leone)
20)Shoah (Lanzmann)
21)Histoire(s) du Cinema – first two parts (Godard)
22)Asthenic Syndrome (Muratova)
23)Yeelen (Cisse)
24)Man of Iron (Wajda)
25)The Emperor’s Naked Army Marches on (Hara)

an alternate 25:

1)Empire of the Sun (Spielberg)
2)Heaven’s Gate (Cimino)
3)L’argent (Bresson)
4)Come and See (Klimov)
5)Nostalgia (Tarkovsky)
6)Landscape in the Mist (Angelopoulos)
7)Last Metro (Truffaut)
8)Match Factory Girl (Kaurismaki)
9)Ariel (Kaurismaki)
10)Mishima (Schrader)
11)Yaaba (Ouedraogo)
12)A Passage to India (Lean)
13)Antonio Gaudi (Teshigahara)
14)Last Emperor (Bertolucci)
15)Interrogation (Bugajski)
16)Blade Runner (Ridley Scott)
17)Jean de Florette (Berri)
18)Rouge (Kwan)
19)Das Boot (Petersen)
20)Boys from Fengkuei (Hsiao-Hsien)
21)Daughter of the Nile (Hsiao-Hsien)
22)Shining (Kubrick)
23)Untouchables (De Palma)
24)Missing (Costa-Gavras)
25)King of Comedy (Scorsese)
- on August 9, 2009 at 11:37 pm | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  Well Kaleem, you didn’t disappoint! You never do!
  - on August 12, 2009 at 5:40 am Kaleem Hasan
    
    Thanks very much Sam, much too kind as always..
- on August 10, 2009 at 6:18 pm | Reply Jamie
  
  Kaleem– absolute quality. Both times.
  - on August 12, 2009 at 5:40 am Kaleem Hasan
    
    thanks so much Jamie..
on August 9, 2009 at 11:34 pm | Reply Tony D'Ambra

My list is very personal and makes no claim to being representative. Beyond the first five, the rankings are pretty arbitrary.

1 Yellow Earth (1984)
2 The Night of the Shooting Stars (1982)
3 Wings of Desire (1987)
4 Red Sorghum (1987)
5 Cinema Paradiso (1988)
6 My Life As a Dog (1987)
7 Rosa Luxemburg (1986)
8 Atlantic City (1980)
9 Le Dernier Metro (1980)
10 Salvador (1986)
11 Bagdad Cafe(1987)
12 Jesus of Montreal (1989)
13 Carmen (1983)
14 Mystery Train (1989)
15 Local Hero (1983)
16 The Accidental Tourist (1988)
17 Tampopo (1986)
18 Woman on the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988)
19 Crimes and Misdemeanours (1989)
20 Mona Lisa (1986)
21 Frantic (1988)
22 Mephisto (1981)
23 Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985)
24 Dark Eyes (1987)
25 Cry Freedom (1987)

Also ran:
A Chinese Ghost Story (1987)
Black Rain (1989)
Brazil (1985)
Diva (1981)
Do The Right Thing (1989)
El Norte (1983)
Missing (1982)
Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears (1980)
My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)
Sex Lies, and Videotape (1989)
She’s Gotta Have It (1986)
The Black Cannon Incident (1986)
The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989)
- on August 9, 2009 at 11:37 pm | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  So many fantastic films there Tony. How did I forget LOCAL HERO? I will have to revise.
  - on August 10, 2009 at 10:27 pm Allan Fish
    
    quad erat demonstrandum
on August 10, 2009 at 12:02 am | Reply Sam Juliano

Alas Bob, I am leaving the house now to attend another Brit Film Noir screening at the Film Forum……….SEVEN DAYS TO NOON………..then when I come home late tonight I have to pen the Monday Morning Diary…….woe to me. Ha! Thanks very much for everything Bob! I have enjoyed all your submissions today. And thanks everyone for the lists.Dorothy, Kaleem, Bob………..Perhaps Tony will be here to respond if need be, as we have a three-man team.
on August 10, 2009 at 4:29 am | Reply Ed Howard

Here’s my top 25:
1. Sans Soleil (Marker)
2. Fanny & Alexander (Bergman)
3. King Lear (Godard)
4. Veronika Voss (Fassbinder)
5. A nos amours (Pialat)
6. Hannah and Her Sisters (Allen)
7. The Angelic Conversation (Jarman)
8. The Aviator’s Wife (Rohmer)
9. Le Pont du Nord (Rivette)
10. Three Crowns of a Sailor (Ruiz)
11. Videodrome (Cronenberg)
12. Blue Velvet (Lynch)
13. Down By Law (Jarmusch)
14. Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story (Haynes)
15. After Hours (Scorsese)
16. Coup de torchon (Tavernier)
17. First Name: Carmen (Godard)
18. Berlin Alexanderplatz (Fassbinder)
19. Thief (Mann)
20. The Thin Blue Line (Morris)
21. Tango (Zbigniew Rybczynski)
22. The Dante Quartet (Brakhage)
23. Dead Ringers (Cronenberg)
24. Pauline at the Beach (Rohmer)
25. Damned If You Don’t (Su Friedrich)

And a ton of honorable mentions that just missed the cut:
Police (Pialat)
The King of Comedy (Scorsese)
Broadway Danny Rose (Allen)
The Falls (Greenaway)
Mala Noche (Van Sant)
Dimensions of Dialogue (Svankmajer)
The Fourth Man (Verhoeven)
Do The Right Thing (Spike Lee)

September (Allen)
Crimes and Misdemeanors (Allen)
Lucifer Rising (Anger)
Chocolat (Denis)
Lola (Fassbinder)
Hail Mary (Godard)
Caravaggio (Jarman)
La Truite (Losey)
Love on the Ground (Rivette)
Gang of Four (Rivette)
The Sacrifice (Tarkovsky)
Spetters (Verhoeven)
Loulou (Pialat)
The Shining (Kubrick)
The Elephant Man (Lynch)
Fitzcarraldo (Herzog)
The Thing (Carpenter)
Burden of Dreams (Les Blank)
Secret Honor (Altman)
The Green Ray (Rohmer)
Street of Crocodile (Quay)
- on August 10, 2009 at 5:01 am | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  Nice Ed. Looks like we were practically on par with FANNY AND ALEXANDER!
  - on August 10, 2009 at 1:35 pm Ed Howard
    
    I think Fanny & Alexander is Bergman’s best film, his most sublime achievement — not to mention a dazzling rebuke to anyone who dismisses Bergman as merely dour and depressing. This film is so alive, so vibrant and magical (even literally) that it’s impossible to resist.
  - on August 10, 2009 at 1:41 pm Sam Juliano
    
    Ed, I’ll tell you what. I do believe over the past months that FANNY is Bergman’s best film, (narrowing eclipsing PERSONA) and what you say there about it not being ‘dour and depressing’ and being alive, magical and vibrant’ is so perfectly asserted. On this film I am happy to say I am with you lock, stock and barrel.
    And to boot it relentlessly showcases one of my personal favorite musical compositions of all-time, Schumann’s ‘Piano Quintet in E flat major.’, and alternately ravishing and pensive piece, which accentuates the thematic vibrance you speak of.
on August 10, 2009 at 5:05 am | Reply David H. Schleicher

The 1980’s were a strange decade to compile…only a handful of seemingly timeless classics but a lot of “quality” films clamoring for spots down further.

As the decade of my childhood, I found a lot of sentimental favorites slipping in and a tendency to rate highly films that would be considered “coming of age” or that had children as main characters….and there were also more “fantasy-esque” films than I would normally lean towards.

Here are some futher insights on why I picked the film I did at number one:

http://davethenovelist.wordpress.com/2009/08/06/revisiting-paris-texas-the-best-film-of-the-1980s/

And without further adieu, here is the list:

1. Paris, Texas (1984, Wim Wenders)
2. The Elephant Man (1980, David Lynch)
3. Blood Simple (1984, The Coen Brothers)
4. Raging Bull (1980, Martin Scrosese)
5. The Shining (1980, Stanley Kubrick)
6. Hope and Glory (1987, John Boorman)
7. Atlantic City (1981, Louise Malle)
8. Fanny & Alexander (1982, Ingmar Bergman)
9. Blue Velvet (1986, David Lynch)
10. Hannah and Her Sisters (1986, Woody Allen)
11. Salaam Bombay! (1988, Mira Nair)
12. Au Revoir Les Enfants (1987, Louise Malle)
13. Gandhi (1982, Richard Attenborough)
14. Full Metal Jacket (1987, Stanley Kubrick)
15. The Verdict (1982, Sidney Lumet)
16. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981, Steven Spielberg)
17. The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1989, Terry Gilliam)
18. Glory (1989, Edward Zwick)
19. Field of Dreams (1989, Phil Alden Robinson)
20. Ordinary People (1980, Robert Redford)
21. Raising Arizona (1987, The Coen Brothers)
22. My Left Foot (1989, Jim Sheridan)
23. Heathers (1989, Michael Lehmann)
24. The Killing Fields (1984, Roland Joffe)
25. River’s Edge (1986, Tim Hunter)

Honorable Mentions from the 1980’s:

Airplane! (1980, Jim Abrams and David Zucker)
Poltergeist (1982, Tobe Hooper)
Testament (1983, Lynne Littman)
Without a Trace (1983, Stanley R. Jaffe)
Zelig (1983, Woody Allen)
The Natural (1984, Barry Levinson)
Places in the Heart (1984, Robert Benton)
Fright Night (1985, Tom Holland)
Mitt Liv Som Hund (1985, Lasse Hallstrom)
Out of Africa (1985, Sydney Pollack)
The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985, Woody Allen)
The Accidental Tourist (1988, Lawrence Kasdan)
Do the Right Thing (1989, Spike Lee)
- on August 10, 2009 at 5:39 am | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  David: Absoultely beautiful, beautiful work here. I love so many myself! I will be over tomorrow with bells on at Dave the Novelist to add my two cents!!!
on August 10, 2009 at 7:52 am | Reply Kevin J. Olson

I love this project! Just looking at Ed’s list gives me about 20 DVD rentals for the next couple of months. I’m really diggin’ everyone’s lists here. Here’s my, heavily slanted toward the American, list for the best film of the 80’s:

1.) Raging Bull (Scorsese)
2.) Fanny and Alexander (Bergman)
3.) Blade Runner (Scott)
4.) Crimes and Misdemeanors (Allen)
5.) Blue Velvet (Lynch)
6.) Ran (Kurosawa)
7.) Thief (Mann)
8.) The Thin Blue Line (Morris)
9.) The Right Stuff (Kaufman)
10.) Diva (Beineix)
11.) Kagemusha (Kurosawa)
12.) Lost in America (A. Brooks)
13.) The Fly (Cronenberg)
14.) Witness (Weir)
15.) Stranger Than Paradise (Jarmusch)
16.) Dekalog (Kieslowski)
17.) Raising Arizona (Coen)
18.) Robocop (Verhoeven)
19.) Manhunter (Mann)
20.) Fitzcarraldo (Herzog)
21.) This is Spinal Tap (Reiner)
22.) House of Games (Mamet)
23.) Broadcast News (J. Brooks)
24.) The Killer (Woo)
25.) Once Upon a Time in America (Leone)

Here’s the second 25:

26.) Hannah and Her Sisters (Allen)
27.) Body Heat (Kasdan)
28.) The Dead Zone (Cronenberg)
29.) Under the Volcano (Huston)
30.) The Last Temptation of Christ (Scorsese)
31.) Raiders of the Lost Ark (Spielberg)
32.) Another Woman (Allen)
33.) Au revoir les enfants (Malle)
34.) Wings of Desire (Wenders)
35.) The Dead (Huston)
36.) Blood Simple (Coen)
37.) Stage Fright (Soavi)
38.) The King of Comedy (Scorsese)
39.) Matewan (Sayles)
40.) Opera (Argento)
41.) Do the Right Thing (Lee)
42.) American Gigolo (Schrader)
43.) Das Boot (Peterson)
44.) The Beyond (Fulci)
45.) Aliens (Cameron)
46.) A Nightmare on Elm Street (Craven)
47.) Bull Durham (Shelton)
48.) The Company of Wolves (Jordan)
49.) The Terminator (Cameron)
50.) The Road Warrior (Miller)

I’m sure there will be some people that scoff at my choices…but oh well…the beauty of these lists! Haha.
on August 10, 2009 at 4:44 pm | Reply Tony Dayoub

Disclaimer: If there are some glaring omissions from this list it may simply be that I haven’t seen a specific movie. A good example is the ever popular “Fanny and Alexander” which, to my detriment, I have yet to see.

Here it goes in aphabetical order, since ranking would be even more painful:

1. Airplane! (Abrahams, Zucker and Zucker – 1980)
2. Altered States (Russell – 1980)
3. American Gigolo (Schrader – 1980)
4. An American Werewolf in London (Landis – 1981)
5. Bad Timing (Roeg – 1980)
6. The Big Chill (Kasdan – 1983)
7. Blade Runner (Theatrical version) (Scott – 1982)
8. Blow Out (De Palma – 1981)
9. Blue Velvet (Lynch – 1986)
10. Born on the Fourth of July (Stone – 1989)
11. Brazil (Gilliam – 1985)
12. Cinema Paradiso (Tornatore – 1988)
13. The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (Greenaway – 1989)
14. Crimes and Misdemeanors (Allen – 1989)
15. Cutter’s Way (Passer – 1981)
16. Dead Ringers (Cronenberg – 1988)
17. Die Hard (McTiernan – 1988)
18. Do the Right Thing (Lee – 1989)
19. The Empire Strikes Back (Kershner – 1980)
20. Excalibur (Boorman – 1981)
21. Fast Times at Ridgemont High (Heckerling – 1982)
22. Fatal Attraction (Lyne – 1987)
23. The Long Riders (Hill – 1980)
24. Manhunter (Mann – 1986)
25. Married to the Mob (Demme – 1988)
26. The Mission (Joffé – 1986)
27. Mona Lisa (Jordan – 1986)
28. Mystery Train (Jarmusch – 1989)
29. The Natural (Levinson – 1984)
30. Once Upon a Time in America (Leone – 1984)
31. The Outsiders (Coppola – 1983)
32. Radio Days (Allen – 1987)
33. Raging Bull (Scorsese – 1980)
34. Raiders of the Lost Ark (Spielberg – 1981)
35. Raising Arizona (Coen – 1987)
36. The Right Stuff (Kaufman – 1983)
37. The Road Warrior (Miller – 1981)
38. Robocop (Verhoeven – 1987)
39. Scarface (De Palma – 1983)
40. The Shining (Kubrick – 1980)
41. Stripes (Reitman – 1981)
42. They All Laughed (Bogdanovich – 1981)
43. Thief (Mann – 1981)
44. The Thing (Carpenter – 1982)
45. To Live and Die in L.A. (Friedkin – 1985)
46. True Confessions (Grosbard – 1981)
47. The Vanishing (Sluizer – 1988)
48. When Harry Met Sally (Reiner – 1989)
49. Wings of Desire (Wenders – 1987)
50. Witness (Weir – 1985)
- on August 10, 2009 at 5:00 pm | Reply Allan Fish
  
  Tony, you do realise this means the top half of the alphabet will thus get included in the poll and the bottom half won’t. You can make a stipulation your list is not to be included in the poll results if you like, but it seems unfair on the M-Zs.
  - on August 10, 2009 at 5:21 pm Tony Dayoub
    
    I’m confused… never saw where it requested 25. Please point me to the right post so I can cross post at my site. I’ll get back to you in a minute on my top 25.
  - on August 10, 2009 at 5:33 pm Sam Juliano
    
    Tony! There is NO rule that says you can’t list 50 or more. I listed 50 myself, and Allan will list 100. The real cineastes here are free to do exactly what you did! The point allocation of course will only take 25 into consideration, but look above. Kaleem, Dorothy, Bob Clark and Kevin Olson listed 50, and david S. provided runners-ups. You are good the way you are, and I am honored you have come over here for your initial post with the great list. I’ve been reading your comments elsewhere for a long time. Thanks again!
  - on August 10, 2009 at 6:00 pm Bob Clark
    
    Personally, I respect an alphabetical listing of entries most of all, anyway. I may play favorites now and again, but if I consider a film to be truly great, the highest form of respect I can show is to place it on the same level with other such works that hold my esteem. That’s why lists like these can be so distasteful to me sometimes, at least when it comes down to making them– largely, I’m just building a list based on which films I love enough to always keep fresh in my memory’s fingertips. I can make judgements of quality, of course, but for the most part I’m interested in advocating preferences and shaking things up with unorthodox choices.
    
    At the end of the day, I really hold all the films I’ve listed as equals. I might like some of them more than others, but that doesn’t mean one film’s not as good as the next.
  - on August 10, 2009 at 10:34 pm Allan Fish
    
    It is a top 25, everyone. You can list more than 25, fine, but only the top 25 will count towards the poll, and on an alphabetical listing it’s impossible, even if I agree that alphabetical listings are best. Hell, mine are read that way off site.
on August 10, 2009 at 5:55 pm | Reply J.D.

Here is my are my top 25 of the 1980s:

1. Blue Velvet
2. Rumble Fish
3. The Year of Living Dangerously
4. Platoon
5. Raiders of the Lost Ark
6. The Empire Strikes Back
7. Cutter’s Way
8. Thief
9. Hannah and Her Sisters
10. The Right Stuff
11. The Thing
12. Blade Runner
13. Brazil
14. To Live and Die in L.A.
15. Broadcast News
16. Full Metal Jacket
17. Bull Durham
18. Blow Out
19. Drugstore Cowboy
20. The Road Warrior
21. Blood Simple
22. Stranger Than Paradise
23. Videodrome
24. Robocop
25. Stripes
- on August 10, 2009 at 5:59 pm | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  Hey J.D. Thanks again for joining the party. Love that BLUE VELVET choice on top there! It finished #4 for me, but it contended for the top spot till the very end. Many others on your list are films loved on this end too. I always thought that Coppola was the best of the Hinton adaptations. I never forgot the sparing use of color with the fish, and the stylistic filmmaking.
  - on August 10, 2009 at 8:14 pm J.D.
    
    Hey there! Yeah, I love Coppola and his back-to-back Hinton adaptations were fantastic… stylistically such stark contrasts, but I love ’em both. And being the HUGE Lynch fan, it was easy to pick BLUE VELVET as #1.
- on August 10, 2009 at 6:57 pm | Reply Jamie
  
  J.D. love the ‘Cutter’s Way’ inclusion here. such and unseen by many classic.
  - on August 10, 2009 at 8:15 pm J.D.
    
    Agreed. CUTTER’S WAY is almost a throw-back to American cinema in the 1970s complete with wonderfully downbeat ending.
  - on August 10, 2009 at 8:32 pm Tony Dayoub
    
    I also put Cutter’s Way on my list, and I’d like to respectfully counter your assertion, J.D., that it has a downbeat ending.
    
    If one reads the movie carefully, the central dilemma is not the murder mystery which gets resolved fairly early on, but whether Bone (Jeff Bridges) will ever stand up and act on something the way his friend Cutter (John Heard) does. Bone has become a spectator in life, letting things, such as the plot’s central murder, occur while he sits back and refuses to take any position for or against. Cutter is the visual metaphor for someone that has sacrificed much (his eye, arm, leg) for his beliefs. And he loses his wife and home in his crusade against murderer J.J. Cord.
    
    It is only in the final moments that Bone, after seeing his crippled friend sacrifice himself to prove Cord is the murderer, acts by shooting the gun. The fact that we don’t see the consequences of his gunshot don’t matter, because the only thing that matters is whether Cutter can convince Bone to ACT.
    
    The fact that Bone does indeed act is a victory for both Cutter and Bone, and should in fact prove this is an upbeat ending to the story.
on August 10, 2009 at 6:30 pm | Reply Jamie

“39. The Element of Crime (US…Lars Von Trier)”

opps, I know this isn’t a US film, my mistake, please fix mighty mods.
on August 10, 2009 at 6:34 pm | Reply Sam Juliano

OK Jamie. Fiirst of all, I completely erred with WAR REQUIEM, as I relied on faulty refrences. I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE that film, and will now go into wordpress and make sure it is in the Top 25. It will force me to changing a few things around, but it always happens that way with me at least once. Secondly, I also rather like CHRISTINE, but if I told that to Allan, I’d get death threats. Ha!

Your work here is astounding and your list?

It’s a masterpiece. I am rather curious though. You are not a fan of the Bergman?
- on August 10, 2009 at 6:40 pm | Reply Jamie
  
  Franny and Alexander was at number 7. I swore it was. I’m not sure what happened, it must have been edited in a revision and I forgot to reinsert. my apologies. should i fix and repost?
  
  ‘Christine’ is a masterpiece (and Carpenter’s best i think), I’d go tooth and nail for you against Allan, as (IMHO) is smokes ‘Aliens’. The scene where the car locks the girl friend inside, and then ‘glows’ is worth the price of admission alone.
- on August 10, 2009 at 6:44 pm | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  You can re-post by copying and pasting Jamie with minimum time consumed. As soon as I receive it, i will delete teh earlier post. Oh I agree with those statements about CHRISTINE. Well presented there!
on August 10, 2009 at 6:50 pm | Reply Jamie

Fixed-repost:

1. Wings of Desire (West Germany…Wim Wenders)
2. Crimes and Misdemeanors (US…Woody Allen)
3. Dekalog (Poland…Krzysztof Kieslowski)
4. Life Lessons (from ‘New York Stories’; US…Martin Scorsese)
5. Blue Velvet (US…David Lynch)
6. My Dinner with Andre (US…Louis Malle)
7. Franny and Alexander: TV version (Sweden…Ingmar Bergman)
8. Veronika Voss (West Germany…Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
9. Dead Ringers (Canada…David Cronenberg)
10. Sex, Lies and Videotape (US…Steven Soderbergh)
11. Hannah and Her Sisters (US…Woody Allen)
12. Down by Law (US…Jim Jarmusch)
13. Paris, Texas (West Germany/US…Wim Wenders)
14. Berlin Alexanderplatz (West Germany…Rainer Werner Fassbinder
15. Talk Radio (US…Oliver Stone)
16. Come and See (USSR…Elem Klimov)
17. Blade Runner: the director’s cut (US (1991)…Ridley Scott)
18. Raging Bull (US…Martin Scorsese)
19. My Life as a Dog (Sweden…Lasse Hallström)
20. Once Upon a Time in America (US…Sergio Leone)
21. Trading Places (US…John Landis)
22. Rumble Fish (US…Francis Ford Coppolla)
23. Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (US…Paul Schrader)
24. Passion (France…Jean-Luc Godard)
25. Christine (US…John Carpenter)
26. Mephisto (Hungary…Istvan Szabo)
27. The Angelic Conversion (UK…Derek Jarman)
28. The Long Good Friday (UK…John McKenzie)
29. Blow Out (US…Brian de Palma)
30. Stranger Than Paradise (US…Jim Jarmusch)
31. The Purple Rose of Cairo (US…Woody Allen)
32. The Shining (US/UK…Stanley Kubrick)
33. Grave of the Fireflies (Japan…Isao Takahata)
34. Caravaggio (UK…Derek Jarman)
35. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (US…John Naughton)
36. The Draughtsman’s Contract (UK…Peter Greenaway)
37. The Vanishing (Netherlands/France…George Sluizer)
38. Videodrome (Canada…David Cronenberg)
39. Secret Honor (US…Robert Altman)
40. The Element of Crime (US…Lars Von Trier)
41. Do the Right Thing (US…Spike Lee)
42. Back to the Future (US… Robert Zemekis)
43. My Beautiful Laundrette (UK…Stephen Frears)
44. Jesus of Montreal (Canada…Denys Arcand)
45. The Killer (Hong Kong…John Woo)
46. Passion (France…Jean-Luc Godard)
47. Swimming to Cambodia (US…Jonathan Demme)
48. Das Boot: TV version (West Germany…Wolfgang Petersen)
49. Betty Blue: Version Integrale (France (1991)…Jean-Jacques Beineix)
50. Au Revoir les Enfants (France…Louis Malle)
51. Sweetie (Australia…Jane Campion)

Honorable Mentions:
52. Body Heat (US…Lawrence Kasdan)
53. Gallipoli (Australia…Peter Weir
54. Bad Timing (US/UK…Nicolas Roeg)
55. The Last Emperor: the director’s cut (UK/Italy/China (1998)…Bernardo Bertolucci)
56. War Requiem (UK…Derek Jarman)
57. Hail Mary (France…Jean-Luc Godard)
58. Antonio Gaudi (Japan…Hiroshi Teshigahara)
59. Drugstore Cowboy (US…Gus van Sant)
60. Under the Volcano (US…John Huston)
61. Ran (Japan…Akira Kurosawa)
62. White Dog (US…Samuel Fuller)

I also want to add another film I subjectively love is Pete Townshend’s “White City: The Music Movie” (directed by Richard Lowenstein; 1985). Sam, this is the ‘opera’ film I get into. ever seen? I have a VHS copy (i believe it hasn’t seen dvd release though there was a laserdisc i believe) i can poorly dub you a copy if you want.
on August 10, 2009 at 6:53 pm | Reply Jamie

conclusion of repost:

I also really like the short by Godard’s ‘Meetin’ WA’. I don’t consider that a feature as it’s only about 30 minutes.

Also, perhaps my favorite two films of the 80’s that I refused to list due to an inability to view them anything other then extremely subjectively are Stuart Gordon’s gore classic ‘From Beyond’ and Woody Allen’s ‘Stardust Memories’. I did want to mention my love of those.

Just as in the ’60’s I did my favorite sub genre’s (British Angry Young Man Films, and European Postmodern/Neo-Noir, then in the 70’s I did Italian Giallo horror, I’ll also submit a list of my favorite sub-genre the American Slasher Film/Last Woman film. My youth was very influenced by these on VHS, I’d kick myself if I didn’t pay them there due (even if by and large they aren’t everyone’s bag):
Slasher films List:
1. My Bloody Valentine (1981…George Mihalka)
2. The Burning (1981…Tony Maylam)
3. Nightmare on Elm Street (1984…Wes Craven)
4. Curtains (1983…Richard Ciupka)
5. Friday the 13th: Part 4: The Final Chapter (1984…Joseph Zito)
6. Motel Hell (1980…Kevin Connor)
7. Happy Birthday to Me (1981…J. Lee Thompson)
8. Friday the 13th: Part 7: The New Blood (1988…John Carl Buechler)
9. Intruder (1989… Scott Spiegel)
10. Child’s Play (1988…Tom Holland)
11. Bloody Birthday (1981…Ed Hunt)
12. Mother’s Day (1980…Charles Kaufman)
13. Maniac (1980…William Lustig)
14. The Prowler (1981… Joseph Zito)
15. Sleepaway Camp (1983…Robert Hiltzik)
16. Hell Night (1981…Tom DeSimone)
17. Chopping Mall (1986…Jim Wynorski)

phew! that was VERY enjoyable to work on.

now delete earlier one Sam.
on August 10, 2009 at 6:59 pm | Reply Kevin J. Olson

Jamie:

I love your list of American slashers. I still think the best ones were being produced in Italy (Opera and Stage Fright), but I loved My Bloody Valentine. I recently watched The Burning for a string of Halloween related posts last year, and boy, the butchered version of that film (which is what they show in IFC) makes it pretty blah. The famous raft scene, though…man, Savani was at his best there.

I also like your inclusion of Happy Birthday to Me which had a lot of fun with the slasher genre and had some innovative deaths. Love the coverbox, too!

I have yet to see The Prowler, but it’s coming up on my Netflix queue and I am planning on reviewing it for another string of horror-related posts in October.

Great stuff.
- on August 10, 2009 at 7:04 pm | Reply Jamie
  
  i’d recommend ‘Chopping Mall’ too, it’s on Netflix and it’s an absolute BLAST with like minded friends, and some beers.
- on August 10, 2009 at 7:09 pm | Reply Jamie
  
  I also should have added the (unintentional) hilarity whodunit slasher ‘Cheerleader Camp’. it’s fun and trashy as hell.
on August 10, 2009 at 7:01 pm | Reply Kevin J. Olson

Oh…and I agree with The Cutter’s Way comment. An underrated film of the 80’s. Another underrated Jeff Bridges film of the 80’s is Jagged Edge. Which almost made my list of 50.
on August 10, 2009 at 7:31 pm | Reply Angelo D'Arminio

1 ATLANTIC CITY (1980)
2 ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA (1984)
3 FIELD OF DREAMS (1989)
4 GLORY (1989)
5 RAGING BULL (1980)
6 DO THE RIGHT THING (1989)
7 CINEMA PARADISIO (1989)
8 VERDICT, THE (1982)
9 DRIVING MISS DAISY (1989)
10 GANDHI (1982)
11 MISSISSIPPI BURNING (1988)
12 DEAD POET’S SOCIETY (1989)
13 ARTHUR (1981)
14 PLATOON (1986)
15 BACK TO THE FUTURE (1985)
16 ABSENCE OF MALICE (1981)
17 AMADEUS (1984)
18 BIG CHILL, THE (1983)
19 BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY (1989)
20 PLACES IN THE HEART (1984)
21 ORDINARY PEOPLE (1980)
22 COCOON (1985)
23 AIRPLANE! (1980)
24 MOONSTRUCK (1987)
25 TENDER MERCIES (1983)
- on August 10, 2009 at 10:28 pm | Reply Allan Fish
  
  Thanks for keeping up the expectations, Angelo, old boy. You set yourself incredibly low standards and fail to live up to them.
  - on August 10, 2009 at 11:20 pm Angelo D'Arminio
    
    Allan old chum, I prefer to list the film’s I enjoy. I admit I am not a Stanley Kauffman wannabee.
  - on August 11, 2009 at 9:54 am wondersinthedark
    
    Oh God no, stay as you are, Angelo, we love you that way.
  - on August 13, 2009 at 3:12 pm Angelo D'Arminio
    
    Allan,
    
    You must be right. I just realized that my list did not receive any comment from Sam. As for you, I thought you would be thrilled that I finally included a foreign language film.
on August 10, 2009 at 7:49 pm | Reply Richard Doyle

My List:

1. Raging Bull (1980)
2. Brazil (1985)
3. Wings of Desire (1987)
4. The Untouchables (1987)
5. The King of Comedy (1982)
6. Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
7. Withnail & I (1987)
8. The Shining (1980)
9. The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989)
10. The Road Warrior (1981)
11. Do the Right Thing (1989)
12. Airplane! (1980)
13. Das Boot (1981)
14. Blood Simple (1984)
15. At Close Range (1986)
16. Thief (1981)
17. The Terminator (1984)
18. The Fly (1986)
19. Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)
20. Runaway Train (1985)
21. My Left Foot (1989)
22. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)
23. The Killer (1989)
24. Blue Velvet (1986)
25. A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
26. Dance with a Stranger (1985)
27. Body Heat (1981)
28. Atlantic City (1980)
29. Akira (1988)
30. After Hours (1985)
31. True Confessions (1981)
32. The Times of Harvey Milk (1984)
33. The Thin Blue Line (1988)
34. The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)
35. The Last Emperor (1987)
36. The Hit (1984)
37. The Breakfast Club (1985)
38. Tales from the Gimli Hospital (1988)
39. Ran (1985)
40. The Sacrifice (1986)
41. My Life as a Dog (1985)
42. Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989)
43. Koyaanisqatsi (1982)
44. Gandhi (1982)
45. Die Hard (1988)
46. Dead Ringers (1988)
47. Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
48. Crime Wave (1985)
49. Babette’s Feast (1987)
50. “Breaker” Morant (1980)
- on August 10, 2009 at 9:56 pm | Reply Jamie
  
  Richard, great list. two i admit i missed (rather ashamed to admit this), but they are:
  Dance with a Stranger (1985)- i think this is such a great british film, like an update of all the kitchen sink films of the late 50’s and early 60’s. Great to watch on a double bill with cronenberg’s ‘Spider’.
  and
  Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989) (for some reason I always link this to a ’90’s film… maybe because I saw it then and the industrial nature of it reminds me of all the music like that I was listening to at the time–and still do. I have the soundtrack on my iPod, and still enjoy listening to it from time to time)
  
  and the entire ‘Qatsi trilogy’ is a glaring omission on my part. oh well.
  
  great list.
  - on August 10, 2009 at 10:02 pm Bob Clark
    
    Well, only the first two “Qatsi” films were made in the 80’s. So…
on August 10, 2009 at 8:10 pm | Reply Bob Clark

Am I the only one who’s surprised by the number of lists that include “Driving Miss Daisy”? I wasn’t aware that anybody liked that movie. I might also say the same thing of “Glory”.
- on August 10, 2009 at 8:11 pm | Reply Ed Howard
  
  If I was surprised by people liking bad movies, I’d be perpetually surprised.
  - on August 10, 2009 at 10:24 pm wondersinthedark
    
    If liking bad movies was a crime, Sam would be on Death Row waiting to walk the green mile to old juicy.
  - on August 11, 2009 at 12:22 am Bob Clark
    
    Okay, “The Green Mile”– now that movie is kinda racist, or at least just incredibly stupid when it comes to race. I liked it at first because it was an anti-death, but upon a second or third viewing, I stumbled upon a paradox:
    
    Back in the South of the 1930’s, if a bunch of gun toting search party stumbled upon Michael Clarke Duncan cradling the bloody remains of two dead white girls in his hands, do you really think they would have simply arrested him and let the law take its course? Hell, black men were lynched for nothing more than looking at a white woman back then, and sometimes even less. It’s a creatively negligent detail that undermined my appreciation of the entire film, especially with the sheer volume of “Magical Negro” stereotyping it indulges in.
    
    Damn. Frank Darabont sort of redeemed himself with “The Mist”. He still owes us for “The Majestic”, though…
- on August 10, 2009 at 8:17 pm | Reply Bob Clark
  
  I didn’t say it was a bad movie, necessarily. Just because I don’t like it doesn’t determine its objective quality. I’ve just never met a single person in my life who actually DID like that movie.
  - on August 10, 2009 at 8:23 pm Sam Juliano
    
    Bob: Try over 4,355 members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, for starters, who voted the film the Best Picture Oscar in 1989, and then follow that up with the Best Picture prize from the National Board of Review, and then effusively favorable reviews from over 85% of the critics, including the likes of Pauline Kael. Would you say a few like it there? (DRIVING MISS DAISY)
    
    LOL!!!
  - on August 10, 2009 at 8:30 pm Jamie
    
    if you didn’t, i’ll be the one that does. for this age it’s the paul haggis ‘crash’. i am totally mystified why anyone thinks that is profound, or interesting, or says anything worthwhile about race relations. total garbage film (or should i say films on the topic of the three named)?)
  - on August 10, 2009 at 8:36 pm Bob Clark
    
    Sam, the MPAA isn’t exactly the most consistent barometer for cinematic quality, and I very seldom take their picks seriously. As for Mz. Kael, my tastes and hers have never exactly matched– I like nothing better than popcoron sci-fi and the sick soul of Europe, thank you very much…
    
    But what I meant initially was that I’ve never met anyone– in person or on the internet– who’s praised the merits of “Driving Miss Daisy”. I’ve never had a conversation with anyone who’s told me what a wonderful film it is, or how it’s among the best films of the 80’s. I’ve seen it in plenty of AFI-type polls and I’m well aware of its popularity at the Oscars, but it’s a picture which has never had anything to do with my day-to-day cinema life.
    
    This is the first time I’ve ever had a back-and-forth about “Driving Miss Daisy”. I’m not even debating its merits right now– I’m just saying I’m surprised to find it so popular here. To me, it’s never been anything more than a TBS movie, like “Steel Magnolias”.
  - on August 10, 2009 at 8:40 pm Sam Juliano
    
    Jamie: LOL!!!! Those who don’t like DAISY including the critical minority often point to the race relation angle. And Spike Lee agrees with you. I will say I feel it’s a film about friendship spanning generations. For those not moved it will ring false. I was deeply moved, as were members of my family and close friends. There will be those inexplicably times where we come away with different perceptions. Apparently, Bob and Ed agree with you and Allan.
  - on August 10, 2009 at 8:42 pm Bob Clark
    
    Jamie, my point exactly RE the Oscars. I don’t get Paul Haggis’ “Crash” either, and am most annoyed he couldn’t have found a better title/metaphor, or at least one that wouldn’t raised the confusion between Ballard and Cronenberg’s “Crash”. Haggis’ best work was his script for “Casino Royale”– which, I have to admit, more or less redeems him.
  - on August 10, 2009 at 8:47 pm Sam Juliano
    
    I’m with both you guys on CRASH though. BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN was the best film of 2005 in any language (I consider DOGVILLE a 2004 film, hence the best of that year) and the CRASH win was AMPAS’s most infamous moment ever.
  - on August 10, 2009 at 8:52 pm Tony Dayoub
    
    Brokeback? Really? Better than Malick’s New World?
  - on August 10, 2009 at 8:52 pm Bob Clark
    
    Well, “Crash” or “Chicago”. Or “A Beautiful Mind”. Or “Dances With Wolves”. Or “Oliver!”. You get what I’m saying, here?
    
    Hell, I even question “Return of the King”, although I’m likely alone on that one.
  - on August 10, 2009 at 8:58 pm Jamie
    
    Bob, you are not alone in not liking ‘Return of the King’ go to Sam’s recent post on that film to see where the line in the sand fell. (i believe we’re on the same team again).
    
    ‘Crash’ (paul haggis) i always liked for one reason and ONE reason alone, that is the quote it received from Cronenberg:
    “Director DAVID CRONENBERG will never forgive PAUL HAGGIS for naming his 2005 Oscar-winning movie after his film CRASH. Cronenberg made Crash, a movie about people who get sexually excited by car accidents, back in 1996, and cannot forgive Haggis for stealing his title. The Eastern Promises filmmaker tells U.S. magazine Complex, “I’ve told (him) that he was an a**hole basically for doing that, and so have many other people. “It’s very disrespectful, not only to me, but to J.G. Ballard, who wrote the book… I made my movie… in a very respectful way. Haggis just co-opted the title, and he knew what he was doing.” ”
    
    source:
    http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/article/cronenberg%20haggis%20stole%20my%20name_1048390
    
    absolutely classic.
  - on August 10, 2009 at 8:59 pm Sam Juliano
    
    Tony: It’s funny you mention that, as the Malick film (in view of the longer director’s cut) has gained immeasurably in my opinion to the point where it admittedly vies with BROKEBACK now for the best film of 2005. It’s very close, and I dare say you may be right in the near future when I further reflect.
  - on August 10, 2009 at 9:01 pm Sam Juliano
    
    CHICAGO was a deserving winner Bob, of the ones you mention, even if there were two films that year I rated higher–Haynes’s FAR FROM HEAVEN and Almodovar’s TALK TO HER.
  - on August 10, 2009 at 10:31 pm Allan Fish
    
    Amen, Bon, I tried to convince Sam that in most civilised places it’s seen as an embarrassment. That he brings the Academy – what Salieri would call the Champion of Mediocrities – into his reckoning says it all. It’s like saying Hitler was a great leader because of the popularity of his election in 1933. It’s cinematic diarrhoea.
  - on August 10, 2009 at 10:37 pm Allan Fish
    
    Chicago, now there’s a great film…NOT…like Cabaret, but without the quality.
  - on August 11, 2009 at 12:12 am Bob Clark
    
    “Cabaret” is a movie that possibly doesn’t really deserve its Oscar, either, or at least won out over a much bigger popular success with “The Godfather”. That is, won for Best Director, anyway. Bob Fosse got his precious triple-crown, and Coppola got his due, soon enough. So I guess all’s well.
    
    More interesting to me are those years where you have two acclaimed films, and one beats the other to a certain amount of raised eyebrows. “No Country For Old Men” vs. “There Will Be Blood”, “Forrest Gump” vs. “Pulp Fiction”, even “Star Wars” vs. “Annie Hall”. The best example is probably “Cabaret” and “The Godfather”, but at least there the skirmish was a small, localized one.
  - on August 11, 2009 at 12:48 am Angelo D'Arminio
    
    Bob I agree with a lot of what you said but I think the crime in 1994 was Forrest Gump over The Shawshank Redemption.
  - on August 11, 2009 at 1:31 am Bob Clark
    
    “Shawshank” was a ’94 film? I always thought it came out earlier. I’ll take your word for it, though, as I’m too lazy at the moment to check it for myself. “Pulp Fiction” was the real zeitgeist film of ’94. “Shawshank” was a more audience-friendly alternative to “Forrest Gump”, and a better one, too. I’ll give it that. Terribly overexposed thanks to TNT, of course.
- on August 10, 2009 at 8:19 pm | Reply David Noack
  
  Bob Clark: Until I met Allan Fish, I did not know a single person who disliked the film. And you rag out on Glory, another film that most love and boost the likes of The Unbearable Lightness of Being and The Mission? Heaven help us. Who’s to say what is “bad” anyway?
  - on August 10, 2009 at 8:28 pm Sam Juliano
    
    David, point well taken. DRIVING MISS DAISY is a lovingly-acted, deeply human story of friendship, wonderfully adapted from Alfred Uhrey’s stage play (which received superlative reviews too) that shoots an arrow to the heart honesty and withoutout manipulation. It may be Bruce Beresford’s best film, and it’s beautifully photograph in period haze and scored. The use of Dvorak’s lovely “Hymn to the Moon” from RUSALKA is a sublime touch.
    
    Dan Akroyd achieved greatness here for the only time in his career, and Tandy and freeman are magnificent.
  - on August 10, 2009 at 8:47 pm Bob Clark
    
    Sam– understand, I’m not saying it’s a BAD film. Just one I’ve never cared for. Furthermore, I want to insist that I’m not a part of the bandwagon that finds it offensive, or anything. Actually, its depiction of race/religious relations in the South at that time is probably pretty darn accurate, and a little poignant at times. And hey, it helped bring Morgan Freeman more attention (so did “Glory”), so I’ll never call it bad. Still, I personally have never found it to be terribly worth watching.
    
    As for Akroyd– c’mon, he was pretty damn cool in “The Blues Brothers”. Granted, most of that was residual cool from Belushi, but still.
  - on August 10, 2009 at 8:52 pm Jamie
    
    for ‘serious’ Akroyd i think his acting in ‘My Girl’ outshines anything happening ‘Driving Miss Daisy’, though the Akroyd I do like is something like ‘Spies Like Us’.
  - on August 10, 2009 at 8:57 pm Sam Juliano
    
    Jamie, when interviewed Ackroyd has repeatedly said on record that DRIVING MISS DAISY was the best film he was ever associated with, and that he gave his greatest performance in it. That may not be worth much, but it does show you there’s some reverence there.
  - on August 10, 2009 at 9:00 pm Jamie
    
    oh, I agree with you Akroyd is the best thing going on in ‘DWMD’, it’s a fine performance.
    
    if he thinks it’s the best thing he’s ever been associated with, well, i’ll just say i strongly disagree with him.
  - on August 10, 2009 at 10:43 pm Allan Fish
    
    David, sure your name isn’t Beresford? You’d have to be related to a participant to like this movie.
- on August 10, 2009 at 8:26 pm | Reply Bob Clark
  
  I said I MIGHT say the same thing about “Glory”– I’d hardly call that ragging out on it. It’s practically the only Civil War movie that doesn’t heroicize the South, I’ll give it that. It’s also a fairly typical mainstream Hollywood historical-drama, and while it’s got fine performances all around it’s never made any real impression on me, like the rest of Zwick’s work.
  - on August 10, 2009 at 8:33 pm Sam Juliano
    
    Bob I agree with you on Zwick, who is somewhat of a hack. But I do believe he hit all the right notes with GLORY, for the only time of his career. It isn’t a perfect film, but it’s one of the best Civil War films ever made. The technical craftsmanship in the battle sequences is a major feat, but the characters are compelling, the relationships affecting. And a great score there too by James Newton Howard, one of his most elegiac.
    
    The best film of 1989 is a dead heat between CINEMA PARADISO, THE COOK THE THIEF and HENRY V for me though.
  - on August 10, 2009 at 8:39 pm Bob Clark
    
    It’s Zwick’s best film, there’s no question about that. Still, my strongest memory from “Glory” is that there’s a kid wearing a digital-watch in one scene as the troops march past a plantation. That probably sums up my feelings about it.
  - on August 10, 2009 at 8:42 pm Sam Juliano
    
    LOL Bob!!!! Well, if that’s the thing you remember most, well I’ll agree it’s not one to remember. Hey, I respect that point of view.
  - on August 10, 2009 at 9:06 pm Angelo D'Arminio
    
    Bob, I like “GLORY” despite the fact that it does not herocize the South.
  - on August 10, 2009 at 9:19 pm Bob Clark
    
    Why Angelo, you heathen Dixie cur.
  - on August 10, 2009 at 9:23 pm Jamie
    
    ‘It’s Zwick’s best film, there’s no question about that. Still, my strongest memory from “Glory” is that there’s a kid wearing a digital-watch in one scene as the troops march past a plantation. That probably sums up my feelings about it.”
    
    LOL. I will look for this the next time I watch it. Thank you for the present of future laughter.
  - on August 10, 2009 at 10:41 pm Allan Fish
    
    Zwick hasn’t even reached as high as the level of hack, I call him Saint Ed of Worthy, known to those who recognise his talents as Ed Worthless.
    
    Glory is an OK movie, but purely standard, by the numbers, choking on the race angle and with so many stereotypes it could start its own Civil War soap opera. Washington is good, Francis’ photography better, but nothing could persaude me to watch it again. Thankfully the malaise of insanity affecting some American critics and causing them to praise films so formulaic they end not with the credits but an equation in 1989 didn’t travel across the Atlantic.
    
    Oh, and Sam, Cinema Paradiso is 1988. It may be the US in 1989, but Cook the Thief was 1990 in the US, so get your facts right, old boy. 🙂
on August 10, 2009 at 8:20 pm | Reply Angelo D'Arminio

“BAD” is in the eye of the beholder.
- on August 10, 2009 at 8:42 pm | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  Amen, Angelo.
- on August 10, 2009 at 9:05 pm | Reply Jamie
  
  True, but that leads to some pretty awful situations or art…
  - on August 10, 2009 at 9:07 pm Sam Juliano
    
    LOL!!!!!!!!
  - on August 10, 2009 at 9:08 pm Angelo D'Arminio
    
    True Jaimie, that’s how we got stuck with DOGS like “Natural Born Killers.”
  - on August 10, 2009 at 9:28 pm Jamie
    
    “Natural Born Killers” is > “Driving Miss Daisy”, “Glory”, and Haggis’ “Crash” though.
  - on August 10, 2009 at 10:55 pm Allan Fish
    
    Angelo wanted Stone shot after that film, Jamie, liberal that he is. I rather waited till he made his actual shit (Alexander, WTC, W) till I felt that way about him. NBK is a major film which creates its own paradox – it’s a film of its day, yet its subject is arguably even more prescient now.
  - on August 10, 2009 at 11:31 pm Angelo D'Arminio
    
    Not shot, hung!!…LOL
  - on August 11, 2009 at 12:21 am Jamie
    
    which is strange, Allan, as I am liberal as they come… yet how can a liberal be so angry about ‘Natural Born Killers’ and embrace the stereotyping-to-fight-stereotypes that ‘Driving Miss Daisy’, ‘Crash’, ect wade in?
    
    seems ‘Natural Born Killers’ is the most ‘liberal’ movie, of the ones listed here. it’s just not ham fisted that’s all (or as much as the other films listed). this to me is THE paradox happening here.
  - on August 11, 2009 at 12:27 am Bob Clark
    
    NBK is uneven, and might’ve made more sense directed by Tarantino, but hey– it’s got Juliette Lewis gettin’ all freaky, Robert Downey Jr. going bugnuts insane, and Tommy Lee Jones’ head on a stick (in the director’s cut, anyway).
    
    I love a movie with nudity and decapitations. It’s just plain FUN. Remember that, everyone?
  - on August 11, 2009 at 12:44 am Angelo D'Arminio
    
    Jamie,
    Allan’s liberal comment was a joke since knows I am NOT a liberal.
on August 10, 2009 at 8:45 pm | Reply Sam Juliano

Bob, Ed, Jamie and Allan:

I’ll clear the air next week. I will be writing a full review of DRIVING MISS DAISY for WitD on Tuesday, a week from tomorrow. (I am traveling with the family to Hershey Park on Sunday into Monday) How’s that sound? LOL!!!!

It will be the first review in a new series on 80’s films I will be penning. The title has yet to be determined. I’m sure Allan will have a saucy one for me! LOL!!!
- on August 10, 2009 at 9:03 pm | Reply Jamie
  
  Series Title: “Movies That Shouldn’t Have Ever Even Sniffed the Best Picture Oscar, yet Won”.
  
  LOL, jk. i look forward to it. maybe I should watch it again, for the first time in at least 15 years.
- on August 10, 2009 at 9:06 pm | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  I love that subject Jamie. We will have to run a full post on that!!! What debate we will have!!
- on August 10, 2009 at 10:51 pm | Reply Allan Fish
  
  The one thing writing about DMD will not do is CLEAR THE AIR. It’ll putrify it to the extent I’ll have to stay away from WitD until cyber-fumigation has taken place.
  - on August 11, 2009 at 1:32 pm Sam Juliano
    
    What a highly intellectual comment Allan.
  - on August 11, 2009 at 1:58 pm wondersinthedark
    
    This from the man whose defence centres around the Academy…congratulations Mr Pot on calling another kettle dark charcoal.
  - on August 11, 2009 at 2:05 pm Sam Juliano
    
    Look, my defence DOES NOT revolve around those idiots. Bob Clark made a statement that he didn’t know a single person or had not heard of a single person that liked DAISY. I rightly acknowledge thousands of Oscar voters, and then backed it up with the National Board of Review, pauline Kael and 85% of the critics, so please, don’t even go there! I do NOT use those nincompoops for valid scholarly leverage, just was answering Bob’s question, which he later clarified. Now go over to Tony’s piece and read it and my report on the Noir last night!
on August 10, 2009 at 8:50 pm | Reply Sam Juliano

OK Bob thanks for that clarification above. I basically responded to you query as to “does anyone like the film?” and I brought out the instances. Forget about the AMPAS, forget about the National Board of Review, forget about Pauline Kael–what’s telling is the 85% or so favorable reviews. It is with that compelling contingent that I side with. But as I say I will be writing a full review defending the film for next Tuesday. Whoever is here that day will surely contribute. I expect Allan to be here with a shotgun. Ha!
- on August 10, 2009 at 9:22 pm | Reply Bob Clark
  
  Did I just create a controversy? I feel… good about that.
  - on August 10, 2009 at 9:33 pm Sam Juliano
    
    Hey Bob, we thrive on controversy here on WitD!!!!
  - on August 10, 2009 at 10:03 pm Bob Clark
    
    Ha! You’d enjoy my love letter to “The Phantom Menace” over at The Aspect Ratio…
- on August 10, 2009 at 10:46 pm | Reply Allan Fish
  
  Even Phantom Menace is better than Driving Miss Daisy.
  - on August 11, 2009 at 12:03 am Bob Clark
    
    Here’s the weird thing: prior to actually seeing the full film, my heaviest exposure to “Driving Miss Daisy” was as a short trailer/commercial on a VHS copy of “Roger & Me”. I can’t really imagine a more incongruous mix of films– Southern hospitality and Michael Moore’s activist filmmaking.
    
    All that registered to me was Morgan Freeman (“I’m tryin’ to drive you to the sto’!”), Dan Ackroyd (“You’re a doodle, Mama!”) and the music. At least it was enough for me to finally get the “Driving Over Miss Daisy” scene from “Stay Tuned”.
    
    There was also a trailer for Bill Murray’s “Quick Change” on that tape. I wonder if my life would’ve turned out different if I’d seen that film, instead of “Driving Miss Daisy”. The possibilities boggle the mind…
  - on August 11, 2009 at 12:23 am Jamie
    
    ‘Quick Change’ is a better film then ‘DMD’ and ‘Roger and Me’.
  - on August 11, 2009 at 12:29 am Bob Clark
    
    That’s what I figured. “Roger & Me” was more important to me when I was a teenager. By now, I see through Moore’s schtick.
  - on August 11, 2009 at 9:59 am wondersinthedark
    
    Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Momma’s Hung You in the Closet and I’m Feeling So Sad is better than Driving Miss Daisy. Hell, I think even Forrest Gump is better than Driving Miss Daisy.
on August 10, 2009 at 9:09 pm | Reply Sam Juliano

I am now leaving the friendly confines of Fairview, New Jersey to head over for a crucial double-feature at the Film Forum of Brit Noir in Manhattan. Allan has urged me to see THEY DRIVE BY NIGHT, a rare film to find.

I am hoping that Allan and/or Tony may be here to moderate should discussion continue or re-new. Thanks Bob, Jamie, David, Ed, et al for all the insights and fun. It will continue……
- on August 10, 2009 at 9:11 pm | Reply Angelo D'Arminio
  
  “THEY DRIVE BY NIGHT” great flick.
  - on August 10, 2009 at 9:26 pm Jamie
    
    agreed, and on the big screen? Oh my!
    
    sam you should come home and watch ‘They Live by Night’ (N. Ray) what a double bill!
  - on August 10, 2009 at 10:47 pm Allan Fish
    
    Not the one you mean, Angelo, the Bogie, this is a better film from 1938.
on August 10, 2009 at 9:10 pm | Reply Sam Juliano

Oh Angelo is here too. He is a perfect moderator.
on August 10, 2009 at 9:33 pm | Reply Sam Juliano

Well I just wofled down some barbeque chicken, and must leave. Yes, jamie that Nick Ray film would be a perfect double bill. i do have it on DVD of course as you noted and think most highly of it.
- on August 10, 2009 at 10:48 pm | Reply Allan Fish
  
  Despite only having one word different, they’re VERY different films. It’s like saying Field of Dreams is similar to Burden of Dreams.
on August 10, 2009 at 9:37 pm | Reply Sam Juliano

Another list was just found in moderation, from a man named Richard Doyle…………….scrolll upwards folks, to see it………..
on August 10, 2009 at 11:58 pm | Reply David H. Schleicher

Who would’ve thought poor little DRIVING MISS DAISY would cause such a hub-bub? THIS IS FANTASTIC — the debate, not the movie, which I don’t find anything particularly wrong with, just not my cup of tea, you see.

Oh, but I would defend GLORY — the only really good thing Zwick has ever pulled off! The battlefield scenes are among the best I’ve ever seen and the acting was top notch — though there are certainly flaws elsewhere. And Sam, I believe it is James Horner who did that unforgettable score — but very easy to confuse with James Newtown Howard for a whole variety of reasons.

****Laughing****—But what happened to the lists??? These tangents have taken over quite organically.
- on August 11, 2009 at 1:37 pm | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  Ah David, it is Horner, I do mix them up. And you are right to issue praise to GLORY. I will deal with the DAISY heathens on Tuesday. I have Pauline Kael and 85% of the critical establishment on my side with that film, which is heartening.
on August 11, 2009 at 12:00 am | Reply David H. Schleicher

Oh, and my apologies for not “replying” in the correct thread—so easy to get lost here. Feel free to “correct” in administration!
on August 11, 2009 at 2:28 am | Reply Krauthammer

Is this still going on? If so, here’s my list:

1. Do The Right Thing (Lee)

2. The Shining (Kubrick)

3. Lola (Fassbinder)

4. Brazil (Gilliam)

5. The King of Comedy (Scorsese)

6. The Fly (Cronenberg)

7. The Road Warrior (Miller)

8. Videodrome (Cornenberg)

9. Airplane! (Abrahams, Zucker, Zucker)

10. Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (Schrader)

11. The Elephant Man (Lynch)

12. She’s Gotta Have It (Lee)

13. Fanny and Alexander (Bergman)

14. Raising Arizona (Coens)

15. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (Zemeckis)

16. Grave of the Fireflies (Takahata)

17. Something Wild (Demme)

18. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (McNaughton)

19. Fitzcarraldo (Herzog)

20. Once Upon A Time in America (Leone)

21. Koyaanisqatsi (Reggio)

22. Cane Toads: An Unnatural History (Lewis)

23. Aliens (Cameron)

24. Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Almodovar)

25. Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn (Raimi)

26. Ran (Kurosawa)

27. Castle in the Sky (Miyazaki)

28. This is Spinaltap (Reiner)

29. Tender Mercies (Beresford)

30. Raiders of the Lost Ark (Spielberg)

31. Near Dark (Bigelow)

32. A Passage to India (Lean)

33. Cinema Paradiso (Tornatore)

34. Eight Men Out (Sayles)

35. My Neighbor Totoro (Miyazaki)

36. Manhunter (Mann)

37. Blade Runner (Scott)

38. Creepshow (Romero)

39. The Long Good Friday (Mackenzie)

40. Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (Kershner)

41. Say Anything… (Crowe)

43. 48. Hours (Hill)

44. Atlantic City (Malle)

45. Hoosiers (Anspaugh)

46. A Fish Called Wanda (Crichton)

47.Amadeus (Forman)

48. The Thing (Carpenter)

49. The Last Emperor (Bertolucci)

50. Drugstore Cowboy (Van Sant)
- on August 11, 2009 at 3:01 am | Reply Bob Clark
  
  A lot of bold choices in that list. I’ll never buy that Raimi’s better than Lucas, Scott or Kurosawa, of course, but like I said, it’s one hell of a bold choice, and I salute it.
  - on August 11, 2009 at 1:39 pm Sam Juliano
    
    Aye, Bob, I agree with what you say about Krauthammer’s “bold” lis there.
- on August 11, 2009 at 5:26 pm | Reply Krauthammer
  
  I just noticed that I put down “Cornenberg” instead of “Cronenberg” when I got to Videodrome. Apologies all around.
  - on August 11, 2009 at 6:55 pm Sam Juliano
    
    Don’t worry Krauthammer, I will correct it. Thanks again!
on August 11, 2009 at 5:40 pm | Reply Joe

Here she goes:

1 Atlantic City (Malle)
2 Fanny and Alexander (Bergman)
3 Henry V (Branagh)
4 Once Upon A Time in America (Leone)
5 Local Hero (Forsythe)
6 Driving Miss Daisy (Beresford)
7 Amadeus (Foreman)
8 Blue Velvet (Lynch)
9 Do the Right Thing (Lee)
10 Babette’s Feast (Axel)
11 Cinema Paradiso (Tornatore)
12 This is Spinal Tap (Reiner)
13 Field of Dreams (Robinson)
14 Kagemusha (Kurosawa)
15 Blade Runner (Scott)
16 Grave of the Fireflies
17 Born on the Fourth of July (Stone)
18 Dead Poets Society (Weir)
19 The Accidental Tourist (Kasden)
20 Das Boot (Pedersen)
21 Raging Bull (Scorsese)
22 Crimes and Misdemeanors (Allen)
23 The Last Emperor (Bertolucci)
24 Empire of the Sun (Spielberg)
25 Brideshead Revisited (Lindsay-Hogg)
- on August 11, 2009 at 6:55 pm | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  Fabulous list Joe! I can always rely on you to enrich the landscape!
on August 11, 2009 at 6:44 pm | Reply Jamie

A film I inexplicably left of my list of 50 films is ‘Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure’, I think that is both a populist film, but also very timeless. It so perfectly updates ‘the Bicycle Thief’ I’ve often just chuckled at the thought of someone else so creatively updating old european realist classics.

I don’t think I’ve seen one person select it for a top 50 though…
- on August 11, 2009 at 6:54 pm | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  Ah, PEE WEE’S GREAT ADVENTURE. My good friend and commenter, 34 year-old Jason Giampietro is a huge fan of that one too, Jamie.
- on August 11, 2009 at 6:57 pm | Reply Ed Howard
  
  You know, I left *Pee Wee* out just because I haven’t seen it in ages, so I can’t comment too definitively on it, but I bet if I watched it again I’d still enjoy it a lot as well. It’s such an anarchic, goofily endearing film. And the whole *Pee Wee* set and concepts were co-designed by one of the great artists to emerge from underground comics, Gary Panter, whose surrealist/absurdist sensibility definitely shows through in the wild sense of imagination and playfulness that runs through the film and TV show.
  - on August 11, 2009 at 7:02 pm Sam Juliano
    
    Ed, for what’s it’s worth I completely agree with your most excellent take on it. And yes, I forgot it too. But my revisions to accomodate WAR REQUIEM and LOCAL HERO would seem to be enough for me.
  - on August 11, 2009 at 7:07 pm Jamie
    
    You should watch it again…. it’s as great (if not better) as you remember.
    
    while at art school years ago, and staying up long nights and too broke for cable or renting a lot of films i’d put films I knew well on in the back ground for some noise so I didn’t feel so alone at like 3 in the morning. (sometimes i’d go for albums but those were a little too loud in an apartment building). Anyways this was a title I owned and played at least 3 times a month… so i’ve watched (or listened to) this film at least 30 times probably. it’s so fantastic, absurd, funny, and sad.
on August 11, 2009 at 11:36 pm | Reply Dean Treadway

Having followed the stellar 1970s, and heavily steeped with former movie star Ronald Reagan’s culture-changing presidential agenda (at least in its latter half), the 1980s may seem at first glance as a nadir for cinema (especially since the decade itself was, in my opinion, the beginning of the end for serious movies). But I find nothing worthy of burial in this list. All titles cited that were released before 1983 are suitable for inclusion in the golden age of the previous decade, and those that came afterwards are only VERY slightly weaker. Among those doing some of their best work in this decade: Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese, David Lynch, Philip Kaufman, Terry Gilliam, Stanley Kubrick, John Huston, Sidney Lumet, Jonathan Demme, Albert Brooks, and Steven Spielberg. Plus we have the emergence of Alex Cox, Jim Jaramusch, Bill Forsyth, Steven Soderburgh, Joel and Ethan Coen, Ross McElwee, and Sam Raimi. Not a bad batch of filmmakers there. Anyway, according to (1) influence, (2) overall quality, and (3) personal affection, here’s my lineup for the decade, with short commentary:

1) Fanny and Alexander (TV or film version) (Ingmar Bergman, 83 (Sweden))
(Memory and family, examined via a Dickensian ghost story)
2) Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 80)
(A boxer’s unavoidable eternal fight)
3) Local Hero (Bill Forsyth, 82 (Scotland))
(A glorious break-out into a new life)
4) Sherman’s March (Ross McEllwee, 86)
(One man vacillates between two loves: movies and southern women)
5) Blue Velvet (David Lynch, 86)
(The bugs chomp away beneath a fantasy hometown)
6) Reds (Warren Beatty, 81)
(A challenging, intellectual romance cast against epic history)
7) Full Metal Jacket (Stanley Kubrick, 87)
(The Vietnam conflict in toto)
8) Do The Right Thing (Spike Lee, 89)
(Colorful race clashes in heated Brooklyn)
9) The Killing Fields (Roland Joffe, 84)
(Undying friendship)
10) Jean De Florette / Manon of the Spring (Claude Berri, 87/88 (France))
(Greek Tragedy projected upon the old French countryside)
11) Brazil (Terry Gilliam, 85 (Britain))
(The future predicted)
12) Crimes and Misdemeanors (Woody Allen, 89)
(Morality unattended in large and small ways)
13) Das Boot (TV or film version) (Wolfgang Petersen, 83 (Germany))
(Wartime gusto filmed with utmost verisimilitude)
14) Chilly Scenes of Winter (Joan Micklin Silver, 81)
(The sadness and reality of unchecked romance)
15) The Right Stuff (Philip Kaufman, 83)
(Modern heroics)
16) Blade Runner (Director’s Cut) (Ridley Scott, 82/92 (Britain))
(Film Noir cast in a futuristic light)
17) Drugstore Cowboy (Gus Van Sant, 89)
(The drug war dramatized in miniature)
18) ‘Round Midnight (Bertrand Tavernier, 86 (France/USA))
(A friendship forged in be-bop)
19) Stop Making Sense (Jonathan Demme and Talking Heads, 84)
(Film’s beatified source of tonal energy)
20) Ran (Akira Kurosawa, 85 (Japan))
(Ancient familial clashes come alive)
21) The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Philip Kaufman, 88)
(Sexual adventurousness rages in a rebellious milieu)
22) Entre Nous (Diane Kurys, 83 (France))
(The opening and closing of life’s doors)
23) The Thin Blue Line (Errol Morris, 86)
(Justice delayed)
24) Matewan (John Sayles, 87)
(The everlasting motives driving the worker’s urge to unionize)
25) E.T. The Extraterrestrial (Steven Spielberg, 82)
(Childhood dreams are entertained)
26) The Sacrifice (Andrei Tarkovsky, 86 (Russia))
(Stark spirituality)
27) This Is Spinal Tap (Rob Reiner, 84)
(The race for recognition, with unparalleled improv and music; the most quotable comedy of the 1980s)
28) Burden of Dreams (Les Blank, 82)
(An artist’s insanity, mirrored by his subject of choice)
29) Le Rayon Vert / Summer (Eric Rohmer, 86 (France))
(A awkward girl stumbles around, looking for joy)
30) Cutter’s Way (Ivan Passer, 81)
(Ideals smashed and rebuilt)
31) Prince of the City (Sidney Lumet, 81)
(Fighting for what’s right, by someone once wrong)
32) The King of Comedy (Martin Scorsese, 83)
(The insistent obsession with celebrityhood)
33) Stranger Than Paradise (Jim Jarmusch, 85)
(Barren black-and-white America)
34) Tootsie (Sydney Pollack, 82)
(War of the Sexes)
35) The Last Temptation of Christ (Martin Scorsese, 88)
(The true crux of Christianity)
36) Tess (Roman Polanski, 80 (France/Britain))
(A 19th Century clash of sexual and economic castes, gorgeously filmed)
37) The Empire Strikes Back (Irvin Kershner, 80)
(Trouble in a galaxy far, far away…)
38) Pennies From Heaven (Herbert Ross, 81)
(The Depression in mind-twisting song and dance)
39) Star 80 (Bob Fosse, 83)
(Murder, sex, desperation, and media)
40) Gallipoli (Peter Weir, 81 (Australia))
(Elegant WWI drama, beautifully directed and shot)
41) Raiders of the Lost Ark (Steven Speilberg, 82)
(A pitch-perfect tribute to 1930s serials)
42) High Hopes (Mike Leigh, 88 (Britain))
(In a lighthearted vein, the socioeconomics of Thatcherism)
43) Ordinary People (Robert Redford, 80)
(Suburban grudges and forgiveness, part 1)
44) Shoot The Moon (Alan Parker, 82)
(Suburban grudges and forgiveness, part 2)
45) Mystery Train (Jim Jarmusch, 89)
(The heartland of the South, seen through transplanted eyes)
46) Wings of Desire (Wim Winders, 87 (Germany))
(An exceptional romance bonds two worlds in gleaming blacks and whites)
47) Last Night at the Alamo (Eagle Pennell, 83)
(Booze-sodden regrets spill out of a doomed Texas watering hole)
48) Gregory’s Girl (Bill Forsyth, 81 (Scotland))
(Goofy Scottish romantic comedy may be the decade’s happiest movie)
49) …sex, lies and videotape (Steven Soderburgh, 89)
(Battered hearts trying to mend in Baton Rouge)
50) Blow Out (Brian De Palma, 81)
(Pure cinema in reds, whites, and blues)
51) Broadway Danny Rose (Woody Allen, 84)
(Star, smile, strong)
52) Sophie’s Choice (Alan J. Pakula, 82)
(A perfect literary adaptation, and a true breakthrough for our premier film actress, Meryl Streep)
53) Once Upon A Time in America (long version) (Sergio Leone, 84)
(The past and present intermingle in Leone’s final opus)
54) Used Cars (Robert Zemeckis, 80)
(The most raucous comedy of the 1980s)
55) The Verdict (Sidney Lumet, 82)
(A crowning performance from Paul Newman, in an autumnal masterwork)
56) Modern Romance (Albert Brooks, 80)
(A wonderfully lackadaisical take on love tainted by jealousy)
57) After Hours (Martin Scorsese, 86)
(One really, really, really bad night)
58) The Long Riders (Walter Hill, 81)
(The best western of the 1980s also sports the decade’s greatest casting coup)
59) Missing (Costa-Gavras, 82)
(Dictatorial terrors in 1970s Chile, with obvious American culpability)
60) Diner (Barry Levinson, 82)
(Superb dialogue and characterization in 50s-era male-bonding period piece)
61) Thief (Michael Mann, 81)
(The tick-tick-ticks of the criminal ethos)
62) Drowning by Numbers (Peter Greenaway, 88 (Britain))
(A visually playful countdown to death)
63) Smash Palace (Roger Donaldson, 81 (Australia))
(A junkyard marriage)
64) Blood Simple (Joel and Ethan Coen, 85)
(The playful noir debut for, as we now see, the seventh art’s chief American practitioners)
65) Pixote (Hector Babenco, 81 (Brazil))
(The gritty mean streets of Brazil, with children running in packs)
66) Empire of the Sun (Steven Spielberg, 87)
(Astonishing acts of bravery and survival as signposts of wisdom)
67) The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 80)
(One family disappears, like ghosts)
68) The Purple Rose of Cairo (Woody Allen, 85)
(The pains and comforts of movie fandom)
69) The Fourth Man (Paul Verhoeven, 83 (Germany))
(Sexual trickery)
70) Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life (Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam, 83 (Britain))
(The final word from the 1970s’ legendary humor troupe)
71) Aliens (James Cameron, 88)
(Motherhood, enforced with military precision)
72) The Vanishing (George Sluzier, 88 (Denmark))
(Some things are better left unknown)
73) Out of the Blue (Dennis Hopper, 80)
(The punk ideal)
74) Threads (Mick Jackson, 84 (Britain))
(Frightening and blunt, the finest movie ever about the effects of apocalypse)
75) Tucker: The Man and His Dream (Francis Ford Coppola, 88)
(Building the better mousetrap, and the resulting big-business smackdown)
76) The Dead (John Huston, 87 (Ireland/USA))
(A drama of tiny moves)
77) My Dinner With Andre (Louis Malle, 81)
(Two great minds meld over supper in a singular cinematic experiment)
78) A Passage to India (David Lean, 85 (Britain))
(The mysterious final effort from a movie master)
79) The Elephant Man (David Lynch, 80 (Britain/USA))
(A gentle soul trapped in a perverse body)
80) Lost in America (Albert Brooks, 85)
(Damnation of the Yuppie mindset)
81) Broadcast News (James L. Brooks, 87)
(Prescient examination of the newsroom’s now-pervasive need for fabled flash over substance)
82) The Color of Money (Martin Scorsese, 86)
(Ruin and rebirth)
83) Evil Dead (Sam Raimi, 81)
(Sumptuous blend of jumpy scares and mouth-agape laughs)
84) Prizzi’s Honor (John Huston, 85)
(Blood in, blood out)
85) The Road Warrior (George Miller, 81)
(Wacked-out stuntwork, editing, scoring, and direction)
86) Hope and Glory (John Boorman, 87 (Britain))
(The most joyous war movie ever)
87) Zelig (Woody Allen, 83)
(“Everybody go chameleon…”)
88) Sid and Nancy (Alex Cox, 86)
(“Sid, what about the goodbye drugs?”)
89) Die Hard (John McTiernan, 88)
(Action and fun)
90) Coal Miner’s Daughter (Michael Apted, 80)
(More a love story than a biopic; superb on both counts)
91) Altered States (Ken Russell, 80)
(A DNA-bending search for ultimate truth)
92) Dead Ringers (David Cronenberg, 88 (Canada))
(The twin bond, in love and death)
93) Airplane! (Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker, 80)
(The American comedy is reinvented)
94) Something Wild (Jonathan Demme, 86)
(An assault on, and embrace of, a spicy normalcy)
95) Raising Arizona (Joel and Ethan Coen, 86)
(A wild-eyed yelp in favor of parenthood)
96) One-Trick Pony (Robert M. Young, 80)
(An aging musician sees the writing on the wall for his now-dated tunesmithing)
97) Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (Tim Burton, 86)
(Silliness)
98) The Stunt Man (Richard Rush, 80)
(“If God could do the tricks we do, he’d be a happy man”)
99) They Live (John Carpenter, 88)
(50s sci-fi with 80s-flavored political/cultural snarks)
100) Old Enough (Marisa Silver, 84)
(Young girlhood)
101) Marvin and Tige (Eric Weston, 83)
(A sentimental favorite; perhaps the best film shot in Atlanta, featuring John Cassevetes final performance)
on August 12, 2009 at 7:16 am | Reply Jamie

two great inclusions here:
19) Stop Making Sense (Jonathan Demme and Talking Heads, 84)
and
69) The Fourth Man (Paul Verhoeven, 83 (Germany))

I salute you for naming two films I forgot about, or didn’t even think to list. kudos.
on August 12, 2009 at 9:32 pm | Reply Joseph Demme

The Empire Strikes Back
Amadeus
Crimes and Misdemeanors
Raging Bull
Wings of Desire
Do the Right Thing
Fanny and Alexander
Raising Arizona
Return of the Jedi
Cinema Paradiso
Sex, Lies and Videotapes
The Elephant Man
The Thin Blue Line
Raiders of the Lost Ark
The Princess Bride
A Room With a View
A Fish Called Wanda
A Christmas Story
Fitzcarraldo
Stand by Me
E.T.
Back to the Future
Rumble Fish
Rain Man
Das Boot
- on August 12, 2009 at 9:46 pm | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  Hello Joseph! How are you? Thanks for entering this typically outstanding and diversified list of 80’s cinema. So many here by Lynch, Herzog, Bergman, Morris, Ivory, Crighton, Spielberg, Zemekis, Foreman, Scorsese, Lee and Tornatore are so dear to my heart too! Bravo!
on August 12, 2009 at 9:42 pm | Reply Dennis

1 Fanny and Alexander (Bergman, Sweden)
2 Shoah (Lanzman, France, W. Germany)
3 Dekalog (Kieslowski, Poland)
4 Berlin Alexanderplatz (Fassbinder, W. Germany)
5 The Last Temptation of Christ (Scorsese, US)
6 Au Revoir Les Enfants (Malle, France)
7 Blue Velvet (Lynch, US)
8 Ran (Kurosawa, Japan)
9 The Shining (Kubrick, US)
10 Jean de Florette (Berri, France)
11 The Thin Blue Line (Morris, US)
12 Jesus of Montreal (Arcand, Canada)
13 Crimes and Misdemeanors (Allen, US)
14 Akira (Otomo, Japan)
15 Raging Bull (Scorsese, US)
16 House of Games (Mamet, US)
17 Babette’s Feast, (Axel, Denmark)
18 Brazil (Gilliam, UK)
19 Amadeus (Foreman, US)
20 Hotel Terminus (Marcel Ophuls, France)
21 Das Boot (Pederson, W. Germany)
22 E. T. (Spielberg, US)
23 Fitzcaraldo (Fassbinder, W. Germany)
24 Paris Texas (Wenders, US)
25 Excalibur (Boorman, UK)
- on August 12, 2009 at 9:47 pm | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  Dennis, what can I say? This is simply as exquisite a list as could be submitted!
on August 13, 2009 at 8:40 am | Reply Brian

Feature length films only? Okay here goes

1. Videodrome (Cronenberg)
2. Vagabond (Varda)
3. Eight Diagram Pole Fighter (Lau)
4. Distant Voices, Still Lives (Davies)
5. They All Laughed (Bogdanovich)
6. Blue Velvet (Lynch)
7. Where is the Friend’s Home? (Kiarostami)
8. the Terrorizer (Yang)
9. My Neighbor Totoro (Miyazaki)
10. Love Streams (Cassavetes)
11. Ms. 45 (Ferrara)
12. Stranger Than Paradise (Jarmusch)
13. Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (Burton)
14. the Green Ray (Rohmer)
15. the Fly (Cronenberg)
16. Do the Right Thing (Lee)
17. Come and See (Klimov)
18. the Shining (Kubrick)
19. a Short Film About Love (Kieslowski)
20. The Store (Wiseman)
21. Dead Ringers (Cronenberg)
22. the Emperor’s Naked Army Marches On (Hara)
23. Fanny and Alexander (Bergman)
24. Scarface (De Palma)
25. Law of Desire (Almovodar)
26. Come to the 5 & Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (Altman)
27. Time Bandits (Gilliam)
28. Paris, Texas (Wenders)
29. Antonio Gaudi (Teshigahara)
30. the Knight (Majewski)
31. Sans Soleil (Marker)
32. Repo Man (Cox)
33. The Cyclist (Makhmalbaf)
34. Style Wars (Chalfant & Silver)
35. Blow Out (De Palma)
36. Drowning By Numbers (Greenaway)
37. Stop Making Sense (Demme)
38. the Realm of Fortune (Ripstein)
39. Hannah and Her Sisters (Allen)
40. the Trout (Losey)
41. Kiki’s Delivery Service (Miyazaki)
42. Tales of the Gimli Hospital (Maddin)
43. Frida, naturaleza viva (Leduc)
44. Times of Harvey Milk (Epstein)
45. Wings of Desire (Wenders)
46. The Thing (Carpenter)
47. Chinese Ghost Story (Ching)
48. Missile (Wiseman)
49. Sweetie (Campion)
50. Burden of Dreams (Blank)
- on August 13, 2009 at 3:51 pm | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  Brian, welcome to WitD. I just looked at your blosite, and all I can say is “wow!” You are associated with the Castro and the San Francisco Film Festival and silent cinema. I order my copies of THE PEACH GIRL and THE GODDESS through your affiliates. Your brilliantly ecclectic list needs no validation from me. Thanks so much! Actually, the lists are not restricted to feature length films.
  - on August 13, 2009 at 9:22 pm Brian
    
    Thanks! I’m actually not really affiliated with the Castro, other than my involvement with the SFSFF, which rents that space for its twice-yearly events. Glad you picked up the Ruan Lingyu DVDs. There was another terrific Shanghai silent at this year’s festival, entitled WILD ROSE. Not sure if a DVD release for it is in the cards though.
  - on August 13, 2009 at 9:48 pm Sam Juliano
    
    Thanks again Brian! I’ll keep my fingers crossed for WILD ROSE!
on August 13, 2009 at 3:43 pm | Reply Burt Gold

OK… I’m going with this:
1. Blade Runner (Scott)
2. The Shining (Kubrick)
3. Stranger than Paradise (Jarmusch)
4. Nostalghia (Tarkovsky)
5. Pixote (Babenco)
6. My Neighbor Totoro (Miyazaki)
7. Sherman’s March (McElwee)
8. Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise (Yamaga)
9. Mona Lisa (Jordan)
10. A Better Tomorrow (Woo)
11. Raging Bull (Scorsese)
12. The Killer (Woo)
13. Akira (Otomo)
14. Stardust Memories (Allen)
15. Down By Law (Jarmusch)
16. Violent Cop (Kitano)
17. Broadway Danny Rose (Allen)
18. Blue Velvet (Lynch)
19. Full Metal Jacket (Kubrick)
20. Blood Simple (Coen)
- on August 13, 2009 at 3:57 pm | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  Once again Burt, we thank you for a list of scope and taste. The McElwee is a most interesting choice–I liked that film a lot. I never saw your #8.
  - on August 13, 2009 at 7:20 pm Burt Gold
    
    Thanks Sam. Wings of Honneamise is definitely worth checking out… one of the most beautifully animated films ever, and a more slow-paced and subtle product of the 1980s japanese animation “golden age.” Check it out if you get the chance!
on August 14, 2009 at 6:08 am | Reply Samuel

01 Cinema Paradiso (Italy …Giuseppe Tornatore)
02 Grave of the Fireflies (Japan…Isao Takahata)
03 Das Boot: TV version (West Germany…Wolfgang Petersen)
04 The Elephant Man (UK/US…David Lynch)
05 Back to the Future (US…Robert Zemeckis)
06 My Neighbour Totoro (Japan…Hayao Miyazaki)
07 Jean de Florette (France…Claude Berri)
08 Kagemusha (Japan…Akira Kurosawa)
09 The Empire Strikes Back (US…Irwin Kershner)
10 Fanny and Alexander: Longer Version (Sweden…Ingmar Bergman)
11 Amadeus (US Milos Forman)
12 The Princess Bride (US…Rob Reiner)
13 Wings of Desire (West Germany…Wim Wenders)
14 The Shining (US/UK…Stanley Kubrick)
15 Pixote (Brazil…Hector Babenco)
16 The Evil Dead (US…Sam Raimi)
17 Pathfinder (Norway…Nils Gaup)
18 The Decline of the American Empire (Canada…Denys Arcand)
19 Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (US…John Hughes)
20 Paris, Texas (West Germany/US…Wim Wenders)
21 Parsifal (West Germany…Hans-Jürgen Syberberg)
22 The Vanishing (Netherlands/France…George Sluizer)
23 Raiders of the Lost Ark (US…Steven Spielberg)
24 The Time of the Gypsies (Yugoslavia…Emir Kusturica)
25 Au Revoir les Enfants (France…Louis Malle)
- on August 16, 2009 at 10:24 am | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  Fantastic list Samuel, especially since it’s obvious we have similar taste!
on August 14, 2009 at 8:01 pm | Reply Gerónimo

In poor english, from Buenos Aires in the south of the continent, my 50 titles (in chronological order):

“Mon oncle d’Amérique Alain Resnais (1980)
“The Elephant Man” David Lynch (1980)
“Raging Bull” Martin Scorsese (1980)
“Le dernier métro” François Truffaut (1980)
“Scanners” David Cronenberg (1981)
“La femme d’à côté” François Truffaut (1981)
“Blow Out” Brian De Palma (1981)
“La pelle” Liliana Cavani (1981)
“The Draughtsman’s Contract” Peter Greenaway (1982)
“Pink Floyd The Wall” Alan Parker (1982)
“El sur” Vícor Erice (1983)
“Zelig” Woody Allen (1983)
“De vierde man” Paul Verhoeven (1983)
“Blood Simple” Joel Coen & Ethan Coen (1984)
“Kaze no tani no Naushika” Hayao Miyazaki (1984)
“L’amour par terre” Jacques Rivette (1984)
“Amadeus” Milos Forman (1984)
“L’amour à mort” Alain Resnais (1984)
“A Passage to India” David Lean (1984)
“La ville des pirates” Raoul Ruiz (1984)
“Birdy” Alan Parker (1984)
“Calamari Union” Aki Kaurismäki (1985)
“Je vous salue, Marie” Jean-Luc Godard (1985)
“A Room With A View” James Ivory (1985)
“The Purple Rose of Cairo” Woody Allen (1985)
“Poulet au vinaigre” Claude Chabrol (1985)
“Ran” Akira Kurosawa (1985)
“Esperando la carroza” Alejandro Doria (1985)
“Matador” Pedro Almodóvar (1986)
“Le rayon vert” Eric Rohmer (1986)
“Blue Velvet” David Lynch (1986)
“Hannah and Her Sisters” Woody Allen (1986)
“Frida, naturaleza viva” Paul Leduc (1986)
“The Fly” David Cronenberg (1986)
“La ley del deseo” Pedro Almodóvar (1987)
“L’ami de mon amie” Eric Rohmer (1987)
“La comédie du travail” Luc Moullet (1987)
“Intervista” Federico Fellini (1987)
“Full Metal Jacket” Stanley Kubrick (1987)
“Hamlet liikemaailmassa” Aki Kaurismäki (1987)
“Masques” Claude Chabrol (1987)
“Angel Heart” Alan Parker (1987)
“Sur” Fernando E. Solanas (1988)
“The Last Temptation of Christ” Martin Scorsese (1988)
“Beetle Juice” Tim Burton (1988)
“Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios” Pedro Almodóvar (1988)
“Dangerous Liaisons” Stephen Frears (1988)
“Der siebente Kontinent” Michael Haneke (1989)
“Crimes and Misdemeanors” Woody Allen (1989)
“Santa Sangre” Alejandro Jodorowsky (1989)

Plus…
“When the Wind Blows” Jimmy T. Murakami (1986)
“Prizzi’s Honor” John Huston (1985)
“The Shining” Stanley Kubrick (1980)
“Rumble Fish” Francis Ford Coppola (1983)
“Les sièges de l’Alcazar” Luc Moullet (1989)
“The untouchables” Brian De Palma (1987)
“Sex, lies and videotape” Steven Soderbergh (1989)
“The Terminator” James Cameron (1984)
“Top secret!” Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker (1984)
“When Harry Met Sally” Carl Reiner (1989)
“Heathers” Michael Lehmann (1989)
“Die Hard” John McTiernan (1988)
- on August 16, 2009 at 10:25 am | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  Geronimo: WE are honored here to have your contribution from Buenos Aires!!! And many outstanding choices! Fine English too.
on August 14, 2009 at 11:38 pm | Reply Austin

Hi, I found this through Brian Darr. Hope you don’t mind my list of mostly genre films.

1. Dream to Believe (Paul Lynch)
2. Forbidden Zone (Richard Elfman)
3. Savage Streets (Danny Steinmann)
4. Sleepaway Camp (Robert Hitlzik)
5. RoboCop (Paul Verhoeven)
6. A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (Chuck Russell)
7. Re-Animator (Stuart Gordon)
8. Fast Times at Ridgemont High (Amy Heckerling)
9. Opera (Dario Argento)
10. Videodrome (David Cronenberg)
11. Silent Night, Deadly Night (Charles E. Sellier, Jr.)
12. Night of the Creeps (Fred Dekker)
13. An American Werewolf in London (John Landis)
14. The Gate (Tibor Takacs)
15. City of the Living Dead (Lucio Fulci)
16. Flesh+Blood (Paul Verhoeven)
17. Blue Velvet (David Lynch)
18. Vampire’s Kiss (Robert Bierman)
19. Street Trash (Jim Muro)
20. Adventures in Babysitting (Chris Columbus)
21. Midnight Madness (David Wechter & Michael Nankin)
22. Return of the Living Dead (Dan O’Bannon)
23. Labyrinth (Jim Henson)
24. The Beyond (Lucio Fulci)
25. Girls Just Want to Have Fun (Alan Metter)

26. Killer Klowns from Outer Space (Stephen Chiodo)
27. Santa Sangre (Alejandro Jodorowsky)
28. Back to the Future (Robert Zemeckis)
29. The Muppets Take Manhattan (Frank Oz)
30. Demons (Lamberto Bava)
31. The Wave (Alexander Grasshoff)
32. The Thing (John Carpenter)
33. Stagefright (Michele Soavi)
34. Gremlins (Joe Dante)
35. Fright Night (Tom Holland)
36. Tetsuo: The Iron Man (Shinya Tsukamoto)
37. Elves (Jeffrey Mandel)
38. Repo Man (Alex Cox)
39. The Toxic Avenger (Lloyd Kaufman & Michael Herz)
40. Raw Force (Edward Murphy)
41. The Monster Squad (Fred Dekker)
42. The Last American Virgin (Boaz Davidson)
43. Times Square (Allan Moyle)
44. The Hitcher (Robert Harmon)
45. Fear, Anxiety and Depression (Todd Solondz)
46. Chained Heat (Paul Nicholas)
47. A Woman Obsessed (Chuck Vincent)
48. Sudden Impact (Clint Eastwood)
49. Scanners (David Cronenberg)
50. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (Tobe Hooper)
- on August 16, 2009 at 10:26 am | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  Thanks very much Austin. Variety is exactly what we want here. Genre films make it all so much more interesting! Thanks so much!
on August 15, 2009 at 7:05 am | Reply Tony D'Ambra

Thank you Geronimo and Austin. Sorry for the delay in releasing your posts from the moderation queue. I am sure Sam Juliano will comment soonest on your submissions.
on August 16, 2009 at 5:55 am | Reply Ari

man, I’ve been out of it for a while. missed the ’70s list! damn. okay, here are my 25 choices for the ’80s.

1. Ran
2. Raging Bull
3. Heaven’s Gate
4. Blue Velvet
5. And the Ship Sails On
6. Down By Law
7. Fitzcarraldo
8. Blade Runner
9. The Last Temptation of Christ
10. The Unbearable Lightness of Being
11. The Shining
12. Kagemusha
13. Koyaanisqatsi
14. Hannah and Her Sisters
15. Mishima
16. Bad Timing
17. The Empire Strikes Back
18. Do the Right Thing
19. The Cotton Club
20. Empire of the Sun
21. The Abyss
22. A Short Film about Love
23. Naussica of the Valley of the Wind
24. Black Rain (Imamura)
25. Blood Simple
- on August 16, 2009 at 10:27 am | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  Great to have you back Ari. As always, you know your stuff as well as anyone on these threads.
- on August 16, 2009 at 5:01 pm | Reply Bob Clark
  
  “Bad Timing” was from 1980? Hm. I always figured it was late 70’s. Otherwise, I might’ve put it on my list, somewhere.
  - on August 17, 2009 at 12:07 am Ari
    
    It was ’81 or ’82, I believe. But yeah, it feels like a 70s movie.
  - on August 17, 2009 at 12:24 am Bob Clark
    
    It’s also the timing of the production that throws me off. Theresa Russel describes in the “Z Channel” documentary that she chose to star in the film over “Star Wars”, which her agent was pushing to get her into. That leaves a bit of time unaccounted for.
on August 17, 2009 at 12:34 am | Reply Partisan

Here’s my 50

1. Shoah
2. Brazil
3. A Fish Called Wanda
4. Fanny and Alexander
5. Splash
6. Pink Floyd: the Wall
7. Tess
8. Gandhi
9. Aliens
10. Angel Heart
11. Raiders of the Lost Ark
12. Henry V
13. The Shining
14. Paris, Texas
15. The Vanishing
16. The Man with Two Brains
17. The Empire Strikes Back
18. The Princess Bride
19. Fitzcarraldo
20. Airplane!
21. Born on the Fourth of July
22. Missing
23. Hotel Terminus
24. Stop Making Sense
25. Sans Soleil
26. L’Argent
27. Raging Bull
28. The Great Muppet Caper
29. Come and See
30. Time Bandits
31. My Neighbor Totoro
32. Ran
33. Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life
34. The King of Comedy
35. The Empire of the Sun
36. Hope and Glory
37. My Life as a Dog
38. Inner Space
39. Back to the Future
40. Summer/The Green Ray
41. All of Me
42. Clue
43. The Wannsee Conference
44. Blue Velvet
45. The Sacrifice
46. Landscape in the Mist
47. The Right Stuff
48. The South
49. The Mission
50. Where is the Friend’s home?
on August 18, 2009 at 3:48 pm | Reply Peter

Here’s my choices Sam:

1 Once Upon A Time in America
2 Henry V
3 Hope and Glory
4 Fanny and Alexander
5 Jean de Florette
6 Field of Dreams
7 Koyaanisqatsi
8 Grave of the Fireflies
9 A Fish Called Wanda
10 Crimes and Misdemeanors
11 Atlantic City
12 Blue Velvet
13 Amadeus
14 Cinema Paradiso
15 Pee Wee’s Great Adventure
16 The Thin Blue Line
17 Do the Right Thing
18 Dead Poets Society
19 Blood Simple
20 Fitzcaraldo
21 Ran
22 Drugstore Cowboy
23 This is Spinal Tap
24 A Room With A View
25 The Shining

Sue’s is almost ready Sam.
on August 19, 2009 at 9:34 pm | Reply Louis Aveta

Dictated to me on Wednesday, August 19. -S.J.

1 Return of the Jedi
2 Raiders of the Lost Ark
3 The Empire Strikes Back
4 Chariots of Fire
5 Glory
6 Terms of Endearment
7 Henry V
8 Back to the Future
9 Atlantic City
10 Platoon
11 Full Metal Jacket
12 Once Upon A Time in America
13 The Right Stuff
14 On Golden Pond
15 Hope and Glory
16 Blue Velvet
17 Fanny and Alexander
18 Cinema Paradiso
19 Field of Dreams
20 Driving Miss Daisy
21 Airplane!
22 Gandhi
23 The Big Red One
24 The Terminator
25 Tender Mercies
- on August 19, 2009 at 9:44 pm | Reply Bob Clark
  
  Wow. An 80’s list that includes two “Star Wars” flicks, “Field of Dreams” AND “Driving Miss Daisy”, all at once. With “Return of the Jedi” at pole position, too. There might be a lot of shmaltz on this list that I don’t see eye to eye with, but I salute the high placements for the likes of Lucas & Company. Plus, you got the best Boorman film on your countdown, no question.
  - on August 19, 2009 at 10:13 pm Sam Juliano
    
    Aye Bob, my friend Louie is a huge Lucas fan. On that count he’s with you lock, stock and barrel. Of course he’s rather a sentimentalist too, as his choices attest to.
- on August 19, 2009 at 10:15 pm | Reply Allan Fish
  
  Heaven help us! Another Lucas Lunatic!
  - on August 19, 2009 at 11:14 pm Bob Clark
    
    I like the sound of that phrase. Lucas’ cinema is largely celestial, after all, so I would proudly profess to live under the Dianic sway of lunar influence. If such stuff be lunacy, after all, then even the ebb and flow of surf and turf must be labeled a kind of insanity, as well, a madness borne seaward in the tide of the moon’s virgin pull, beckoning fresh-limbed boatsmen out to the horizon of wine dark seas, black sail on a reddening sky…
on August 26, 2009 at 8:40 pm | Reply Douglas T. McCartney

1 Raging Bull
2 Born of the Fourth of July
3 The Elephant Man
4 Once Upon A Time in America
5 Platoon
6 Full Metal Jacket
7 The Color of Money
8 Do the Right Thing
9 Glory
10 Field of Dreams
11 The Shining
12 Driving Miss Daisy
13 The King of Comedy
14 Scarface
15 Back to the Future
16 Prizzi’s Honor
17 Blue Velvet
18 The Naked Gun
19 A Passage to India
20 Rain Man
21 Reds
22 Hoosiers
23 Midnight Run
24 Arthur
25 Das Boot
on September 9, 2009 at 3:11 pm | Reply Frank A.

Back in the saddle.

1 Dead Ringers
2 Do the Right Thing
3 Last Exit to Brooklyn
4 The Cook the Thief His Wife and her Lover
5 Dekolog
6 Fanny and Alexander
7 Local Hero
8 Gandhi
9 My Life as a Dog
10 The Elephant Man
11 House of Games
12 Blue Velvet
13 Amadeus
14 Henry V
15 Hannah and Her Sisters
16 Ran
17 Back to the Future
18 Empire Strikes Back
19 Babette’s Feast
20 Empie of the Sun
21 Berlin Alexanderplatz
22 The King of Comedy
23 Atlantic City
24 Dead Poets Society
25 The Right Stuff
- on October 1, 2009 at 4:01 pm | Reply AnubhavBist
  
  Great to see another person have Dead Ringers at the No.1 spot
on September 9, 2009 at 3:24 pm | Reply Sam Juliano

Terrific list there Frank!

Welcome back.
on September 10, 2009 at 4:12 am | Reply Bill Maisannes

Amadeus
Do the Right Thing
Shining, The
Ran
Hunger, The
Dead Ringers
Ordinary People
Wings of Desire
Color Purple, The
Thief
Boot, Das
Blood Simple
Field of Dreams
Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back
Terminator, The
Princess Bride, The
This Is Spinal Tap
Risky Business
Drugstore Cowboy
Veronika Voss
Blue Velvet
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
Full Metal Jacket
Right Stuff, The
Raiders of the Lost Ark
on September 11, 2009 at 5:40 pm | Reply Dave

OK… here we go with my list. There are some movies that I wanted to get to before I posted, but things are getting pretty busy for me so I don’t know that I’m going to be able to. So, I’m going to go ahead and post it now. And, for those that happen to follow my yearly countdown, I’m approaching the 1980s there as well, so I’ll just come out and say that I reserve the right to change my mind on some of the yearly selections and change up the order for a particular year! 🙂

There are some movies here that are some nostalgia picks, but I don’t care — they’re movies that I love. I even almost put Back to Future #1, regardless of how juvenile it might appear. At any rate, here she is:

1. Raging Bull (Scorsese, 1980)
2. Back to the Future (Zemeckis, 1985)
3. Once Upon a Time in America (Leone, 1984)
4. Henry V (Branagh, 1989)
5. Raiders of the Lost Ark (Spielberg, 1981)
6. Crimes and Misdemeanors (Allen, 1989)
7. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (Spielberg, 1989)
8. Fitzcarraldo (Herzog, 1982)
9. Ran (Kurosawa, 1985)
10. Amadeus (Forman, 1984)
11. Hannah and Her Sisters (Allen, 1986)
12. Au Revoir Les Enfants (Malle, 1987)
13. Radio Days (Allen, 1987)
14. Body Heat (Kasdan, 1981)
15. Angel Heart (Parker, 1987)
16. Atlantic City (Malle, 1980)
17. Platoon (Stone, 1986)
18. Stand By Me (Reiner, 1986)
19. The Last Emperor (Bertolucci, 1987)
20. Hope and Glory (Boorman, 1987)
21. Cinema Paradiso (Tornatore, 1988)
22. Blood Simple (Coen, 1984)
23. The King of Comedy (Scorsese, 1983)
24. Broadway Danny Rose (Allen, 1984)
25. Full Metal Jacket (Kubrick, 1987)
- on September 11, 2009 at 9:15 pm | Reply Bob Clark
  
  Wow. That is one ballsy list there. I almost wish you’d put Doc Brown and Marty McFly up at the #1 spot, not because I agree with the choice, but because it would’ve really shaken things up. This causes quite a bit of tremors too, though. I’m surprised to not see “Empire Strikes Back” among your faves (especially seeing as you picked “The Last Crusade”, the least of all the Indiana Jones flicks, for me) but this is a pretty damn eclectic mix of films, so I’ll just applaud your taste and move on.
on September 13, 2009 at 2:37 pm | Reply 80s Movies Rock

Spent my Teens in the 80’s. Here is my list with trailers attached…

Airplane (Flying High) – http://bit.ly/flying-high
Ordinary People – http://bit.ly/ordinary-people
Raging Bull – http://bit.ly/raging-bull
Elephant Man – http://bit.ly/elephantman
The Shining – http://bit.ly/the-shining
American Werewolf in London – http://bit.ly/american-werewolf
Chariots of Fire – http://bit.ly/chariots-fire
Gallipoli – http://bit.ly/Gallipoli
Raiders of the Lost Ark – http://bit.ly/lost-ark
Evil Dead – http://bit.ly/evil-dead
Blade Runner – http://bit.ly/blade-runner
Fast Times at Ridgemont High – http://bit.ly/ridgemont-high
Gandhi – http://bit.ly/gandhi-1982
Poltergeist – http://bit.ly/Poltergeist
Tootsie – http://bit.ly/tootsie-1982
Scarface – http://bit.ly/scar-face
The Big Chill – http://bit.ly/bigchill
The Right Stuff – http://bit.ly/rightstuff
Amadeus – http://bit.ly/amadeus-1984
Beverly Hills Cop – http://bit.ly/beverlyhills-cop
The Killing Fields – http://bit.ly/killingfields
The Natural – http://bit.ly/the-natural
The Terminator – http://bit.ly/the-terminator
Spinal Tap – http://bit.ly/spinal-tap
Back to the Future – http://bit.ly/back-future
Breakfast Club – http://bit.ly/breakfastclub
The Color Purple – http://bit.ly/colorpurple
Weird Science – http://bit.ly/weird-sci
Blue Velvet – http://bit.ly/bluevelvet
Ferris Buellers Day Off – http://bit.ly/ferris-bueller
Hannah and her Sisters – http://bit.ly/hannahsisters
Platoon – http://bit.ly/platoon1986
Stand By Me – http://bit.ly/stand-byme
Top Gun – http://bit.ly/topgun1986
Full Metal Jacket – http://bit.ly/fullmetaljacket
Good Morning Vietnam – http://bit.ly/good-vietnam
Moonstruck – http://bit.ly/moon-struck
Raising Arizona – http://bit.ly/raisingarizona
The Untouchables – http://bit.ly/untouchables
Fish Called Wanda – http://bit.ly/fishcalledwanda
Big – http://bit.ly/big1988
Cinema Paradiso – http://bit.ly/cinemaparadiso
Die Hard – http://bit.ly/die-hard
Batman – http://bit.ly/batman-movie
My Left Foot – http://bit.ly/myleftfoot
on September 15, 2009 at 3:01 am | Reply bobby J.

well, here’s my list…..these are chronological entries, 1 film per director – first great film chosen….+ the top 20 tv shows too…..

1980

The Elephant Man
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
Ordinary People
Raging Bull

1981

Raiders of the Lost Ark

1982

Tootsie

1983

Blood Simple
Terms of Endearment
Zelig

1984

Amadeus
The Terminator
The Killing Fields

1985

Brazil

1986

The Fly
Peggy Sue Got Married
Salvador
When the Wind Blows

1987

Full Metal Jacket
The Last Emperor

1988

Dangerous Liaisons

1989

Cinema Paradiso
Do the Right Thing
Henry V
Glory
When Harry Met Sally

Top 20 Tv Shows……

1980 ——– Hollywood (13 Episodes x50mins, ITV)
1980 ——– Yes, Minister (37 Episodes x30mins, 1 x60mins, BBC)
1981 – 1987 Hill Street Blues (146 Episodes x50minc, NBC)
1981 – 2003 Only Fools and Horses (64 Episodes xVarious, BBC1)
1981 ——– Brideshead Revisited (11 Episodes x 50mins, ITV)
1982 – 1993 Cheers (271 Episodes x 25mins, NBC)
1982 ——– Boys from the Blackstuff (6 Episodes x 65mins, BBC2)
1983 – 1986 Just Good Friends (22 Episodes x30mins, BBC1)
1983 – 1989 The Black Adder (24 Episodes x 30mins, 3 Specials, BBC1)
1983 – 2004 Auf Wiedersehen Pet (40 Episodes x 50mins, 2 Specials, ITV, BBC1)
1984 ——– The Jewel in the Crown (14 Episodes, 1 x120mins, 13x50mins, ITV)
1985 – 1989 Moonlighting (67 Episodes x42-44mins, ABC)
1985 ——– Edge of Darkness (6 Episodes x55mins, BBC2)
1986 – 1994 L.A. Law (172 Episodes, I TvMovie, NBC)
1987 ——– Buster Keaton. A Hard Act to Follow (3 Episodes x50mins, C4)
1987 ——– Talking Pictures (10 Episodes x50mins, BBC)
1988 – 1989 Jim Henson’s The Storyteller (13 Episodes x22mins, NBC)
1988 – 2003 The Men Who Killed Kennedy (9 Episodes x50mins, ITV)
1989 ——– Harold Lloyd. The Third Genius (2 Episodes x50mins, C4+PBS)
1989 ——– Seinfeld (180 Episodes x22mins, NBC)
on September 15, 2009 at 1:54 pm | Reply John Greco

Here are mine….
1 Raging Bull
2 Hannah and Her Sisters
3 Cinema Paradiso
4 The Shining
5 Full Metal Jacket
6 Das Boot
7 Life Lessons (New York Stories)
8 The Last Emperor
9 Amadeus
10 Reds
11 Blow Out
12 Blue Velvet
13 Body Heat
14 The King of Comedy
15 Crimes and Misdemeanors
16 Born on the 4th of July
17 Hope and Glory
18 E.T.
19 Empire of the Sun
20 A Fish Called Wanda
21 The Untouchables
22 The Elephant Man
23 The Long Good Friday
24 Blade Runner
25 Local Hero
on September 15, 2009 at 2:39 pm | Reply John R.

Late to the party but here it is—

1 Berlin Alexanderplatz
2 Fanny and Alexander
3 Do the Right Thing
4 Crimes and Misdemeanors
5 Amadeus
6 The King of Comedy
7 Atlantic City
8 Hope and Glory
9 The Last Emperor
10 Once Upon A Time in America
11 Drugstore Cowboy
12 Fitzcaraldo
13 Ran
14 Blade Runner
15 Salvador
16 Reds
17 Henry V
18 Empire of the Sun
19 Das Boot
20 Blood Simple
21 Radio Days
22 Born on the 4th of July
23 Glory
24 Blue Velvet
25 The Elephant Man
on September 16, 2009 at 9:29 pm | Reply Bobby McCartney

1. Once Upon A Time in America
2. Raging Bull
3. Cinema Paradiso
4. Berlin Alexanderplatz
5. Henry V
6. Gandhi
7. Fanny and Alexander
8. Full Metal Jacket
9. Platoon
10. Blue Velvet
11. Last Exit to Brooklyn
12. Crimes and Misdemeanors
13. Born on the Fourth of July
14. The Elephant Man
15. The King of Comedy
16. The Last Emperor
17. Jean de Florette
18. Glory
19. Driving Miss Daisy
20. Atlantic City
21. Das Boot
22. The Shining
23 Reds
24. Back to the Future
25. Amadeus
on September 23, 2009 at 8:03 pm | Reply Sue

Finally have Sue’s List here:
1 Jean de Florette
2 Ran
3 Fanny and Alexander
4 The Accidental Tourist
5 Blue Velvet
6 The Elephant Man
7 Amadeus
8 Henry V
9 Chariots of Fire
10 Au Revoir Les Enfants
11 E.T.
12 Reds
13 Dead Poets Society
14 The Last Emperor
15 The King of Comedy
16 Testament
17 Born on the Fourth of July
18 My Life as a Dog
19 Do the Right Thing
20 Hope and Glory
21 Rain Man
22 Crimes and Misdemeanors
23 Witness
24 My Left Foot
25 Broadcast News
on September 26, 2009 at 10:21 pm | Reply DeeDee

Hi! Sam Juliano, Allan Fish, and Angelo D’Arminio Jr.
Here goes my list…and I have to thank a couple of fellow film watchers for pointing me in the direction of some films that may have falling right under my “radar” screen.

1.Raging Bull (US…Martin Scorsese) 1980
2.Paris, Texas (West Germany/US…Wim Wenders) 1984…Thanks, D.H.S. 🙂
3.Coal Miner’s Daughter (US…Michael Apted) 1980
4.On Golden Pond (US…Mark Rydell) 1981
5.Raiders of the Lost Ark (US…Steven Spielberg) 1981

6.The Snowman (UK…Dianne Jackson) 1982…Thanks, Sam Juliano, 🙂
7.The Verdict (US…Sidney Lumet) 1982
8.Mickey’s Christmas Carol (US…Burney Mattinson) 1983
9.Blood Simple (US…Joel Coen) 1984…Alexander, thanks, for the review…because I seeked it out to watch again!
10.Stranger Than Paradise (US…Jim Jarmusch) 1985… Thanks, Dean as in Treadway, 🙂

11.To Live and Die in L.A. (US…William Friedkin) 1985
12.Witness (US…Peter Weir) 1985
13.Sex, Lies and Videotape (US…Steven Soderbergh) 1989
14.Au Revoir les Enfants (France…Louis Malle) 1987
15.Manhunter (US…Michael Mann) 1986
16.The Untouchables (US…Brian de Palma)1987
17.Chocolat (France…Claire Denis) 1988 Thanks, Phillipe Gauzot, 😉
18.Dangerous Liaisons (US…Stephen Frears) 1988 Thanks, Andrew,
😉
19.A Fish Called Wanda (UK…Charles Crichton) 1988
20.Frantic (US…Roman Polanski) 1988

21.Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (US…Robert Zemeckis) 1988
22.Henry V (UK…Kenneth Branagh) 1989…Thanks, Sam Juliano,…as usual. 😉
23.The Little Mermaid (US…John Musker, Ron Clements) 1989
24.The Princess Bride (US…Rob Reiner)1987
25.Body Heat (US…Lawrence Kasdan) 1981

DeeDee 😉
- on September 27, 2009 at 3:33 pm | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  Thanks Dee Dee for this excellent, often non-conformist list. Your eclectic mix certainly adds some color to the proceedings. and there are a number of masterworks to boot! Thanks for acknowledging my promotion of THE SNOWMAN and HENRY V!
- on September 30, 2009 at 4:14 am | Reply David H. Schleicher
  
  DeeDee – yowser! I’m so glad you loved Paris, Texas, and that I was able to convince you to visit there in the first place. What a delight to see someone else rank it so highly!
on September 26, 2009 at 10:42 pm | Reply DeeDee

Bonjour! Phillipe Gauzot,
Je vous remercie, d’avoir signalé
ce film hors aussi!…
Au Revoir les Enfants (France…Louis Malle) 1987
Merci,
DeeDee 😉
on September 28, 2009 at 7:12 pm | Reply James Foglio

This was fun, but not easy!

1 Fanny and Alexander
2 Ran
3 Once Upon A Time in America
4 Sex, Lies and Videotape
5 Reds
6 Henry V
7 Field of Dreams
8 Empire Strikes Back
9 Atlantic City
10 Amadeus
11 The Shining
12 Blue Velvet
13 Hannah and Her Sisters
14 Broadcast News
15 The Elephant Man
16 The Color Purple
17 Rain Man
18 Platoon
19 Chariots of Fire
20 Raiders of the Lost Ark
21 My Life as A Dog
22 A Fish Called Wanda
23 Dead Poets Society
24 The King of Comedy
25 Body Heat
on September 29, 2009 at 3:37 pm | Reply Maria

Just finished.

1. Brideshead Revisited
2. Au Revoir Les Enfants
3. Cinema Paradiso
4. Dead Poets Society
5. Fanny & Alexander
6. The Elephant Man
7. Amadeus
8. My Left Foot
9. Hrnry V
10. Terms of Endearment
11. Gandhi
12. Driving Miss Daisy
13. E. T. the Extra Terrestrial
14. Resurrection
15. The Last Emperor
16. La Traviata
17. On Golden Pond
18. Atlantic City
19. Raiders of the Lost Ark
20. Reds
21. Broadcast News
22. Field of Dreams
23. Coal Miner’s Daughter
24. Ordinary People
25. Out of Africa
on September 30, 2009 at 4:12 pm | Reply DeeDee

DHS said, “DeeDee – yowser! I’m so glad you loved Paris, Texas, and that I was able to convince you to visit there in the first place. What a delight to see someone else rank it so highly!”

Hi! D.H.,
Oh! Yes, I will probably visit your blog in order to discuss with you, why I placed Wim Wenders’ 1984 film Paris, Texas, so high on my list.

DeeDee 😉
on October 7, 2009 at 5:02 pm | Reply Pierre de Plume

For better or for worse, here are my top 50. If anyone has a problem with my rankings, that’s okay — so do I. Better to get the list up rather than not at all!

1. Raging Bull
2. Fanny & Alexander
3. Love Streams
4. The Last Metro
5. Cinema Paradiso
6. Ran
7. Amadeus
8. The Shining
9. Atlantic City
10. The Year of Living Dangerously
11. Henry V
12. Blade Runner
13. Roger and Me
14. Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story
15. Airplane
16. Hannah and Her Sisters
17. Brazil
18. Raising Arizona
19. The Vanishiing
20. Drugstore Cowboy
21. ET: The Extraterrestrial
22. Blue Velvet
23. The Purple Rose of Cairo
24. The River’s Edge
25. Alamo Bay
26. Glory
27. The Last Temptation of Christ
28. Last Exit to Brooklyn
29. Babette’s Feast
30. Gloria
31. The Times of Harvey Milk
32. Tampopo
33. Stardust Memories
34. Born on the Fourth of July
35. Fast Times at Ridgemont High
36. The King of Comedy
37. My Beautiful Laundrette
38. The Road Warrior
39. My Life as a Dog
40. Das Boot
41. Tender Mercies
42. The Thin Blue Line
43. Witness
44. A Fish Called Wanda
45. Pixote
46. Matador
47. Melvin and Howard
48. Ordinary People
49. On Golden Pond
50. Heathers
- on October 7, 2009 at 11:52 pm | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  Well Pierre, I’d say for “better” and by quite some distance. Your first two choices are films that appear to be gaining much support, and all the way down you’ve chosen films that would difficult to contest artistically. It is a special treat to have your list up here!!!!
on October 8, 2009 at 6:30 am | Reply Pierre de Plume

“Your first two choices are films that appear to be gaining much support”

A bandwagon for Raging Bull and Fanny & Alexander? But how many would dare rate Love Streams at #3!
- on October 8, 2009 at 10:24 am | Reply AnubhavBist
  
  I just want to say Love Streams should be an essential viewing for anyone who wants to watch great 80s cinema. My list will be up in a few days, and Love Streams will without a doubt be placed very high (top ten easily). Cassavetes doesn’t get represented much here and Love Streams was definitely one of the master’s greatest and least seen achievements. Check for my review, which will be up shortly, on my site (http://theconfidentialreport.tumblr.com). I hope for it to be my first review.
on October 8, 2009 at 2:49 pm | Reply Pierre de Plume

Thanks, AnubhavBist! I adore Cassavetes — and Rowlands, too, of course. When Love Streams first came out, my friends and I found ourselves asking each other, “Is love like a stream? Or does it just stop?”

Some find his films grating or something, whereas I see and hear beauty in all that “chaos.”
- on October 8, 2009 at 4:47 pm | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  Hey Pierre!
  
  What I meant to say with the initial response was more in the line that your first two choices were superlative. FANNY is my own #1 choice in fact. The Cassevettes choice is one that must be applauded as is your follow comment above qualifying the decision. But there are so many other mentions here that I salute you on. Many I did not choose myself, but could easily have, many of course I did name.
  
  Anu, as soon as your site is up, we will add it immediately to the blogroll here! Congratulations! I’m sure it will be a place for all serious cinema lovers to immerse themselves in!
on October 9, 2009 at 4:34 pm | Reply Lucille Juliano

Here’s my list:
1. Dead Poets Society
2. Driving Miss Daisy
3. The Shining
4. Cinema Paradiso
5. Fanny and Alexander
6. Field of Dreams
7. Amadeus
8. Rain Man
9. Back to the Future
10. The Breakfast Club
11. Raiders of the Lost Ark
12. Cocoon
13. Platoon
14. Glory
15. The Terminator
16. On Golden Pond
17. Born on the Fourth of July
18. Resurrection
19. Blue Velvet
20. Fatal Attraction
21. Stand By Me
22. Nightmare on Elm Street
23. Tootsie
24. E. T.
25. Do the Right Thing
- on October 11, 2009 at 6:56 pm | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  Great work Lucille!!! Stick with DAISY! Ha!
on October 9, 2009 at 6:25 pm | Reply GS

My top 10 were obvious. After that, the blockbusters of my youth (the ad nauseum of “oh what a great movie,” or “that was the best movie I ever saw,” or “I’ll love that movie forever”) are hard to deny, but the cinematic experiences of my mid life crises are still jostling for coveted positions. I’m not happy with this list, but it will do for now. Perhaps we can revisit this decade in about 10 years.

1. Hannah and Her Sisters
2. The Shining
3. Field of Dreams
4. The Thing
5. The King of Comedy
6. Aliens
7. Wings of Desire
8. The Purple Rose of Cairo
9. The Road Warrior
10. An American Werewolf in London
11. Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back
12. Indiana Jones and The Raiders of The Lost Ark
13. Das Boot
14. Raging Bull
15. Die Hard
16. Bull Durham
17. Blue Velvet
18. Eight Men Out
19. The Color of Money
20. Dressed To Kill
21. Fitzcarraldo
22. Fast Times at Ridgemont High
23. Platoon
24. The Little Mermaid
25. Planes Trains and Automobiles
- on October 11, 2009 at 6:56 pm | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  GS, fabulous contribution here. I love many of the ones you chose, and am thrilled to get your input!
on October 11, 2009 at 12:04 am | Reply R.D. Finch

Here I am submitting my list at the last minute again. This was a very difficult decade for me. In the 50s, 60s, 70s decade polls the problem I faced was narrowing down 40-50 contenders to 25. For the 80s the problem was the opposite: expanding my preliminary list to fill out the 25 places. For me the 80s were a decade with many very good films but not anywhere the number of great films of the preceding decades. To get a complete list, I had to include a few films that don’t quite get my highest rating. Part of this is because as in past polls I limited myself to one movie per director. I also didn’t include any TV productions, even though I think this decade was probably the zenith of the mini-series, with shows like “The Singing Detective,” “Brideshead Revisited,” (for me the two best TV productions ever), “The Jewel in the Crown,” and “Paradise Postponed.” The final list:

1. Fanny and Alexander (either version)
2. Blue Velvet
3. The Night of the Shooting Stars
4. A Sunday in the Country
5. The Dead
6. Kagemusha
7. Tootsie
8. Hannah and Her Sisters
9.Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
10. The Last Emperor (director’s cut)
11. Au Revoir, les Enfants
12. Hope and Glory
13. Pixote
14. Pelle the Conqueror
15. Babette’s Feast
16. A Room with a View
17. Dangerous Liaisons
18. Raging Bull
19. Brazil
20. E.T.
21. Terms of Endearment
22. La Traviata
23. Jean de Florette
24. Paris, Texas
25. The Home and the World

HONORABLE MENTION: The Elephant Man, The Purple Rose of Cairo, The Big Red One: The Reconstruction, Ran
- on October 11, 2009 at 6:55 pm | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  R.D., I again salute you here. I agree with nearly every choice you have made, and yes, the TV work was unparalleled during this decade. I hope to see this list posted separately at your site so it can be scrutinized further.
on October 11, 2009 at 12:09 am | Reply R.D. Finch

I should have added that looking back over my list, I find it a pretty conservative one, heavy with period movies and movies about children. Still, there it is, for what it’s worth. Now to look at everyone else’s choices.
- on October 11, 2009 at 6:53 pm | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  Ah, R.D., it’s a fantastic list, typical for you!
on October 11, 2009 at 12:37 am | Reply R.D. Finch

Having looked at other lists, the biggest surprise is the amount of support for “Crimes and Misdemeanors.” I would rate both this and “Radio Days” (which several included) just a touch lower than the two Woody Allen films I named, but still two of his best movies, in my estimation about equal to “Annie Hall.”
on October 11, 2009 at 2:57 am | Reply AnubhavBist

1. Dead Ringers (1988, Cronenberg, Canada)
2. Ran (1985, Kurosawa, Japan)
3. Blue Velvet (1986, Lynch, US)
4. Amadeus (1984, Forman, US)
5. Das Boot (1982, Peterson, Germany)
6. Blade Runner (1982/92, Scott, US)
7. Love Streams (1984, Cassavetes, US)
8. The Shining (1980, Kubrick, US)
9. The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, Her Lover (1989, Greenaway, UK)
10. Last Temptation of Christ (1988, Scorsese, US)
11. Videodrome (1982, Cronenberg, Canada)
12. Evil Dead II (1987, Raimi, US)
13. Mona Lisa (1986, Neil Jordan, UK)
14. Drugstore Cowboy (1989, Van Sant, US)
15. Raging Bull (1980, Scorsese, US)
16. Akira (1988, Otomo, Japan)
17. Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989, Allen, US)
18. Brazil (1985, Gilliam, UK)
19. Down By Law (1986, Jarmusch, US)
19. Do The Right Thing (1989, Lee, US)
20. The Long Good Friday (1980, Mackenzie, UK)
21. This is Spinal Tap (1984, Reiner, US)
22. Full Metal Jacket (1987, Kubrick, US)
23. Grave of Fireflies (1988, Takahata, Japan)
24. Mystery Train (1989, Jarmusch, US)
25. Robocop (1987, Verhoeven, US)
26.Raising Arizona (1987, Coen, US)
27. Once Upon A Time in America (1984, Leone, US)
28. The Fly (1986, Cronenberg, Canada)
29. After Hours (1985, Scorsese, US)
30. Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980, Kershner, US)
31. Prick Up Your Ears (1987, Frears, UK)
32. Near Dark (1987, Bigelow, US)
33. Au Revoir Les Enfants (1987, Malle, France)
34. Predator (1987, McTiernan, US)
35. Die Hard (1988, McTiernan, US)

Not the definitive list of 80s cinema mainly because I still have a lot to see, but I’m happy representing some films that haven’t been getting too much love around here.
- on October 11, 2009 at 6:51 pm | Reply Sam Juliano
  
  Anu, yet another fantastic list from you at zero-hour, and I agree that some films deserve more love. I appreciate all you have done here at this site during the entire countdown, with the comprehensive insights and now this list capper. I have tried to get to your new site, but I keep getting a white screen. Is it still forthcoming?
  - on October 11, 2009 at 6:51 pm Sam Juliano
    
    and Anu, I am thrilled you have THE COOK THE THIEF high up there!
on October 25, 2010 at 9:17 pm | Reply mark

1. Berlin Alexanderplatz 2. The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith 3. Stranger Than Paradise 4. Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown 5. Intervista 6. Vagabond 7. Crimes and Misdemeanors 8. Tootsie 9. Tender Mercies 10. Monty Python’s Meaning of Life Alas, it’s too late for these entries, I suppose.