Top Ten 1980s

for discussion fun

Tootsie, one of the inarguably great American comedies

"The Tuesday Top Ten will get more article-like soon," he said (again). "It really will." But it was so much fun to discuss the 1930s and the 1970s, which are arguably the two most respected decades (critically speaking) of American cinema. So how about a decade that gets no respect? The 1980s. The '80s are tough for me to feel discerning about because I lived through them and was a) young and b) just falling in love with the movies and c) just falling hard for the movies so how could the cinema possibly have been hitting its nadir? I still have inordinate fondness for movies that might more safely be called guilty pleasures like Yentl, Superman II, Splash, Return of the Jedi, Clue, and about half of the filmography of John Hughes... and so on. I even like revisiting really bad movies from that decade. 

Off the top of my head my ten favorites of the decades. 

A Sean Young polaroid from the set of Blade Runner

1. The Purple Rose of Cairo (Woody Allen)
2. Blade Runner (Ridley Scott)
3. A Room With a View (James Ivory)
4. Tootsie (Sydney Pollack)
5. Dangerous Liaisons (Stephen Frears)
6. Amadeus (Milos Forman)
7. Hannah and Her Sisters (Woody Allen)
8. Aliens (James Cameron)
9. Law of Desire (Pedro Almodovar)
10. Raiders of the Lost Ark (Steven Spielberg) 

With apologies too... Silkwood, Reds, Diva, The Empire Strikes Back, The Little Mermaid, The complete works of Michelle Pfeiffer, Moonstruck, Raging Bull, Jean de Florette, Manon of the Spring, The King of Comedy, Heathers, sex lies and videotape, The complete works of Kathleen Turner, The Shining, Victor/Victoria, The Right Stuff, Bull Durham, Little Shop of Horrors, The Terminator, Witness, Broadcast News, Running on Empty, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and Raising Arizona. I could go on and on and on but I'd better stop before I start singing Xanadu again.

 

I'd love to hear your lists, both guilty pleasures and critically lauded efforts you think deserve their reputations.

Comments

[Dback]

The 80's were my high school and college years, so they had a HUGE impact on me. I don't think I've devoured any other decades' movies to relentlessly and hungrily. I think I'll have to do a Top 20 (maybe even a Top 30), and in no particular order except #1, which seriously blew my mind and changed my life.

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Blue Velvet
The Empire Strikes Back
The Elephant Man
Yentl
Victor/Victoria
Women On The Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
Amadeus
Dominick and Eugene
Prick Up Your Ears
I've Heard the Mermaids Singing
Stop Making Sense
Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Maurice
Choose Me
Aliens
Radio Days
Dangerous Liasons
Stand By Me
Splash

And I just ran out of room for "Raiders of the Lost Ark" "Ordinary People" "Raging Bull" "Tootsie" "My Favorite Year" "Superman II" "Law of Desire" "Das Boot" "Crimes of the Heart" "Back to the Future" "Return to Oz" "The Color Purple" "Real Genius" "Starman" "The Purple Rose of Cairo" "Hannah and Her Sisters" "Big" "Hairspray" "Bagdad Cafe" "The Dead" "A Room With A View" "Apartment Zero" "Moonstruck" "Heathers" "The Breakfast Club" "Steel Magnolias" "Testament" "The Big Chill" "Platoon" "Empire of the Sun" "The Abyss" "The Little Mermaid" "The Moderns" "Gremlins" "Distant Voices Still Lives" "Echo Park" "The Color of Money"