and now...NOMINATIONS (optional) for the ILX Top 100 Films of the 1980's!!!

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Okay, here's the deal. I've decided to modify the system somewhat. We're going to have a loose nominations system - in which you can nominate whatever you want (as long as it is a film made between 1980 and 1989 - IMDb dating is ultimate reference). Your nominations are unlimited, although I ask that you add them in small batches rather than large barrages.

Voting will not be limited to films nominated. HOWEVER, I would strongly like to advise nominations for, discussions of, and advocacy towards titles you mention, as

a) I will be producing a voting ballot (with write-ins allowed) for general guidance for voters
b) you can raise the profile of films you fear may be forgotten by people who have seen them
c) discussion will lead to yet more good nominations and, *gasp*,
d) pre-fabricated BLURBS!!!

Voting will be from April 1st through April 30th. Email address to be determined then. Advocacy may continue through the voting period. (Indeed, it'd be damn difficult to stop.)

I am still contemplating all this, so any opinions, critiques, and ideas for the whole process are very much welcome.

― Girolamo Savonarola, Wednesday, 23 February 2005 01:38 (twenty years ago)

GHOSTBUSTERS

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 01:41 (twenty years ago)

Haha that had to happen ;)

― Trayce (trayce), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 01:43 (twenty years ago)

Withnail & I

― Trayce (trayce), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 01:44 (twenty years ago)

How to Get Ahead in Advertising

(Richard E. Grant reprazent!)

― Fish fingers all in a line (kenan), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 01:59 (twenty years ago)

Die Hard
Raging Bull
Radiers of the Lost Ark
Brazil

― Fish fingers all in a line (kenan), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 02:02 (twenty years ago)

Monty Python's the Life of Brian
Ferris Bueller's Day Off

dammit you got Brazil already ;P

Geez why am I having so much trouble thinking of things? I refuse to nominate ANY lucas or spielbergo films.

― Trayce (trayce), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 02:05 (twenty years ago)

I just looked at a list of significant movies of the 80s. Out of the ones I've seen, these are the only ones I think are great:

Fitzcarraldo
The King of Comedy
After Hours
Pee-Wee's Big Adventure
Full Metal Jacket
Dangerous Liaisons

a very bad decade for film.

― a banana (alanbanana), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 02:07 (twenty years ago)

For now, I'm gonna put in one for each year, with a brief advoc.

1980: Return of the Secaucus - one of the primers for what derivative talky indie cinema of the late 80's/early 90's aspired towards, done properly, though! The Big Chill charge seems a little flat in retrospect, esp. as I look at this as a Sayles film more than a 60's nostalgia film. The jail scene is shockingly great.

1981: Coup de torchon - just great one-liners! A really nasty film; I watched this a few years back on the recommendation of a video store clerk - I walked in in an odd mood and wanted something that would fit it well. More than worked. I hauled ass to see this on the big screen at the Tate Modern one Sunday morning last year.

1982: The Thing - John Carpenter's greatest. Scared the shit out of me when I first saw it a few months back, and nothing does that to me anymore. Russell summons up a character midway between Snake Plissken and Jim Morrison.

1983: Local Hero - it just works. Peter Riegert's greatest role; Burt Lancaster feeling up the 1980's. Saw it a few months into my UK residency, so maybe it hits me a little harder. The humor is subtle...in a good way, really.

1984: Gremlins - Joe Dante is godhead. Every scene is nailed into my head - every little detail. The sound of the projector long after the film is out. The crinkle of the candy wrapper. The fried chicken. The swimming pool. The hilarious bar and movie theater scenes. Who else would have had a whole theater of evil monsters gently and earnestly singing along to Snow White?

1985: Back to the Future - another film I've memorized.

1986: Sherman's March - submit to Russ McElwee's charm. This must be what hardcore bloggers aspired to before blogging. Seems destined to be a boring failure of a movie, and yet it works so well.

1987: No Way Out - the last good Kevin Costner film, and a tense thriller that doesn't rely too much on technowizardry/overestimation of the capabilities of Pentagon intelligence (remarkably on the mark, in retrospect). The Soviet paranoia seems amusing in hindsight, but it doesn't overbear. Mercifully Sean Young dies early on. A bureaucratic goose chase more suspenseful than most car chases.

1988: (xpost) Dangerous Liaisons - I...just...can't...stop...myself...from...watching...no...matter...what...I'm...doing... Frears and Malkovich in top form, only to be overtaken by Glenn Close (still her best work). Amusing but appropriately naive turns by Keanu and Uma.

Distant Voices, Still Lives - beauty, memory, abstraction. Finally a movie in which the memory actually seems to function and operate similarly to how mine seems to; as a dream-state with punctuated bits of acute detailed reality.

1989: Say Anything - Cameron Crowe before he became a photocopy of himself.

― Girolamo Savonarola, Wednesday, 23 February 2005 02:10 (twenty years ago)

Down By Law (1986)
Stop Making Sense (1984)
The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

― andrew s (andrew s), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 02:12 (twenty years ago)

Secaucus 7, that should be...

― Girolamo Savonarola, Wednesday, 23 February 2005 02:14 (twenty years ago)

Oooh Local Hero, nice choice :)

― Trayce (trayce), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 02:14 (twenty years ago)

Has anyone got a link to a comprehensive, not-blockbuster 80s film list?

― Trayce (trayce), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 02:15 (twenty years ago)

This must be what hardcore bloggers aspired to before blogging. Seems destined to be a boring failure of a movie, and yet it works so well.

haha Yes, exactly. I don't think it works all that well, though. Frankly, I was a little creeped out by the constant confession and pop-psyche speak, and the parade of crrrrrAzy women that he couldn't stay away from.

― Fish fingers all in a line (kenan), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 02:17 (twenty years ago)

Distant Voices, Still Lives.

oh yes, that was the one film i was sure i would nominate!

― jed_ (jed), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 02:18 (twenty years ago)

xpost to myself

Also, I was always like, "Talk about Sherman! You got a good doc on your hands here if you'd just shut up about being horny! You meathead!"

― Fish fingers all in a line (kenan), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 02:18 (twenty years ago)

is there a VVoice poll for the 80's?

― jed_ (jed), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 02:18 (twenty years ago)

Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
Blade Runner (1983)

― whenuweremine (whenuweremine), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 02:19 (twenty years ago)

Blade Runner's 1982.

This is Spinal Tap
Aliens
Dead Ringers

― latebloomer: HE WHOM DUELS THE DRAFGON IN ENDLESS DANCE (latebloomer), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 02:20 (twenty years ago)

Life of Brian is 1979 and so is disqualified.

― Girolamo Savonarola, Wednesday, 23 February 2005 02:21 (twenty years ago)

The Killer
The Hidden
Adventures In Babysitting
Zelig
Pale Rider
Once Upon a Time In America
The Last Temptation of Christ
Robocop
To Live and Die In L.A.
The Big Red One

― Gear! (can Jung shill it, Mu?) (Gear!), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 02:21 (twenty years ago)

Downtown 81

haha, adventures in babysitting, i love that!

― jed_ (jed), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 02:22 (twenty years ago)

Just for reference, Downtown 81 is aka New York Beat Movie.

― Girolamo Savonarola, Wednesday, 23 February 2005 02:25 (twenty years ago)

BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE!

― Leeeter van den Hoogenband (Leee), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 02:25 (twenty years ago)

Let's just list the full 80's Woody and hash it out amongst ourselves, shall we?

# Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
# New York Stories (1989) (segment "Oedipus Wrecks")
# Another Woman (1988)
# September (1987)
# Radio Days (1987)
# Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
# The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)
# Broadway Danny Rose (1984)
# Zelig (1983)
# A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (1982)
# Stardust Memories (1980)

I think Hannah and Her Sisters is the best film on this list, but there are strong arguments to be made for Stardust Memories and Crimes and Misdemeanors.

― Fish fingers all in a line (kenan), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 02:26 (twenty years ago)

I'm going to nominate Liquid Sky just to be horrible.

― Trayce (trayce), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 02:27 (twenty years ago)

This is what I can immediately think of as some of my '80s movie favorites:

Some Kind of Wonderful (1987)
Sixteen Candles (1984)
Pretty In Pink (1984)
Heathers (1989)
The Breakfast Club (1985)
When Harry Met Sally (1989)
Beetlejuice (1988)
Just One Of The Guys (1985)
The Blues Brothers (1980)
Parenthood (1989)
Wall Street (1987)

― Surreal Addiction (Dee the Lurker), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 02:31 (twenty years ago)

Purple Rose is my personal fave (although I am fairly lacking in 80's Allen)...I just couldn't get anything out of Zelig or Broadway Danny Rose.

― Girolamo Savonarola, Wednesday, 23 February 2005 02:31 (twenty years ago)

(xpost:) (Yeah, I'm totally repping for the John Hughes '80s teen movie faction here. And some populist fare is in there, sure, but hey, it's what I love.)

Also:

Valley Girl (1983)

― Surreal Addiction (Dee the Lurker), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 02:33 (twenty years ago)

What, no ones nominated Airplane! yet?

― Trayce (trayce), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 02:35 (twenty years ago)

Also:
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover
Draftsmans Contract

― Trayce (trayce), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 02:36 (twenty years ago)

xxpost Radio Days is wonderful, too. His slight comedies are often as charming and watchable as anything he's done, but I prefer the movies of his that pack a certain wallop. Hannah and Her Sisters just kills me.

― Fish fingers all in a line (kenan), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 02:36 (twenty years ago)

And:

Real Genius (1985)
Dirty Dancing (1987)
Field of Dreams (1989)
Fatal Attraction (1987)

― Surreal Addiction (Dee the Lurker), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 02:36 (twenty years ago)

(Yes, I liked Dirty Dancing. No, I'm not going to deny it.)

― Surreal Addiction (Dee the Lurker), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 02:36 (twenty years ago)

Risky Business

― Fish fingers all in a line (kenan), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 02:37 (twenty years ago)

Tootsie

― Fish fingers all in a line (kenan), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 02:37 (twenty years ago)

REPO MAN

― latebloomer: HE WHOM DUELS THE DRAFGON IN ENDLESS DANCE (latebloomer), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 02:38 (twenty years ago)

Tampopo

― whenuweremine (whenuweremine), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 02:38 (twenty years ago)

The Right Stuff! I'm still not sure how that movie tanked at the box office.

― Gear! (can Jung shill it, Mu?) (Gear!), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 02:39 (twenty years ago)

OMG Repo Man yeah yah.

― Trayce (trayce), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 02:39 (twenty years ago)

Body Heat
My Dinner with Andre
Wild Style
Shaolin vs. Lama(aka Shaolin dou La Ma)
Matewan
Predator
Do the Right Thing

― tremendoid (tremendoid), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 02:41 (twenty years ago)

OMG, I LOVED The Right Stuff! Thank you for nominating that, Gear!

― Surreal Addiction (Dee the Lurker), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 02:41 (twenty years ago)

(We watched that in fourth grade, after reading about the space race in history class.)

― Surreal Addiction (Dee the Lurker), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 02:42 (twenty years ago)

Body Heat is fscking great, yo.

But not as great as Do the Right Thing. I think I have my #1 already.

― Fish fingers all in a line (kenan), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 02:42 (twenty years ago)

Ran (Kurosawa)

― Leeeter van den Hoogenband (Leee), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 02:43 (twenty years ago)

for this decade it's very hard to separate the films I have tremendous childhood affection vs. films I've experienced/verified as "great" as an adult.
That said,
Planes, Trains and Automobiles + Trading Places

― tremendoid (tremendoid), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 02:45 (twenty years ago)

Caravaggio (Jarman)

― jed_ (jed), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 02:46 (twenty years ago)

blue velvet (lynch)
Mon oncle d'Amérique (resnais)

― t0dd swiss, Wednesday, 23 February 2005 02:50 (twenty years ago)

Kieslowski'ing your asses:

Blind Chance
No End
Dekalog

― Girolamo Savonarola, Wednesday, 23 February 2005 02:51 (twenty years ago)

Ferris Bueller's Day Off (only thing John Huges should be allowed to live for)

― latebloomer: HE WHOM DUELS THE DRAFGON IN ENDLESS DANCE (latebloomer), Wednesday, 23 February 2005 02:51 (twenty years ago)

Skipping 175 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Swimming to Cambodia (surprised nobody nominated this: nearly as good as Stop Making Sense, and way better than The Killing Fields)

Midnight Run (part three of DeNiro's underrated '80s renaissance, including Angel Heart and Brazil,)

Coal Miner's Daughter (God this movie ages well; Tommy Lee Jones and Sissy Spacek kicking ass while still young)

Angel Heart (I know I'll got to hell for this...)

Missing (a friend who was in Santiago Stadium during the coup says it was exactly like this. Probably the most chilling vision of right-wing authoritarianism ever put onscreen, with Jack Lemmon giving his best performance in any movie except The China Syndrome. Turns out its suspicions of American complicity were entirely spot-on...).

Hairspray (John Waters's mainstream bid is pure pleasure from start to finish, with Ricki Lake becoming a heart-throb against stereotype...)

Clean and Sober (Michael Keaton makes up for Batman and many other bad choices...)

― Pete Scholtes, Saturday, 26 February 2005 00:06 (twenty years ago)

Lost in America (Albert Brooks at his most pathetically funny)

The Naked Gun - From the Files of Police Squad! ("Nice beaver!" "Thanks...I just had it stuffed!") ("I don't know anything about her new boyfriend--except he's an Olympic gymnast and it's the best sex she's ever had.")

Style Wars (truly entertaining classic graffiti doc launched a thousand graf artists, but is worth seeing by just about anybody...)

Rude Boy (the Clash movie rules even if you don't fast-forward through the "story" parts: a document of their moment)

Comfort and Joy (heads up Local Hero fans: This is better...)

Modern Romance (Albert Brooks takes on loneliness--watch it with Swingers...)

Salvador (Oliver Stone's best film, and probably James Woods's as well, with both of them imprinting their personality on a true fuck-up of a journalist character--always a great movie subject. If it weren't for the garish rape scene, and they way it compresses so many real-life events into a few fictionalized days, this would top my list. Less effective as drama than Platoon maybe, but less simplified and hokey, too. The scene where Woods negotiates with the priest during his confession qualifies as classic...)

― Pete Scholtes, Saturday, 26 February 2005 00:10 (twenty years ago)

My Favorite Year (cheery and authentic-feeling comedy about '50s TV; a true comeback for Peter O'Toole)

The Abyss (everything James Cameron does well; everything he does badly, too; avoid the director's cut at all costs...)

Rumblefish (haven't seen this in a while, but I loved the atmosphere and music at the time...)

The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle (an '80s document of a '70s moment, revived in the '90s; "God Save the Queen" still puts chills up my back...)

Bachelor Party (classic late-night cable movie stands up among Tom Hanks's better vehicles...)

Baby It's You (John Sayles's dreariest yet most affecting film of the decade...)

Bad Boys (the Sean Penn prison movie, not the Martin Lawrence/Will Smith shitburger...)

The Neverending Story (I loved this, though I haven't seen it since the '80s...)

True Believer (James Wood's second best role, and Saturday afternoon TV at its finest; idealistic, nice twists, Robert Downey kicking ass)

Excalibur (hot sex in shining armor)

― Pete Scholtes, Saturday, 26 February 2005 00:10 (twenty years ago)

Jean de Florette/Manon of the Spring (overrated, but well told and acted dramas about greed)

Prince of the City (Sidney Lumet's failed epic is at least full of good details and performances)

Baxter (my life as a very horny French dog)

Barcelona (better than Metropolitan, way better than The Last Days of Disco)

Cry Freedom (at least the half where Biko is still alive, which launched Denzel...)

The Lonely Guy (Steve Martin gets less jerky, but not yet schlocky)

These are really TV, but:

Eyes on the Prize/Eyes on the Prize II (best documentary of all time, possibly, but aired on TV first...)

Tanner '88 (now on video, then on Showtime, was really funny as well as sharp at the time...)

― Pete Scholtes, Saturday, 26 February 2005 00:11 (twenty years ago)

I like a lot of those, but surely Barcelona came out in the '90s?

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Saturday, 26 February 2005 00:16 (twenty years ago)

oh, I forgot to nominate this one:

Joshua Then and Now (Ted Kotcheff, 1985)

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Saturday, 26 February 2005 14:36 (twenty years ago)

Just now, I feel tremendous sympathy for Ted Boynton in Barcelona -- popularity by the book, the odd position ambitious, not necessarily (but possibly) studious, introverted young people find themselves in when they enter a nontechnical field.

― youn, Sunday, 27 February 2005 22:51 (twenty years ago)

But, yeah, it's not an 80s film.

― youn, Sunday, 27 February 2005 22:52 (twenty years ago)

The Money Pit
They Live
Music Box
The Big Picture
Kagemusha
The Long Good Friday
Frantic
Street of Crocodiles
Lightning Over Water
Ordinary People
Heimat
Altered States
Lianna
American Gigolo
La Bamba
Vagabond
The Element of Crime

― Girolamo Savonarola, Monday, 28 February 2005 00:33 (twenty years ago)

The Long Good Friday -- yay! Bob Hoskins made so many good movies in the '80s.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Monday, 28 February 2005 00:53 (twenty years ago)

457 noms so far. Here is a very undetailed and poorly alphabetized list for reference. All films have been checked for dates and titles. Anything disqualified will not appear here. Please let me know if I have made any mistakes.

Consider this the masterlist as of now.

1984
2010: The Year We Make Contact
28 Up
48 Hours
9 to 5
A Chinese Ghost Story
A Christmas Story
A Dry White Season
A Fish Called Wanda
A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy
A Nightmare on Elm Street
A Private Function
A Room with a View
A Short Film About Killing
A World Apart
A Zed and Two Noughts
Adventures in Babysitting
After Hours
After the Rehearsal
Airplane!
Airplane!
Akira
Alice
Alien Nation
Aliens
All of Me
Altered States
Amadeus
Amazon Women on the Moon
American Gigolo
An American Werewolf in London
Angel Heart
Another Woman
Atlantic City
Au revoir les enfants
Babette's Feast
Baby It's You
Bachelor Party
Back to School
Back to the Future
Back to the Future II
Bad Boys
Bad Taste
Ballad of Narayama
Barfly
Batman
Baxter
Beetlejuice
Berlin Alexanderplatz
Best Seller
Better Off Dead
Betty Blue
Beverly Hills Cop
Big
Big Trouble in Little China
Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure
Birdy
Blade Runner
Blind Chance
Blood Simple
Blow Out
Blue Velvet
Body Heat
Brainstorm
Brazil
Breaker Morant
Brimstone and Treacle
Broadcast News
Broadway Danny Rose
Bull Durham
Caddyshack
Caravaggio
Castle in the Sky
Chameleon Street
Chariots of Fire
Choose Me
Christine
Chuck Berry Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll
Cinema Paradiso
Circle of Deceit
Clean and Sober
Clue
Coal Miner's Daughter
Comfort and Joy
Coming to America
Commando
Conan the Barbarian
Coup de torchon
Creepshow
Crime Wave
Crimes and Misdemeanors
Crimewave
Crocodile Dundee
Cruising
Cry Freedom
Dangerous Liaisons
Das Boot
Day of the Dead
Dead Calm
Dead Poets Society
Dead Ringers
Death Wish III
Dekalog
Die Hard
Diner
Dirty Dancing
Distant Voices, Still Lives
Diva
Do the Right Thing
Down by Law
Downtown 81 (aka New York Beat Movie)
Dreamscape
Dressed to Kill
Drugstore Cowboy
Dune
E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial
Easy Money
El Norte
Empire of the Sun
Enemies: A Love Story
Escape from New York
Evil Dead 2
Excalibur
Eyes on the Prize
Fanny and Alexander
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Fatal Attraction
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Field of Dreams
Firefox
First Blood
Fitzcarraldo
Flash Gordon
Fletch
Frantic
Full Metal Jacket
Funny Farm
Gandhi
Ghostbusters
Gloria
Glory
Gregory's Girl
Gremlins
Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes
Hairspray
Hannah and Her Sisters
Hardly Working
Heathers
Heimat
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
He's My Girl
High Hopes
Highlander
History of the World, Part 1
Home Sweet Home
Hope and Glory
House of Games
Housekeeping
How to Get Ahead in Advertising
Hunk
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Inferno
Ishtar
Jean de Florette
Jesus of Montreal
Johnny Dangerously
Joshua Then and Now
Just One of the Guys
Kagemusha
Kiki's Delivery Service
Killer Klowns from Outer Space
King Lear
Kiss of the Spider Woman
Koyaanisqatsi
La Bamba
Labyrinth
Labyrinth of Passion
Le dernier combat
Legend
Lianna
Lightning Over Water
Lili Marleen
Liquid Sky
Little Shop of Horrors
Local Hero
Lola
Lost in America
Love Streams
Manhunter
Manon of the Spring
Mask
Matador
Matewan
Medea
Meet the Feebles
Megaforce
Memories of Me
Midnight Run
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
Missing
Mississippi Burning
Modern Romance
Mommie Dearest
Mona Lisa
Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl
Monty Python's The Meaning of Life
Moonstruck
Moonwalker
Music Box
My 20th Century
My American Uncle
My Beautiful Laundrette
My Dinner with Andre
My Favorite Year
My Life As a Dog
My Neighbor Totoro
Mystery Train
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
National Lampoon's Vacation
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds
New Year's Day
New York Stories
No End
No Way Out
Nostalghia
On the Wing
Once Upon a Time in America
Ordinary People
Pale Rider
Paperhouse
Parenthood
Parents
Paris, Texas
Pauline at the Beach
Pee-Wee's Big Adventure
Pele the Conqueror
Pennies from Heaven
Peril
Phenomena
Pixote
Places in the Heart
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
Platoon
Poltergeist
Polyester
Popeye
Porky's
Possession
Predator
Pretty in Pink
Prick Up Your Ears
Prince of the City
Prizzi's Honor
Purple Rain
Radio Days
Raging Bull
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Rain Man
Raising Arizona
Rambo: First Blood Part II
Ran
Real Genius
Red Dawn
Reds
Repentance (Monanieba)
Repo Man
Return of the Secaucus 7
Revenge of the Nerds II
Revenge of the Ninja
Richard Pryor Live on the Sunset Strip
Risky Business
River's Edge
Robocop
Round Midnight
Roxanne
Rude Boy
Rumble Fish
Runaway Train
Running on Empty
S.O.B.
Salvador
Sammy and Rosie Get Laid
Sans soleil
Say Anything
Scarface
School Daze
Scrooged
Secret Honor
September
Sex, Lies, and Videotape
Shaolin vs. Lama
Sherman's March
Shoah
Sid and Nancy
Silkwood
Silverado
Sixteen Candles
Some Kind of Wonderful
Someone to Watch Over Me
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Something Wild
Songwriter
Spaceballs
Splash
Stand by Me
Star 80
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Stardust Memories
Starman
Stealing Home
Stop Making Sense
Strange Brew
Stranger Than Paradise
Street of Crocodiles
Streetwise
Stripes
Style Wars
Superman II
Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story
Sweetie
Swimming to Cambodia
Swing Shift
Talk Radio
Tampopo
Tanner '88
Tapeheads
Taxi Zum Klo
Teen Witch
Teen Wolf
Tenebre
Terms of Endearment
The Abyss
The Accidental Tourist
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
The Atomic Café
The Aviator's Wife
The Belly of an Architect
The Big Easy
The Big Picture
The Big Red One
The Blues Brothers
The Breakfast Club
The Brother from Another Planet
The Burbs
The Church
The Company of Wolves
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover
The Cotton Club
The Dark Crystal
The Dead
The Dead Zone
The Decline of Western Civilization
The Decline of Western Civilization II: The Metal Years
The Draughtsman's Contract
The Element of Crime
The Elephant Man
The Empire Strikes Back
The Evil Dead
The Fabulous Baker Boys
The First Deadly Sin
The Fly
The Fog
The Funeral
The Funhouse
The Gods Must Be Crazy
The Goonies
The Great Outdoors
The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle
The Green Ray
The Hidden
The Hitcher
The Ice Pirates
The Karate Kid
The Killer
The Killing Fields
The King of Comedy
The Last American Virgin
The Last Emperor
The Last Starfighter
The Last Temptation of Christ
The Little Mermaid
The Lonely Guy
The Long Good Friday
The Lost Boys
The Man with One Red Shoe
The Man with Two Brains
The Moderns
The Money Pit
The Mosquito Coast
The Muppets Take Manhattan
The Naked Gun
The Natural
The Navigator
The Neverending Story
The Night of the Shooting Stars
The Pirates of Penzance
The Princess Bride
The Purple Rose of Cairo
The Right Stuff
The Road Warrior
The Sacrifice
The Secret of NIMH
The Shining
The Shooting Party
The Stunt Man
The Sure Thing
The Terminator
The Thin Blue Line
The Thing
The Transformers: The Movie
The Trip to Bountiful
The Twilight Zone: The Movie
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
The Untouchables
The Weavers: Wasn't That a Time
They Live
This Is Spinal Tap
Tightrope
Time Bandits
To Be or Not to Be
To Live and Die in L.A.
Tootsie
Top Gun
Top Secret!
Trading Places
Tron
Trouble in Mind
True Believer
True Stories
Tucker: The Man and His Dream
Twice Upon a Time
Under Fire
Used Cars
Vagabond
Valley Girl
Veronika Voss
Victor/Victoria
Videodrome
Wall Street
Wargames
What Have I Done to Deserve This?
When Harry Met Sally…
White Dog
Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Why Has Bodhi-Dharma Left for the East?
Wild Style
Wings of Desire
Wings of Honneamise
Wish You Were Here
Withnail & I
Witness
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
X: The Unheard Music
Yeelen
Zelig

― Girolamo Savonarola, Monday, 28 February 2005 01:01 (twenty years ago)

I would also add:

The Vanishing (disqualified out of the '90s poll)
The Burden of Dreams (great doc about the making of Fitzcarraldo, sort of a precursor to Hearts of Darkness)
Ghostbusters II (for the court room scene, anyway)

― Pete Scholtes, Monday, 28 February 2005 18:52 (twenty years ago)

You've listed Airplane! twice, but perhaps you have already caught this.

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 28 February 2005 18:54 (twenty years ago)

Actually, I hadn't. There may be other duplicates, too. Thanks for the heads up!

― Girolamo Savonarola, Tuesday, 1 March 2005 04:55 (twenty years ago)

C'mon, y'all gotta have some more...

― Girolamo Savonarola, Thursday, 3 March 2005 12:00 (twenty years ago)

Bad Timing: A Sensual Obsession - Nicolas Roeg
Crimes of Passion - Ken Russell
Cutter's Way aka Cutter & Bone - Ivan Passer
Dreamchild - Gavin Millar
Eye of the Needle - Richard Marquand
Gorky Park - Michael Apted
Peggy Sue Got Married - F F Coppola
Tales from the Gimli Hospital - Guy Maddin

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 3 March 2005 14:28 (twenty years ago)

Damnation (Tarr, 1988)
Return of the Jedi (Marquand, 1983) [somebody had to do it]

― andrew s (andrew s), Wednesday, 9 March 2005 18:29 (twenty years ago)

City On Fire (1987, Ringo Lam)
Eight Diagram Pole Fighter (1983, Lau Kar-Leung)
Tetsuo: The Ironman (1988, Shinya Tsukamoto)
Death Of A Salesman (1985, Volker Schlöndorff)
Puberty Blues (1981, Bruce Beresford)

― Mil (Mil), Wednesday, 9 March 2005 23:07 (twenty years ago)

>Death Of A Salesman

Made for TV in its native land, released theatrically abroad (like Berlin Alexanderplatz). Eligible?

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 10 March 2005 20:47 (twenty years ago)

Death Of A Salesman

Made for TV in its native land, released theatrically abroad (like Berlin Alexanderplatz). Eligible?

Didn't know that myself... if it screened on TV as a single film and not broken into parts or whatever, I don't see why it wouldn't count?

― Mil (Mil), Friday, 11 March 2005 03:10 (twenty years ago)

These have all been nominated, but my tentative Top Ten is looking like:

Blue Velvet
Do the Right Thing
Repo Man
The Night of the Shooting Stars
Drugstore Cowboy
A World Apart
My Beautiful Laundrette
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back
This Is Spinal Tap

― Pete Scholtes, Friday, 11 March 2005 05:10 (twenty years ago)

I'm really pulling for Repo Man, which seems to get funnier with age.

Sorry if I've told this story before, but Emilio Estevez once walked into the bike shop where I worked. It was during the filming of the Mighty Ducks in Minneapolis, and he was in town with Martin Sheen, renting bikes for his kids and his dad. I told him that between him and his father, the Sheen family had starred in two of my all-time favorite movies, Apocalypse Now and Repo Man. Emilio said he didn't agree, in sort of a self-deprecating way, but after he left, the similarities struck me. Both movies fall apart in the last third, for one thing. Martin Sheen returned the bikes a couple hours later...

― Pete Scholtes, Friday, 11 March 2005 05:20 (twenty years ago)

Wow Puberty Blues was 81? I could swear that was a 702 flick.

― Trayce (trayce), Friday, 11 March 2005 05:24 (twenty years ago)

I think Moonstruck will make my top ten. I mean, really -- how great is that movie? "I ain't no freakin' monument to justice!"

― sunburned and snowblind (kenan), Friday, 11 March 2005 05:48 (twenty years ago)

Everyone should watch it again. You'll melt.

― sunburned and snowblind (kenan), Friday, 11 March 2005 05:48 (twenty years ago)

Off the top of my head (and off the list), ten:

This is Spinal Tap
Moonstruck
Paris, Texas
Dekalog
True Stories
A Fish Called Wanda
Hannah and Her Sisters
Brazil
Wings of Desire (two Wenders? is that allowed?)
Do the Right Thing

― sunburned and snowblind (kenan), Friday, 11 March 2005 06:00 (twenty years ago)

Moonstruck has a severe case of the cutes. The best scenes were between Olympia Dukakis & John Mahoney.

A better Shanley-written film, same year:

Five Corners (dir. Tony Bill, 1987)

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 11 March 2005 15:31 (twenty years ago)

btw, both Alexanderplatz and Tanner 88 (a sitcom shot on tape) were broken into episodes.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 11 March 2005 15:32 (twenty years ago)

...a severe case of the cutes...

you mean ADORABLE? yeah, of course. You heartless bastard.

― sunburned and snowblind (kenan), Friday, 11 March 2005 15:34 (twenty years ago)

Wow Puberty Blues was 81? I could swear that was a 702 flick.

-- Trayce (spamspanke...), March 11th, 2005.

aus. ilxers better reprazent on this one or there'll be hell to pay!

― Mil (Mil), Friday, 11 March 2005 23:17 (twenty years ago)

...a severe case of the cutes...

when cuteness is also (ok a little magical) realism, i hold with it

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 11 March 2005 23:31 (twenty years ago)

Gates of Heaven is missing from the list

My theoretical Top 10 (having never seen Dekalog, Love Streams, Short Film About Killing, Alexanderplatz, Sans Soleil, Coup de Torchon, etc.):

Shoah
Ran
Do the Right Thing
The Thin Blue Line
Full Metal Jacket
The Right Stuff
The Last Temptation of Christ
Running on Empty
The Weavers: Wasn't That a Time
My Dinner with Andre?

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 11 March 2005 23:58 (twenty years ago)

10 also off the top of my head, alphabetically (I'll worry about actual ranking when it's time to vote):

Alice
Blue Velvet
The Company of Wolves
Diva
My Beautiful Launderette
My 20th Century
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Ran
Sid and Nancy
Stranger Than Paradise

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Saturday, 12 March 2005 02:38 (twenty years ago)

in terms of getting stuff to chart, how good of an idea is it to have people vote on dekalog & short film on killing separately? & leaving aside the (as yet) unnominated short film about love. oh well.

― andrew s (andrew s), Saturday, 12 March 2005 04:53 (twenty years ago)

(I will be watching the entire Dekalog in the next few weeks, if Netflix comes thru. Maybe in time to vote!)

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Saturday, 12 March 2005 05:06 (twenty years ago)

I liked 5 & 6 & 1. I haven't seen 7-10. What was that man doing at the side of the road in 1?

― youn, Saturday, 12 March 2005 05:19 (twenty years ago)

Vote-splitting aside, I favor keeping the distinctions between Dekalog and the enriched Killing and Love segments. (The latter's ending is very much different, no?)

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Saturday, 12 March 2005 05:31 (twenty years ago)

1) All nominations up to now have been added. The following post will contain them.
2) Gates of Heaven is 1978, as will be clearly demonstrated by an IMDb search, so stop asking.
3) I'm willing to take multi-episode films if they are to be considered as a whole. (ie miniseries okay, regular series series not.)
4) As Dekalog and the Short Films About... are and were intended for seperate releases and are not merely directors cut changes or repackagings, I am willing to have them each count as separate nominations.

Anything else?

PS - I nominate the other Short Film About...

― Girolamo Savonarola, Saturday, 12 March 2005 14:25 (twenty years ago)

Note that this list has still not been properly alphabetized or much else, and may contain duplicates. If there are any errors (aside from the alphabetizing), please do notify me.

1984
2010: The Year We Make Contact
28 Up
48 Hours
9 to 5
A Chinese Ghost Story
A Christmas Story
A Dry White Season
A Fish Called Wanda
A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy
A Nightmare on Elm Street
A Private Function
A Room with a View
A Short Film About Killing
A Short Film About Love
A World Apart
A Zed and Two Noughts
Adventures in Babysitting
After Hours
After the Rehearsal
Airplane!
Akira
Alice
Alien Nation
Aliens
All of Me
Altered States
Amadeus
Amazon Women on the Moon
American Gigolo
An American Werewolf in London
Angel Heart
Another Woman
Atlantic City
Au revoir les enfants
Babette's Feast
Baby It's You
Bachelor Party
Back to School
Back to the Future
Back to the Future II
Bad Boys
Bad Taste
Bad Timing
Ballad of Narayama
Barfly
Batman
Baxter
Beetlejuice
Berlin Alexanderplatz
Best Seller
Better Off Dead
Betty Blue
Beverly Hills Cop
Big
Big Trouble in Little China
Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure
Birdy
Blade Runner
Blind Chance
Blood Simple
Blow Out
Blue Velvet
Body Heat
Brainstorm
Brazil
Breaker Morant
Brimstone and Treacle
Broadcast News
Broadway Danny Rose
Bull Durham
Burden of Dreams
Caddyshack
Caravaggio
Castle in the Sky
Chameleon Street
Chariots of Fire
Choose Me
Christine
Chuck Berry Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll
Cinema Paradiso
Circle of Deceit
City on Fire
Clean and Sober
Clue
Coal Miner's Daughter
Comfort and Joy
Coming to America
Commando
Conan the Barbarian
Coup de torchon
Creepshow
Crime Wave
Crimes and Misdemeanors
Crimes of Passion
Crimewave
Crocodile Dundee
Cruising
Cry Freedom
Cutter's Way
Damnation
Dangerous Liaisons
Das Boot
Day of the Dead
Dead Calm
Dead Poets Society
Dead Ringers
Death of a Salesman
Death Wish III
Dekalog
Die Hard
Diner
Dirty Dancing
Distant Voices, Still Lives
Diva
Do the Right Thing
Down by Law
Downtown 81 (aka New York Beat Movie)
Dreamchild
Dreamscape
Dressed to Kill
Drugstore Cowboy
Dune
E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial
Easy Money
Eight Diagram Pole Fighter
El Norte
Empire of the Sun
Enemies: A Love Story
Escape from New York
Evil Dead 2
Excalibur
Eye of the Needle
Eyes on the Prize
Fanny and Alexander
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Fatal Attraction
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Field of Dreams
Firefox
First Blood
Fitzcarraldo
Five Corners
Flash Gordon
Fletch
Frantic
Full Metal Jacket
Funny Farm
Gandhi
Ghostbusters
Ghostbusters II
Gloria
Glory
Gorky Park
Gregory's Girl
Gremlins
Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes
Hairspray
Hannah and Her Sisters
Hardly Working
Heathers
Heimat
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
He's My Girl
High Hopes
Highlander
History of the World, Part 1
Home Sweet Home
Hope and Glory
House of Games
Housekeeping
How to Get Ahead in Advertising
Hunk
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Inferno
Ishtar
Jean de Florette
Jesus of Montreal
Johnny Dangerously
Joshua Then and Now
Just One of the Guys
Kagemusha
Kiki's Delivery Service
Killer Klowns from Outer Space
King Lear
Kiss of the Spider Woman
Koyaanisqatsi
La Bamba
Labyrinth
Labyrinth of Passion
Le dernier combat
Legend
Lianna
Lightning Over Water
Lili Marleen
Liquid Sky
Little Shop of Horrors
Local Hero
Lola
Lost in America
Love Streams
Manhunter
Manon of the Spring
Mask
Matador
Matewan
Medea
Meet the Feebles
Megaforce
Memories of Me
Midnight Run
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
Missing
Mississippi Burning
Modern Romance
Mommie Dearest
Mona Lisa
Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl
Monty Python's The Meaning of Life
Moonstruck
Moonwalker
Music Box
My 20th Century
My American Uncle
My Beautiful Laundrette
My Dinner with Andre
My Favorite Year
My Life As a Dog
My Neighbor Totoro
Mystery Train
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
National Lampoon's Vacation
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds
New Year's Day
New York Stories
No End
No Way Out
Nostalghia
On the Wing
Once Upon a Time in America
Ordinary People
Pale Rider
Paperhouse
Parenthood
Parents
Paris, Texas
Pauline at the Beach
Pee-Wee's Big Adventure
Peggy Sue Got Married
Pele the Conqueror
Pennies from Heaven
Peril
Phenomena
Pixote
Places in the Heart
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
Platoon
Poltergeist
Polyester
Popeye
Porky's
Possession
Predator
Pretty in Pink
Prick Up Your Ears
Prince of the City
Prizzi's Honor
Puberty Blues
Purple Rain
Radio Days
Raging Bull
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Rain Man
Raising Arizona
Rambo: First Blood Part II
Ran
Real Genius
Red Dawn
Reds
Repentance (Monanieba)
Repo Man
Return of the Jedi
Return of the Secaucus 7
Revenge of the Nerds II
Revenge of the Ninja
Richard Pryor Live on the Sunset Strip
Risky Business
River's Edge
Robocop
Round Midnight
Roxanne
Rude Boy
Rumble Fish
Runaway Train
Running on Empty
S.O.B.
Salvador
Sammy and Rosie Get Laid
Sans soleil
Say Anything
Scarface
School Daze
Scrooged
Secret Honor
September
Sex, Lies, and Videotape
Shaolin vs. Lama
Sherman's March
Shoah
Sid and Nancy
Silkwood
Silverado
Sixteen Candles
Some Kind of Wonderful
Someone to Watch Over Me
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Something Wild
Songwriter
Spaceballs
Splash
Stand by Me
Star 80
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Stardust Memories
Starman
Stealing Home
Stop Making Sense
Strange Brew
Stranger Than Paradise
Street of Crocodiles
Streetwise
Stripes
Style Wars
Superman II
Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story
Sweetie
Swimming to Cambodia
Swing Shift
Tales from the Gimli Hospital
Talk Radio
Tampopo
Tanner '88
Tapeheads
Taxi Zum Klo
Teen Witch
Teen Wolf
Tenebre
Terms of Endearment
Tetsuo: The Ironman
The Abyss
The Accidental Tourist
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
The Atomic Café
The Aviator's Wife
The Belly of an Architect
The Big Easy
The Big Picture
The Big Red One
The Blues Brothers
The Breakfast Club
The Brother from Another Planet
The Burbs
The Church
The Company of Wolves
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover
The Cotton Club
The Dark Crystal
The Dead
The Dead Zone
The Decline of Western Civilization
The Decline of Western Civilization II: The Metal Years
The Draughtsman's Contract
The Element of Crime
The Elephant Man
The Empire Strikes Back
The Evil Dead
The Fabulous Baker Boys
The First Deadly Sin
The Fly
The Fog
The Funeral
The Funhouse
The Gods Must Be Crazy
The Goonies
The Great Outdoors
The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle
The Green Ray
The Hidden
The Hitcher
The Ice Pirates
The Karate Kid
The Killer
The Killing Fields
The King of Comedy
The Last American Virgin
The Last Emperor
The Last Starfighter
The Last Temptation of Christ
The Little Mermaid
The Lonely Guy
The Long Good Friday
The Lost Boys
The Man with One Red Shoe
The Man with Two Brains
The Moderns
The Money Pit
The Mosquito Coast
The Muppets Take Manhattan
The Naked Gun
The Natural
The Navigator
The Neverending Story
The Night of the Shooting Stars
The Pirates of Penzance
The Princess Bride
The Purple Rose of Cairo
The Right Stuff
The Road Warrior
The Sacrifice
The Secret of NIMH
The Shining
The Shooting Party
The Stunt Man
The Sure Thing
The Terminator
The Thin Blue Line
The Thing
The Transformers: The Movie
The Trip to Bountiful
The Twilight Zone: The Movie
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
The Untouchables
The Vanishing (original)
The Weavers: Wasn't That a Time
They Live
This Is Spinal Tap
Tightrope
Time Bandits
To Be or Not to Be
To Live and Die in L.A.
Tootsie
Top Gun
Top Secret!
Trading Places
Tron
Trouble in Mind
True Believer
True Stories
Tucker: The Man and His Dream
Twice Upon a Time
Under Fire
Used Cars
Vagabond
Valley Girl
Veronika Voss
Victor/Victoria
Videodrome
Wall Street
Wargames
What Have I Done to Deserve This?
When Harry Met Sally…
White Dog
Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Why Has Bodhi-Dharma Left for the East?
Wild Style
Wings of Desire
Wings of Honneamise
Wish You Were Here
Withnail & I
Witness
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
X: The Unheard Music
Yeelen
Zelig

― Girolamo Savonarola, Saturday, 12 March 2005 14:27 (twenty years ago)

Crime Wave
Crimewave

So we're all on the same page, the one-word title is the Sam Raimi one and the two word title is the John Paizs one that I expect I'll be the sole voter on its behalf.

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Saturday, 12 March 2005 15:56 (twenty years ago)

Don't worry, Eric. The list that will go out just prior to the start of the voting period will include years and directors, for clarification.

― Girolamo Savonarola, Saturday, 12 March 2005 18:28 (twenty years ago)

The Atomic Cafe (1982, Loader, Rafferty, Rafferty) was nominated but is missing from the big list. How is that by the way?

I agree that Short Films About.. should qualify, just note ruefully that that they won't actually chart.

― andrew s (andrew s), Sunday, 13 March 2005 02:13 (twenty years ago)

how is the movie, not how did it get missed.

― andrew s (andrew s), Sunday, 13 March 2005 02:13 (twenty years ago)

It's there. Search under "The". (I did warn that it was badly alphabetized at the moment.)

― Girolamo Savonarola, Sunday, 13 March 2005 02:27 (twenty years ago)

oh okay. my problem was that i was searching to begin with. americans don't hold truck with them fancy européan accent marks.

― andrew s (andrew s), Sunday, 13 March 2005 04:17 (twenty years ago)

two weeks pass...

Last few days to put a few in...

― Girolamo Savonarola, Sunday, 27 March 2005 11:47 (twenty years ago)

Night Shift - Ron Howard, 1982

― weather1ngda1eson (Brian), Sunday, 27 March 2005 14:19 (twenty years ago)

Come and See

― Gear! (can Jung shill it, Mu?) (Gear!), Sunday, 27 March 2005 14:33 (twenty years ago)

"Mad Max 2"
"Mad Max 3: Beyond Thunderdome"

Unfortunately, the first one was released in 1979, or I'd list it here too.

― mj (robert blake), Sunday, 27 March 2005 18:50 (twenty years ago)

one month passes...

In terms of bone fide great films; yes, a rather dreary decade.

But in terms of interesting, fun or almost great films, a terrific decade.

And in terms of the moviegoing experience...it's to be realistically nostalgic.

A movie cost you, here in NYC, 4 to 7 bucks during the decade, Lower prices were extant, 2 dollar matinees common.

And in *single* screen theaters. That showed about three trailers.

Now: Multiplex boxes, price going up about .25 cents a year; by next year it'll be $11 + everywhere. That pre-film 'experience': four to seven outright commercials, about nine trailers, a couple more commercials, then your most-likely identi-kit crap film. (The pre-film can last up to 45 minutes--11 bucks to watch commercials!)

Even more amazing--a DVD rental still costs about 3 bucks.

So you're paying three times that to sit in cramped seats in a glorified box to watch ads and one movie.

Brilliant.

― Ian in Brooklyn, Monday, 2 May 2005 03:21 (twenty years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.