The best '80s movies: The films that defined a decade
Fantastic films from the 80s, an amazing decade of movies
Morgan Truder
The 1980s didn’t just give us big hair, big shoulder pads and questionable tailoring. It gave us some of the most influential and entertaining films ever made. This was the decade when blockbusters became cultural events, indie cinema found its bite and directors were allowed to swing big, sometimes wildly, sometimes brilliantly. Studios took risks — most of the remakes you see today were born in the 80s.
It’s easy to reduce the ’80s to nostalgia, neon lights, synth soundtracks, montages that go on a bit too long, but the reality is far richer. This was the era of high-concept action that delivered, teen films with something to say, horror that rewired your brain and some comedies that still hold up without an apology. The decade didn’t just produce hits; it produced films that shaped what Hollywood would become.
So we’ve gone back through the lot, the obvious classics, the slightly left-field masterpieces, the films that defined genres and the ones that quietly perfected them, and ranked the very best. Here are the best films of the 1980s.
25. Blue Velvet (1986)
While David Lynch had already made his mark as one of cinema’s most offbeat directors with Eraserhead, The Elephant Man and Dune, it wasn’t until Blue Velvet that we finally saw what he was truly capable of. One of the decade’s most experimental and daring films, it showed us suburban America in a way we’d never seen it before. Lynch’s film also became the topic of endless discussion for its mysterious themes and various interpretations.
24. Predator (1987)
Arnold Schwarzenegger movies were ten-a-penny in the '80s, but there is something we love about the ridiculously schlocky Predator. The movie is a fantastic cat-and-mouse thriller that combines the horrors of war with a badass alien from another planet. The testosterone in this movie is rife, but it's really about how machismo doesn't win out in the end - cunning does.
23. Scarface (1983)
Brian De Palma’s wildly stylised gangster epic gave Al Pacino one of his most memorable performances as cocaine kingpin Tony Montana and shocked audiences at the time with its graphic violence and drug use. In fact, during the film’s initial screening, there were numerous walkouts while Dustin Hoffman reportedly fell asleep. The film still has the power to shock, even to this day. Quite a tough one to sleep through though…
22. Airplane! (1980)
The funniest film of the decade was also one of the very first. The 70s were full of increasingly overwrought disaster movies, ripe for ridicule, and the team of Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and David Zucker decided that a spoof was well overdue. It emerged as Shirley the greatest example of the genre, still to this day, with an endlessly quotable stream of killer lines. It’s also one of the few films that can actually pull off an exclamation mark in the title.
21. Platoon (1986)
Oliver Stone’s harrowing war epic helped to define him as one of the decade’s most important directors and the film deservedly picked up Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director, among others. Based loosely on Stone’s first-hand experience of the Vietnam war, the film was a deliberate antidote to John Wayne’s The Green Berets, which many thought glorified the conflict.
20. Raising Arizona (1987)
Joel and Ethan Coen made their jet-black film noir debut with Blood Simple and the superb Technicolour Raising Arizona. Featuring Nic Cage at his best (where his acting chops and bizarreness are shown off in equal measure), along with the brilliant Holly Hunter, the movie is a hilarious look at what happens when you take something that doesn’t belong to you - in this case, a baby.
19. Full Metal Jacket (1987)
A film that showed the darker side of the Vietnam War. Like Platoon, it didn’t glorify the soldiers involved and was a harrowing watch. It further showed the incredible versatility of Kubrick as a director as he went from horror to war seamlessly. We were also given one of the most fearsome bad guys in cinema history in R Lee Ermey’s brutal Gunnery Sergeant.
18. Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
Kicking off what would become the greatest decade for teen movies we’ve ever seen, Amy Heckerling and Cameron Crowe’s comedy was based on Crowe’s undercover findings of what goes on in high schools. As well as being seen as a well-observed and funny look at teenage life, it was also a hotbed for talent featuring Sean Penn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Forest Whitaker and Nicolas Cage in early appearances.
17. The Thing (1982)
John Carpenter’s gruesome update of the ‘50s sci-fi horror was yet another ‘80s movie that failed to make an impression on its initial release. After the friendliness of E.T., the shocking violence of The Thing was not what audiences wanted. In the years since, it’s been regarded as one of the scariest and most effective horror films ever made. The special effects hold up to this day, while the bleak tone distinguishes it from its peers.
16. Raging Bull (1980)
Martin Scorsese’s searing portrait of a troubled boxer helped to begin another decade in style for De Niro, who was arguably the most acclaimed performer of the 70s. As Jake LaMotta, he gave a blistering turn, full of rage and jealousy, and it earned him his second Oscar. Sadly, the film lost out to family drama Ordinary People for the Best Picture Oscar, a move that is still recognised as one of the biggest Academy Award travesties ever.
15. Do the Right Thing (1989)
Spike Lee’s controversial take on racial tension in Brooklyn gave the writer/director/actor a nomination for Best Original Screenplay. On a small budget, the film was a surprise hit and helped to establish Lee as one of the leading talents of the independent sphere going into the next decade…
14. Ran (1985)
Made when Kurosawa was in his seventies and still operating on a level most directors never reach, Ran is epic filmmaking without a hint of excess. A reworking of King Lear set in feudal Japan, it follows a warlord dividing his kingdom among his sons, a decision that goes about as well as you’d expect.
The battle sequences are staggering, all colour-coded armies and apocalyptic smoke, but it’s the slow, inevitable collapse of pride and power that really lingers. Bleak, beautiful and utterly controlled, this is late-career mastery on a monumental scale.
13. Amadeus (1984)
Milos Foreman’s Amadeus is based on the real-life relationship between Mozart and his peer and rival of sorts, Salieri. The older composer Salieri is riven with jealousy at the success and talents of Mozart, and plots his downfall. We have a feeling some of you may have been put off by Amadeus’s seemingly worthy subject matter, but this is a human movie above all else, with a funny and charming side to offset the bitterness of the core themes.
12. The Breakfast Club (1985)
Pretty much everything you know about the teen movie genre was created in one fell swoop in this seminal John Hughes classic. The jock, the geek, the princess, the goth and the drifter were all humanised, and Hughes boasted an uncanny knack of getting into the minds of teenagers. It influenced dozens of movies in its wake, including The Faculty, which was created as a direct homage.
11. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
Yet another high school movie that became a classic in the ‘80s, this comedy subverted the genre by positioning most of the action outside of the high school. Matthew Broderick’s laid-back man of mischief was an enviable classmate, even if he never actually turned up to class. The film showcased the reckless fun of pulling a sickie, even if we did worry somewhat for Ferris’s future in the workplace…
10. Stand By Me (1986)
The first Stephen King adaptation that didn’t focus on horror, Rob Reiner’s sweet but not saccharine coming-of-age film, became one of the defining films of the era. Focusing on four boys in search of a dead body, it tapped into what kids talk about when they’re by themselves. You know, like cherry Pez. It also featured early appearances from John Cusack, Kiefer Sutherland and River Phoenix.
9. E.T. (1982)
Continuing what would be another banner decade, Steven Spielberg’s iconic sci-fi adventure was a perfect antidote to the post-Alien horrors that suggested all extraterrestrials would be thirsty for blood.
At the time, it surpassed Star Wars to become the highest-grossing movie ever released. A sequel called E.T. II: Nocturnal Fears was originally in development, but Spielberg scrapped it, believing it would tarnish our collective memory of the original. Savvy move.
8. The Shining (1980)
Although it deviated significantly from Stephen King’s original novel, Stanley Kubrick’s chilling tale of a haunted hotel is often regarded as one of the scariest films ever made. It’s easy to see why, with Jack Nicholson’s unhinged performance and Kubrick’s masterful direction combining to create something that still creates discussion to this day. Weird to think that at the time, it was nominated for two Razzie awards.
7. Blade Runner (1982)
One of the many entries on the list which didn’t receive the reaction it deserved on release, it took many years for audiences to finally appreciate Ridley Scott’s bleak sci-fi masterpiece. Years later, various cuts and restorations turned it into a deserved cult hit. It was a big decade for the genre, but Scott’s dystopian thriller was arguably the darkest and most daring of the lot.
6. Aliens (1986)
In creating a follow-up to Ridley Scott’s flawless sci-fi classic, James Cameron did the smartest thing. He went for something completely different. While Alien was about slow-build suspense, Aliens was about heart-thumping terror. Sigourney Weaver cemented her place as cinema’s most bad-ass heroine while the Alien universe opened itself up for numerous revisits.
5. Die Hard (1988)
The inarguable action movie highlight of the ‘80s saw Bruce Willis fighting bad guys and spouting one-liners in his soon-to-be trademark grubby vest. Keeping things simple, we had a maverick cop on one side and a bunch of terrorists on the other. For brutal efficiency and sheer entertainment, it’s still hard to beat, while the formula became endlessly copied by various action movie clones.
4. The Terminator (1984)
Although audiences had already seen Austrian bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger in Conan the Barbarian, it was James Cameron’s low-budget sci-fi thriller which truly launched his career. It was also the first major movie for Cameron, and the innovative use of cyborgs had a huge influence on the genre from then on. It also led to one of the finest sequels man has ever witnessed. Back slaps all round.
3. The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
While Star Wars introduced a thrilling new world with a unique style and assurance, its first sequel took all the things we loved and somehow managed to improve upon them. Although it’s now commonly seen as one of the few superior sequels ever made, The Empire Strikes Back received a surprisingly lukewarm response at the time from critics. Since then, it’s been rediscovered as a darker, more complex offering than Star Wars and is arguably still the franchise's high point.
2. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
After George Lucas introduced the world of Star Wars to audiences, he decided to give his good friend Steven Spielberg a small gift. The character of Indiana Jones (originally Smith) came to life as an attempt to resurrect the adventure serials of the ‘30s.
In his first outing, he did this and more, turning an $18 million budget risk into a huge, franchise-starting, Oscar-winning blockbuster. Re-watching it now, it’s still hair-raisingly perfect stuff.
1. Back to the Future (1985)
Encapsulating everything that we love about ‘80s blockbusters, Robert Zemeckis’ flawless franchise-starter assembled a list of all the right ingredients. Likeable young lead? Check. Eccentric mentor? Check. Iconic soundtrack? Check. Groundbreaking special effects? Check. Damn, it had everything, and it even spawned one of the greatest theme park rides ever.
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