What's new
Fantasy Football - Footballguys Forums

Welcome to Our Forums. Once you've registered and logged in, you're primed to talk football, among other topics, with the sharpest and most experienced fantasy players on the internet.

Back to the 80s Movies: Top 100...1st 30 entries are up (1 Viewer)

Ministry of Pain

Ministry of Pain

Footballguy
First of all, my list is going to be a little different than some of you and also the 80s have different vibes and memories for many. I'll understand if you have some entries of your own. 

First time out I mentioned how 1982 was a terrific year for films and it was. There are a lot of loaded years of film and trying to trim the list to 100 is tough. So what I am going to do is also list films that didn't quite make the cut, perhaps an honorable mention list of another 50 or so.

In going back to the 80s, I did find that some of the films are more nostalgic than actually holding up. I will make a point of mentioning it. I also started a list for the 90s which in fact may be the best decade ever for films even though I don't think the 90s have the same "theme" as the 80s or the culture at the time. 

I hope Karma Police will think of doing a 90s list with me, a Siskel and Ebert would be fun to go back and forth on our lists. But for now I am going to focus on the 80s. 

Let's do this!

100. The Thing

99. Harlem Nights

98. Blue Velvet

97. First Blood

96. The Adventures of Baron Munchausen 

95. House of Games

94. The Three Amigos!

93. Clue

92. Pee Wee's Big Adventure

91. Porky's 

90. Fletch

89. Splash

88. A Nightmare on Elm Street

87. Evil Dead

86. Say Anything

85. Less Than Zero

84. Coming to America

83. St. Elmo's Fire

82. Born on the 4th of July

81. Conan the Barbarian

80. Arthur!

79. Roadhouse...but it's really #100

78. Batman/Superman II

77. Cocoon

76. Escape From New York

75. Pale Rider

74. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

73. Robocop

72. Sweet Sixteen

71. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

70. Major League

69. Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure 

 
Last edited by a moderator:
100. The Thing (1982): RT 80%  IMDB 8.2  Box Office $19,629,760

Kurt Russell does an outstanding job of anchoring the film and you can see where he sets up a line of action films to follow thru the 80s and 90s. John Carpenter directs and does a lot of the heavy lifting with tremendous camera work and special effects that still hold up decently. There are shades of Alien here. I won’t be mentioning a lot of horror films and this is borderline as it enters Sci-Fi for many. If for some reason you have missed this or simply weren’t around when it was, worth your time to find it and enjoy. It holds up well even 35 years later.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7t-919Ec9U

 
99. Harlem Nights (1989): RT 21% RT-Audience Score- 81% Box Office $60,864,870

Critics tore Eddie Murphy a new one but I and many others were highly entertained. The sets and costumes are wonderful, they capture what a fight in the 30s in NYC might have looked. I thought Richard Pryor was terrific as the Sugar Ray and pseudo dad to Eddie Murphy. It is mostly an African American cast with a couple exceptions and perhaps critics in the late 80s were a little harsher on well known comedians trying to go in a new direction. Murphy should have been praised not ridiculed. Audiences do like this with an 81% vs 21% who like it Aud vs Critics. If for some reason you missed this or never thought you would like it, highly encourage you to check it out.

Quick!

 
98. Blue Velvet (1986): RT 94% IMDB 7.8 Box Office $8,551,228

This movie is usually pretty high on a lot of folks list of 80s films. It doesn’t do for me what it does for everyone else but I appreciate the film and the craftsmanship that David Lynch exhibits in making this movie. The movie repels some people and this style IMO opens the way for movies like Requiem For a Dream in 2000 for example. Solid cast of actors help things immensely. David Lynch wrote and directed this movie, he did many films in the 80s and if you have never seen his work I suggest you look him up. 

 
97. First Blood (1982): RT 87% IMDB 7.7 Box Office $47,212,904

I am going to be prone to movies that define the 80s and also are a staple for most middle school and high school boys in that time period. If you like action films and you like how the 80s managed to blend action with decent scripts then you love one of the originals in the genre. Stallone is a gifted physical actor and I key in on the helicopter scene where he is trapped on the side of the mountain...Stallone had said very little and thru no fault of his own was being hunted down by heavy handed police and we feel so much for him at that moment. He has a speech tacked on at the end that isn’t nearly as powerful as what he paints early in the film.

Trailer '82

 
Last edited by a moderator:
96. The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1989): RT 92% IMDB 7.2 Box Office $8,000,000

This is Terry Gilliam’s 3rd film he directed after Time Bandits and Brazil, both of which will appear on all decade lists and with good reason. I feel like he had mastered the craft by the time he got to making this 3rd film. They are not a trilogy at all, Bandits is more childhood, Brazil about being an adult. There is a Monty Python like feel at times with all of his films and I enjoy that.The movie spent a fortune on special effects to the tune of $46 Million which was a pretty good sum in 1989. It would only make $8M at the box office, it totally bombed. Hello Urma!

Go Baron Go!

 
95. House of Games (1987): RT 96% IMDB 7.3 Box Office $2,585,000

David Mamet means that at some point we are going to get a con and eventually Ricky Jay is going to pop up. I highly encourage you to find this film, it’s a wonderful film that uses a lot of tricks. An updates version or reboot of the same story could be interesting. Mamet has another film Glengarry Glen Ross which will come out in 1992.

Roger Ebert-  I am particularly fond of Mamet's films. They strike some kind of responsive chord in me. I like the dry way his actor are instructed to behave--the way they don't go for effects, but let the effects come to them. I like the slightly mannered style of movement, by both actors and camera.

Mamet

 
94. The Three Amigos (1986): RT 44%  RT-AUD 67%  Box Office $39,246,000

My little buttercup has the sweetest smile! If the object of a comedy is to make you laugh, I think this movie succeeds. Steve Martin and MAatin Short really carry the film, Chevy Chase has a couple of good throwaway lines but it’s possible another actor would have done more because Martin and Martin are at the top of their game here. I’m a huge Steve Martin fan until about the last 10-15 years has been pretty rough with a few exceptions. He seems to have lost his niche. I will be highlighting several films with Steve Martin.

Bar Scene-Buttercup

 
93. Clue (1985): RT 62% RT-Aud 86% Box Office $14,643,000

An all star cast takes a pretty loose script and improvises with the zest of something you would see in live theater. One of the reasons this movie has such a cult following IMHO are the 95% of out of work actors who run lines from this film to use in their bag of tricks on stage. You can learn a lot from Tim Curry, Christopher Lloyd, Madeline Kahn, Martin Mull, Michael McKean...oh it’s delicious this movie. A reboot is coming later in 2016...I’m kind of worried it won’t be very good but we’ll see.

 
92. Pee Wee’s Big Adventure: RT 89%  IMDB 7.0  Box Office $40,940,000

Paul Reubens stars in a movie that feels like it exploded out of the 80s. There is a lot to see here and take in. The sets early on and the colors when Pee Wee is first tracking down his bike are filled with a lot of imagination. This is another film that is set for a reboot later this year.

 
91. Porky’s (1982) RT 30%  IMDB 6.2  Box Office $109,492,483

It’s simply one of those films that got the 80s rolling early on. Comedies are rich in the 80s and many of the films I will be highlighting are comedies. Kim Cattrall gets nailed in the gymnasium rafters and it really is something all men should watch once in their lives. I understand a lot of wimmens won’t love this movie, it wasn’t really made for them. The audience in ‘81 gobbled it up, not a lot of “R” rated comedies break the 9 figure mark and certainly hardly any even since, rare it happens. This would be like $300M+ when you compare to current ticket prices, maybe more.

OG trailer

 
90. Fletch (1985) RT 75%  RT-Aud 85%  Box Office $50 Million

I am not as a big a fan as everyone else but I appreciate the film and it has spurned a lot of movie line quotes and also showcases a lot of 80s relevant pop things happening at the time. Chevy Chase is probably about as good as he gets in a movie outside of the Vacation films which hopefully make the list.

Fletch!

 
Ministry of Pain said:
97. First Blood (1982): RT 87% IMDB 7.7 Box Office $47,212,904

I am going to be prone to movies that define the 80s and also are a staple for most middle school and high school boys in that time period. If you like action films and you like how the 80s managed to blend action with decent scripts then you love one of the originals in the genre. Stallone is a gifted physical actor and I key in on the helicopter scene where he is trapped on the side of the mountain...Stallone had said very little and thru no fault of his own was being hunted down by heavy handed police and we feel so much for him at that moment. He has a speech tacked on at the end that isn’t nearly as powerful as what he paints early in the film.

Trailer '82
Click to expand...
This is waaaaay too low.

 
Ministry of Pain said:
91. Porky’s (1982) RT 30%  IMDB 6.2  Box Office $109,492,483

It’s simply one of those films that got the 80s rolling early on. Comedies are rich in the 80s and many of the films I will be highlighting are comedies. Kim Cattrall gets nailed in the gymnasium rafters and it really is something all men should watch once in their lives. I understand a lot of wimmens won’t love this movie, it wasn’t really made for them. The audience in ‘81 gobbled it up, not a lot of “R” rated comedies break the 9 figure mark and certainly hardly any even since, rare it happens. This would be like $300M+ when you compare to current ticket prices, maybe more.

OG trailer
Click to expand...
Also way too low.  Might not hold up as well as some other ones, but it was one of the first of its kind.

 
bryhamm said:
This is waaaaay too low.
Click to expand...
And someone said similar about The Thing and I agree it would seem like a higher ranking is in order. 

It's a tough climb when we reach the top 50. I am certainly open to reshuffling and adding/subtracting some entries as we move along. I will try and release 10 a clip similar to KP. The movies that don't make the list might be just as shocking.  Like I mentioned, everyone will have a different list or order. 

 
Ministry of Pain said:
92. Pee Wee’s Big Adventure: RT 89%  IMDB 7.0  Box Office $40,940,000

Paul Reubens stars in a movie that feels like it exploded out of the 80s. There is a lot to see here and take in. The sets early on and the colors when Pee Wee is first tracking down his bike are filled with a lot of imagination. This is another film that is set for a reboot later this year.
Click to expand...
Big fan , big fan. Think this is low , have to see how the list shakes out . To me it feels like it should be 20 spots higher . We'll see , I could be wrong 

 
Last edited by a moderator:
KarmaPolice said:
Damn you, now I want to do an 80s list. 

Good stuff so far. 
Click to expand...
Go for it, would love to hear your list. Like the ones you have done, this is going to take a week or two to get them all up with commentary and some reasoning for my ranking. 

You were right about the 80s perhaps being a little cheesy and some of our memories our more nostalgic than the actual film. The 90s is something to behold for films, I have a working list of about 250 right now for that decade. I met my wife in '92 so we went to a lot of movies and watched a lot of videos, we didn't miss too many movies between '92-'00. 

 
Going to think Fletch, First Blood, and Pee Wee should be higher. We'll see when the rest of the list comes out.

Hard to balance nostalgia factor of say Top Gun with a great movie like The Right Stuff.

Great thread.

 
The General said:
Going to think Fletch, First Blood, and Pee Wee should be higher. We'll see when the rest of the list comes out.

Hard to balance nostalgia factor of say Top Gun with a great movie like The Right Stuff.

Great thread.
Click to expand...
:unsure:

Having a hard time staying above the hard deck on that one. 

What about Caddyshack, Blues Brothers, and Airplane! There's only so much room and even being on the list IMO is pretty good. 

 
Last edited by a moderator:
The General said:
Going to think Fletch, First Blood, and Pee Wee should be higher. We'll see when the rest of the list comes out.

Hard to balance nostalgia factor of say Top Gun with a great movie like The Right Stuff.

Great thread.
Click to expand...
Great post. The Right Stuff is a fantastic movie, but I've watched Top Gun about 50 times. 

 
Ministry of Pain said:
:unsure:

Having a hard time staying above the hard deck on that one. 

What about Caddyshack, Blues Brothers, and Airplane! There's only so much room and even being on the list IMO is pretty good. 
Click to expand...
Top Gun has to be in there for cheese factor, just a defining summer movie. There are so many of these types of movies from the 80's - all of Arnold's stuff, Eddie Murphy - I can see some getting snubbed.

100 is a lot though would be surprised to not see them all in there. 

 
Ilov80s said:
Great post. The Right Stuff is a fantastic movie, but I've watched Top Gun about 50 times. 
Click to expand...
Yup. The Right Stuff is so good. Movie gives me chills, just love it. Top Gun though is one of the defining movies of the 80's IMO. Has everything. 

MOP can write a lot and has an entertaining take on things so looking forward to it. 

 
A hard decade to rank for sure.  I did an initial pass through the movies, and it's harder than the other lists I did to balance the cheese vs. what I think are better movies. Also, there are a bunch of movies I need to watch from the decade, especially from the early 80s.  Might work on a big list too, but at least try to decide what my top 20-30 from the decade are.  I am guessing mine would have more cheese, more horror, less "classic" comedies than your list, MOP. 

I did have a couple questions for your list:

1.  How old are you? I think you said we were the same age, but can't remember.  A list from any decade will look a lot different if the person was 10 during that time or in college.

2.  Will your lis lean more toward what you think are the best movies of the 80s, or your favorites?  

 
Ministry of Pain said:
93. Clue (1985): RT 62% RT-Aud 86% Box Office $14,643,000

An all star cast takes a pretty loose script and improvises with the zest of something you would see in live theater. One of the reasons this movie has such a cult following IMHO are the 95% of out of work actors who run lines from this film to use in their bag of tricks on stage. You can learn a lot from Tim Curry, Christopher Lloyd, Madeline Kahn, Martin Mull, Michael McKean...oh it’s delicious this movie. A reboot is coming later in 2016...I’m kind of worried it won’t be very good but we’ll see.
Click to expand...
You summarize this film and don't mention FEAR lead singer, Lee Ving? WTMF?

 
Ministry of Pain said:
93. Clue (1985): RT 62% RT-Aud 86% Box Office $14,643,000

An all star cast takes a pretty loose script and improvises with the zest of something you would see in live theater. One of the reasons this movie has such a cult following IMHO are the 95% of out of work actors who run lines from this film to use in their bag of tricks on stage. You can learn a lot from Tim Curry, Christopher Lloyd, Madeline Kahn, Martin Mull, Michael McKean...oh it’s delicious this movie. A reboot is coming later in 2016...I’m kind of worried it won’t be very good but we’ll see.
Click to expand...
Great movie, with the even better marketing ploy of three separate endings for the movie, with each theater only getting one ending. I seem to remember the newspaper listing after week two or three of it's release saying which ending was at each theater. Renting the VHS when it came out was important, as it had all three endings on it.

 
KarmaPolice said:
A hard decade to rank for sure.  I did an initial pass through the movies, and it's harder than the other lists I did to balance the cheese vs. what I think are better movies. Also, there are a bunch of movies I need to watch from the decade, especially from the early 80s.  Might work on a big list too, but at least try to decide what my top 20-30 from the decade are.  I am guessing mine would have more cheese, more horror, less "classic" comedies than your list, MOP. 

I did have a couple questions for your list:

1.  How old are you? I think you said we were the same age, but can't remember.  A list from any decade will look a lot different if the person was 10 during that time or in college.

2.  Will your lis lean more toward what you think are the best movies of the 80s, or your favorites?  
Click to expand...
42 and Both

 
Ministry of Pain said:
97. First Blood (1982): RT 87% IMDB 7.7 Box Office $47,212,904

I am going to be prone to movies that define the 80s and also are a staple for most middle school and high school boys in that time period. If you like action films and you like how the 80s managed to blend action with decent scripts then you love one of the originals in the genre. Stallone is a gifted physical actor and I key in on the helicopter scene where he is trapped on the side of the mountain...Stallone had said very little and thru no fault of his own was being hunted down by heavy handed police and we feel so much for him at that moment. He has a speech tacked on at the end that isn’t nearly as powerful as what he paints early in the film.

Trailer '82
Click to expand...


I think this is low too, but when I did my 80s hair rock list all from the hip I had some that should have been higher and get it. 

 
Bogart said:
Great movie, with the even better marketing ploy of three separate endings for the movie, with each theater only getting one ending. I seem to remember the newspaper listing after week two or three of it's release saying which ending was at each theater. Renting the VHS when it came out was important, as it had all three endings on it.
Click to expand...
Great idea.  I don't remember that, just the video copies that came with all the endings.  I really like the movie too, not sure what Sconch and Shuke are talking about.    

 
I'm gonna pop the next ten on here. I already know I'm gonna get shredded on a few of these but I want to re-iterate that it's totally cool to have a differing opinion. I already see where I should have listed a few higher and my wife looked at my list last night and said "Oh Really?" but that might not be bad. 

89. Splash (1984): RT 92%  Box Office $62,821,334

Ron Howard directs this Rom Com and I typically am not a fan of those styles but this captures a lot of the 80s in it. Tom Hanks begins to show us that he is more than simply a comedian and

Daryl Hannah never looked better as a blonde mermaid who turns into a 6 foot model that is drop dead gorgeous. It has been a while since I’ve seen the movie but I remember it well and it still has pretty high reviews on RT although Ebert was not the biggest fan when this movie was released, he was one of only a couple negative reviews on the film, most were very positive. The film was successful and people were talking about it.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
88. Nightmare on Elm Street (1984): RT 94% Box Office $25,500,000

You won’t find Friday the 13th on this list or many in the horror genre although I have a few and one of them in particular is one of my favorites of all time, just happens to be in the horror genre. You’ll guess or figure it out as we go along. This movie broke the mold on slasher films because it got into our dreams and made it unsafe to go to bed or even to sleep. It scared the crap out of most, today it probably doesn’t have quite the same chill effect to it but I am a huge fan and even some of the sequels such as Dream Warriors were solid films, the franchise only produced a couple duds. The reboot stunk. Robert Englund did a terrific job in creating Freddie’s personality and sick twisted thought process. One of these has to be on the list, almost went with the 3rd installment.

 
87. The Evil Dead (1981/83): RT 95%  Box Office $2,400,000

I tell you how much I dislike horror but then I go and enter back to back entries. Sam Raimi does some of his very best work early in his career with several horror films. Most folks have now seen this as the cult following is off the charts. It’s almost standard viewing for any horror film fans. While I don’t love the genre, there was a magazine that went in depth into the world of horror and make-up in movies during that time, it might even still exist, Fangoria I think was the name.

 
86. Say Anything (1989): RT 98% Box Office $20,781,000

One of the many things I love about the 80s movies is the music which I believe saved a lot of mediocre or avg films because the song becomes a #1 hit. You don’t see it in movies as much now but Disney manages thru their cartoons and other animation houses to release some relevant music. Peter Gabriel has a song titles “Your Eyes” and it really hits a chord for a lot of folks and it captures the film so powerfully. I understand if people don’t love watching this movie but it rates almost 100% on RT, it’s a really good love story and it should hit a lot of notes for guys trying to win the hearts of young ladies.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

KarmaPolice
Top 101 Movies of the 80s
45 46 47
Replies
2K
Views
45K
Dr. Octopus
Dr. Octopus
bigbottom
2024 Edition - Please help bigbottom win a Battle of the Bands and support Chance for Hope as a Bonus! Just a $10 donation makes a difference
Replies
26
Views
383
Mr.Pack
Mr.Pack
krista4
The middle-aged dummies are forming a band called "Blanket"! It's a cover band.
87 88 89
Replies
4K
Views
109K
New Binky the Doormat
New Binky the Doormat

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Top