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THE
TOP 5
PROJECT

WEEK NO. 41
Main Page (including links to all past Top 5 weeks)

THE TOP 5 FILMS OF THE 1980's:

view full results       see how points are awarded
Rank Film Points L #1
#1 Blue Velvet (David Lynch, 1986) 47 14 3
#2 Once Upon a Time in America (Sergio Leone, 1984) 40 12 3
#3 Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980) 37 11 4
#4 Ran (Akira Kurosawa, 1985) 29 9 2
#5 L'Argent (Robert Bresson, 1983) 25 7 2
L=How many lists each film appears on             #1=How many number one votes each film recieves

This week it was an epic battle between the very two films I expected there to be an epic battle between and winning with a last minute surge in votes was David Lynch's Blue Velvet with a grand total of 47 points. Meanwhile, also with a surge of last minute votes was the surprise second place finish of Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in America with 40 points. With that, the other expected top finisher (and my personal pick), Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull, finished third with 37 points.

The rest of the top 5 was filled out by Akira Kurosawa's Ran, with 29 points, and Robert Bresson's curtain call, L'Argent with 25 points. Finishing just out of range was Stanley Kubrick's The Shining with 24 points. Other just misses included Fanny and Alexander, Brazil, Stranger Than Paradise, Blade Runner, Sand Soleil & The Decalogue.

Individual lists:

Albert H. Muth
Auteurophile

  1. Fanny and Alexander (Bergman, 82) - In his final theatrical film Bergman comes to terms with his troubled childhood.

  2. Blue Velvet (Lynch, 86) - In an interview Dennis Hopper said he viewed Frank as "just a regular guy trying to hold on to his woman."

  3. Ran (Kurosawa, 85) - The scope of Kurosawa's cinematic vision surpasses the literary scope of the source material.

  4. Once Upon a Time in America (Leone, 84) - Epic in every way. Tuesday Weld gives a strongly felt performance

  5. Hannah and Her Sisters (Allen, 86) - One of eight excellent films released by Allen in the 80's. See below.

  6. Raging Bull (Scorsese, 80)

  7. Brazil (Gilliam, 85)

  8. Blade Runner (Scott, 82)

  9. Nostalghia (Tarkovsy, 83)

  10. Reds (Beatty, 81)

  11. Full Metal Jacket (Kubrick, 87)

  12. The Last Metro (Truffaut, 80)

  13. Heaven's Gate (Cimino, 80)

  14. All That Jazz (Fosse, 80)

    also: Last Temptation of Christ, Radio Days, Stardust Memories, Blood Simple, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Kagemusha, Atlantic City, Road Warrior, Au Revoir Les Enfants.

    Outstanding Accomplishment of the Decade Award to: Woody Allen
    In addition to Hannah, Woody also made Stardust Memories, Broadway Danny Rose, Zelig, Radio Days, The Purple Rose of Cairo, and Crimes and Misdemeanors. Only Robert Altman's output in the 1970's can equal this achievement



David Sterritt
Chairman, National Society of Film Critics

  1. L'Argent (Robert Bresson, 1983)

  2. Je vous salue, Marie (Jean-Luc Godard, 1985)

  3. Hôtel Terminus (Marcel Ophuls, 1988)

  4. Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989)

  5. Friendly Witness (Warren Sonbert, 1989)



Azazel Jacobs
Filmmaker, The GoodTimesKid & Momma's Man

  1. Forbidden Zone (Richard Elfman, 1980)

  2. Stranger Than Paradise (Jim Jarmusch, 1984)

  3. Out Of The Blue (Dennis Hopper, 1980)

  4. Boy Meets Girl (Leos Carax, 1984)

  5. Popeye (Robert Altman, 1980)



Jeffrey M. Anderson
Film Critic, Cinematical.com, Las Vegas Weekly,
San Jose Metro, Combustible Celluloid.com

  1. Stranger than Paradise (Jim Jarmusch, 1984)

  2. L'Argent (Robert Bresson, 1983)

  3. Where Is the Friend's Home? (Abbas Kiarostami, 1987)

  4. Blade Runner (Ridey Scott, 1982)

  5. Dead Ringers (David Cronenberg, 1988)



Christopher Null
Film Critic &
Founder, Publisher & Editor-in-Chief, Filmcritic.com

  1. Brazil (Terry Gilliam, 1985)

  2. Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982)

  3. House of Games (David Mamet, 1987)

  4. Amadeus (Milos Forman, 1984)

  5. Real Genius (Martha Coolidge, 1985) - Sorry, a guilty pleasure that just never gets old.



J.E. Snavely
Home Theatre Cinephile

  1. Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982)

  2. Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980)

  3. Brazil (Terry Gilliam, 1985)

  4. Ran (Akira Kurosawa, 1985)

  5. Blue Velvet (David Lynch, 1986)



Peter Sobczynski
Film Critic, eFilmCritic.com

Surprisingly, this has turned out to be possibly the most difficult category yet in terms of whittling things down to only five titles--not only did a lot of great and influential films and filmmakers emerge during that decade (far more than most people probably thought at the time) but it was also the decade in which my cinematic tastes really began to develop as it took place during my formative years, a period during which even something as silly as Friday the 13th Part 3-D can take on a nostalgic hue.

Even after whittling things down by limiting my scope to personal favorites, eliminating foreign-language titles (which explains the omission of the likes of Wings of Desire, Ran, The Decalogue, First Name Carmen, The Killer and too many others to mention) and allowing only one film per director, I have still come up with a list that is wholly inadequate and one in which I could switch out every single title for a dozen equally impressive works without even breaking a sweat.

  1. The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai (W.D. Richter, 1984)

  2. The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)

  3. Blow Out (Brian De Palma, 1981)

  4. Blue Velvet (David Lynch, 1986)

  5. Pennies from Heaven (Herbert Ross, 1981)



Michael Parent
Film Student

  1. Blue Velvet (David Lynch, 1986)

  2. Ran (Akira kurosawa, 1985)

  3. The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)

  4. Brazil (Terry Gilliam, 1985)

  5. Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982)

And any of these could have been on the Top 5 list (Alphabetical order): Altered States (Russell, 1980), Amadeus (Forman, 1984), Big Red One (Fuller, 1980), Crimes and Misdemeanors (Alllen, 1989), Le Dernier Métro (Truffaut, 1980), Die Hard (McTiernan, 1987), Elephant Man (Lynch, 1980), Excalibur (Boorman, 1981), Fitzcarraldo (Herzog, 1981), Full Metal Jacket (Kubrick, 1987), Hannah and Her Sisters (Allen, 1986), Kagemusha (Kurosawa, 1980), King of Comdey (Scorsese, 1982), Notalghia (Tarkovski, 1983), Once Upon A Time in America (Leone, 1984), Paris, Texas (Wenders, 1984), Raising Arizona (Coen, 1987), Raging Bull (Scorsese, 1980), Reds (Beatty, 1981), Videodrome (Cronenberg, 1982), When Harry Met Sally (Reiner, 1987), Wings of Desire (Wenders, 1987).

Since it's the decade I was born I've decided to add a Top 5 that represent my "cinephile" chilhood memories the most. Well, I know these aren't masterpieces but they put an imprint on me personnally.

Childhood Memories Top 5:

  1. Ghostbusters (Ivan Reitman, 1984)

  2. Back to the Future (Robert Zemeckis, 1985)

  3. Batman (Tim Burton, 1989)

  4. Raiders of the Lost Ark (Steven Spielberg, 1981)

  5. The Empire Strikes Back (Irvin Kershner, 1980)



Adam Trovillion
Film Enthusiast

  1. Angel Heart (Alan Parker, 1987)

  2. My Neighbor Totoro (Hayao Miyazaki, 1988)

  3. Ran (Akira Kurosawa, 1985)

  4. The Last Temptation of Christ (Martin Scorsese, 1988)

  5. Videodrome (David Cronenberg, 1983)



Jeff Cardarelli
Film Enthusiast

  1. Cinema Paradiso (Giuseppe Tornatore, 1989)

  2. Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980)

  3. A Fish Called Wanda (Charles Crichton, 1988)

  4. Once Upon a Time in America (Sergio Leone, 1984)

  5. The Terminator (James Cameron, 1984)



Doug Pratt
DVD Critic, DVDLaser.com

  1. Les Uns et Les Autres (Claude LeLouch, 1981)

  2. The Terminator (James Cameron, 1984)

  3. The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)

  4. One from the Heart (Francis Ford Coppola, 1982)

  5. Die Hard (John McTiernan, 1988)



Alan Smithee
Cinema Ex-Patriot

  1. Fanny and Alexander (Ingmar Bergman, 1982)

  2. L'Argent (Robert Bresson, 1983)

  3. The Ballad of Narayama (Shohei Imamura, 1983)

  4. Nostalghia (Andrei Tarkovsy, 1983)

  5. Hannah and Her Sisters (Woody Allen, 1986)



Andrew Horbal
Film Enthusiast

  1. The Big Red One (Samuel Fuller, 1980)

  2. Yeelen (Souleymane Cissé, 1987)

  3. The Decalogue (Kryzsztof Kieslowski, 1989)

  4. Kiki's Delivery Service (Hayao Miyazaki, 1989)

  5. Tango (Zbigniew Rybcyznski, 1981)

Putting The Big Red One at the top of my list might be cheating because I'm definitely referring to the reconstructed version that was released in the United States in 2004. It was hard leaving Chris Marker's Sans Soleil off this list, but to me a "Top 5" is all about what you want to watch, like, right now, so I had to go with Kiki's Delivery Service and Tango.


Kevin Cassidy
Film Enthusiast

  1. Heaven's Gate (Michael Cimino, 1980)

  2. The Night Of The Shooting Stars (Tavianai Brothers, 1982)

  3. Once Upon A Time in America (Sergio Leone, 1984)

  4. In Fading Light (Murray Martin, 1989)

  5. Where Is The Friend's Home? (Abbas Kiarostami, 1987)



Mathew Viola
Film Fanatic

  1. Once Upon a Time in America (Sergio Leone, 1984) - My favorite film of the 1980’s also happens to contain my favorite scene of that decade. After 35 years in self-imposed exile Noodles (Robert De Niro) has returned to his childhood stomping grounds, specifically to Fat Moe’s Lower East Side restaurant, a place with special meaning for Noodles because it is where his enchantment with his beloved Deborah began. After a brief reunion with Moe, Noodles is left alone with the ghosts of his past:

    As the first few aching notes of Deborah’s Theme begin, Noodles walks over to an old photo of Deborah hanging on the wall. Leone holds on a close-up of adult Deborah’s beautiful young face for a few seconds, and then slowly pans left-to-right 180 degrees , stopping on a close-up of the aged Noodles, half shrouded in darkness, gazing pensively at his lifelong but now long lost romantic ideal. The familiar surroundings of Fat Moe’s place, with all of the mementos of yesteryear adorning the walls, seem to reanimate the ghostly Noodles, and as the wistful Deborah’s Theme continues to build, he moves slowly but steadily through the main room of Moe’s, drawn as if by compulsion toward a rendezvous with his past. The clock that has just been reactivated by the key Noodles returned to Moe ticks insistently over the music, signifying that time has started anew for Noodles – and that it’s running out on him too. Soon he reaches his destination: a bathroom door! But doors in OUATIA are rarely just doors; this one happens to be a doorway to Noodles’ past. As he opens the door, the majestic soprano voice of Edda Dell’Orso soars on the soundtrack, deeply enriching the wistful Deborah’s Theme, and lending poignant, aching expression to Noodles’ unfulfilled romantic yearnings. With the sense of melancholy now palpable, the elderly Noodles struggles to step up on a toilet in order to reach a peephole in the wall above it. After steadying himself, Noodles removes a plug from the peephole, and suddenly the glowing light of the past illuminates his old, fading face. He pauses for a moment, as if bracing himself for what he’s about to see, and then slowly moves his head toward the bathing light. Leone cuts to a reverse angle shot of Noodles’ watchful eyes framed by the peephole, while the camera ever so slowly zooms in until Noodles’ eyes fill the screen. The shot is eerily reminiscent of the tight close-up of Harmonica’s eyes during the climactic duel in OUATITW, but these are not the piercing eyes of a Western hero bent on revenge, but rather the tired, weary eyes of a sad, lonely, beaten old man trying to come to terms with the distant memories that both haunt and sustain him. Peering almost half a century into his past, Noodles’ eyes dart back and forth as if he really were watching his beloved but unattainable Deborah dancing in the backroom among the brooms and empties that long ago day…and then, suddenly, …as Deborah’s Theme segues seamlessly into the period song Amapola, the old regretful Noodles, worn and withered by time, becomes his youthful, altogether more hopeful self – who’s actually watching what old Noodles can now see only in his mind’s eye.

    This great scene hauntingly establishes the film’s elegiac tone and, in a span of roughly three minutes, deftly encapsulates its mournful theme about the ephemeral nature of time. It also represents a sublime example of Leone’s operatic style. Notice how the movement of Noodles, the pacing of the editing, and the tempo of the music blend together seamlessly, as when Dell’Orso’s voice is introduced just as Noodles opens the door, or when the slow zoom into old Noodles’ peering eyes segues into the childhood flashback just as the nostalgic Deborah’s Theme ends and the jaunty Amapola begins. For me, the scene holds an ineffable, transcendent emotional power of Proustian proportions. Only Leone could make such a staggeringly powerful cinematic moment out of seemingly nothing more than an old man going to the toilet!

  2. Blue Velvet (David Lynch, 1986)

  3. Crimes and Misdemeanors (Woody Allen, 1989)

  4. The Ballad of Narayama (Shohei Imamura, 1983)

  5. Modern Romance (Albert Brooks, 1981)

    Rounding out the Top Ten:

  6. Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982)

  7. This is Spinal Tap (Rob Reiner, 1984)

  8. Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980)

  9. The Thin Blue Line (Errol Morris, 1988)

  10. Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989)



Joel Webb
Film Enthusiast

  1. The Decalogue (Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1988)

  2. Sans Soleil (Chris Marker, 1983)

  3. Near Death (Frederick Wiseman, 1989)

  4. Do The Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989)

  5. The Sacrifice (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1986)

    & 5 More

  6. Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980)

  7. L'Homme qui plantait des arbres (Frédéric Back, 1987)

  8. This is Spinal Tap (Rob Reiner, 1984)

  9. The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)

  10. Fanny & Alexander (Ingmar Bergman, 1982)



Kevin LaForest
Film Critic, Montreal Film Journal

  1. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (Steven Spielberg, 1982)

  2. Back to the Future (Robert Zemeckis, 1985)

  3. Die Hard (John McTiernan, 1988)

  4. Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989)

  5. Say Anything (Cameron Crowe, 1989)



Jesse Richards
Filmmaker

  1. A Nos Amours (Maurice Pialat, 1983)

  2. Nostalghia (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1983)

  3. The Sacrifice (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1986)

  4. Stranger Than Paradise (Jim Jarmusch, 1984)

  5. Raiders of the Lost Ark (Steven Speilberg, 1981)

Also deserving a mention: Do The Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989), Back To The Future (Robert Zemeckis, 1985), Bad Timing (Nicholas Roeg, 1980), Blue Velvet (David Lynch, 1986), Down By Law (Jim Jarmusch, 1986), Drugstore Cowboy (Gus Van Sant, 1989), Liquid Sky (Slava Tsukerman, 1982), The Living Dead Girl (Jean Rollin, 1982), Loulou (Maurice Pialat, 1980), A Nightmare On Elm Street (Wes Craven, 1984), Repo Man (Alex Cox, 1984), River’s Edge (Tim Hunter, 1986), The Thing (John Carpenter, 1982), Bad Taste (Peter Jackson, 1988), Evil Dead & Evil Dead 2 (Sam Raimi, 1982 & 87), Paris, Texas (Wim Wenders, 1984) Wings of Desire (Wim Wenders, 1987).


Bill Georgaris
They Shoot Pictures, Don't They?

(in chronological order)

  • White Dog (Samuel Fuller, 1982)

  • L’Argent (Robert Bresson, 1983)

  • Blue Velvet (David Lynch, 1986)

  • Boyfriends and Girlfriends (Eric Rohmer, 1987)

  • Distant Voices, Still Lives (Terence Davies, 1988)

Just missed out: Love Streams (John Cassavetes, 1984) and The Green Ray (Eric Rohmer, 1986).

Deserve more love: Stardust Memories (Woody Allen, 1980), Vampire’s Kiss (Robert Bierman, 1989), Lost in America (Albert Brooks, 1985), My Brother’s Wedding (Charles Burnett, 1983), Sauve qui peut (la vie) (Jean-Luc Godard, 1980), Choose Me (Alan Rudolph, 1984) & The Woman Next Door (François Truffaut, 1981).


Jeff Vorndam
Film Enthusiast

  1. Once Upon a Time in America (Sergio Leone, 1984)

  2. Raising Arizona (Joel & Ethan Coen, 1987)

  3. The Ballad of Narayama (Shohei Imamura, 1983)

  4. Blue Velvet (David Lynch, 1986)

  5. Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989)



Vasili Mamulashvili
Geographer & Film Enthusiast from Tbilsi, Geaorgia

  1. Fanny and Alexander (Ingmar Bergman 1982)

  2. The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Philip Kaufman, 1988)

  3. A Short Film About Killing (Krzystof Kieslowski, 1988)

  4. Stranger Than Paradise (Jim Jarmusch, 1984)

  5. Once Upon a Time in America (Sergio Leone, 1984)



Jason Mlinarsik
Film Enthusiast

  1. Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980)

  2. Blue Velvet (David Lynch, 1986)

  3. Ran (Akira Kurosawa, 1985)

  4. Wings of Desire (Wim Wenders, 1987)

  5. Platoon (Oliver Stone, 1986)



Clark Day
Film Enthusiast

  1. Crimes and Misdemeanors (Woody Allen, 1989)

  2. The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)

  3. Dead Ringers (David Cronenberg, 1988)

  4. Paris, Texas (Wim Wenders, 1983)

  5. After Hours (Martin Scorsese, 1985)

Honorable Mentions: Amadeus (Milos Forman, 1984), Blue Velvet (David Lynch, 1986), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Frank Oz, 1988), Fast Times at Ridgemont High (Amy Heckerling, 1982), Heathers (Michael Lehmann, 1989), My Left Foot (Jim Sheridan, 1989), sex, lies, and videotape (Steven Soderbergh, 1989), This is Spinal Tap (Rob Reiner, 1984), Twin Peaks (pilot: this would have been in my top five but this is really an early 90's phenom, David Lynch, 1989), Wings of Desire (Wim Wenders, 1987).


Wirkman Virkkala
Editorial Consultant & Film Enthusiast

  1. Ran (Akira Kurosawa, 1985) - My favorite Kurosawa film, and one of the greatest films of all time. Beautiful, stylized, harrowing . . . a very loose cinematic translation of Shakespeare's plot from King Lear. It lacks the poetry of the words, sure, but it replaces it with the poetry of images.

  2. Brazil (Terry Gilliam, 1985) - A foray into the sublime, through the ridiculous. This is at once satire and vision.

  3. The Purple Rose of Cairo (Woody Allen, 1985) - A fantasy and a comedy and a sad tragedy, rolled into one. I predict that this film will outlast most of the rest of Woody Allen's work. The pure comedies, and "Annie Hall," are tied too closely to their age; only "Manhattan" stands to contend with "The Purple Rose of Cairo" as a pure artistic statement. It is funny, but pierces closer to the heart of . . . well, the moviegoing experience, at least. It is at once refreshing and uncomfortable for the obsessed moviegoer; for the casual moviegoer, of course, it probably seems just a bit dumb.

  4. Raising Arizona (Joel & Ethan Coen, 1987) - A stylish comedy where every scene, every frame, is set just right.

  5. Spoorloos (George Sluizer, 1988) - A film that actually chills on a moral level, sending shivers deep, deep. Brilliant. (The American remake missed the chills in several ways, mostly by diminishing one's empathy with the killer.)

When I look over my list of favorite films from that decade, quite a few jump out at me as films I want to see again:

La Guerre du feu ("Quest for Fire"; Jean-Jacques Annaud, 1981) -- An easily risible romp through the Pleistocene scene that still sticks with me. At the time, I mocked it as "In Search of the Missionary Position." But simple stories are easily mocked. So what? The film lingers in memory while a hundred others vanish.

The King of Comedy (Martin Scorsese, 1983) -- Martin Scorcese's dark comedy has to be worth seeing again. I loved his lesser attempt, "After Hours," but it is obviously not a great film, just a good one. "The King of Comedy" is just as quirky, but pries deeper under the skin, since ours is the age of celebrity worship, and this is one of the best films to explore that desperate, treacherous region.

Amadeus (Milos Forman, 1984) -- A lie turned into art: again. Before this film, I was aware of the tale of Salieri's murder of Mozart only as a Pushkin-Rimsky opera. I didn't expect much of the film. And yet this blew me over. Rarely does anyone take on envy as an understandable passion. This work does. (Incidentally, I'm one of those few people who love the music of Salieri ALMOST as much as Mozart's. Go figure.)

Crimes of Passion (Ken Russell, 1984) -- Goofy, weird, perverse fun. That is, Ken Russell at his near-best.

Blue Velvet (David Lynch, 1986) -- Hardy Boys meets the Marquis de Sade. A fascinating encounter with the chthonian underbelly of America.

Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989) -- A brilliant film that attempts to deal with the rage in an always-trendy American issue: lingering racism. The film says more than the artist himself knows.

Drugstore Cowboy (Gus Van Sant, 1989) -- The best "drug experience" movie, ever.


Domingo Peeters
Film Enthusiast

  1. Blue Velvet (David Lynch, 1986)

  2. Der Himmel über Berlin (Wim Wenders, 1987)

  3. Idi i Smotri (Elem Klimov, 1985)

  4. Once Upon a Time in America (Sergio Leone, 1984)

  5. Kárhozat (Béla Tarr, 1988)

Runners-up (alphabetically): Aliens (James Cameron, 1986); Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982); Fanny och Alexander (Ingmar Bergman, 1982); Ran (Akira Kurosawa, 1985); The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980); Starwars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back.


Hans Lucas
Film Student

  1. Sans soleil (Chris Marker, 1983)

  2. Paris, Texas (Wim Wenders, 1984)

  3. L’Argent (Robert Bresson, 1983)

  4. Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980)

  5. Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982)



Dennis Schwartz
Film Critic Ozu's World Movie Reviews

  1. Berlin Alexanderplatz (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1980)

  2. Vincent: The Life and Death of Vincent Van Gogh (Paul Cox, 1987)

  3. Nostalghia (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1983)

  4. L'Argent (Robert Bresson, 1983)

  5. Damnation (Bela Tarr, 1988)



Stephen Cone
Filmmaker & Enthusiast

  1. Distant Voices, Still Lives (Terrence Davies, 1988) - Surpasses even Tarkovsky in revealing - actually, physically - the soul of it's creator.

  2. Love Streams (John Cassavetes, 1984) - Goodbye.

  3. The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980) - Half the time I think it's Kubrick's best.

  4. A Nos Amours (Maurice Pialat, 1983) - Besides Cassavetes' mid-70s masterpiece, the only other movie I've watched with my mouth open.

  5. Field of Dreams (Phil Alden Robinson, 1989) - Eternally underrated as a great film. There's more sadness here than uplift. An honest film.

Two more: John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness is the unsung horror masterpiece of the 80s. And when was the last time you really watched Paul Brickman's Risky Business?


Pat Graham
Film Curmudgeon

  1. The Satin Slipper (Manoel de Oliveira, 1985)

  2. Once Upon a Time in America (Sergio Leone, 1983)

  3. The Beekeeper (Theo Angelopoulos, 1985)

  4. Under Satan's Sun (Maurice Pialat, 1988)

  5. Little Dorrit (Christine Edzard, 1988)

Runners-Up (in order of preference): Landscape in the Mist (Theo Angelopoulos, 1988), To Sleep so as to Dream (Kaizo Hayashi, 1986), Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980), Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989), Sweet Dreams (Nanni Moretti, 1982), Himatsuri (Matsuo Yanagimachi, 1985).


Jerry Johnson
Film Enthusiast

  1. L’Argent (Robert Bresson, 1983)

  2. The Aviator's Wife (Eric Rohmer, 1981)

  3. À nos amours (Maurice Pialat, 1983)

  4. Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story (Todd Haynes, 1987)

  5. The Right Stuff (Philip Kaufman, 1983)



Ben Dalton
Lover of Film

  1. Blue Velvet (David Lynch, 1986)

  2. The Decalogue (Krysztof Kieslowski, 1989)

  3. L'Argent (Robert Bresson, 1983)

  4. Sans Soleil (Chris Marker, 1983)

  5. Come and See (Elem Klimov, 1985)

Runners-Up: Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980), The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980), E.T (Stephen Spielberg, 1982), Fitzcarraldo (Werner Herzog, 1982), Koyaanisqatsi (Godfrey Reggio, 1983), Blood Simple (Coen Brothers, 1984), Ran (Akira Kurosawa, 1985), The Fly (David Cronenberg, 1985), Dead Ringers (David Cronenberg 1988) & Do The Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989).


Bill Curran
Former Film Student

  1. Dressed to Kill (Brian De Palma, 1980) - Perversely funny and absolutely exquistive. One of the most exciting works of cinema I've ever seen. (P.S. I flip-flop between this and De Palma's Blow Out as my favorite film of the decade. To me they're both, quite simply, awesome.)

  2. Come and See (Elem Klimov, 1985) - Horror of truly biblical porportions, filtered through a singular furious thought: "This really happened."

  3. Dekalog (Krszystof Kieslowski, 1989) - Emotionally thorny, bruising parables divined by the most curious of observers. A total miracle, each and every one.

  4. Hannah and Her Sisters (Woody Allen, 1986) - Minority be damned, but this is the most sublime work in Allen's whole career. Period.

  5. Ran (Akira Kurosawa, 1985) - A master at his peak, a tragedy for the ages.

And fifteen others for good measure: Blow Out (Brian De Palma, 1981), Amadeus (Milos Forman, 1984), Law of Desire (Pedro Almodovar, 1987), My Neighbor Totoro (Hayao Miyazaki, 1988), Grave of the Fireflies (Isao Takahata, 1988), Au Revoir Les Enfants (Louis Malle, 1987), Dead Ringers (David Cronenberg, 1988), Empire of the Sun (Steven Spielberg, 1987), Fanny and Alexander (Ingmar Bergman, 1982), L'Argent (Robert Bresson, 1983), Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story (Todd Haynes, 1987), Brazil (Terry Gilliam, 1985), Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989), My Beautiful Laundrette (Stephen Frears, 1985), Scene of the Crime (Andre Techine, 1986).


Scott Klus
Film Enthusiast

  1. Once Upon a Time in America (Sergio Leone, 1984)

  2. Raiders of the Lost Ark (Steven Spielberg, 1981)

  3. Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989)

  4. Empire Strikes Back (Irvin Kirshner, 1980)

  5. Full Metal Jacket (Stanley Kubrick, 1987)

Honorable Mentions: Diner, Drugstore Cowboy, Wings of Desire, Ordinary People & Raising Arizona.


Josh Tschantret
Film Enthusiast

  1. Crazy Love (Dominique Deruddere, 1987)

  2. Blue Velvet (David Lynch, 1986)

  3. Dead Ringers (David Cronenberg, 1988)

  4. Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (Paul Schrader, 1985)

  5. From the Life of the Marionettes (Ingmar Bergman, 1980)

    ...and 10 more...

  6. Time of the Gypsies

  7. Paris, Texas

  8. Blade Runner

  9. Castle in the Sky

  10. The Shining

  11. Unico

  12. The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover

  13. Angel Heart

  14. Atlantic City

  15. Down By Law



Jericho Chua
Cinephile from The Philippines

  1. Fanny and Alexander (Bergman, 1982)

  2. Paris, Texas (Wenders, 1984)

  3. A Short Film About Love (Kieslowski, 1988)

  4. The Elephant Man (Lynch, 1980)

  5. Grave of the Fireflies (Takahata, 1988)

    and five more...

  6. Full Metal Jacket (Kubrick, 1987)

  7. Kagemusha (Kurosawa, 1980)

  8. Come and See (Klimov, 1985)

  9. The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (Greenaway, 1989)

  10. Ballad of Narayama (Imamura, 1983)



James Monteith
Retired Projectionist

(no particular order other than placing E.T. above all others)
    the decade's signature film:

  • E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (Steven Spielberg, 1982)

    funniest comedy:

  • A Fish Called Wanda (Charles Chrichton, 1988)

    guiltiest pleasure:

  • Without a Clue (Thom Eberhardt, 1988)

    best musical:

  • Victor Victoria (Blake Edwards, 1982)

    best foreign-language film for people who don't like foreign-language films:

  • Das Boot (Wolfgang Petersen, 1981)



Film Prophet
Film Critic, FilmProphet.com

  1. The Empire Strikes Back (Irvin Kershner, 1980)

  2. Raiders of the Lost Ark (Steven Spielberg, 1981)

  3. Ran (Akira Kurosawa, 1985)

  4. Amadeus (Milos Forman, 1984)

  5. Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980)

and some favorites: Back to the Future, Die Hard, Ghostbusters, The Goonies, Big, The Thing


Tristan Anthony Johnson
Film Enthusiast

  1. The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (Peter Greenaway, 1989)

  2. Brazil (Terry Gilliam, 1985)

  3. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (Hayao Miyazaki, 1984)

  4. The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Philip Kaufman, 1988)

  5. Withnail and I (Bruce Robinson, 1986)



Paul van Emmerik
Film Enthusiast

  1. Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980)

  2. Once Upon a Time in America (Sergio Leone, 1984)

  3. Au revoir les enfants (Louis Malle, 1987)

  4. Fanny och Alexander (Ingmar Bergman, 1982)

  5. Der Himmel über Berlin (Wim Wenders, 1987)



Piet Suess
Director

  1. Year of the Dragon (Michael Cimino, 1985)

  2. King Of Comedy (Martin Scorsese, 1982)

  3. Full Metal Jacket (Stanley Kubrick, 1987)

  4. Robocop (Paul Veerhoeven, 1987)

  5. Thief (Michael Mann, 1981)



Mathieu Ricordi
Director

The decade in which I was born, and a very good one for movies, despite the negative reactions I often hear towards it. I broke a little rule I usually have going into these lists, that of never doubling up on a director. But in the case of Cimino, his career was cut short by the extremely bold and wonderful chances he took in the 80s, and we'll probably not see him working anymore, so extra respect for the man in his time.

  1. Once Upon A Time In America (Sergio Leone, 1984)

    (space intended)

  2. Year Of The Dragon (Michael Cimino, 1985)

  3. A Nos Amours (Maurice Pialat, 1983)

  4. Full Metal Jacket (Stanley Kubrick, 1987)

  5. Heaven's Gate (Michael Cimino, 1980)



Alex Gein
Film Enthusiast

  1. Ran (Akira Kurosawa, 1985)

  2. Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980)

  3. Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982)

  4. Paris, Texas (Wim Wenders, 1984)

  5. Blood Simple (Coen Brothers, 1984)



Burt Gold
Amateur Filmmaker

  1. Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982)

  2. Stranger Than Paradise (Jim Jarmusch, 1984)

  3. The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)

  4. Stardust Memories (Woody Allen, 1980)

  5. Nostalghia (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1983)



Jesse Walker
Film Enthusiast and Managing Editor, Reason Magazine

The '80s were the weakest decade in the history of mainstream American film. No, let's cast a narrower net: They were the weakest decade in the history of mainstream American feature-length film. Just as most of the interesting moviemaking seems to be happening on YouTube today, the Reagan-era viewer had a better chance of seeing something lively and inventive on MTV, or perhaps even in a TV commercial, than in a theater.

But still there were masterpieces. There are always masterpieces. They don't all hail from Hollywood, but they're there.

  1. Repo Man (Alex Cox, 1984)

  2. Sans Soleil (Chris Marker, 1982)

  3. Love Streams (John Cassavetes, 1984)

  4. Drugstore Cowboy (Gus Van Sant, 1989)

  5. Videodrome (David Cronenberg, 1983)

    Honorable mentions:

  6. The Decalogue (Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1988)

  7. This Is Spinal Tap (Rob Reiner, 1984)

  8. Once Upon a Time in America (Sergio Leone, 1984)

  9. Motel (Christian Blackwood, 1989)

  10. The King of Comedy (Martin Scorsese, 1982)



Josh Dean
Contributor to MuchoMovies.net

  1. Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980)

  2. The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)

  3. Blue Velvet (David Lynch, 1986)

  4. Scarface (Brian De Palma, 1983)

  5. The Last Temptation of Christ (Martin Scorsese, 1988)



Matthew Griffiths
Film Enthusiast

  1. The Vanishing (George Sluizer, 1988)

  2. Hail Mary (Jean-Luc Godard, 1985)

  3. Bad Timing (Nicolas Roeg, 1980)

  4. Stranger than Paradise (Jim Jarmusch, 1984)

  5. Blue Velvet (David Lynch, 1986)



Le Hinton
Jazz Aficionado & Film Enthusiast

  1. The Princess Bride (Rob Reiner, 1987)

  2. Field of Dreams (Phil Alden Robinson 1989)

  3. The Empire Strikes Back (Irvin Kershner, 1980)

  4. Hannah and Her Sisters (Woody Allen, 1986)

  5. Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980)



Ricardo Luis Alvarez
Film Enthusiast

  1. The Princess Bride (Rob Reiner, 1987)

  2. Blow Out (Brian De Palma, 1981)

  3. Full Metal Jacket (Stanley Kubrick, 1987)

  4. Time of the Gypsies (Emir Kusturica, 1989)

  5. Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980)



Kevyn Knox
Film Critic, Essayist + Historian

Though it was the age that Cinema (at least Hollywood Cinema) became big big BIG business and the days of the director-driven seventies and the American New Wave were certainly dead and buried (the late great Susan Sontag would certainly agree with that), and though it was an age where movies metamorphosed from culteral events wherein Fellini and Truffaut and Bergman were well-known names talked about over drinks into mega-blockbuster merchandise tie-in pop culture hype machines where Tom Cruise and Arnold Schwartzenegger were the pinnacle of your entertainment dollar, the 1980's were also the age that this particular cinephile came of age. Turning thirteen just after the decade's start, it was an age that I went from casual movie wtcher to diehard cineaste. It was an age where I got my first looks at Chaplin and Fellini and Bergman and Kurosawa and Welles and Keaton and Renoir and Godard and Truffaut and Eisenstein and Antonioni and Satyajit Ray and De Sica and Griffith and Scorsese and Kubrick and Woody Allen and so many more. I had already seen Hitchcock, but the 1980's was where I REALLY saw Hitchcock for the first time. The 1980's were my jumping off point for a life dedicated to the love of Cinema. Later on I would discover Rossellini and Bresson and Tati and Murnau and Rivette and Buñuel and Lubitsch and Nick Ray and Sam Fuller and Tarkovsky and so many more. There may have been some really bad music and some even worse clothing styles (what was I thinking in those parachute pants!?) and overall, the 1980's may have been the weakest decade in cinematic history (my humble opinion - others on this very page may disagree) and personally the decade may have ended with a divorce (then I may never have found my current wife and love-of-my-life, Amy) but all-in-all I cannot help but look back with fond memories of these days. These days that birthed my love of Cinema.

With all that said, here is my list:

  1. Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980)

  2. Blue Velvet (David Lynch, 1986)

  3. Nostalghia & The Sacrifice (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1983 & 86)

  4. Once Upon a Time in America (Sergio Leone, 1984)

  5. Brazil (Terry Gilliam, 1985)

If I could choose just one more: L'Argent (Robert Bresson, 1983)

To complete a Top 10 (or 11): Fanny and Alexander (Ingmar Bergman, 1982), Distant Voices, Still Lives (Terence Davies, 1988), Damnation (Béla Tarr, 1988) & Heaven's Gate (Michael Cimino, 1980).

Runners-Up (in no particular order):
The Horse Thief (Zhuangzhuang), Stranger Than Paradise (Jarmusch), Where is the Friend's Home? (Kiarostami), The King of Comedy (Scorsese), Landscape in the Mist (Angelopoulos), Hail Mary (Godard), Full Metal Jacket (Kubrick) & Blade Runner (Scott).

Honourable Mentions (in no particular order):
Raiders of the Lost Ark (Spielberg), The Shining (Kubrick), Amadeus (Forman), Raising Arizona (Coens), When Harry Met Sally (Reiner), Wings of Desire (Wenders), The Empire Strikes Back (Kershner), The Cook, the Thief, his Wife & her Lover (Greenaway), The Princess Bride (Reiner), The Last Metro (Truffaut), Popeye (Altman), The Breakfast Club (Hughes), A Fish Called Wanda (Creighton), Lost in America (Brooks), Do the Right Thing (Lee), Reds (Beatty), sex, lies & videotape (Sodenbergh), This is Spinal Tap (Reiner, again?), The Right Stuff (Kaufman), A Passage to India (Lean), The Elephant Man (Lynch), Superstar: the Karen Carpenter Story (Haynes) & Back to the Future (Zemeckis).

A Special Jury Prize goes to Woody Allen for a Decade (his last?) of Excellence (Stardust Memories, A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy, Zelig, Broadway Danny Rose, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Hannah and Her Sisters, Radio Days, September, Another Woman, New York Stories & Crimes and Misdemeanors)

A Special Rememberance Award goes to Ran (Akira Kurosawa, 1985) for being the first foreign film I had ever seen in a theatre and with its brilliant use of colour, giving birth to my love of Cinema.

A Special Prize is also awarded to both Berlin Alexanderplatz (R.W. Fassbinder, 1980) & The Decalogue (Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1989) for the great achievement in television filmmaking and beginning and ending the decade with a bang.

and finally,
A Special Guilty Pleasure Award goes to St. Elmo's Fire (Joel Schumacher, 1985) for making me feel like an idiot for liking it so much.

...perhaps it wasn't that bad of a decade after all?

*points are given as follows: for numbered lists, first place recieves 5 points, second place recieves 4, third place 3, fourth place 2 and fifth place gets 1 point; for unumbered lists, each film will recieve 3 points; total points are then tallied up and a comprehensive Top 5 list is created


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no later than 6pm on Sunday, July 6, 2008.

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