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50 Best '80s Movies to Watch Right NowGo to the contentGo to the footerNo thanks🙌 Awesome, you're subscribed!Thanks for subscribing! Look out for your first newsletter in your inbox soon!We know this city. Do you?We uncover the best of the city and put it all in an email for youEnter email addressDéjà vu! We already have this email. 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Try another?By entering your email address you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and consent to receive emails from Time Out about news, events, offers and partner promotions.🙌 Awesome, you're subscribed!Thanks for subscribing! Look out for your first newsletter in your inbox soon!Things to DoFood & DrinkArts & CultureTravelMoviesMusicMetaverseMoreTime Out MarketNews"E.T. the Extra Terrestrial"The 50 best ’80s movies, rankedYou’ll find a DeLorean time machine, plenty of hair gel and the perfect blockbuster in our ranking of the best '80s moviesWritten by Joshua RothkopfWritten by Andy Kryza & Matthew SingerMonday 31 October 2022FacebookTwitterPinterestEmailWhatsAppAdvertisingEverything got bigger in the 1980s: the music, the drugs, the hair and certainly the movies. And for a long time, that wasn’t thought of as a good thing – particularly when it came to the movies. It was the era of the blockbuster, when budgets exploded and mainstream films were broader and louder and more violent than ever before. After the ’70s New Hollywood revolution, it felt like a glossy and superficial time in the moment, full of easily disposable entertainment that would be quickly forgotten. In retrospect, however, it’s easier to see how important and influential the period was. It was a time when the biggest movies were also some of the best. It was when the previous decade’s most beloved directors – David Lynch, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg et al – truly came into their own, and when the newcomers who’d rule the following decade, like Spike Lee and the Coen brothers, announced their arrivals. Audiences became more attuned to international cinema and the American indie movement began to bubble under the surface. Don't forget: Daylight savings is going down this weekendREAD MORE00:00/00:35SkipAds by Declaring any decade the ‘best’ for movies is always a matter of generational bias, but if nothing else, the films of the ’80s were certainly the most idiosyncratic, and these 50 films define the era. These are the movies any cineaste worth their salted popcorn must see – ideally on a VHS tape with bad tracking. Written by Joshua Rothkopf, Tom Huddleston, Dave Calhoun, Andy Kryza, Cath Clarke, Matthew Singer & Phil de Semlyen Recommended: 🔥 The 100 best movies of all-time🎘 The 50 best songs from ‘80s movies💣 The 101 best action movies of all-time💀 The 100 best horror movies of all-timeDiscover Time Out original video"Firsts" with Alex Scott0 seconds of 53 secondsVolume 0%Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcutsKeyboard ShortcutsEnabledDisabledPlay/PauseSPACEIncrease Volume↑Decrease Volume↓Seek Forward→Seek Backward←Captions On/OffcFullscreen/Exit FullscreenfMute/UnmutemSeek %0-9 Next UpBehind The Scenes At La Clique 00:48 facebook twitter Email Linkhttps://cdn.jwplayer.com/previews/1qYQKCobCopiedLive00:0000:5300:53More Videos00:53"Firsts" with Alex Scott00:48Behind The Scenes At La Clique 04:22Sustainability at the Tate Modern00:53National Gallery's Picture Perfect Christmas Show00:44Perfect Pride with Munroe Bergdorf00:18Penguins and Champagne at London ZooClose An email you’ll actually loveGet into a relationship with our newsletter. Discover the best of the city, first.Enter email addressDéjà vu! We already have this email. Try another?By entering your email address you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and consent to receive emails from Time Out about news, events, offers and partner promotions.🙌 Awesome, you're subscribed!Thanks for subscribing! Look out for your first newsletter in your inbox soon!Best '80s moviesPhoto: Courtesy of De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG)1. Blue Velvet (1986) As fresh-feeling as a movie about the rot that festers below white-picket suburbia could ever be, David Lynch’s opus offered the Reagan era an American nightmare to chew on. Kyle MacLachlan is the Alice in this dark wonderland, as he’d be again in TV landmark Twin Peaks, encountering a villain for the ages in Dennis Hopper’s nitrous-chugging Frank Booth. Its success enabled the most daring director of his generation to pursue his wildest dreams.Read morePhoto: Courtesy of Warner Bros.2. Blade Runner (1982) In a doomy 2019 L.A., Harrison Ford is the chilly dispatcher of android ‘replicants,’ many of whom have more soul than he does. The forefather of this authenticity paranoia is source author Philip K. Dick, who saw Ridley Scott’s film shortly before his death and approved. But credit the director (and key collaborator Vangelis, who stirred the synths) for envisioning it all in a glinting, glitzy valley of self-regard, where women in nightclubs wear veils and humanity mourns itself.Read moreAdvertisingPhoto: Courtesy of Universal Pictures3. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) Alien invasion has never been so heartwarming as in Steven Spielberg’s ode to growing up and letting go. It’s at once evergreen and seriously decade specific. But Reese’s Pieces, BMX bikes, Speak & Spell and Coors beer aren’t just nostalgic examples of product placement; they drive the actual plot of the film. If you want to feel really old, Elliott (Henry Thomas) is in his 50s now. Read morePhoto: Courtesy Warner Bros.4. The Shining (1980) Stephen King didn’t much like Stanley Kubrick’s take on his novel about a haunted hotel that turns its various male caretakers into murderous, axe-wielding dull boys, but the rest of the world knows better. If it’s not Kubrick’s best movie – and it damn well might be – it’s almost certainly his most iconic, owing mostly to Jack Nicholson’s bravura performance as a novelist gradually driven insane during a snowed-in winter by a combination of writer’s block and the racist ghosts whispering in his ear.Read moreAdvertisingPhoto: Courtesy of Columbia Pictures5. Ghostbusters (1984) As long as SNL launches new comedians into the stratosphere, it will have to contend with this ingenious transitional vehicle, the movie that gave improvisational skit humor a loony sci-fi sheen and turned NYC into a paranormal playground. Director Ivan Reitman doubles down on the earthy cheering crowds, the hot-dog vendors and a distinctly Kochian mayor.Read morePhoto: Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox6. Aliens (1986) James Cameron would go on to be able to claim the two highest-grossing movies in cinema history, but right here is the crux of his reputation. Aliens was an impossible assignment: Make a sequel to a revered sci-fi classic while adding your own imprint on the material. Cameron did that and more, turning Sigourney Weaver's Ripley into an enduring feminist icon, amping up the military action and producing the most exhilarating roller-coaster ride of the decade.Read moreAdvertisingPhoto: Courtesy of Paramount Pictures7. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) When Harrison Ford first emerges from the shadows in Raiders of the Lost Ark, we know everything about him, even though we don’t know a damn thing. Such is the myth-making power of Steven Spielberg. We immediately buy that this tenured academic is also a skilled warrior with the grace of Buster Keaton, stumbling and flailing through gunfire, explosions, vehicular mayhem, squirming snakes and the wrath of God himself. Ask anyone their favourite part of Raiders and you’ll get a different answer. And none of them are wrong, because the movie is perfect. Read morePhoto: Courtesy of United Artists8. Raging Bull (1980) Is it Martin Scorsese’s finest film? It’s certainly a strong contender (ba-da-bing!), and there’s little doubt that Robert De Niro’s performance is one of the all-time greats – not just for the remarkable physical transformation, but also for his embodiment of male sexual jealousy presenting itself as rage.Read moreAdvertisingPhoto: Courtesy of Universal Pictures9. Do the Right Thing (1989) Spike Lee’s critical and commercial breakthrough ranks among the most socially provocative films ever released by a Hollywood studio. Tempers flare on the hottest day of summer in Bed-Stuy; it’s as powerful as it is simple.Read morePhoto: Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox10. The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Global anticipation was huge for the follow-up to Star Wars, but few were expecting this darkly sophisticated transitional tale, loaded with psychological trauma, unresolved daddy issues, massive action sequences and a wholly believable Muppet main character. George Lucas is due much of the credit, but we're happy he had the actors directed by Irvin Kershner.Read moreRecommendedThe 25 funniest comedies on Netflix UKThe most anticipated movies coming out in 2023The 56 best Star Wars charactersRevealed: the world’s best places for winter sun[image][title]AdvertisingPhotograph: Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox11. Die Hard (1988) The perfect action movie, John McTiernan's all-time classic is a model of efficiency, placing a likable, pissed-off cop (Bruce Willis) in a glass tower, plaguing him with foreign-accented terrorists, and imbuing him with a catchphrase for the ages. Die Hard's influence is incalculable: It's the final word on high-octane Hollywood film craft.Read more12. Akira (1988)FilmAnimationArriving just before the start of the Disney renaissance and the beginning of Studio Ghibli’s golden era, writer-director Katsuhiro Otomo’s adaptation of his own post-apocalyptic manga is the most consequential animated film of the ’80s. Its future-shock visuals and compelling story, of a biker on a mission to rescue his best friend from a government experiment, introduced an entire generation of Western audiences to the wonders of Japanese anime. It remains the genre’s main gateway drug three decades later.Read moreAdvertisingPhoto: Courtesy of Universal Pictures13. The Breakfast Club (1985) ‘When you grow up, your heart dies,’ says Ally Sheedy's goth loner in this essential '80s teen drama – no other words spoken in a John Hughes picture are as emblematic of his unerring sympathy for a young generation finding its footing. The Simple Minds song doesn't hurt either.Read morePhoto: Courtesy of Seagull Films14. Come and See (1985)FilmDramaPossibly the least quote-unquote ‘80s’ film on this list, you will not find any easy ‘Me Decade’ comforts in Elem Klimov’s masterpiece (although it does have a bad guy with an unusual pet, if you’re really reaching). This is a film you sit in front of, jaw slack and body tensed, as its litany of Nazi-perpetrated horrors unfold in 1940s Byelorussia. But don’t let that deter you, because Come and See – with its title (and themes) borrowed from the Book of Revelation, and its young hero ageing before your very eyes – could be the greatest war film ever made. It’s also probably one of your favourite filmmaker’s favourite films.Read moreAdvertisingPhoto: Courtesy of Warner Bros.15. The Road Warrior (1981) Even with Mad Max: Fury Road satisfying all expectations, George Miller's earlier sequel might have the slightest edge. A definitive post-apocalyptic epic, The Road Warrior is loaded with Leone-esque mythic gestures, galloping music and frighteningly dangerous stunts.Read moreColumbia16. Stand by Me (1986)FilmComedy‘I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was 12. Jesus, does anyone?’ However true, that’s not the sentiment one expects from a Stephen King adaptation. Indeed, this coming-of-age period piece, set in 1950s Oregon and directed by Rob Reiner, is almost certainly the warmest project the horror master’s name has ever been attached to. Of course, it’s also a bildungsroman centred on a group of misfits searching the woods for the body of a dead classmate, so it’s not that far outside his wheelhouse. It’s also given an extra shot of pathos by a teenage River Phoenix, screen-searingly great as a troubled kid who seems to know he’s not long for this world. Read moreAdvertisingPhoto: Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox17. Broadcast News (1987) A high point of post-Network media commentary, James L. Brooks's comedy has all the neurotic byplay of a Woody Allen movie, with an added edge of prophetic insight into the coarsening character of TV news. Albert Brooks and Holly Hunter uncork richly confused performances – it's a crucial influence on movies like Nightcrawler.Read more18. Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)FilmComedyCameron Crowe famously went undercover in a California high school to document the lives of ’80s adolescents, and director Amy Heckerling turned his findings into the best teen comedy of the era not involving John Hughes. (Turns out, kids wanted to get high, get laid and listen to Cheap Trick. Who knew?) A number of careers were launched here, none more memorably than Sean Penn as cartoonishly perma-stoned surfer bro Jeff Spicoli. Read moreAdvertisingPhoto: Courtesy of Orion Pictures19. Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) Woody Allen had a late-period resurgence with movies like Blue Jasmine and Midnight in Paris, but looking back over his pre-scandal career, there was no other filmmaker on the planet who, during the '80s, blended high and low comedy with such confidence. This one is as towering as Annie Hall: a serious inquiry in neurotic Manhattan lifestyles, touched by philosophical grace and punk spirit.Read morePhotograph: Courtesy of Paramount Pictures20. Airplane! (1980) Gag after gag, line after line, there's no more unhinged comedy in the whole of American movies than this genius invention, crafted by director-screenwriters Jim Abrahams and brothers David and Jerry Zucker. You may still hope that your seatmate speaks jive, or that your copilot worked harder on defense. Read moreAdvertisingWarner Brothers21. Purple Rain (1984)FilmLook, we’re not going to argue that Prince is an underrated thespian, or that the plot of Purple Rain isn’t fairly silly. What we will say is that none of that stuff matters when you have the greatest musician of the late 20th century, playing the best songs of the 1980s, in unquestionably the most scorching live-music performances ever feigned on camera. Prince may not have been a great dramatic actor, but his otherworldly charisma still burns holes in the screen, even when he’s just sitting on his bed eating Doritos. You know who is pretty dang great, though? Morris Day and Jerome Benton, effortlessly hilarious as the most player-hatin’ duo since Statler and Waldorf. Read morePhoto: Courtesy of Universal Pictures22. The Thing (1982) It’s hard to believe that John Carpenter’s frosty, paranoid adaptation of the 1938 sci-fi novella Who Goes There? was not hailed as a horror classic immediately upon arrival – in fact, it was widely panned and forgotten. But that just goes to show how ahead of its time it was: Rob Bottin’s state of the art, stomach-churning special effects must have been too much for ’80s audiences to handle. Decades later, the visuals are still terrifying, but it’s the cold, taut storytelling and bone-chilling atmosphere that truly impresses. Read moreAdvertisingPhoto: Courtesy of The Ladd Company23. Once Upon a Time in America (1984) The great Sergio Leone (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) capped off his career-long inquiry into the nature of American violence with this epic Jewish gangster film starring Robert De Niro and James Woods. Fans hold it as highly as The Godfather, but the film is its own animal, beautifully evocative of the immigrant experience.Read morePhoto: Courtesy of Paramount Pictures24. The Elephant Man (1980) David Lynch’s first Hollywood effort retains his characteristic air of menace while conforming somewhat to the conventions of its genre. John Hurt somehow manages to give a stirring performance beneath what looks like half a ton of makeup, and Anthony Hopkins is commanding in one of his most subtle, compassionate turns.Read moreAdvertisingPhoto: Courtesy of Universal Pictures25. Back to the Future (1985) The elements here are instantly iconic: Michael J. Fox's time-traveling teen, the sleek DeLorean, Christopher Lloyd's Einstein-on-uppers ‘Doc’ Brown. But return to the film (which has lost none of its charm) and you'll also recognize a breathtakingly perfect model of screenwriting.Read morePhoto: Courtesy of Orion Classics26. Ran (1985)FilmAkira Kurosawa's late-period masterpiece, a feudal spin on King Lear, is a peak of '80s foreign cinema, crafted by a director in youthful command of his epic prowess. Ran has since become the standard by which all stage-to-screen Shakespeare adaptations are judged.Read moreAdvertisingPhoto: Courtesy of Paramount Pictures27. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)FilmComedyIs Matthew Broderick’s smooth-talking truant some sort of proto-yuppie folk hero? A secret sociopath bending the world to his whims? A Tyler Durdenesque imaginary friend trying to snap Cameron Frye out of the doldrums of impending adulthood? It could be all three. But one thing is for sure: In Ferris, John Hughes forged a character of almost preternatural charm, then sent him tromping through a joyful day (well, unless you’re a principal doing his job) in Chicago. The character’s charisma makes it easy to follow him anywhere. We hear they said the same thing about a Mussolini. Read morePhoto: Courtesy of Warner Bros.28. After Hours (1985)FilmComedyStruggling in the wake of the commercial disappointment of 1983's The King of Comedy, Martin Scorsese hit the reset button on his career with this paired-down, Soho-shot guerilla comedy. For all of this director's classic contributions to NYC cinema, After Hours may yet be his truest depiction of the crazies that come out at night.Read moreAdvertisingPhoto: Courtesy of MGM/UA Entertainment Company29. Poltergeist (1982)FilmHorrorIt may never be conclusively settled who masterminded this horror hit – Tobe Hooper, the officially credited director, or hands-on producer Steven Spielberg – but the result was something uniquely subversive for Hollywood: a suburban nightmare that says your TV will eat you.Read morePhoto: Courtesy of Embassy Pictures30. This Is Spinal Tap (1984)FilmComedyThe gags go all the way up to 11 in Rob Reiner’s deadpan typhoon of LOLs. The mockumentary template has been borrowed many times since but rarely as entertainingly as in this account of a washed-up rock band on its disastrous comeback tour. ‘There’s a fine line between clever and stupid’ pronounces Tap frontman David St Hubbins (Michael McKean). A movie full of dimwits has never been this smart.Read moreAdvertisingPhoto: Courtesy of Paramount Pictures31. Fatal Attraction (1987)FilmYuppie self… truncated (13,646 more characters in archive)