What Are the Best Movies of the 80s?

How did we choose these 80s movies?

Every film on this list meets at least one outside benchmark, checked in Wikidata ^[1]: it was selected for the Library of Congress National Film Registry, which chooses films for preservation ^[2], or it won or was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. From that pool, we chose 25 films that cover a range of styles and audiences. The benchmarks decide who qualifies; the final 25 is our editorial choice, not a ranking. We do not use review scores, and the list is in order of release, not quality.

Of our 25 picks, 24 are on the National Film Registry ^[3], 3 won Best Picture, and 5 others were nominated for Best Picture without winning; some films hold more than one honor. Years are each film's earliest release year in Wikidata ^[1].

Early 80s (1980 to 1983)

1. The Empire Strikes Back (1980). The Star Wars sequel that scatters the Rebel heroes across the galaxy after an Imperial attack. National Film Registry.
2. The Shining (1980). A writer takes his family to a snowbound mountain hotel as its winter caretaker. National Film Registry.
3. Airplane! (1980). A rapid-fire spoof of disaster movies set aboard a passenger jet. National Film Registry.
4. Raging Bull (1980). Martin Scorsese's black-and-white portrait of boxer Jake LaMotta. Best Picture nominee; National Film Registry.
5. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). Archaeologist Indiana Jones races Nazi agents to find the Ark of the Covenant. Best Picture nominee; National Film Registry.
6. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982). A boy befriends an alien stranded on Earth and helps him try to get home. Best Picture nominee; National Film Registry.
7. Blade Runner (1982). A detective hunts escaped artificial humans in a rain-soaked future Los Angeles. National Film Registry.
8. The Thing (1982). An Antarctic research team faces a shape-shifting alien. National Film Registry.
9. Tootsie (1982). An out-of-work actor finds success disguised as a woman on a soap opera. Best Picture nominee; National Film Registry.
10. A Christmas Story (1983). A boy in 1940s Indiana campaigns for one Christmas gift, a BB gun. National Film Registry.

Mid 80s (1984 to 1986)

11. This Is Spinal Tap (1984). A mock documentary following a fading British rock band on tour. National Film Registry.
12. Ghostbusters (1984). Three scientists start a ghost-catching business in New York. National Film Registry.
13. Amadeus (1984). The rivalry between composers Antonio Salieri and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Won Best Picture; National Film Registry.
14. The Terminator (1984). A cyborg assassin is sent back in time to 1984 Los Angeles. National Film Registry.
15. The Breakfast Club (1985). Five very different high school students spend a Saturday detention together. National Film Registry.
16. Back to the Future (1985). A teenager is accidentally sent back to 1955 in a time-traveling DeLorean. National Film Registry.
17. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986). A high schooler talks his way into a day off in Chicago. National Film Registry.
18. Platoon (1986). Oliver Stone's Vietnam War drama about a young infantry soldier. Won Best Picture; National Film Registry.

Late 80s (1987 to 1989)

19. The Princess Bride (1987). A grandfather reads a fairy-tale adventure to his sick grandson. National Film Registry.
20. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). A detective helps a cartoon rabbit accused of murder, mixing live action and animation. National Film Registry.
21. Die Hard (1988). A New York cop is trapped in a Los Angeles tower when armed men seize it on Christmas Eve. National Film Registry.
22. Rain Man (1988). A man discovers he has an autistic older brother and takes him on a cross-country road trip. Won Best Picture.
23. Field of Dreams (1989). An Iowa farmer builds a baseball diamond in his cornfield. Best Picture nominee; National Film Registry.
24. Do the Right Thing (1989). Spike Lee's portrait of one hot summer day on a Brooklyn block. National Film Registry.
25. When Harry Met Sally (1989). Two friends spend years debating whether men and women can be just friends. National Film Registry.

Quick facts for all 25 picks

Directors and runtimes come from Wikidata ^[1]. Runtimes can differ by a few minutes between versions.

Film	Year	Director	Runtime (min)
The Empire Strikes Back	1980	Irvin Kershner	122
The Shining	1980	Stanley Kubrick	144
Airplane!	1980	Jerry Zucker, David Zucker, Jim Abrahams	88
Raging Bull	1980	Martin Scorsese	129
Raiders of the Lost Ark	1981	Steven Spielberg	115
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial	1982	Steven Spielberg	115
Blade Runner	1982	Ridley Scott	116
The Thing	1982	John Carpenter	109
Tootsie	1982	Sydney Pollack	112
A Christmas Story	1983	Bob Clark	93
This Is Spinal Tap	1984	Rob Reiner	82
Ghostbusters	1984	Ivan Reitman	105
Amadeus	1984	Miloš Forman	161
The Terminator	1984	James Cameron	107
The Breakfast Club	1985	John Hughes	95
Back to the Future	1985	Robert Zemeckis	115
Ferris Bueller's Day Off	1986	John Hughes	103
Platoon	1986	Oliver Stone	118
The Princess Bride	1987	Rob Reiner	97
Who Framed Roger Rabbit	1988	Robert Zemeckis	100
Die Hard	1988	John McTiernan	131
Rain Man	1988	Barry Levinson	128
Field of Dreams	1989	Phil Alden Robinson	101
Do the Right Thing	1989	Spike Lee	120
When Harry Met Sally	1989	Rob Reiner	90

What made 80s movies different?

Our 80s picks lean toward mainstream hits: 24 of our 25 are on the National Film Registry, and many of them, from E.T. to Ghostbusters, were popular entertainment rather than art-house titles. Several picks launched long-running franchises, including Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Terminator, Ghostbusters, and Back to the Future, while The Empire Strikes Back continued the series in our Star Wars watch order.

The list also includes two coming-of-age favorites, The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Genre fans will find Blade Runner on our best sci-fi movies list, The Shining and The Thing on our best horror movies list, and A Christmas Story and Die Hard on our best Christmas movies list.

Which notable 80s films did not make the cut?

Seven other 80s Best Picture winners also qualified but are not in our 25: Ordinary People, Chariots of Fire, Gandhi, Terms of Endearment, Out of Africa, The Last Emperor, and Driving Miss Daisy ^[1]. We left them out to make room for a wider range of genres, not because they fall short. Other Registry titles from the decade, such as The Right Stuff, Stand and Deliver, and Glory, are strong alternatives if you want to keep going.

Which directors appear more than once?

• Rob Reiner: This Is Spinal Tap, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally
• Steven Spielberg: Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
• John Hughes: The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off
• Robert Zemeckis: Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Repeat appearances come from the benchmarks, not from favoritism: each of these films qualified on its own.

Which of these 80s movies should you watch first?

For adventure: Raiders of the Lost Ark or Back to the Future. For comedy: Ghostbusters, Airplane!, or Ferris Bueller's Day Off. For drama: Amadeus, Platoon, or Do the Right Thing. For a scare: The Shining or The Thing.

Several of these films are rated R, so check each rating before watching with younger viewers.