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Best 80s Drama Movies

Explore the top-rated 80s Drama movies ranked by audience and critic scores. Iconic classics and hidden gems from the 80s.

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Bride of the Orient Poster

#1. Bride of the Orient (1989)

★ 9.5/10 24 votes

After the death of his mother, a lonely farmer in rural Switzerland considers finally starting a family of his own. Eventually he pays for a bride from Thailand. The couple don't share a language, but being to know each other. However the village neighbors are suspicious of foreigners.

My Partner Poster

#2. My Partner (1982)

★ 8.9/10 72 votes

The story of the friendship between a truck driver and a shoeshine boy who occasionally becomes his assistant when they travel together from the agro-industrial area of Santa Cruz to the high Andean basin of La Paz in a truck named "Mi Socio".

Teahouse Poster

#3. Teahouse (1982)

★ 8.6/10 39 votes

An old teahouse in Beijing serves as the stage for a drama that unfolds over several tumultuous decades of modern Chinese history, from the waning days of the Qing dynasty to the eve of the People's Republic.

Wreaths at the Foot of the Mountain Poster

#4. Wreaths at the Foot of the Mountain (1984)

★ 8.5/10 25 votes

Wreaths at the Foot of the Mountain is a 1984 Chinese film about the life of the soldiers in a PLA army company before, during and after the Sino-Vietnamese War.

Grave of the Fireflies Poster

#5. Grave of the Fireflies (1988)

★ 8.5/10 6,933 votes

In the final months of World War II, 14-year-old Seita and his sister Setsuko are orphaned when their mother is killed during an air raid in Kobe, Japan. After a falling out with their aunt, they move into an abandoned bomb shelter. With no surviving relatives and their emergency rations depleted, Seita and Setsuko struggle to survive.

Cinema Paradiso Poster

#6. Cinema Paradiso (1988)

★ 8.4/10 5,034 votes

A filmmaker recalls his childhood, when he fell in love with the movies at his village's theater and formed a deep friendship with the theater's projectionist.

Once Upon a Time in America Poster

#7. Once Upon a Time in America (1984)

★ 8.4/10 6,298 votes

A former Prohibition-era Jewish gangster returns to the Lower East Side of Manhattan over thirty years later, where he once again must confront the ghosts and regrets of his old life.

Dead Poets Society Poster

#8. Dead Poets Society (1989)

★ 8.3/10 13,126 votes

At an elite, old-fashioned boarding school in New England, a passionate English teacher inspires his students to rebel against convention and seize the potential of every day, courting the disdain of the stern headmaster.

A Cry for Help: The Tracey Thurman Story Poster

#9. A Cry for Help: The Tracey Thurman Story (1989)

★ 8.3/10 23 votes

Tracy Thurman was married to a man who abused her. But he continues to harass her after she gets a restraining order, and the police do little to help. When he brutally beats her and slashes her throat in front of police, she sues the city and the police department for failing to protect her.

They Don't Wear Black Tie Poster

#10. They Don't Wear Black Tie (1981)

★ 8.3/10 75 votes

Otavio is an idealistic union leader trying to organize workers at a factory to resist the company's exploitative practices. His son, Tião, one of the employees, is more of a realist and doesn't want to risk losing his job by striking. This clash of perspectives puts the father and son at odds. Fortunately, Tião's mother, Romana, is on hand to act as a moderator between the two opinionated men.

Come and See Poster

#11. Come and See (1985)

★ 8.2/10 2,013 votes

The invasion of a village in Belarus by German forces sends young Flyora into the forest to join the weary Resistance fighters, against his family's wishes. There he meets a girl, Glasha, who accompanies him back to his village. On returning home, Flyora finds his family and fellow peasants massacred. His continued survival amidst the brutal debris of war becomes increasingly nightmarish, a battle between despair and hope.

The Broken Landlord Poster

#12. The Broken Landlord (1985)

★ 8.2/10 107 votes

The landowner (Agha) of the Haraptar village marries off his old father with the young and beautiful Kiraz. But on the nuptial night, his father dies and everything starts to go bad for the Agha. Due to the long drought and provocations of Kekec Salman (big brother of Kiraz), the peasants steal the crops and run away to Istanbul. Without the peasants and crops, Agha is also forced to sell the village and move to Istanbul. But he cannot keep up with the big city life and consumes all his money and belongings. Agha's wife and relatives leave him during this downfall.

Scarface Poster

#13. Scarface (1983)

★ 8.2/10 13,631 votes

After getting a green card in exchange for assassinating a Cuban government official, Tony Montana stakes a claim on the drug trade in Miami. Viciously murdering anyone who stands in his way, Tony eventually becomes the biggest drug lord in the state, controlling nearly all the cocaine that comes through Miami. But increased pressure from the police, wars with Colombian drug cartels and his own drug-fueled paranoia serve to fuel the flames of his eventual downfall.

Buddies Poster

#14. Buddies (1985)

★ 8.2/10 56 votes

David, a naive graduate student, has volunteered to work as a 'buddy' for people dying of AIDS. Assigned to the intensely political Robert, a lifelong activist whose friends and family have abandoned him following his diagnosis, the two men, each with notably different world views, soon discover common bonds, as David's inner activist awakens and Robert's need for emotional release is fulfilled.

Decalogue I Poster

#15. Decalogue I (1989)

★ 8.1/10 277 votes

Krzysztof, a semantics professor and computer hobbyist, is raising his young son, Paweł, to look to science for answers, while Irena, Paweł’s aunt, lives a life rooted in faith. Over the course of one day, both adults are forced to question their belief systems.

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