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🎬 Movie Guide

Best 80s Movies Ranked

The definitive ranked guide to the highest-rated films of the 80s. Uncover iconic classics, critically acclaimed gems, and audience favorites.

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Grave of the Fireflies Poster

#1. Grave of the Fireflies (1988)

β˜… 8.4/10 6,745 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

#2. Cinema Paradiso (1988)

β˜… 8.4/10 4,958 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.

The Empire Strikes Back Poster

#3. The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

β˜… 8.4/10 18,788 votes

The epic saga continues as Luke Skywalker, in hopes of defeating the evil Galactic Empire, learns the ways of the Jedi from aging master Yoda. But Darth Vader is more determined than ever to capture Luke. Meanwhile, rebel leader Princess Leia, cocky Han Solo, Chewbacca, and droids C-3PO and R2-D2 are thrown into various stages of capture, betrayal and despair.

Once Upon a Time in America Poster

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

β˜… 8.4/10 6,186 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.

Back to the Future Poster

#5. Back to the Future (1985)

β˜… 8.3/10 22,316 votes

Eighties teenager Marty McFly is accidentally sent back in time to 1955, inadvertently disrupting his parents' first meeting and attracting his mother's romantic interest. Marty must repair the damage to history by rekindling his parents' romance and - with the help of his eccentric inventor friend Doc Brown - return to 1985.

Dead Poets Society Poster

#6. Dead Poets Society (1989)

β˜… 8.3/10 12,915 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.

The Shining Poster

#7. The Shining (1980)

β˜… 8.2/10 19,309 votes

Jack Torrance accepts a caretaker job at the Overlook Hotel, where he, along with his wife Wendy and their son Danny, must live isolated from the rest of the world for the winter. But they aren't prepared for the madness that lurks within.

Come and See Poster

#8. Come and See (1985)

β˜… 8.2/10 1,940 votes

The invasion of a village in Belarus by German forces sends young Florya 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, Florya 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.

Scarface Poster

#9. Scarface (1983)

β˜… 8.2/10 13,368 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.

Full Metal Jacket Poster

#10. Full Metal Jacket (1987)

β˜… 8.1/10 11,710 votes

A pragmatic U.S. Marine observes the dehumanizing effects the U.S.-Vietnam War has on his fellow recruits from their brutal boot camp training to the bloody street fighting in Hue.

Das Boot Poster

#11. Das Boot (1981)

β˜… 8.1/10 2,616 votes

A German submarine hunts allied ships during the Second World War, but it soon becomes the hunted. The crew tries to survive below the surface, while stretching both the boat and themselves to their limits.

The Thing Poster

#12. The Thing (1982)

β˜… 8.1/10 8,213 votes

A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.

Paris, Texas Poster

#13. Paris, Texas (1984)

β˜… 8.1/10 2,308 votes

A man wanders out of the desert not knowing who he is. His brother finds him, and helps to pull his memory back of the life he led before he walked out on his family and disappeared four years earlier.

My Neighbor Totoro Poster

#14. My Neighbor Totoro (1988)

β˜… 8.1/10 9,034 votes

Two sisters move to the country with their father in order to be closer to their hospitalized mother, and discover the surrounding trees are inhabited by Totoros, magical spirits of the forest. When the youngest runs away from home, the older sister seeks help from the spirits to find her.

The Elephant Man Poster

#15. The Elephant Man (1980)

β˜… 8.1/10 4,035 votes

A Victorian surgeon rescues a heavily disfigured man being mistreated by his "owner" as a side-show freak. Behind his monstrous faΓ§ade, there is revealed a person of great intelligence and sensitivity. Based on the true story of Joseph Merrick (called John Merrick in the film), a severely deformed man in 19th century London.

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