The ’80s were a time of excess, whether you’re talking music, fashion, drugs or Wall Street, and it’s most certainly true of the movies, too. Thanks to Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer – among many others – budgets got bigger and the films got louder, raunchier and more violent. For that reason, the cinema of the 1980s is often looked down upon. Sure, it was when movies assumed a more prominent place in popular culture than ever before. But coming out of the ’70s New Hollywood revolution, when movies got grittier, realer and more complex, the films of the era could feel artificial, overblown and just plain dumb.
At least, that was the conventional wisdom. In retrospect, though, the ’80s was a thrilling decade to be a film fan. It’s when the celebrated auteurs of the previous decade – David Lynch, Martin Scorsese – came of age. The indie scene that exploded in the ’90s began to rumble, and more eyes turned to international cinema than ever before. And, perhaps more than any other time, it’s when the biggest movies were also among the best. You’ll find it all represented on this list of the greatest films of the 1980s. These are the movies any cinephile worth their salted popcorn must see – ideally on a VHS tape with tracking issues, but streaming is fine, too.
Written by Joshua Rothkopf, Tom Huddleston, Dave Calhoun, Andy Kryza, Cath Clarke, Matthew Singer & Phil de Semlyen
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