I am a bit obsessed with making lists of things. As a small child I remember making lists of everything. It might have something to do with my need to organize my life. I just like to remember things and to organize them into nice little lists. So this will be the first of my lists that I offer to you. There was recently a list of movies going around on myspace. It was a random list of mostly blockbuster movies that you were to check off the ones you had seen. This got me thinking about what would go on my list of movies. So I decided to go through that list inside my brain and write down my favorite movies of the 80's. A very formative period for me and many others. It was a decade of many great movies. Movies that simply can't be made now. Most of them are great simply because of the memories attached to them. Many of them seen in theaters and then many more times on TV. Many of them rented from one of my favorite video stores. Most of them watched late at night with my friends. Some of them watched again in the theater at midnight screenings. Many of them watched with directors commentaries on DVD years later. Many of my favorites were made in the late 70's and 1979 specifically. Alot of the great horror movies like The Omen and The Exorcist came out in the 70s. David Cronenberg and John Waters made some of their best films in the 70s. 1979 was not only a great year for music but for film as well. 1978 was the year of Halloween, Dawn of the Dead, and Piranha. In 1979 came Aliens, The Warriors, Over the Edge, Amityville Horror, and The Brood. But it was really all about the 80's. I don't know where I would be without these movies. It was really hard to put them in order. But they are roughly organized starting with my favorite.

top 100 movies of the 80s





Heathers (89)
Michael Lehmann


                            Escape From New York (81)
                            John Carpenter











Manhunter (86)
Michael Mann
                                   

                         Pee-wee's Big Adventure (85)
                         Tim Burton
 










Aliens (86)
James Cameron


                      

                                              Times Square (80)
                                               Allan Moyle










The Breakfast Club (85)
John Hughes




                                                          Vacation (83)
                                                          John Hughes






                                                         


Tootsie (82)
Sydney Pollack






                              Some Kind of Wonderful (87)
                              Howard Deutch








The Terminator (84)
James Cameron




                                             The Lost Boys (87)
                                             Joel Schumacher








         


The Fog (80)
John Carpenter



                                                       The Thing (82)
                                                      John Carpenter









Polyester (81)
John Waters




                                              Krush Groove (85)
                                              Michael Schultz









                                                            
                                               
Beetlejuice (88)
Tim Burton






                         The Legend of Billie Jean (85)
                          Matthew Robbins







                                                          


Running on Empty (88)
Sidney Lumet

 
                                                  Paris Texas (84)
                                                  Wim Wenders









                                                          
     
River's Edge (86)
Tim Hunter



                                 Best Little Whorehouse in
                                 Texas (82)
                                  Collin Higgins









                                                          

Valley Girl (83)
Martha Coolidge




                                            Suburbia (83)
                                            Penelope Spheeris










  



A Nightmare on Elm Street (84)
Wes Craven












Pretty In Pink (86)                                                            
Purple Rain (84)
Videodrome (83)
Little Darlings (80)
Flashdance (83)
Teen Witch (89)
Goonies (85)
Better Off Dead (85)
9 to 5 (80)
Blue Velvet (86)
The Empire Strikes Back (80)
Return of the Jedi (83)
Scarface (83)
The Dead Pool (88)
Planes Trains & Automobiles (87)
The Shining (80)
Karate Kid (84)
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains (81)
Tenebre (82)
Phenomena (85)
Night of the Comet (84)
Sleepaway Camp (83)
E.T. (82)
Labyrinth (86)
Hairspray (88)

Gremlins (84)
Rocky IV (85)
Friday the 13th (80)
The Outsiders (83)
Footloose (84)
The Hunger (83)
Perfect (85)
Satisfaction (88)
Hellraiser (87)
First Blood (82)
Breakin' (84)
The Pirate Movie (82)
Poltergeist (82)
Romancing the Stone (84)
Gleaming the Cube (89)
Sixteen Candles (84)
Desperately Seeking Susan (85)
Ferris Bueller's Day Off (86)
The Muppets Take Manhattan (84)
Ghostbusters (84)
Princess Bride (87)
Stealing Home (88)
Airplane (80)
Children of the Corn (84)
Batman (89)

Tron (82)
War Games (83)
Prom Night (80)
Clue (85)
Little Shop of Horrors (86)
Mystic Pizza (88)
Back to the Future (85)
Angel (83)
Blade Runner (82)
Christine (83)
Patty Hearst (88)
Superman II (82)
A Fish Called Wanda (88)
Mask (85)
Raising Arizona (87)
Less Than Zero (87)
Vision Quest (85)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (88)
The Clash of the Titans (81)
Say Anything (89)
Time Bandits (81)
Sid & Nancy (86)
Foxes (80)
Beat Street (84)
Streets of Fire (84)