Best Movies List of 1980s

Goodfellas (1990)

Aggregate Rating: 276 | Imdb: 8 | Metascore: 89 | Earnings: $46.84M

Lead Role: Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco, | Director: Martin Scorsese,

The story of Henry Hill and his life through the teen years into the years of mafia, covering his relationship with his wife Karen Hill and his Mob partners Jimmy Conway and Tommy DeVito in the Italian-American crime syndicate.

Back to the Future (1985)

Aggregate Rating: 271 | Imdb: 8 | Metascore: 86 | Earnings: $210.61M

Lead Role: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, | Director: Robert Zemeckis,

Marty McFly, a 17-year-old high school student, is accidentally sent 30 years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his close friend, the maverick scientist Doc Brown.

Blade Runner (1982)

Aggregate Rating: 271 | Imdb: 8 | Metascore: 89 | Earnings: $27.00M

Lead Role: Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, Edward James Olmos, | Director: Ridley Scott,

A blade runner must pursue and try to terminate four replicants who stole a ship in space and have returned to Earth to find their creator.

Aliens (1986)

Aggregate Rating: 270 | Imdb: 8 | Metascore: 86 | Earnings: $85.20M

Lead Role: Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Carrie Henn, Paul Reiser, | Director: James Cameron,

The moon from Alien (1979) has been colonized, but contact is lost. This time, the rescue team has impressive firepower, but will it be enough?

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Aggregate Rating: 270 | Imdb: 8 | Metascore: 85 | Earnings: $242.37M

Lead Role: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, John Rhys-Davies, | Director: Steven Spielberg,

Archaeologist and adventurer Indiana Jones is hired by the U.S. government to find the Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Aggregate Rating: 269 | Imdb: 8 | Metascore: 81 | Earnings: $290.16M

Lead Role: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams, | Director: Irvin Kershner,

After the rebels are overpowered by the Empire on their newly established base, Luke Skywalker begins Jedi training with Master Yoda. His friends accept shelter from a questionable ally as Darth Vader hunts them in a plan to capture Luke.

The Terminator (1984)

Aggregate Rating: 263 | Imdb: 8 | Metascore: 83 | Earnings: $38.40M

Lead Role: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Michael Biehn, Paul Winfield, | Director: James Cameron,

A seemingly indestructible humanoid cyborg is sent from 2029 to 1984 to assassinate a waitress, whose unborn son will lead humanity in a war against the machines, while a soldier from that war is sent to protect her at all costs.

Full Metal Jacket (1987)

Aggregate Rating: 259 | Imdb: 8 | Metascore: 76 | Earnings: $46.36M

Lead Role: Matthew Modine, R. Lee Ermey, Vincent D'Onofrio, Adam Baldwin, | Director: Stanley Kubrick,

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

Die Hard (1988)

Aggregate Rating: 252 | Imdb: 8 | Metascore: 70 | Earnings: $81.35M

Lead Role: Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Bonnie Bedelia, Reginald VelJohnson, | Director: John McTiernan,

John McClane, officer of the NYPD, tries to save his wife Holly Gennaro and several others that were taken hostage by German terrorist Hans Gruber during a Christmas party at the Nakatomi Plaza in Los Angeles.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

Aggregate Rating: 248 | Imdb: 8 | Metascore: 65 | Earnings: $197.17M

Lead Role: Harrison Ford, Sean Connery, Alison Doody, Denholm Elliott, | Director: Steven Spielberg,

When Dr. Henry Jones, Sr. suddenly goes missing while pursuing the Holy Grail, eminent archaeologist Dr. Henry "Indiana" Jones, Jr. must follow in his father's footsteps to stop the Nazis from getting their hands on the Holy Grail first.

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)

Aggregate Rating: 237 | Imdb: 8 | Metascore: 53 | Earnings: $309.13M

Lead Role: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams, | Director: Richard Marquand,

After a daring mission to rescue Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt, the rebels dispatch to Endor to destroy a more powerful Death Star. Meanwhile, Luke struggles to help Vader back from the dark side without falling into the Emperor's trap.

Platoon (1986)

Aggregate Rating: 232 | Imdb: 8 | Metascore: 92 | Earnings: $137.96M

Lead Role: Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Keith David, | Director: Oliver Stone,

A young recruit in Viet Nam faces a moral crisis when confronted with the horrors of war and the duality of man.

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

Aggregate Rating: 230 | Imdb: 7 | Metascore: 91 | Earnings: $434.95M

Lead Role: Henry Thomas, Drew Barrymore, Peter Coyote, Dee Wallace, | Director: Steven Spielberg,

A troubled child summons the courage to help a friendly alien escape Earth and return to his home world.

Scarface (1983)

Aggregate Rating: 226 | Imdb: 8 | Metascore: 65 | Earnings: $44.70M

Lead Role: Al Pacino, Michelle Pfeiffer, Steven Bauer, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, | Director: Brian De Palma,

In Miami in 1980, a determined Cuban immigrant takes over a drug cartel and succumbs to greed.

Amadeus (1984)

Aggregate Rating: 221 | Imdb: 8 | Metascore: 93 | Earnings: $51.60M

Lead Role: F. Murray Abraham, Tom Hulce, Elizabeth Berridge, Roy Dotrice, | Director: Milos Forman,

The incredible story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, told by his peer and secret rival Antonio Salieri - now confined to an insane asylum.

The Princess Bride (1987)

Aggregate Rating: 218 | Imdb: 8 | Metascore: 77 | Earnings: $30.86M

Lead Role: Cary Elwes, Mandy Patinkin, Robin Wright, Chris Sarandon, | Director: Rob Reiner,

While home sick in bed, a young boy's grandfather reads him a story called The Princess Bride.

The Shining (1980)

Aggregate Rating: 218 | Imdb: 8 | Metascore: 61 | Earnings: null

Lead Role: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, Scatman Crothers, | Director: Stanley Kubrick,

A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where an evil and spiritual presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from the past and of the future.

Dead Poets Society (1989)

Aggregate Rating: 212 | Imdb: 8 | Metascore: 79 | Earnings: $95.86M

Lead Role: Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard, Ethan Hawke, Josh Charles, | Director: Peter Weir,

English teacher John Keating inspires his students to look at poetry with a different perspective of authentic knowledge and feelings.

Stand by Me (1986)

Aggregate Rating: 211 | Imdb: 8 | Metascore: 75 | Earnings: $52.29M

Lead Role: Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O'Connell, | Director: Rob Reiner,

After the death of a friend, a writer recounts a boyhood journey to find the body of a missing boy.

Rain Man (1988)

Aggregate Rating: 208 | Imdb: 8 | Metascore: 65 | Earnings: $172.83M

Lead Role: Dustin Hoffman, Tom Cruise, Valeria Golino, Gerald R. Molen, | Director: Barry Levinson,

Selfish yuppie Charlie Babbitt's father left a fortune to his savant brother Raymond and a pittance to Charlie; they travel cross-country.