When the swarm of literally tens of thousands of films nesting inside a dedicated movie buff’s head reaches critical mass and the buzz becomes too busy to ignore, there’s but one thing to do – compile a top 100 list.
This ‘hive’ will be organized according to time period – nominating ten loved films from each of the decades from the 1940’s through to the 2010’s. That will total eighty films. Twenty selections will be included each for the 1970’s and 80’s – ‘my‘ decades – rounding out the list to 100 titles.
The 1980’s saw major socioeconomic advancement and a worldwide move towards laissez-faire capitalism. The direction and what might be termed ‘ambitions’ of the decade became synonymous with a quote from the 1987 movie WALL STREET. Michael Douglas’s corporate banker character Gordon Gecko declares in a speech “Greed – for lack of a better word – is good”.
The 1980s was also an era of tremendous population growth around the world, surpassing even the 1970s and 1990s, thus arguably being the largest in human history. Political upheavals included the assassination deaths of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat (1981), Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi (1984) and Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme (1986).
Technology-wise, the first genetically modified crops (tobacco plants) were grown in China in 1988. After years of animal experimentation since 1985, the first genetic modification of 10 adult human beings – known as ‘gene tagging’ – took place in May 1989. And the first ‘designer babies‘, a pair of female twins, were created in a laboratory in late 1989 and born in July 1990.
Academy Award winners for Best Picture during this decade were –
And here are my twenty favorite films from this period –
Every frame of every one of these movies a feast!
P.s. Wanna see another person’s ‘Favorite Films of the 80’s’ list? Click HERE
Before the 80’s there was the 70’s. And in the 70’s there was HAPPY DAYS –
Scenic Writer's Shack 
Oh Glen how could you leave out Rocky 3 (1982) and Rocky 4 (1985)? You’ve got Clubber Lang and Hulk Hogan in Rocky 3 and of course the eye of the tiger theme song. Then in Rocky 4 you’ve got the incredible training scene and the big Russian who says, “I must break you!”
Im glad however that First Blood made the list!
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See, here’s the thing Matt – ROCKY 3 (1982) was my least favorite in the series. Crazy, huh?
But you may have a point about ROCKY 4 (1985), ’cause as you know I absolutely LOVE that movie. Somehow I seem to have left that one out.
In my defense, all I can say is I think gave ROCKY (1976) it’s due with high-ranking inclusion in my TOP 20 FAVOURITE FILMS OF THE 70’S list –
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When you do your 90’s list can you include a movie called ‘Days of Thunder’ because it was my favourite movie as a teenager and I’m still very fond of it now. It’s mainly because of my fondness for Robert Duvall.
Haha, only joking, it is your list after all. But I do enjoy a SRS post that mentions movies because I love to discuss movie favourites. In case you’re wondering my favourite movie is Gladiator with Russell Crowe and my second favourite is The Dark Knight with Heath Ledger and my favourite Batman of all time Christian Bale.
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With Tom Cruise currently walking the red carpet with TOP GUN 2 promotion, I wonder if we’ll ever see a sequel to DAYS OF THUNDER (1990)?
The original TOP GUN (1986) and DOT were both directed by Tony Scott, who sadly took his own life by jumping off a bridge in August 2012, so there would have to be a different person helming it. But I wouldn’t put it past T.C to resurrect that role sometime in the (near) future as well.
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Oh man, I agree with so many of your choices!
Ironically (or not) the Top Gun era for Tom Cruise (and everything else he was doing then) I totally hated. I hated him and his movies. But in later years, he’s grown on me immensely, and I think he’s become much more seasoned.
Missed Evil Under the Sun, The Star Chamber, never got into the Halloween franchise or the Nerds, but entirely understand their popularity.
The Thing, Predator, Mommy Dearest, The Shining, Escape from New York !!! Yeeeeeesss !!!
But what about Full Metal Jacket, The Untouchables, Beetlejuice, Starman, Amadeus, The Elephant man? WHAT ABOUT THE RIGHT STUFF?! lol I know it was your top 20. Can’t fit 50 into a top 20 list. But would any of these I mentioned make your top 30 list?
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If I remember correctly, the 80’s was my, for want of a better word, ‘macho’ period, and my taste in films back then reflected that.
PLATOON (1986) – COBRA (1986) – and ROCKY 4 (1985) all hold fond memories – as do ‘lighter’ fare like EARTH GIRLS ARE EASY (1988) – BAHGDAD CAFE (1987) and BEVERLY HILLS COP (1984).
But really, there is a big ‘devotion’ gap between any movie included in my TOP 20 list and any film outside of that list.
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Gotcha. I’m picking up what you’re putting down! 🙂
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