The 100 Best Movies of the ’80s

IndieWire Staff
·4 min read
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Whether or not you agree with Quentin Tarantino’s unsparing assertion that “’80s cinema is, along with the ’50s, the worst era in Hollywood history,” there’s a curiously undeniable truth to his follow-up statement: “Matched only by now! Matched only by the current era.” Revisiting the defining movies of the ’80s from our current perspective at the height of Barbenheimer summer, two things become abundantly clear.

The first is that modern Hollywood would probably need a Barbenheimer every month in order to equal the creative output of a studio system that used to be capable of releasing “Blade Runner” and “The Thing” on the same night (June 25, 1982) as if it were just another Friday. The second is that, in a wide variety of different ways both negative and not, the ’80s provide a perfect match for the movies of our current moment — if not the current moment itself. 

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Perhaps that doesn’t come as much of a surprise in the middle of a year when the box office charts read like a kid’s 1988 Hanukkah wish list (Barbie, Transformers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles…) or in the aftermath of a decade that struggled in vain to recapture the glory days of ’80s fandom (an effort that included a “Blade Runner” sequel and a “Thing” prequel, among a litany of more dubious efforts).

But to watch “Akira” through the mushroom cloud left behind by “Asteroid City,” or “Modern Romance” in the self-loathing shadow of “Beau Is Afraid,” or “Videodrome” in the wake of Tucker Carlson’s pivot to Twitter, or “The Decline of Western Civilization” four decades further along the actual decline of Western civilization is to appreciate that contemporary pop culture wasn’t simply inspired by the anxieties and preoccupations of ’80s cinema, but also inescapably predicted by them. Quoth “Sans Soleil”: “Who said that time heals all wounds?”

Now, at a time when nuclear paranoia, the existential threat of automation, and the politicization of the human body are so in vogue that it can be easy to forget that Reagan has been dead for almost 20 years, the best films of the ’80s boast an enduring immediacy that allows them to feel as relevant today as they ever have before — and in some cases more so. We certainly think that’s true of the movies you’ll find on the list below, many of which proved remarkably prescient (e.g., “Broadcast News”), others of which found a timeless power in bearing witness to the past (e.g., “Shoah”), and all of which have retained every last volt of their electrical vitality for those who know where to look (we thought to include a list of streaming/Blu-ray options for each film, but the data would be unhelpfully obsolete before long). 

And while Tarantino’s comments were limited to Hollywood fare, the fact of the matter is that winnowing the decade down to just 100 titles proved far more difficult than it was to do the same for our ’90s Week last year, as major studio milestones like “E.T.” were forced to jockey for position alongside subversive masterpieces like “Robocop,” the best of New Taiwanese Cinema, the true emergence of America’s indie movement, a generation of established auteurs at their absolute scuzziest, a global reckoning with the ecstasies and agonies of the flesh, a half-dozen classics from Éric Rohmer alone, and the sight of Prince astride a 1981 Hondamatic.

Despite our willingness to challenge the canon, a process that naturally resulted from refracting conventional wisdom through a modern point-of-view, there were still hundreds of great films that didn’t make the cut, and dozens of great filmmakers who remain absent as a result. Needless to say, a decade that allows you to put the likes of “Atlantic City,” “The Sacrifice,” and “Distant Voices, Still Lives” on a list of honorable mentions demands to be remembered fondly. Then again, a decade that gave us “Do the Right Thing” and “Back to the Future” hardly needs to be remembered at all, as it feels as if it’s still just starting to unfold before our eyes. 

This list features contributions from Carlos Aguilar, Samantha Bergeson, Christian Blauvelt, Gus Edgar-Chan, Robert Daniels, David Ehrlich, Kate Erbland, Susannah Gruder, Jim Hemphill, Jordan Hoffman, Guilherme Jacobs, Proma Khosla, Eric Kohn, Leila Latif, Ryan Lattanzio, Sean Malin, Vikram Murthi, Tambay Obenson, Katie Rife, Adam Solomons, and Christian Zilko.

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