Top Movies of the 1980s

This page offers lists of the top 25 movies of the decade as determined by two different metrics. The first list is based on box office and the second is based on critics’ picks.

Box Office: Top 25 of the 1980s These are the top 25 movies of the decade as determined by adjusted worldwide box office gross. The first number indicates dollars made in millions. See sources for box office figures here.

1) 3095.40: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) 2) 2274.00: Star Wars – Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) 3) 1723.70: Star Wars – Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983) 4) 1639.60: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) 5) 1400.40: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) 6) 1258.10: Back to the Future (1985) 7) 1213.60: Batman (1989) 8) 1164.90: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) 9) 1120.60: Top Gun (1986) 10) 1102.80: Back to the Future II (1989) 11) 1078.70: Beverly Hills Cop (1984) 12) 1075.70: Rocky III (1982) 13) 1051.90: Superman II (1980) 14) 1028.70: Rain Man (1988) 15) 994.50: Rocky IV (1985) 16) 994.30: Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) 17) 956.10: Fatal Attraction (1987) 18) 942.90: Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988) 19) 780.20: Ghostbusters (1984) 20) 617.94: Look Who’s Talking (1989) 21) 576.08: Crocodile Dundee (1986) 22) 526.84: Out of Africa (1985) 23) 520.58: Tootsie (1982) 24) 505.83: Beverly Hills Cop II (1987) 25) 505.56: Crocodile Dundee II (1988)

Critics’ Picks: Top 25 of the 1980s These are the top 25 movies of the decade as determined by a combination of the movies’ ratings points and awards points.

1) E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) 2) Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) 3) Amadeus (1984) 4) Raging Bull (1980) 5) Star Wars – Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) 6) Do the Right Thing (1989) 7) Back to the Future (1985) 8) Star Wars – Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983) 9) Platoon (1986) 10) Terms of Endearment (1983) 11) Rain Man (1988) 12) Ordinary People (1980) 13) The Right Stuff (1983) 14) blade runner () 15) Gandhi (1982) 16) The Princess Bride (1987) 17) Driving Miss Daisy (1989) 18) The Last Emperor (1987) 19) When Harry Met Sally (1989) 20) This Is Spinal Tap (1984) 21) The Shining (1980) 22) Tootsie (1982) 23) Dead Poets Society (1989) 24) Brazil (1985) 25) Blue Velvet (1986)

Resources: Dave’s Movie Database: Eras Dave’s Movie Database: Movies of the Year Dave’s Movie Database: Box Office Dave’s Movie Database: Awards Page Dave’s Movie Database: Ratings Page Originally posted 3/8/2025.

 

Gone with the Wind released 50 years ago today

Gone with the Wind Released: December 15, 1939 Studio: MGM Genre: historic/romantic epic Box Office (numbers in millions) Domestic: 200.90 Worldwide: 402.40 Adjusted for Inflation: Domestic: 1984.62 Worldwide: 4192.00

Directing: George Cukor, Sam Wood, Victor Fleming Screenwriting: Sidney Howard Starring: Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Leslie Howard, Olivia de Havilland, Hattie McDaniel Review: “The epic by which every other is measured.” TV This is “one of filmdom’s greatest cinematic achievements and blockbusters.” FS “If not the greatest movie ever made, certainly one of the greatest examples of storytelling on film, maintaining interest for nearly four hours.” LM It is based on Margaret Mitchell’s 1936 novel about “the South’s tragic history during the war and the Reconstruction period,” FS although “it never really confronts the political or historical context of the Civil War, relegating it to a backdrop for the emotional upheavals” T95 of Scarlett O’Hara, “brilliantly played by Leigh,” LM as “she struggles to protect her family and her beloved plantation, Tara.” FS “Closer to Jackie Collins than Shakespeare,” ML producer “David O. Selznick’s grand Technicolor version” TV of Gone with the Wind “is, quite simply, a glorious soap opera.” TV The film follows the “indomitable, fiery” FS Scarlett and her “conversion from bitchy Southern belle to loving wife.” T95 She is torn between Ashley Wilkes, “a married Southern gentleman” FS and Clark Gable’s Rhett Butler, “a slyly-dashing war profiteer.” FS Wind isn’t flawless. “It’s inevitably racist, alarmingly sexist (Scarlett’s submissive smile after marital rape), [and] nostalgically reactionary (wistful for a vanished, supposedly more elegant and honorable past).” T95 However, the film “epitomizes Hollywood at its most ambitious (not so much in terms of art, but of middlebrow, respectable entertainment served up on a polished platter.” T95 It was also “filled with technically complicated scenes, like the burning of Atlanta which was amazingly done on the MGM lot,” VD and “acted to the hilt by all concerned.” T98 Of course, there was also “Rhett Butler’s delivery of Hollywood’s first four-letter word, ‘Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn!’” A07 Sources: FS Filmsite.org “100 Greatest Films” LM Leonard Maltin “100 Must-See Films of the 20th Century” ML Movieline (Dec. 1995). “100 Best Movies Ever Made” by Virginia Campbell and Edward Margulies T95 Time Out (1995). “Centenary Top One Hundred Films” T98 Time Out (1998). “Readers’ Top 100 Films” TV TV Guide (August 8-14, 1998 issue). “50 Greatest Movies on TV and Video” VD Video Detective (1997). “Top 100 Films of All Time”

Awards/Honors/Lists: Dave’s Movie Database Lists: Dave’s Movie Database Genre Lists: Box Office: Awards: Oscars: Wins: 8 – Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (Leigh), Best Supporting Actress (McDaniel), Best Screenplay, Best Interior Decoration, Best Film Editing, Best Color Cinematography, Special Award for “use of color” Nominations: 13 – including Best Actor (Gable), Best Supporting Actress (de Havilland), Best Original Score, Best Special Effects, Best Sound Recording Other Lists/Honors: Critics’ Picks: Roger Ebert Leslie Halliwell/John Walker Leonard Maltin First posted 7/22/2019; last updated 6/4/2023.