If there’s one thing about the 80s that has really stood the test of time, it has to be the movies. The 70s may have given birth to the blockbuster era thanks largely to Jaws and Star Wars, but it was the 80s that saw Hollywood really embrace that new mindset and reach greater heights of spectacle and imagination than ever.
With Steven Spielberg and George Lucas leading the way, the 80s brought us spectacular sights and sounds the likes of which the big screen had never seen before.
Still, it wasn’t all big budgets, stunts and FX wizardry. The 80s was every bit as great a time for plot and character-driven stories, with a new generation of superstar actors bringing scores of iconic characters to unforgettable life.
Admittedly there’s plenty about the movies of the era that may seem dated now: the neon lights, the synthesizer soundtracks, the gaudy fashions, not to mention some of the attitudes.
Even so, these were movies that were designed to make your eyes widen and your pulse race, and many succeeded – but the ones that have really stayed with us went far deeper.
The question is, which do we consider to be the very best movies of the 80s? We’ve listed below the ones we consider the greatest the decade had to offer; scroll down, rank them for yourselves, and if you think of any we missed, go ahead and add them in.