Favoritest Movies of 1980
I'm making (I hope...) the most comprehensive favorite movie list ever!!! (No sense in being arbitrary with such a commonly asked question!) So I'm ranking every movie I've ever seen using Paired Comparison Analysis. First, year by year. Then, the top 80th percentile from each year advance to the decade round, and from there the all time round. I'll admit that a number of movies a much younger me saw long ago may be appreciated more or differently now, but in their cases, I only have my reactions at the time to draw upon.
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- DirectorIrvin KershnerStarsMark HamillHarrison FordCarrie FisherAfter the Rebel Alliance are overpowered by the Empire, Luke Skywalker begins his Jedi training with Yoda, while his friends are pursued across the galaxy by Darth Vader and bounty hunter Boba Fett.Setting the example that the only way to do a sequel to Star Wars would be to make it nothing like Star Wars; the next four films to be released all have Tatooine, Naboo, and Coruscant. (Jedi from SE)
- DirectorMike HodgesStarsSam J. JonesMelody AndersonMax von SydowA football player and his friends travel to the planet Mongo and find themselves fighting the tyranny of Ming the Merciless to save Earth.This movies stock to me has risen dramatically recently. HD has given this movie a kiss of new life. If your memory of it is from a bulbous, round cornered, 4:3 box with the pale dead color we grew up with... Check it out on your current set up. Heck, watch the Star Trek Voyager episode Bride of Chaotica, and some of the actual old serials of Flash Gordon as a pre-game show!
- DirectorRichard LesterStarsGene HackmanChristopher ReeveMargot KidderSuperman agrees to sacrifice his powers to start a relationship with Lois Lane, unaware that three Kryptonian criminals he inadvertently released are conquering Earth.This is here since "General, would you care to step outside?" is the best line ever in a superhero movie. The fight at the Fortress of Solitude still eludes me as to WTF is even going on.
- DirectorJimmy T. MurakamiRoger CormanStarsGeorge PeppardRobert VaughnRichard ThomasA farm boy recruits a band of outlaws to save the planet Akir from forces that threaten to wipe them out from the face of the universe. A battle stretching beyond the stars begins here.
- DirectorDon TaylorStarsKirk DouglasMartin SheenKatharine RossA modern aircraft carrier is thrown back in time to 1941 near Hawaii, just hours before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
- DirectorJim AbrahamsDavid ZuckerJerry ZuckerStarsRobert HaysJulie HagertyLeslie NielsenAfter the crew becomes sick with food poisoning, a neurotic ex-fighter pilot must safely land a commercial airplane full of passengers.
- DirectorJerry JamesonStarsJason RobardsRichard JordanDavid SelbyOnce they said God himself couldn't sink her. Then they said no man on Earth could reach her. But an underwater research agency, headed by Admiral James Sandecker, is assigned the job of finding the doomed ship in her North Atlantic grave.The BEST Dirk Pitt movie YET!
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsTatsuya NakadaiTsutomu YamazakiKen'ichi HagiwaraA petty thief with an utter resemblance to a samurai warlord is hired as the lord's double. When the warlord later dies the thief is forced to take up arms in his place.Gorge Lucas gets TONS of crap from the online world about Howard the Duck. Like Howard the Duck is the only movie he ever produced. One online review was even complaining about seeing duck mammaries. (Dude, you're over 20 now... drop the guilt...) Thing is, he only was a producer on Howard the Duck. He also has a producer credit on this. But this is GREAT.
- DirectorJames L. ConwayStarsDarren McGavinRobert VaughnGary CollinsAfter a UFO crashes in Arizona, due to a space collision with a NASA satellite launch, the U.S. government tries to cover-up the incident for political reasons.Visually it has all the production values of a MacGyver episode. The script comes to play, and makes it a terrific flick!
- DirectorJohn LandisStarsJohn BelushiDan AykroydCab CallowayJake Blues rejoins with his brother Elwood after being released from prison, but the duo has just days to reunite their old R&B band and save the Catholic home where the two were raised, outrunning the police as they tear through Chicago.
- DirectorMichael NankinDavid WechterStarsDavid NaughtonDebra ClingerJoel KenneyLeon picks college students to participate in his all night scavenger hunt. Five teams receive clues to solve leading them to the next clue site hidden in the city.
- DirectorHarold RamisStarsChevy ChaseRodney DangerfieldBill MurrayAn exclusive golf course has to deal with a flatulent new member and a destructive dancing gopher.
- DirectorGilbert CatesStarsGeorge BurnsSuzanne PleshetteDavid BirneyGod asks a young girl to help spread his word and influence with a slogan.
- DirectorKen RussellStarsWilliam HurtBlair BrownBob BalabanA psycho-physiologist experiments with drugs and a sensory-deprivation tank and has visions he believes are genetic memories.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsJack NicholsonShelley DuvallDanny LloydA family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where a sinister presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from both past and future.
- DirectorJohn 'Bud' CardosStarsJim DavisChristopher MitchumDorothy MaloneAliens visit the solar-powered house of a middle-class family, and the house is suddenly sucked into a time warp that transports it back to prehistoric times.
- DirectorJules BassArthur Rankin Jr.StarsOrson BeanJohn HustonTheodore BikelTwo Hobbits struggle to destroy the Ring in Mount Doom while their friends desperately fight evil Lord Sauron's forces in a final battle.Hey! It was all we had! All we were ever getting too!
- DirectorHoward ZieffStarsGoldie HawnEileen BrennanArmand AssanteA sheltered young high-society woman joins the United States Army on a whim and finds herself in a trickier situation than she ever expected.
- DirectorSidney PoitierStarsGene WilderRichard PryorGeorg Stanford BrownSet up and wrongfully accused, two best friends are sent to prison for a crime they didn't commit. However, no prison cell can keep them locked in a cage.
- DirectorJeannot SzwarcStarsChristopher ReeveJane SeymourChristopher PlummerA Chicago playwright uses self-hypnosis to travel back in time and meet the actress whose vintage portrait hangs in a grand hotel.
- DirectorRobert GreenwaldStarsOlivia Newton-JohnGene KellyMichael BeckA struggling artist living in Los Angeles meets a girl who may hold the key to his happiness.
- DirectorVincent McEveetyStarsCharles Martin SmithStephen W. BurnsCloris LeachmanThe adorable little VW helps its owners break up a counterfeiting ring in Mexico.
- DirectorRobert AltmanStarsRobin WilliamsShelley DuvallRay WalstonThe adventures of the famous sailor man and his friends in the seaside town of Sweethaven.
- DirectorDavid LynchStarsAnthony HopkinsJohn HurtAnne BancroftA Victorian surgeon rescues a heavily disfigured man who is mistreated while scraping a living as a side-show freak. Behind his monstrous façade, there is revealed a person of kindness, intelligence and sophistication.
- DirectorWilliam SachsStarsStephen MachtAvery SchreiberJ.D. HintonIn the 31st century, sexy blonde android Galaxina helms the crew of a space cruiser on a mission to find the Blue Star, a mystical gem that holds unlimited power.
- DirectorJamie UysStarsN!xauMarius WeyersSandra PrinslooA comic allegory about a traveling Bushman who encounters modern civilization and its stranger aspects, including a clumsy scientist and a band of revolutionaries.Well, some list had this thing as coming out in 1980... It's not worth changing...
- DirectorMichael AptedStarsSissy SpacekTommy Lee JonesLevon HelmThe fictionalized life of singer Loretta Lynn, a girl who rose from humble beginnings to become a country music star in the 1960s/70s.
- DirectorJohn HoughVincent McEveetyStarsBette DavisLynn-Holly JohnsonKyle RichardsWhen a family moves to a country home, the young girls experience strange happenings that have a link to an occult event years past.
- DirectorPaul SchraderStarsRichard GereLauren HuttonHector ElizondoA Los Angeles escort is accused of a murder which he did not commit.
- DirectorBuddy Van HornStarsClint EastwoodSondra LockeGeoffrey LewisA trucker turned prize fighter, his brother and their pet orangutan have a series of misadventures involving the mob, corrupt cops, motorcycle gangs and pretty dames.
- DirectorJames BridgesStarsJohn TravoltaDebra WingerScott GlennBud is a young man from the country who learns about life and love in a Houston bar.
- DirectorRobert RedfordStarsDonald SutherlandMary Tyler MooreJudd HirschThe accidental death of the older son of an affluent family deeply strains the relationships among the bitter mother, the good-natured father and the guilt-ridden younger son.It's not even about Ordinary People! It's about the same white, well off people with movie jobs having movie emotions in a picture perfect house. This is 2 hours spent with the cardboard fantasy people that populate a Micheal Bay movie. Office Space is about ordinary people. This is just what Hollywood thinks 'ordinary' is.