My Favorite Movies of 1981
by Girgisbond | created - 23 Sep 2013 | updated - 05 Sep 2019 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. The Road Warrior (1981)
R | 96 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
In the post-apocalyptic Australian wasteland, a cynical drifter agrees to help a small, gasoline-rich community escape a horde of bandits.
Director: George Miller | Stars: Mel Gibson, Bruce Spence, Michael Preston, Max Phipps
Votes: 177,624 | Gross: $12.47M
2. The Boat (1981)
R | 149 min | Drama, War
The claustrophobic world of a WWII German U-boat; boredom, filth and sheer terror.
Director: Wolfgang Petersen | Stars: Jürgen Prochnow, Herbert Grönemeyer, Klaus Wennemann, Hubertus Bengsch
Votes: 247,157 | Gross: $11.49M
3. The Flame Trees of Thika (1981– )
Not Rated | 50 min | Biography, Drama
Elspeth (Holly Aird) and her unconventional parents decide to settle down in Kenya and begin a coffee plantation. This is a time of discovery for Elspeth, as she encounters the incredible ... See full summary »
Stars: Hayley Mills, David Robb, Holly Aird, Mick Chege
Votes: 415
4. Taps (I) (1981)
PG | 126 min | Drama
Military cadets take extreme measures to ensure the future of their academy when its existence is threatened by local condo developers.
Director: Harold Becker | Stars: George C. Scott, Timothy Hutton, Ronny Cox, Sean Penn
Votes: 18,177 | Gross: $35.86M
5. On Golden Pond (1981)
PG | 109 min | Drama
Norman is a curmudgeon with an estranged relationship with his daughter Chelsea. At Golden Pond, he and his wife nevertheless agree to care for Billy, the son of Chelsea's new boyfriend, and a most unexpected relationship blooms.
Director: Mark Rydell | Stars: Katharine Hepburn, Henry Fonda, Jane Fonda, Doug McKeon
Votes: 31,148 | Gross: $119.29M
6. Quartet (1981)
R | 101 min | Drama, Romance
Marya Zelli finds herself penniless after her art dealer husband, Stephan, is convicted of theft. Marya accepts the hospitality of a strange couple, H.J. and Lois Heidler, who lets her live in their house.
Director: James Ivory | Stars: Isabelle Adjani, Suzanne Flon, Sébastien Floche, Anthony Higgins
Votes: 1,438 | Gross: $0.01M
7. Chariots of Fire (1981)
PG | 125 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
Two British track athletes, one a determined Jew and the other a devout Christian, are driven to win in the 1924 Olympics as they wrestle with issues of pride and conscience.
Director: Hugh Hudson | Stars: Ben Cross, Ian Charleson, Nicholas Farrell, Nigel Havers
Votes: 59,559 | Gross: $58.97M
8. Gallipoli (1981)
PG | 110 min | Adventure, Drama, History
Two Australian sprinters face the brutal realities of war when they are sent to fight in the Gallipoli campaign in Turkey during World War I.
Director: Peter Weir | Stars: Mel Gibson, Mark Lee, Bill Kerr, Harold Hopkins
Votes: 39,431 | Gross: $5.73M
9. An American Werewolf in London (1981)
R | 97 min | Comedy, Horror
Two American college students on a walking tour of Britain are attacked by a werewolf that none of the locals will admit exists.
Director: John Landis | Stars: David Naughton, Jenny Agutter, Joe Belcher, Griffin Dunne
Votes: 104,014 | Gross: $30.57M
10. Blow Out (1981)
R | 108 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A movie sound recordist accidentally records the evidence that proves that a car accident was actually murder and consequently finds himself in danger.
Director: Brian De Palma | Stars: John Travolta, Nancy Allen, John Lithgow, Dennis Franz
Votes: 51,516 | Gross: $13.75M
11. Escape from New York (1981)
R | 99 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
In 1997, when the U.S. president crashes into Manhattan, now a giant maximum security prison, a convicted bank robber is sent in to rescue him.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Kurt Russell, Lee Van Cleef, Ernest Borgnine, Donald Pleasence
Votes: 139,300 | Gross: $25.24M
12. Stripes (1981)
R | 106 min | Comedy, War
Two friends who are dissatisfied with their jobs decide to join the army for a bit of fun.
Director: Ivan Reitman | Stars: Bill Murray, John Candy, Harold Ramis, Warren Oates
Votes: 73,082 | Gross: $85.30M
13. For Your Eyes Only (1981)
PG | 127 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
James Bond is assigned to find a missing British vessel, equipped with a weapons encryption device and prevent it from falling into enemy hands.
Director: John Glen | Stars: Roger Moore, Carole Bouquet, Topol, Lynn-Holly Johnson
Votes: 99,945 | Gross: $62.30M
14. History of the World: Part I (1981)
R | 92 min | Comedy, History, Musical
Mel Brooks brings his one-of-a-kind comic touch to the history of mankind covering events from the Old Testament to the French Revolution in a series of episodic comedy vignettes.
Director: Mel Brooks | Stars: Mel Brooks, Gregory Hines, Dom DeLuise, Madeline Kahn
Votes: 49,274 | Gross: $31.67M
15. Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
PG | 115 min | Action, Adventure
In 1936, archaeologist and adventurer Indiana Jones is hired by the U.S. government to find the Ark of the Covenant before Adolf Hitler's Nazis can obtain its awesome powers.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, John Rhys-Davies
Votes: 943,950 | Gross: $248.16M
AKA - Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
16. Clash of the Titans (1981)
PG | 118 min | Action, Adventure, Family
Perseus must battle Medusa and the Kraken to save the Princess Andromeda.
Director: Desmond Davis | Stars: Laurence Olivier, Harry Hamlin, Claire Bloom, Maggie Smith
Votes: 44,091 | Gross: $41.09M
17. The Legend of the Lone Ranger (1981)
PG | 98 min | Action, Adventure, Western
The sole surviving Texas Ranger (Klinton Spilsbury) of an ambush arranged by outlaw leader Major Bartholomew "Butch" Cavendish (Christopher Lloyd) returns to fight back as a great masked western hero, The Lone Ranger.
Director: William A. Fraker | Stars: Klinton Spilsbury, Michael Horse, Christopher Lloyd, Matt Clark
Votes: 2,210 | Gross: $12.62M
18. Death Hunt (1981)
R | 97 min | Action, Adventure, Crime
In 1931 Canada, Yukon trapper Johnson has a feud with a dog owner who later retaliates by publicly accusing Johnson of murder and thus triggering a police manhunt in the wilderness.
Director: Peter R. Hunt | Stars: Charles Bronson, Lee Marvin, Andrew Stevens, Carl Weathers
Votes: 7,552
19. Excalibur (1981)
PG | 140 min | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
Merlin the magician helps Arthur Pendragon unite the Britons around the Round Table of Camelot, even as dark forces conspire to tear it apart.
Director: John Boorman | Stars: Nigel Terry, Helen Mirren, Nicholas Clay, Cherie Lunghi
Votes: 61,314 | Gross: $34.97M
20. Masada (1981)
394 min | Action, Drama, History
After the destruction of the Second Temple, nine hundred Jewish zealots hold out against a five thousand man Roman legion on the mountaintop fortress of Masada.
Stars: Peter O'Toole, Peter Strauss, Barbara Carrera, Alan Feinstein
Votes: 2,249
21. Sphinx (1981)
PG | 118 min | Adventure, Mystery, Thriller
Egyptologist Erica Baron finds more than she bargained for during her long-planned trip to The Land of the Pharoahs: murder, theft, betrayal, love, and a mummy's curse.
Director: Franklin J. Schaffner | Stars: Lesley-Anne Down, Frank Langella, Maurice Ronet, John Gielgud
Votes: 1,425 | Gross: $2.02M
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