Best Movies of 1987
Here are my selections for the best movies of 1987.
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- DirectorGabriel AxelStarsStéphane AudranBodil KjerBirgitte FederspielDuring the late 19th century, a strict religious community in a Danish village takes in a French refugee from the Franco-Prussian War as a servant to the late pastor's daughters.
- DirectorJames IvoryStarsJames WilbyRupert GravesHugh GrantTwo English school chums find themselves falling in love at Cambridge. To regain his place in society, Clive gives up Maurice and marries. While staying with Clive and his wife, Maurice discovers romance in the arms of the gamekeeper Alec.
- DirectorRob ReinerStarsCary ElwesMandy PatinkinRobin WrightA bedridden boy's grandfather reads him the story of a farmboy-turned-pirate who encounters numerous obstacles, enemies and allies in his quest to be reunited with his true love.
- DirectorNorman JewisonStarsCherNicolas CageOlympia DukakisLoretta Castorini, a bookkeeper from Brooklyn, New York, finds herself in a difficult situation when she falls for the brother of the man she has agreed to marry.
- DirectorLindsay AndersonStarsBette DavisLillian GishVincent PriceTwo aged sisters reflect on life and the past during a late summer day in Maine.
- DirectorBruce RobinsonStarsRichard E. GrantPaul McGannRichard GriffithsIn 1969, two substance-abusing, unemployed actors retreat to the countryside for a holiday that proves disastrous.
- DirectorStephen FrearsStarsGary OldmanAlfred MolinaVanessa RedgraveBiographer John Lahr is writing a book about playwright Joe Orton. Joe and Kenneth meet at drama school and live together for ten years as lovers and collaborators. Both want to be writers, but only one of them is successful.
- DirectorJohn DuiganStarsNoah TaylorLoene CarmenBen MendelsohnIn rural 1960s Australia, a boy watches helplessly as his best friend falls in love with a small-time criminal, setting off a violent chain of events.
- DirectorPatricia RozemaStarsSheila McCarthyPaule BaillargeonAnn-Marie MacDonaldScatterbrained Polly gets a job as a secretary in Gabrielle's art gallery. Polly aspires to be a professional photographer, and idolizes Gabrielle for her artistic ability. When Gabrielle rekindles an old romantic relationship with the younger painter Mary, Polly becomes jealous, and discovers Gabrielle is not who she claims to be.
- DirectorJames L. BrooksStarsWilliam HurtAlbert BrooksHolly HunterTake two rival television reporters: one handsome, one talented, both male. Add one producer, female. Mix well, and watch the sparks fly.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsMatthew ModineR. Lee ErmeyVincent D'OnofrioA pragmatic U.S. Marine observes the dehumanizing effects the Vietnam War has on his fellow recruits from their brutal boot camp training to the bloody street fighting in Hue.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsChristian BaleJohn MalkovichMiranda RichardsonA young English boy struggles to survive under Japanese occupation of China during World War II.
- DirectorJonathan DemmeStarsSpalding GraySam WaterstonIra WheelerSpalding Gray discusses his participation in the film The Killing Fields (1984) and the background story about the troubles of Cambodia.
- DirectorPeter GreenawayStarsBrian DennehyChloe WebbLambert WilsonAn architect supervising an exhibition starts to have mysterious stomach pains while his life slowly falls apart.
- DirectorDavid Hugh JonesStarsAnne BancroftAnthony HopkinsJudi DenchTrue story of a transatlantic business correspondence about used books that developed into a close friendship.
- DirectorJohn HustonStarsAnjelica HustonDonal McCannHelena CarrollGabriel Conroy and wife Gretta attend an early January dinner with friends at the home of his spinster aunts, an evening which results in an epiphany for both of them.
- DirectorPat O'ConnorStarsColin FirthKenneth BranaghJohn AtkinsonTwo soldiers (Colin Firth, Kenneth Branagh) recover from World War I while spending a summer in a Yorkshire village.
- DirectorDerek JarmanStarsPaul ReynoldsPhillip WilliamsonJudi DenchAn unseen woman recites Shakespeare's sonnets - fourteen in all - as a man wordlessly seeks his heart's desire. The photography is stop-motion, the music is ethereal, the scenery is often elemental: boulders and smaller rocks, the sea, smoke or fog, and a garden. The man is on an odyssey following his love. But he must first, as the sonnet says, know what conscience is. So, before he can be united with his love, he must purify himself. He does so, bathing a tattooed figure (an angel, perhaps) and humbling himself in front of this being. He also prepares himself with water and through his journey and his meditations. Finally, he is united with his fair friend.
- DirectorYurek BogayeviczStarsSally KirklandPaulina PorizkovaRobert FieldsAnna, an aging Czech movie star, comes to NYC struggling to establish her career. When she meets a beautiful, young peasant girl, she teaches her the ins and outs of acting, only to have the young girl become a screen star instead.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsMia FarrowDianne WiestMike StarrA nostalgic look at radio's golden age focusing on one ordinary family and the various performers in the medium.
- DirectorBarry LevinsonStarsRobin WilliamsForest WhitakerTom T. TranIn 1965, an unorthodox and irreverent DJ named Adrian Cronauer begins to shake up things when he is assigned to the U.S. Armed Services radio station in Vietnam.
- DirectorLuis MandokiStarsRachel ChagallLiv UllmannNorma AleandroThe life of Gaby Brimmer, a girl physically handicapped, who finally gets her goals of study and triumph.
- DirectorAlan ParkerStarsMickey RourkeRobert De NiroLisa BonetA private investigator is hired by a man who calls himself Louis Cyphre to track down a singer named Johnny Favorite. But the investigation takes an unexpected and somber turn.
- DirectorEmile ArdolinoStarsPatrick SwayzeJennifer GreyJerry OrbachSpending the summer at a Catskills resort with her family, Frances "Baby" Houseman falls in love with the camp's dance instructor, Johnny Castle.
- DirectorAdrian LyneStarsMichael DouglasGlenn CloseAnne ArcherA married man's one-night stand comes back to haunt him when that lover begins to stalk him and his family.
- DirectorGeorge MillerStarsJack NicholsonCherSusan SarandonThree single women in a picturesque village have their wishes granted, at a cost, when a mysterious and flamboyant man arrives in their lives.
- DirectorJoel SchumacherStarsJason PatricCorey HaimDianne WiestAfter moving to a new town, two brothers discover that the area is a haven for vampires.
- DirectorRoger DonaldsonStarsKevin CostnerGene HackmanSean YoungA coverup and witchhunt occur after a politician accidentally kills his mistress.
- DirectorJoel CoenEthan CoenStarsNicolas CageHolly HunterTrey WilsonWhen a childless couple--an ex-con and an ex-cop--decide to help themselves to one of another family's quintuplets, their lives become more complicated than they anticipated.
- DirectorHoward DeutchStarsEric StoltzMary Stuart MastersonLea ThompsonWhen Keith goes out with Amanda, the girl of his dreams, Amanda's ex-boyfriend plans to get back at Keith. Meanwhile, Keith's best friend, tomboy Watts, realizes she has feelings for Keith.
- DirectorJim McBrideStarsDennis QuaidEllen BarkinNed BeattyA corrupt lieutenant in the homicide division is threatened by the righteous DA while trying to solve a string of mysterious murders.
- DirectorBill ForsythStarsChristine LahtiSara WalkerAndrea BurchillAfter their mother commits suicide, two sisters end up living with their kind but peculiar aunt in their grandmother's old house in a small 1950s town.
- DirectorDanny DeVitoStarsDanny DeVitoBilly CrystalKim GreistA bitter ex-husband wants his former spouse dead. A put-upon momma's boy wants his mother dead. Who will pull it off?
- DirectorRichard DonnerStarsMel GibsonDanny GloverGary BuseyTwo newly paired cops who are complete opposites must put aside their differences in order to catch a gang of drug smugglers.
- DirectorKathryn BigelowStarsAdrian PasdarJenny WrightLance HenriksenA small-town farmer's son reluctantly joins a traveling group of vampires after he is bitten by a beautiful drifter.
- DirectorJohn SchlesingerStarsMartin SheenHelen ShaverHarley CrossCal Jamison, a police psychologist, is forced to deal with a series of ritualistic murders and a malevolent cult.
- DirectorClive BarkerStarsAndrew RobinsonClare HigginsAshley LaurenceA woman discovers the newly resurrected, partially formed, body of her brother-in-law and lover. She starts killing for him to revitalize his body and escape the demonic beings that are pursuing him after he escaped their underworld.
- DirectorFred SchepisiStarsSteve MartinDaryl HannahRick RossovichThe large-nosed C.D. Bales is in love with the beautiful Roxanne; she falls for his personality but another man's looks.
- DirectorSam RaimiStarsBruce CampbellSarah BerryDan HicksAsh Williams, the lone survivor of an earlier onslaught of flesh-possessing spirits, holes up in a cabin with a group of strangers while the demons continue their attack.
- DirectorJohn GlenStarsTimothy DaltonMaryam d'AboJeroen KrabbéJames Bond is sent to investigate a KGB policy to kill all enemy spies, and uncovers an arms deal that potentially has major global ramifications.
- DirectorPercy AdlonStarsMarianne SägebrechtCCH PounderJack PalanceA lonely German woman ends up in the most desolate motel on Earth and decides to make it brighter.
- DirectorPaul NewmanStarsJoanne WoodwardJohn MalkovichKaren AllenA son longs to escape from his stifling home, where his genteel mother worries about the future prospects of his lame, shy sister.
- DirectorMichael RadfordStarsSarah MilesJoss AcklandJohn HurtIn 1940s Kenya, a married couple join other affluent British expatriates in a lifestyle of recklessness and excess, but soon find themselves in a troubling situation.
- DirectorArthur PennStarsMary SteenburgenRoddy McDowallJan RubesA fledgling actress is lured to a remote mansion for a screen-test, soon discovering she is actually a prisoner in the middle of a blackmail plot.
- DirectorJohn MackenzieStarsMichael CainePierce BrosnanNed BeattyJohn Preston is a British Agent with the task of preventing the Russians detonating a nuclear explosion next to an American base in the UK. The Russians are hoping this will shatter the "special relationship" between the two countries.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsElaine StritchDenholm ElliottMia FarrowAt a summer house in Vermont, neighbor Howard falls in love with Lane, who's in a relationship with Peter, who's falling for Stephanie, who's married with children.
- DirectorLuis ValdezStarsLou Diamond PhillipsEsai MoralesRosanna DeSotoBiographical story of the rise from nowhere of early rock and roll singer Ritchie Valens who died at age 17 in a plane crash with Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper.
- DirectorJohn HughesStarsSteve MartinJohn CandyLaila RobinsA Chicago advertising man must struggle to travel home from New York for Thanksgiving, with a lovable oaf of a shower-curtain-ring salesman as his only companion.
- DirectorLeonard NimoyStarsTom SelleckSteve GuttenbergTed DansonJack Holden and his friends, Peter and Michael, spend most of their time having flings with several women in their apartment. Their life changes when a mysterious baby appears at their doorstep.
- DirectorGarry MarshallStarsGoldie HawnKurt RussellEdward HerrmannA cruel but beautiful heiress mocks and cheats a hired carpenter. When she gets amnesia after an accident, he decides to introduce her to regular life by convincing her that they're husband and wife.
- DirectorMarek KanievskaStarsAndrew McCarthyJami GertzRobert Downey Jr.A college freshman returns to L.A. for the holidays at his ex-girlfriend's request, but discovers that his former best friend has an out-of-control drug habit.
- DirectorPeter YatesStarsCherDennis QuaidLiam NeesonWhen a homeless man is accused of murdering a Justice Department file clerk, a public defender is tasked with mounting his legal defense.
- DirectorArthur HillerStarsShelley LongBette MidlerPeter CoyoteTwo women unknowingly share the same man, but when he disappears, both go out looking for him and enter his surprisingly dangerous life.
- DirectorPaul VerhoevenStarsPeter WellerNancy AllenDan O'HerlihyIn a dystopic and crime-ridden Detroit, a terminally wounded cop returns to the force as a powerful cyborg haunted by submerged memories.
- DirectorChris ColumbusStarsElisabeth ShueMaia BrewtonKeith CooganA babysitter must battle her way through the big city after being stranded there with the kids she's looking after.
- DirectorBarbet SchroederStarsMickey RourkeFaye DunawayAlice KrigeBased on the life of successful poet Charles Bukowski and his exploits in Hollywood during the 60s, 70s, and 80s.
- DirectorTerry JonesStarsJulie WaltersAlec McCowenShirley StelfoxThe story of the rise of a madame of a suburban brothel catering to older men, inspired by the real experiences of Cynthia Payne.
- DirectorJohn McTiernanStarsArnold SchwarzeneggerCarl WeathersKevin Peter HallA team of commandos on a mission in a Central American jungle find themselves hunted by an extraterrestrial warrior.
- DirectorBob RafelsonStarsDebra WingerTheresa RussellSami FreyA federal investigator tracks down a gold-digging woman who moves from husband to husband to kill them and collect the inheritance.
- DirectorPaul Michael GlaserStarsArnold SchwarzeneggerMaria Conchita AlonsoYaphet KottoIn a dystopian America, a falsely convicted policeman gets his shot at freedom when he must forcibly participate in a TV game show where convicts, runners, must battle killers for their freedom.
- DirectorMartin RittStarsBarbra StreisandRichard DreyfussMaureen StapletonA high-class call girl accused of murder fights for the right to stand trial rather than be declared mentally incompetent.