1981
by ongmonky-995-9183 | created - 09 Oct 2014 | updated - 09 Oct 2014 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. 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: 47,794 | Gross: $41.09M
2. Quest for Fire (1981)
R | 100 min | Adventure, Drama
This story takes place in prehistoric time when three tribesmen search for a new fire source.
Director: Jean-Jacques Annaud | Stars: Everett McGill, Ron Perlman, Nicholas Kadi, Rae Dawn Chong
Votes: 24,140 | Gross: $20.96M
3. Dragonslayer (1981)
PG | 109 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
A young wizarding apprentice is sent to kill a dragon which has been devouring girls from a nearby kingdom.
Director: Matthew Robbins | Stars: Peter MacNicol, Caitlin Clarke, Ralph Richardson, John Hallam
Votes: 19,988 | Gross: $14.11M
4. Silence of the North (1981)
PG | 94 min | Drama
Based on the biography of Olive Fredrickson, It tells of her life as a girl, then a trapper's wife and later a widow with three small children surviving under rugged pioneer conditions in ... See full summary »
Director: Allan King | Stars: Ellen Burstyn, Tom Skerritt, Gordon Pinsent, Jennifer McKinney
Votes: 268 | Gross: $1.62M
5. Reds (1981)
PG | 195 min | Biography, Drama, History
A radical American journalist becomes involved with the Communist revolution in Russia, and hopes to bring its spirit and idealism to the United States.
Director: Warren Beatty | Stars: Warren Beatty, Diane Keaton, Edward Herrmann, Jerzy Kosinski
Votes: 24,724 | Gross: $40.38M
6. Clean Slate (1981)
Not Rated | 128 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A pathetic police chief, humiliated by everyone around him, suddenly wants a clean slate in life - and resorts to drastic means to do so.
Director: Bertrand Tavernier | Stars: Philippe Noiret, Isabelle Huppert, Stéphane Audran, Jean-Pierre Marielle
Votes: 6,719
7. Mephisto (1981)
Unrated | 146 min | Drama
In early-1930s Germany, a passionate stage actor faces a dilemma: renounce his apolitical stance and comply with the Reich's doctrine, or face oblivion. But, Faustian bargains never end well. What is the price of success?
Director: István Szabó | Stars: Klaus Maria Brandauer, Ildikó Bánsági, Krystyna Janda, Rolf Hoppe
Votes: 11,601
8. Der Bockerer (1981)
104 min | Drama, History
A politically naïve Viennese butcher (Bockerer) manages to survive the unification of Germany and Austria and the Second World War.
Director: Franz Antel | Stars: Karl Merkatz, Alfred Böhm, Hans Holt, Marte Harell
Votes: 1,027
9. The Boat Is Full (1981)
PG | 101 min | Drama, War
During World War II, Switzerland severely limited refugees: "Our boat is full." A train from Germany halts briefly in an isolated corner of Switzerland. Six people jump off seeking asylum: ... See full summary »
Director: Markus Imhoof | Stars: Tina Engel, Hans Diehl, Martin Walz, Curt Bois
Votes: 704
10. Raggedy Man (1981)
R | 94 min | Drama
A divorcee with two sons has an affair with a young sailor passing through her Texas town in 1944.
Director: Jack Fisk | Stars: Sissy Spacek, Eric Roberts, Sam Shepard, William Sanderson
Votes: 1,834 | Gross: $1.98M
11. The Chosen (1981)
PG | 108 min | Drama
In 1944, in Brooklyn, two Jewish kids become friends. One is from a very conservative family, and the other is more liberal. The issues of importance of tradition, parental expectations and the formation of Israel cause constant friction.
Director: Jeremy Kagan | Stars: Maximilian Schell, Rod Steiger, Robby Benson, Barry Miller
Votes: 2,409
12. Amy (1981)
G | 100 min | Drama, Family
A woman leaves her husband after the death of her child to teach deaf children how to speak. Her own child was deaf and although she has no formal training she successfully teaches one boy.
Director: Vincent McEveety | Stars: Jenny Agutter, Barry Newman, Kathleen Nolan, Chris Robinson
Votes: 600
13. Americana (1981)
PG | 91 min | Drama
In a small town in rural Kansas, a troubled veteran attempts to restore an old merry-go-round ride.
Director: David Carradine | Stars: David Carradine, Barbara Hershey, Michael Greene, Arnold Herzstein
Votes: 317
14. Marianne & Juliane (1981)
106 min | Drama
Two sisters both fight for women's rights. Juliane is a journalist and Marianne a terrorist. When Marianne is jailed, Juliane feels obligated to help her despite their differing views on how to live.
Director: Margarethe von Trotta | Stars: Jutta Lampe, Barbara Sukowa, Rüdiger Vogler, Doris Schade
Votes: 2,628
15. Dernier été (1981)
85 min | Drama
1980. Gilbert and his friends feel that they will not live like their parents and their future is uncertain.
Directors: Robert Guédiguian, Frank Le Wita | Stars: Gérard Meylan, Ariane Ascaride, Jean-Pierre Moreno, Djamal Bouanane
Votes: 104
16. Fallen Angel (1981 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 100 min | Drama
Twelve-year-old Jennifer is unhappy with her widowed mom's relationship with a family friend. Feeling lonely, she readily accepts the friendship of an adult man named Howie and joins the ... See full summary »
Director: Robert Michael Lewis | Stars: Dana Hill, Richard Masur, Melinda Dillon, Ronny Cox
Votes: 582
17. The Loveless (1981)
R | 85 min | Drama
Trouble ensues when a motorcycle gang stops in a small southern town while heading to the races at Daytona.
Directors: Kathryn Bigelow, Monty Montgomery | Stars: Willem Dafoe, J. Don Ferguson, Robert Gordon, Marin Kanter
Votes: 2,829
18. Sharky's Machine (1981)
R | 122 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Tom Sharky is demoted to vice after a bust goes terribly wrong. He and his team stumble across a mob murder tied to prostitution and government.
Director: Burt Reynolds | Stars: Burt Reynolds, Rachel Ward, Vittorio Gassman, Brian Keith
Votes: 6,728 | Gross: $35.61M
19. Diva (1981)
R | 117 min | Crime, Music, Thriller
Two tapes, two Parisian mob killers, one corrupt policeman, an opera fan, a teenage thief, and the coolest philosopher ever filmed all twist their way through an intricate and stylish French-language thriller.
Director: Jean-Jacques Beineix | Stars: Wilhelmenia Fernandez, Frédéric Andréi, Roland Bertin, Richard Bohringer
Votes: 14,321 | Gross: $0.11M
20. The Fan (1981)
R | 95 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
Douglas, a record salesman, is an obsessive fan of actress Sally Ross. When his letters are rejected, he strikes out at her and her loved ones.
Director: Ed Bianchi | Stars: Lauren Bacall, James Garner, Michael Biehn, Maureen Stapleton
Votes: 2,849
21. Body Heat (1981)
R | 113 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
During an extreme heatwave, a beautiful Florida woman and a seedy lawyer engage in an affair while plotting the murder of her rich husband.
Director: Lawrence Kasdan | Stars: William Hurt, Kathleen Turner, Richard Crenna, Ted Danson
Votes: 40,160 | Gross: $24.06M
22. Nighthawks (1981)
R | 99 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
When one of Europe's most lethal terrorists shows up in New York, an elite undercover cop is assigned to take him down by any means necessary.
Directors: Bruce Malmuth, Gary Nelson | Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Rutger Hauer, Billy Dee Williams, Lindsay Wagner
Votes: 21,744 | Gross: $14.91M
23. The Salamander (1981)
Not Rated | 103 min | Thriller
An Italian policeman investigates a series of murders involving people in prominent positions. Left behind at each murder scene is a drawing of a salamander. The policeman begins to suspect... See full summary »
Director: Peter Zinner | Stars: Franco Nero, Anthony Quinn, Martin Balsam, Sybil Danning
Votes: 1,093
24. Road Games (1981)
PG | 101 min | Mystery, Thriller
A laid-back American truck driver in south Australia suspects that the driver of a green van is killing young women along his route, and plays a game of cat-and-mouse to catch him.
Director: Richard Franklin | Stars: Stacy Keach, Jamie Lee Curtis, Marion Edward, Grant Page
Votes: 9,109
25. To Kill a Cop (1981)
Not Rated | 105 min | Action, Crime, Romance
Victim of manipulation, Cop Choucas is wanted for two murders and searched for by every cop in town.
Director: Alain Delon | Stars: Alain Delon, Mireille Darc, Anne Parillaud, Daniel Ceccaldi
Votes: 2,066
26. Texas Lightning (1981)
R | 91 min | Action, Comedy, Drama
A rough and tough macho truck driver decides to make his soft son more of a man by taking him hunting. They go on a holiday and go to a honky-tonk bar where the younger man falls in love with a burned out waitress.
Director: Gary Graver | Stars: Cameron Mitchell, Cameron Mitchell Jr., Maureen McCormick, Peter Jason
Votes: 241
27. The Pit (1981)
R | 96 min | Horror, Mystery
A solitary and strange preteen boy wreaks revenge on his harassers when he makes a disturbing discovery in the depth of a forest.
Director: Lew Lehman | Stars: Sammy Snyders, Jeannie Elias, Sonja Smits, Laura Hollingsworth
Votes: 3,523
28. Eyes of a Stranger (1981)
R | 84 min | Horror, Thriller
A news anchorwoman begins to suspect a man living in the same apartment complex as her to be the serial killer that's been raping and killing women in the Miami area.
Director: Ken Wiederhorn | Stars: Lauren Tewes, Jennifer Jason Leigh, John DiSanti, Peter DuPre
Votes: 3,188 | Gross: $1.12M
29. Just Before Dawn (1981)
R | 90 min | Horror, Thriller
Five young people venture into the backwoods of Oregon to claim a property, and find themselves being stalked by a hulking, machete-wielding psychopath.
Director: Jeff Lieberman | Stars: George Kennedy, Mike Kellin, Chris Lemmon, Gregg Henry
Votes: 7,144
30. The Burning (1981)
R | 91 min | Horror
A former summer camp caretaker, horribly burned from a prank gone wrong, lurks around an upstate New York summer camp bent on killing the teenagers responsible for his disfigurement.
Director: Tony Maylam | Stars: Brian Matthews, Leah Ayres, Brian Backer, Larry Joshua
Votes: 22,300
31. The Boogens (1981)
R | 95 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Otherworldly creatures are released from the bootleg tunnels underneath a small-town mining community, and begin chomping on the locals.
Director: James L. Conway | Stars: Rebecca Balding, Fred McCarren, Anne-Marie Martin, Jeff Harlan
Votes: 3,124
32. The Nesting (1981)
R | 103 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A writer suffering from agoraphobia rents an isolated house so she can concentrate on her writing. She doesn't know that the house is a former brothel, and is inhabited by the ghosts of dead prostitutes.
Director: Armand Weston | Stars: Robin Groves, Christopher Loomis, Michael David Lally, John Carradine
Votes: 1,657
33. The Evil Dead (1981)
NC-17 | 85 min | Horror
Five friends travel to a cabin in the woods, where they unknowingly release flesh-possessing demons.
Director: Sam Raimi | Stars: Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, Richard DeManincor, Betsy Baker
Votes: 232,543 | Gross: $2.40M
34. Hell Night (1981)
R | 101 min | Horror, Thriller
Four college pledges are forced to spend the night in a deserted old mansion, where they are stalked by the monstrous survivor of a family massacre years earlier.
Director: Tom DeSimone | Stars: Linda Blair, Vincent Van Patten, Peter Barton, Kevin Brophy
Votes: 8,779
35. Don't Go in the Woods (1981)
R | 82 min | Horror, Thriller
Four friends camping in the woods inadvertently stumble upon the domain of a maniacal killer.
Director: James Bryan | Stars: Nick Cleland, Mary Gail Artz, James P. Hayden, Angie Brown
Votes: 3,503
36. Saturday the 14th (1981)
PG | 75 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
A family inherits an old mansion which houses the dangerous 'Book of Evil' that has all the monsters of the world trapped inside it.
Director: Howard R. Cohen | Stars: Richard Benjamin, Paula Prentiss, Jeffrey Tambor, Severn Darden
Votes: 5,027
37. 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: 120,627 | Gross: $30.57M
38. Cannibal Ferox (1981)
93 min | Adventure, Horror
Three friends set out to disprove cannibalism on a trip to the Amazonian jungle, where they meet two men trying to escape a vicious cannibal tribe.
Director: Umberto Lenzi | Stars: Giovanni Lombardo Radice, Lorraine De Selle, Danilo Mattei, Zora Kerova
Votes: 10,803
39. Scanners (1981)
R | 103 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A scientist trains a man with an advanced telepathic ability called "scanning" to stop a dangerous Scanner with extraordinary psychic powers from waging war against non scanners.
Director: David Cronenberg | Stars: Jennifer O'Neill, Stephen Lack, Patrick McGoohan, Lawrence Dane
Votes: 61,805 | Gross: $14.23M
40. For Your Eyes Only (1981)
PG | 127 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
Secret service agent 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: 108,354 | Gross: $62.30M
41. The Four Seasons (1981)
PG | 107 min | Comedy, Drama
Three couples vacation together every season. After one divorces, feelings of betrayal and more spawn criticisms of one another, but the things that keep them together are stronger than those which might pull them apart.
Director: Alan Alda | Stars: Alan Alda, Carol Burnett, Len Cariou, Sandy Dennis
Votes: 5,642 | Gross: $50.43M
42. Arthur (1981)
PG | 97 min | Comedy, Romance
Alcoholic billionaire playboy Arthur Bach must marry a woman he does not love, or he will be cut off from his $750,000,000 fortune. But when Arthur falls in love with a poor waitress, he must decide if he wants to choose love or money.
Director: Steve Gordon | Stars: Dudley Moore, Liza Minnelli, John Gielgud, Geraldine Fitzgerald
Votes: 31,120 | Gross: $95.46M
43. Nice Dreams (1981)
R | 88 min | Comedy, Crime
Disguised as ice cream vendors, Cheech and Chong make--and subsequently lose--millions of dollars selling a batch of marijuana with an unusual side effect.
Director: Tommy Chong | Stars: Cheech Marin, Tommy Chong, Benita Barrie, Sandra Bernhard
Votes: 8,138 | Gross: $33.98M
44. Nobody's Perfekt (1981)
PG | 96 min | Comedy
The story of a group of misfits living in Miami, and their revenge against government bureaucracy. After the city refuses to pay for the damage to their car caused by a pothole, the three ... See full summary »
Director: Peter Bonerz | Stars: Gabe Kaplan, Alex Karras, Robert Klein, Susan Clark
Votes: 268
45. Heartbeeps (1981)
PG | 78 min | Comedy, Sci-Fi
Two household robots run away and try to start a family.
Director: Allan Arkush | Stars: Andy Kaufman, Bernadette Peters, Randy Quaid, Kenneth McMillan
Votes: 1,675 | Gross: $2.15M
46. Modern Problems (1981)
PG | 93 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
Jealous, harried air traffic controller Max Fiedler, recently dumped by his girlfriend, comes into contact with nuclear waste and is granted the power of telekinesis, which he uses not only to win her back, but to gain a little revenge.
Director: Ken Shapiro | Stars: Chevy Chase, Patti D'Arbanville, Dabney Coleman, Mary Kay Place
Votes: 5,824 | Gross: $26.15M
47. Private Lessons (1981)
R | 87 min | Comedy
An immigrant housemaid seduces a 15-year-old boy and later fakes her own death as part of his chauffeur's blackmail plot. Troubles arise when the two start to fall in love.
Directors: Alan Myerson, James Fargo | Stars: Sylvia Kristel, Howard Hesseman, Eric Brown, Patrick Piccininni
Votes: 4,269 | Gross: $26.28M
48. Heavy Metal (1981)
R | 86 min | Animation, Adventure, Fantasy
A glowing green orb that embodies ultimate evil terrorizes a young girl with an anthology of bizarre and fantastic stories.
Directors: Gerald Potterton, John Bruno, John Halas, Julian Harris, Jimmy T. Murakami, Barrie Nelson, Paul Sabella, Jack Stokes, Pino Van Lamsweerde, Harold Whitaker | Stars: Richard Romanus, John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Don Francks
Votes: 38,197
49. The Fox and the Hound (1981)
G | 83 min | Animation, Adventure, Drama
A fox named Tod and a hound named Copper vow to be best friends forever. But as Copper grows into a hunting dog, their unlikely friendship faces the ultimate test.
Directors: Ted Berman, Richard Rich, Art Stevens, David Hand, Wolfgang Reitherman | Stars: Mickey Rooney, Kurt Russell, Pearl Bailey, Jack Albertson
Votes: 102,021 | Gross: $63.46M
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