1980
by Jaimzay | created - 17 Oct 2021 | updated - 17 Oct 2021 | PublicThe Best Films of 1980
- Instant Watch Options
- Genres
- Movies or TV
- IMDb Rating
- In Theaters
- Release Year
- Keywords
1. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
PG | 124 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
After 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.
Director: Irvin Kershner | Stars: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams
Votes: 1,379,305 | Gross: $290.48M
2. The Elephant Man (1980)
PG | 124 min | Biography, Drama
A 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.
Director: David Lynch | Stars: Anthony Hopkins, John Hurt, Anne Bancroft, John Gielgud
Votes: 258,377
3. Raging Bull (1980)
R | 129 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
The life of boxer Jake LaMotta, whose violence and temper that led him to the top in the ring destroyed his life outside of it.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Robert De Niro, Cathy Moriarty, Joe Pesci, Frank Vincent
Votes: 380,096 | Gross: $23.38M
4. Ordinary People (1980)
R | 124 min | Drama
The 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.
Director: Robert Redford | Stars: Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Judd Hirsch, Timothy Hutton
Votes: 56,671 | Gross: $54.80M
5. The Shining (1980)
R | 146 min | Drama, Horror
A 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.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, Scatman Crothers
Votes: 1,106,147 | Gross: $44.02M
6. Coal Miner's Daughter (1980)
PG | 124 min | Biography, Drama, Music
The fictionalized life of singer Loretta Lynn, a girl who rose from humble beginnings to become a country music star in the 1960s/70s.
Director: Michael Apted | Stars: Sissy Spacek, Tommy Lee Jones, Levon Helm, Phyllis Boyens
Votes: 20,501 | Gross: $67.18M
7. The Great Santini (1979)
PG | 115 min | Drama
As he approaches manhood, Ben Meechum struggles to win the approval of his demanding alpha male father, an aggressively competitive, but frustrated Marine pilot.
Director: Lewis John Carlino | Stars: Robert Duvall, Blythe Danner, Michael O'Keefe, Lisa Jane Persky
Votes: 6,942
8. Caddyshack (1980)
R | 98 min | Comedy, Sport
An exclusive golf course has to deal with a flatulent new member and a destructive dancing gopher.
Director: Harold Ramis | Stars: Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield, Bill Murray, Ted Knight
Votes: 127,152 | Gross: $39.85M
9. Nine to Five (1980)
PG | 109 min | Comedy
Three female employees of a sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot find a way to turn the tables on him.
Director: Colin Higgins | Stars: Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton, Dabney Coleman
Votes: 39,408 | Gross: $103.29M
10. Private Benjamin (1980)
R | 109 min | Comedy, War
A sheltered young high-society woman joins the United States Army on a whim and finds herself in a trickier situation than she ever expected.
Director: Howard Zieff | Stars: Goldie Hawn, Eileen Brennan, Armand Assante, Robert Webber
Votes: 28,680 | Gross: $69.85M
11. Airplane! (1980)
PG | 88 min | Comedy
After the crew becomes sick with food poisoning, a neurotic ex-fighter pilot must safely land a commercial airplane full of passengers.
Directors: Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker | Stars: Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty, Leslie Nielsen, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Votes: 260,985 | Gross: $83.40M
12. My Bodyguard (1980)
PG | 102 min | Comedy, Drama, Family
When a boy comes to a new school and gets harassed by a bully, he acquires the services of the school's most feared kid as a bodyguard.
Director: Tony Bill | Stars: Chris Makepeace, Adam Baldwin, Matt Dillon, Paul Quandt
Votes: 10,836 | Gross: $22.48M
13. Friday the 13th (1980)
R | 95 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A group of teenage camp counselors attempt to re-open an abandoned summer camp with a tragic past, but they are stalked by a mysterious, relentless killer.
Director: Sean S. Cunningham | Stars: Betsy Palmer, Adrienne King, Jeannine Taylor, Robbi Morgan
Votes: 157,390 | Gross: $39.75M
14. Xanadu (1980)
PG | 96 min | Fantasy, Musical, Romance
A struggling artist living in Los Angeles meets a girl who may hold the key to his happiness.
Director: Robert Greenwald | Stars: Olivia Newton-John, Gene Kelly, Michael Beck, James Sloyan
Votes: 15,386 | Gross: $22.76M
15. Kagemusha: The Shadow Warrior (1980)
PG | 162 min | Drama, History, War
A 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.
Director: Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Tatsuya Nakadai, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Ken'ichi Hagiwara, Jinpachi Nezu
Votes: 38,165
16. Melvin and Howard (1980)
R | 95 min | Comedy, Drama
The story of hard-luck Melvin E. Dummar, who claimed to have received a will naming him an heir to the fortune of Howard Hughes.
Director: Jonathan Demme | Stars: Paul Le Mat, Jason Robards, Elizabeth Cheshire, Mary Steenburgen
Votes: 5,301 | Gross: $4.31M
17. Tess (1979)
PG | 186 min | Drama, Romance
A strong-willed young peasant girl attracts the affection of two men.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Nastassja Kinski, Peter Firth, Leigh Lawson, John Collin
Votes: 18,260
18. Altered States (1980)
R | 102 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A psycho-physiologist experiments with drugs and a sensory-deprivation tank and has visions he believes are genetic memories.
Director: Ken Russell | Stars: William Hurt, Blair Brown, Bob Balaban, Charles Haid
Votes: 38,624 | Gross: $19.85M
19. Gloria (1980)
PG | 123 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
When a young boy's family is killed by the mob, their tough neighbor Gloria becomes his reluctant guardian. In possession of a book that the gangsters want, the pair go on the run in New York.
Director: John Cassavetes | Stars: Gena Rowlands, Buck Henry, Julie Carmen, Tony Knesich
Votes: 11,426
20. The Stunt Man (1980)
R | 131 min | Action, Comedy, Drama
A fugitive stumbles onto a movie set just when they need a new stunt man, takes the job as a way to hide out and falls for the leading lady while facing off with his manipulative director.
Director: Richard Rush | Stars: Peter O'Toole, Steve Railsback, Barbara Hershey, Allen Garfield
Votes: 10,450 | Gross: $7.06M
21. Resurrection (1980)
PG | 103 min | Drama, Fantasy
A woman enters the afterlife briefly after a car crash that kills her husband. But she survives - and finds herself possessing strange powers.
Director: Daniel Petrie | Stars: Ellen Burstyn, Sam Shepard, Richard Farnsworth, Roberts Blossom
Votes: 3,419 | Gross: $3.91M
22. The Gods Must Be Crazy (1980)
PG | 109 min | Adventure, Comedy
A comic allegory about a traveling Bushman who encounters modern civilization and its stranger aspects, including a clumsy scientist and a band of revolutionaries.
Director: Jamie Uys | Stars: N!xau, Marius Weyers, Sandra Prinsloo, Louw Verwey
Votes: 59,443 | Gross: $30.03M
23. Brubaker (1980)
R | 131 min | Crime, Drama
The new warden of a small prison farm in Arkansas tries to clean it up of corruption after initially posing as an inmate.
Director: Stuart Rosenberg | Stars: Robert Redford, Yaphet Kotto, Morgan Freeman, Jane Alexander
Votes: 19,435 | Gross: $37.12M
24. Permanent Vacation (1980)
Not Rated | 75 min | Comedy, Drama
A young man wanders New York City searching for some meaning in life and encounters many idiosyncratic characters.
Director: Jim Jarmusch | Stars: Chris Parker, Leila Gastil, John Lurie, Richard Boes
Votes: 10,745
Tell Your Friends