Movie Mezzannine‘s Sam Fragoso has polled several critics and posted several lists pondering the ten best films of the 1980s. What wankery. You can’t pick ten effing films to represent the cream of the crop of an entire decade. It has to be least 30 or 40. Here’s Hollywood Elsewhere’s picks, a blend of the best, the most significant, the most enjoyable and and the most influential. I’ve settled on 47.
Warning: It is the respectful opinion of this columnist that anyone who picks Brian DePalma‘s Blow Out as one of the great ’80s films either (a) has a serious aesthetic perception problem or (b) is being intentionally perverse. I tried watching the Criterion Bluray and I couldn’t get past the first 45 minutes or so.
Top Ten: 1. Crimes and Misdemeanors, 2. Prince of City, 3. The Shining, 4. The Empire Strikes Back, 5. Blade Runner, 6. The King of Comedy, 7. Hannah and Her Sisters, 8. Wings of Desire, 9. Lost in America, 10. Aliens.
Top Ten Runners-Up: 11. Reds, 12. Thief, 13. Raging Bull, 14. Do the Right Thing, 15. Betrayal, 16. Purple Rose of Cairo, 17. E.T., the Extra-Terrestrial, 18. Blood Simple, 19. Midnight Run, 20. The Road Warrior.
Rest of the Best: 21. Amadeus, 22. Down By Law, 23. Stardust Memories, 24. Blue Velvet, 25. The Elephant Man, 26. Die Hard, 27. Atlantic City, 28. The Year of Living Dangerously, 29. Scarface, 30. My Beautiful Laundrette, 31. To Live and Die in LA, 32. Something Wild, 33. Melvin and Howard, 34. Local Hero, 35. Breaker Morant, 36. Barry Levinson tie: Diner, Tin Men, 37. Back to the Future, 38. Hoosiers, 39. Runaway Train, 40. Planes Trains Automobiles, 41. Risky Business, 42. The Terminator, 43. The Hit, 44. Tender Mercies, 45. Broadcast News, 46. Born on the Fourth of July, 47. Moonstruck.
