1980 in film.

Top ten box-office films of 1980:

1. The Empire Strikes Back
2. 9 to 5
3. Stir Crazy
4. Airplane!
5. Any Which Way You Can
6. Private Benjamin
7. Coal Miner's Daughter
8. Smokey and the Bandit II
9. The Blue Lagoon
10. The Blues Brothers

What are your top three films for 1980? We will keep a running tally and eventually have some sort of bracket. For me it would be:

1. Raging Bull
2. The Shining
3. The Elephant Man

What are some of the forgotten gems from the year? What is overrated? What did you discover at a young age and what did you discover later?

YEARS IN FILM • forum.chorus.fm

 

1. The Shining
2. Ordinary People
3. Out of the Blue

Also love Altered States, Empire, The Elephant Man and Raging Bull.

 

1. Raging Bull
2. The Shining
3. Empire Strikes Back

Cruising threatened the top 3

 

1. The Shining
2. Empire Strikes Back
3. Raging Bull

 

1. Raging Bull
2. Close Encounters of the Spooky Kind
3. Dangerous Encounters of the First Kind

Raging Bull is one of Scorsese's half a dozen perfect masterpieces, and a brilliant exploration of anger and toxic masculinity. DeNiro's performance as LaMotta is incredible, toeing the line between sympathetic, contemptable and tragic. Incredible editing here too, particularly in the ring, from the great Thelma Schoonmaker. Possibly my favourite film of the 80s overall (maybe...).

My other two picks are a bit less known, and the similarity in names between them may have been the reason I've put them as 2 & 3, for the novelty.

Close Encounters of the Spooky Kind is Sammo Hung's brilliant and super low budget comic / horror / martial arts film about Jiangshi (Chinese hopping vampires). It started a bit of a craze for them in the next decade in Hong Kong cinema, and I've probably watched this film 6-7 times over the last few years. It's completely absurd, with a truly ludicrous finale and freeze-frame finish. Highly recommended.

Dangerous Encounters of the First Kind is a ferociously angry and nihilistic film about youth in revolt in Hong Kong. One of Tsui Hark's first films, it's a foul and furious film about the collapse of institutions and friendships.

The Shining & The Elephant Man can consider themselves very unlucky to miss out on the top three, but I'm sure they'll do well without me. Room 237 is a great and completely bonkers watch if you like The Shining & The Elephant Man (along with The Straight Story) is Lynch at his most accessible, with a fantastic performance from John Hurt.

Other stuff I like is Babylon, which is a British film about Jamaicans living in Brixton. If you like Steve McQueen's recent Small Axe series - this is a must-watch.

I also really like Hex, which is a Hong Kong ghost story unofficial remake of the phenomenal French film from the 50s Les Diaboliques. If you haven't seen Les Diaboliques - it's utterly terrifying, would highly recommend that.

 

1. Raging Bull
2. The Shining
3. Out of the Blue

Now this is my decade babyyyyy.
Other notable films:
Forbidden Zone
Airplane!
Friday the 13th
Maniac
Fade to Black
Motel Hell
Dressed to Kill

 

much prefer the 70s to the 80s

 

Well you’re not a man of culture, Pat! This is a decade of vibezzzz

 

I am relieved by the choices so far.

 

Raging Bull is Scorsese's greatest film, and arguably the greatest acting performance of all time (a coin flip between DeNiro and Renee Falconetti in The Passion of Joan of Arc). It is just an embarrassment of riches, a story that connects the dots between the brutality of physical sports and the way those personality traits manifest outside of the arena.

 

i like it a lot but it isn’t really in my top 3 for marty. i don’t want to get scolded about my marty rankings again though.

 

Raging Bull and Taxi Driver are usually the academic picks for his greatest film, and Goodfellas is the most popular, but The King of Comedy is a really close second and in a few years I may feel comfortable putting The Irishman as third.

 

1. The Color of Money
2. Goodfellas
3. The King of Comedy

bye

 

You should yell about your love of The Color of Money to Scorsese as he enters a building, like Christopher Moltisanti and Kundun.

 

Scorsese's five perfect films;

1. Taxi Driver
2. Raging Bull
3. Mean Streets
4. King of Comedy
5. Goodfellas

Not doing a full ranking past that, but those 5 films are all basically perfect and as close to neck-and-neck as you can get for a ranking. There'd be a bigger difference between 5 and 6 than between 1 and 5.

 

I think Last Temptation of Christ belongs with his best. Wolf is close but not quite there.

 

Ill have to rewatch some of these - Raging Bull, Ordinary People and Taxi Driver. Ive seen them all, sure, but never 'seen' them all....

 

what does that “mean”

 

I'm sorry. Let me explain.

I've watched the movies. Many times for some. Sometimes I fall asleep during it, and miss some parts. Sometimes I watch some in one day, and some in another day.

I don't know the last time I sat through a whole movie uninterrupted. I guess I should have explained that better for you.

I've certainly never dissected a movie, to that extreme. But to make a qualified decision on which one, for me, is the best of the 1980s (or anytime, but since we are talking specifically 1980 here..), I would like to watch the movies listed in their entirety, in one sitting.

For your reference, just in case, they were Raging Bull, Ordinary People, and Taxi Driver.

I hope that clears it up for you.

 

1. Raging Bull
2. The Shining
3. The Blues Brothers (strong nostalgic ties to this one)

 

1. Personal Problems
2. Mon Oncle d’Amerique
3. Every Man For Himself

Other than the number 1 spot, which has long stuck with me in a huge way, nothing else stuck out to me as an obvious pick. Mostly because it’s probably been 5+ years since I’ve seen a lot of the stuff that I’ve liked from this year. Jean-Pierre Gorin’s Poto and Cabengo also gets a huge recommendation from me - a relatively short and amusing portrait of twin sisters who developed their own language. Otherwise, I was also considering The Elephant Man, Babylon, Zigeunereweisen, and Les bon débarras (one of the great Québécois films).

 

Need to watch Personal Problems

 

1. Airplane!
2. Airplane!
3. Airplane!

 

1. The Empire Strikes Back
2. The Shining
3. The Blues Brothers

Excruciating cuts:
Raging Bull
Airplane!

Movies I really like:
Atlantic City
Ordinary People
The Elephant Man
Fame
9 to 5

Good ones:
Breaker Morant
Caddyshack
Coal Miner's Daughter
Berlin Alexanderplatz
Melvin and Howard
Popeye
Brubaker

Solid/fine:
Private Benjamin
Stir Crazy

Not a fan:
The Mirror Crack'd
Loulou
The Blue Lagoon

 

Although I do love Airplane! a great deal, it has the same problem that the two Monty Python films from the prior decade had as yes it has a great many laughs and many iconic scenes but that is pretty much all the film really has going for it. With that said these are the three that I have chosen -

1. The Long Good Friday
2. The Changeling
3. The Ninth Configuration

Cruising came extremely close to being my third pick while the following are also highlights of the year; The Fog, Flash Gordon, The Shining, Superman II, The Stunt Man, Humanoids from the Deep, Dressed to Kill, Friday the 13th, American Gigolo, and The Long Riders. Inferno by Dario Argento is the biggest disappointment from this year as from late 2019 to mid-2020 I was on a hot streak from Argento with only one out of seven being underwhelming but Inferno sadly was as well. 1980 also signaled the end of the golden era of disaster films with the incredibly boring When Time Ran Out becoming a box office bomb.