How Many of These ‘Essential’ ’80s Movies Have You Seen?
Ah, the '80s. It was a decade of big hair, spandex, synthesizers, mixtapes, the Rubik's Cube, lots of neon, and some of the most iconic movies of ALL TIME.
This week at work we somehow got onto the topic of 80s movies. After some googling, I found the Rotten Tomatoes list titled, "140 Essential '80s Movies." Any movie with a 'Tomatometer' was considered for the list, but there were some other qualifying factors, too. The articles states:
"After including the truly timeless material, we focused on works that represented the cinematic trends and social themes of the era. Some of those include the fantasy epic, teen movies, the new corporate overlord, women making strides in the workplace, and rising hip-hop culture."
Find out how many of the top 50 that you've seen:
- Back to the Future (1985)
- E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
- Ghostbusters (1984)
- Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
- Sixteen Candles (1984)
- The Shining (1980)
- Raging Bull (1980)
- Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
- Do the Right Thing (1989)
- The Princess Bride (1987)
- The Thing (1982)
- Die Hard (1988)
- The Terminator (1984)
- Blade Runner (1982)
- Raising Arizona (1987)
- Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn (1987)
- Airplane! (1980)
- Predator (1987)
- Stand By Me (1986)
- Say Anything... (1989)
- The Goonies (1985)
- Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (1987)
- Stop Making Sense (1984)
- The Neverending Story (1984)
- Akira (1988)
- The Breakfast Club (1985)
- Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
- Heathers (1988)
- A Christmas Story (1983)
- Risky Business (1983)
- A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
- Robocop (1987)
- Amadeus (1984)
- This is Spinal Tap (1984)
- The Blues Brothers (1980)
- Gremlins (1984)
- Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
- Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)
- Full Metal Jacket (1987)
- Batman (1989)
- Trading Places (1983)
- National Lampoon's Vacation (1983)
- Platoon (1986)
- Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1982)
- After Hours (1985)
- Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
- My Neighbor Totoro (1988)
- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
- Scarface (1983)
- Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
Lots of other classics made the list, including Pretty in Pink, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Top Gun, Purple Rain, Footloose, Steel Magnolias, and Beetlejuice, but I was very disappointed to see that my personal favorite '80s movie Dirty Dancing was allllll the way down at #118! Patrick Swayze deserves better.
Look over this list and add up how many of the movies you've seen in your lifetime, then share your score out of 50 with us in the comments! I've only seen 22 out of 50... oops!
Check out all 140 movies from the Rotten Tomatoes list HERE.