This was arguably one of the weaker years in the 80s. A lot of the American films were dominated by low quality crowd-pleasing flicks. Once Upon a Time in America is an example of how difficult it was to get a challenging film made from within Hollywood. They cut the film to shreds and made it a piece of unwatchable trash. Of course my ranking is for the director’s cut and not the theatrical version. The opposite is true for Amadeus. The theatrical version was shorter and flowed better, whereas the director’s cut is bloated and even boring.

Another interesting tidbit is that my #1 film, Paris, Texas is very similar to Wenders’ Alice in the Cities. My #2 film, The Home and the World is tied to Ray’s Charulata. In fact, even though the movies are 20 years apart, they have the same actor playing the role of the interloper.

1. Paris, Texas
2. The Home and the World
3. This is Spinal Tap
4. Amadeus
5. Once Upon a Time in America
6. The Killing Fields
7. The Times of Harvey Milk
8. Ghostbusters
9. Broadway Danny Rose
10. Under the Volcano
11. 1984
12. A Passage to India
13. Sixteen Candles
14. Repo Man
15. Moscow on the Hudson
16. Stranger than Paradise
17. Secret Honor
18. The River
19. Top Secret
20. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom