July 26th, 2011 by J

I will start this by saying that this was a tricky list for me to put together as there loads of films from the 80s that i love and have had to throw away some over others. There is no hard and fast rules as to why all these films fit into my top 20 but all of them have something special that fitted at the time i watched them.

I know there are going to be some disagreements over this list but am happy to hear all views, and then promptly ignore them.

My top 20 of the 80s

#20 Willow (1988) – Don’t know why i just like the film.

#19 Children of the corn (1984) – One of the first films to scare the crap out of me.

#18 This is spinal tap (1984) – Love to turn it up to 11 and find the stage.

#17 Predator (1987)- A little dated now but still a great film and i but you can all (especially the guys) say at least one line from it.

#16 Tron (1982) – What can i say that hasn’t been said already.

#15 Monty Pythons The meaning of life (1983) – One of the more overlooked Monty python films but i love it the most.

#14 Escape from New York (1981) – Snake Plisskin still a great movie name, chuck in Donald Pleasence and you have a great movie.

#13 Dragnet (1987) – (INSERT THEME TUNE)

#12 The Dark Crystal (1982) – Out of all of Jim Hensons work this is still one of my favs.

#11 Videodrome (1983) – Enter Cronenburg weirdness.

Entering the top 10 became a little tricky for positioning but here we go.

#10 Raiders of the lost ark (1981) – Tricky as i like all three and they were all made during the 80s but i had to give in and go with the origonal.

#9 Full Metal Jacket (1987) – Finish the sentence “me love you……”

#8 The Blues Brothers (1980) – As was discussed on a recent outing when asked why we were carrying sunglasses at night? So when the evening has reached an end you can utter the immortal line “It’s 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark… and we’re wearing sunglasses.”

#7 Mad Max 2 (1981) – One of the few films where the sequal was better than the original.

#6 Blade Runner (1982) – The reason that this is not higher is that it is only in later life i have truly grown to appreciate it.

#5 Stir crazy (1980) – Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor at their best.

#4 Flash Gordon (1980) – The soundtrack, The effects, The cast. Whats not to love.

#3 The Thing (1982) – Still one of the best bits of CGI for its time and a great movie for those Friday night movie nights.

#2 Aliens (1986) – A truly outstanding movie. I know that there is always debate between the 1st and 2nd movies and Alien is brilliant but for me Aliens is the better especially for the time. Aliens was only put in the #2 slot because one of my fav films was made in the 80s.

#1 The Lost Boys (1987) – An outstanding film with a great cast of young actors that for me is one that i can watch over and over again. Corey Haim, Kiefer Sutherland and the stunning Jami Gertz are just fantastic. Many may sneer at my choice of #1 but for me at 10 yrs old this was a great film that has stuck with me over the years.