Film Decades: 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
Each review will be linked to the title below.
(*seen originally in theaters)
(**seen rereleased in theaters)
- 9 to 5** – directed by Colin Higgins, starring Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton, Dabney Coleman
- The Agency, starring Robert Mitchum, Lee Majors, Valerie Perrine – (Canada)
- Airplane!** – directed by Jim Abrams, David Zucker, & Jerry Zucker, starring Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty, Leslie Nielsen, Peter Graves, Lloyd Bridges, Robert Stack, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
- Alien Dead, directed by Fred Olen Ray, starring Buster Crabbe
- Alligator, directed by Lewis Teague, starring Robert Forster, Robin Riker, and Michael Gazzo
- Altered States – directed by Ken Russell, starring William Hurt & Blair Brown
- American Gigolo, directed by Paul Schrader, starring Richard Gere, Lauren Hutton and Héctor Elizondo
- Antropophagus, directed by Joe D’Amato, starring George Eastman, Tisa Farrow, Zora Kerova, Saverio Vallone, and Serena Grandi (Italy)
- Any Which Way You Can – directed by Buddy Van Horn, starring Clint Eastwood, Geoffrey Lewis, William Smith, Barry Corbin, Ruth Gordon
- Arrebato (Rapture), directed by Ivan Zulueta, starring Eusebio Poncela, and Cecilia Roth (Spain)
- Atlantic City – directed by Louis Malle, starring Burt Lancaster, Susan Sarandon, Kate Reid, Robert Joy, Hollis McLaren, Michel Piccoli, & Al Waxman – Canada/France – Golden Lion winner
- The Awakening, starring Charlton Heston, Susannah York and Stephanie Zimbalist – (U.K.)
- Babylon, starring Brinsley Forde – (U.K.)
- A Bad Son – directed by Claude Sautet – France
- Bad Timing – directed by Nicolas Roeg, starring Art Garfunkel, Theresa Russell, Harvey Keitel – UK
- The Baltimore Bullet, starring James Coburn
- Berlin Alexanderplatz – a TV mini-series directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, starring Gunther Lamprecht, Hanna Schygulla, Barbara Sukowa – (West Germany)
- The Big Brawl, starring Jackie Chan – (Hong Kong/United States)
- The Big Red One – directed by Samuel Fuller, starring Lee Marvin, Mark Hamill, Robert Carradine
- Bizalom (Confidence), directed by István Szabó – (Hungary)
- The Black Marble, directed by Harold Becker, starring Robert Foxworth, Paula Prentiss, Harry Dean Stanton
- The Blood of Hussain, directed by Jamil Dehlavi – (Pakistan)
- The Blue Lagoon, starring Brooke Shields and Christopher Atkins
- The Blues Brothers** – directed by John Landis, starring John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Cab Calloway, Carrie Fisher, John Candy, Henry Gibson
- Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (and Don’t Come Back!!)
- Breaker Morant, directed by Bruce Beresford, starring Edward Woodward – (Australia)
- Bronco Billy – directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, with Sondra Locke, Geoffrey Lewis, Sam Bottoms, Scatman Crothers
- Brubaker, directed by Stuart Rosenberg, starring Robert Redford, David Keith, Jane Alexander, Yaphet Kotto
- Caboblanco, directed by J. Lee Thompson, starring Charles Bronson, Jason Robards, Dominique Sanda
- Caddyshack – directed by Harold Ramis, starring Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield, Ted Knight, Bill Murray, Michael O’Keefe, Cindy Morgan
- The Candidate (Der Kandidat), directed by Volker Schlöndorff – (West Germany)
- Cannibal Holocaust, directed by Ruggero Deodato, starring Robert Kerman – (Italy)
- Can’t Stop the Music, directed by Nancy Walker, starring Valerie Perrine, Bruce Jenner, Steve Guttenberg, Village People
- Carny, starring Jodie Foster, Gary Busey and Robbie Robertson
- Chann Pardesi, starring Kulbhushan Kharbanda and Om Puri – (India)
- A Change of Seasons, starring Shirley MacLaine, Anthony Hopkins, Bo Derek
- The Changeling – starring George C. Scott – Canada
- Cheech & Chong’s Next Movie
- Children’s Island (Barnens ö) – (Sweden)
- La Cicala (The Cicada), starring Anthony Franciosa and Virna Lisi – (Italy)
- City of Women – directed by Federico Fellini, starring Marcello Mastroianni – Italy
- The Club, starring Jack Thompson – (Australia)
- Coal Miner’s Daughter – directed by Michael Apted, starring Sissy Spacek, Tommy Lee Jones, & Beverly D’Angelo
- The Competition, starring Richard Dreyfuss, Amy Irving, Lee Remick, Sam Wanamaker
- The Constant Factor (Constans) – (Poland)
- The Crime of Cuenca (El crimen de Cuenca) – (Spain)
- Cruising – directed by William Friedkin, starring Al Pacino
- Cutting It Short (Postřižiny), directed by Jiří Menzel – (Czechoslovakia)
- Dadar Kirti (Deeds of My Elder Brother) – (India)
- Death Watch (La Mort en direct) – directed by Bertrand Tavernier, starring Romy Schneider and Harvey Keitel – (France)
- Delusion directed by Alan Beattie, starring Patricia Pearcy and Joseph Cotten
- Die Laughing, starring Robby Benson and Bud Cort
- The Dogs of War – starring Christopher Walken – US/UK
- Dostana (Friendship), starring Amitabh Bachchan – (India)
- Dressed to Kill – directed by Brian De Palma, starring Michael Caine, Nancy Allen, Keith Gordon, Angie Dickinson
- Elisita – (Spain)
- The Elephant Man – directed by David Lynch, starring John Hurt, Anthony Hopkins, John Gielgud, Anne Bancroft – US/UK
- The Empire Strikes Back** – directed by Irvin Kershner, starring Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams, & Frank Oz
- Encounters of the Spooky Kind (Gui da gui), directed by and starring Sammo Hung – (Hong Kong)
- Every Man for Himself – directed by Jean-Luc Godard, starring Jacques Dutronc & Isabelle Huppert – France
- The Exterminator – starring Robert Ginty & Samantha Eggar
- Fade to Black, starring Dennis Christopher
- The Falls, directed by Peter Greenaway – (U.K.)
- Fame, directed by Alan Parker, starring Irene Cara
- Fatso – directed by and featuring Anne Bancroft, starring Dom DeLuise
- The Final Countdown, starring Kirk Douglas, Katharine Ross, Martin Sheen
- The First Deadly Sin – starring Frank Sinatra, David Dukes, Martin Gabel, Brenda Vaccaro, Faye Dunaway
- First Family – directed by Buck Henry, starring Bob Newhart, Madeline Kahn, Gilda Radner
- Flash Gordon, directed by Mike Hodges, starring Sam J. Jones, Melody Anderson, Topol, Max von Sydow, Timothy Dalton, Brian Blessed, & Ornella Muti – (US/UK)
- The Fog – directed by John Carpenter, starring Adrienne Barbeau & Jamie Lee Curtis
- Foolin’ Around, starring Gary Busey, Annette O’Toole, Eddie Albert, Cloris Leachman
- Forbidden Zone – directed by Richard Elfman, starring Hervé Villechaize, Susan Tyrrell, Marie-Pascale Elfman, Gisele Lindley, Jan Stuart Schwartz, Virginia Rose, Ugh-Fudge Bwana, Phil Gordon, Hyman Diamond, Toshiro Boloney, Viva, Joe Spinell, The Kipper Kids, & Danny Elfman as The Devil
- The Formula – starring George C. Scott & Marlon Brando
- Foxes, directed by Adrian Lyne, starring Jodie Foster, Cherie Currie, Scott Baio and Adam Faith
- Friday the 13th, directed by Sean S. Cunningham, starring Betsy Palmer, Adrienne King and Harry Crosby
- The Gamekeeper, directed by Ken Loach – (U.K.)
- Gamera: Super Monster (Uchu Kaijū Gamera) – (Japan)
- Germany, Pale Mother (Deutschland bleiche Mutter), starring Eva Mattes – (West Germany)
- Gilda Live, starring Gilda Radner, Father Guido Sarducci
- Gloria – directed by John Cassavetes, starring Gena Rowlands
- The Gods Must Be Crazy, directed by Jamie Uys, starring N!xau, Sandra Prinsloo and Marius Weyers – (South Africa)
- Good Riddance – Canada
- The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle, a mockumentary directed by Julien Temple, featuring The Sex Pistols and Malcolm McLaren – (U.K.)
- Hangar 18, starring Darren McGavin and Robert Vaughn
- Health (a.k.a. H.E.A.L.T.H.) – directed by Robert Altman, starring Carol Burnett, Lauren Bacall, Glenda Jackson, James Garner
- Heart Beat – starring Nick Nolte, Sissy Spacek, John Heard
- He Knows You’re Alone, starring Don Scardino and Caitlin O’Heaney
- Heaven’s Gate – directed by Michael Cimino, starring Kris Kristofferson, Christopher Walken, Isabelle Huppert, John Hurt, Sam Waterston, Jeff Bridges
- Herbie Goes Bananas – directed by Vincent McEveety, starring Cloris Leachman, Harvey Korman and Charles Martin Smith
- Hero at Large, starring John Ritter and Anne Archer
- Hey Babe!, starring Yasmine Bleeth and Buddy Hackett – (Canada)
- Hirak Rajar Deshe (Kingdom of Diamonds), directed by Satyajit Ray – (India)
- The Hit (Trhák) – (Czechoslovakia)
- Home Movies – directed by Brian De Palma, starring Kirk Douglas, Vincent Gardenia, Gerrit Graham, Nancy Allen
- Hopscotch – directed by Ronald Neame, starring Walter Matthau & Glenda Jackson
- How to Beat the High Cost of Living, starring Susan Saint James, Jessica Lange, Jane Curtin, Dabney Coleman, Richard Benjamin
- Humanoids from the Deep, starring Vic Morrow, Doug McClure, Ann Turkel
- The Hunter – directed by Buzz Kulik, starring Steve McQueen, Kathryn Harrold, LeVar Burton, Ben Johnson, Eli Wallach
- The Idolmaker, directed by Taylor Hackford, starring Ray Sharkey and Peter Gallagher
- Inferno, directed by Dario Argento – (Italy)
- Inside Moves – directed by Richard Donner, starring John Savage, David Morse, Diana Scarwid
- The Island – directed by Michael Ritchie, starring Michael Caine
- It’s My Turn, directed by Claudia Weill, starring Jill Clayburgh, Michael Douglas, Charles Grodin
- Jane Austen in Manhattan – directed by James Ivory, starring Anne Baxter, Robert Powell, Michael Wager, Sean Young, Charles McCaughan, & Tim Choate
- The Jazz Singer, starring Neil Diamond, Lucie Arnaz, Laurence Olivier
- Just Tell Me What You Want, directed by Sidney Lumet, starring Ali MacGraw, Alan King, Peter Weller, Myrna Loy
- Karz (In Debt), starring Rishi Kapoor – (India)
- Kagemusha – directed by Akira Kurosawa, starring Tatsuya Nakadai, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Kenichi Hagiwara – Japan
- Khubsoorat, starring Ashok Kumar and Rekha – (India)
- Klondike Fever, starring Jeff East, Rod Steiger, Angie Dickinson, Gordon Pinsent – (Canada)
- Ladies’ Choice (Dami Kanyat), directed by Ivan Andonov, starring Stefan Danailov – (Bulgaria)
- The Last Flight of Noah’s Ark, starring Elliott Gould, Geneviève Bujold, Ricky Schroder
- The Last Married Couple in America – starring Natalie Wood, George Segal, Valerie Harper, Richard Benjamin
- The Last Metro (Le dernier metro) – directed by François Truffaut, starring Catherine Deneuve & Gérard Depardieu – France
- The Last Witness (Choehuui jeungin) – (South Korea)
- The Lathe of Heaven, starring Bruce Davison
- Legend of Tianyun Mountain (Tiān yún shān chuán qí) – (China)
- The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter, a documentary film
- Little Darlings, starring Tatum O’Neal, Kristy McNichol, Armand Assante and Matt Dillon
- Little Miss Marker, starring Walter Matthau, Julie Andrews, Tony Curtis, Bob Newhart
- The Long Good Friday – directed by John Mackenzie, starring Bob Hoskins & Helen Mirren – UK
- The Long Riders – directed by Walter Hill, starring David Carradine, Keith Carradine, Robert Carradine, James Keach, Stacy Keach, Dennis Quaid, Randy Quaid, Christopher Guest, & Nicholas Guest
- Loulou – starring Isabelle Huppert & Gérard Depardieu – France)l
- Loving Couples – directed by Jack Smight, starring Shirley MacLaine, James Coburn, Stephen Collins, Susan Sarandon
- The Man with Bogart’s Face – starring Robert Sacchi, Misty Rowe, Victor Buono, Yvonne De Carlo, Herbert Lom
- Manila by Night – Philippines
- McVicar, directed by Tom Clegg, starring Roger Daltrey, Adam Faith, Cheryl Campbell – (U.K.)
- Melvin and Howard – directed by Jonathan Demme, starring Paul Le Mat, Jason Robards, Mary Steenburgen
- Midnight Madness
- The Mirror Crack’d – directed by Guy Hamilton, starring Angela Lansbury, Elizabeth Taylor, Kim Novak, Tony Curtis, Rock Hudson – UK
- Mon oncle d’Amérique – directed by Alain Resnais, starring Gérard Depardieu – France
- Motel Hell, starring Rory Calhoun
- Mother’s Day, starring Nancy Hendrickson
- The Mountain Men, starring Charlton Heston and Brian Keith
- My Bodyguard, directed by Tony Bill, starring Matt Dillon, Adam Baldwin, Chris Makepeace, Martin Mull
- The Nest (El Nido) – (Spain)
- Nightkill, starring Robert Mitchum
- Nijinsky – directed by Herbert Ross, starring Alan Bates, Leslie Browne, George De La Peña, Alan Badel, Colin Blakely,& Carla Fracci
- The Ninth Configuration, directed by William Peter Blatty, starring Stacy Keach, Scott Wilson, Jason Miller
- O Megalexandros (Alexander the Great), directed by Theodoros Angelopoulos – (Greece)
- Oh, God! Book II, starring George Burns
- Oh! Heavenly Dog – directed by Joe Camp, starring Chevy Chase, Jane Seymour, & Omar Sharif
- One Trick Pony, written by and starring Paul Simon, with Blair Brown, Joan Hackett, Rip Torn
- The Orchestra Conductor (Dyrygent), directed by Andrzej Wajda, starring John Gielgud – (Poland)
- Ordinary People, directed by Robert Redford, starring Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Timothy Hutton, Judd Hirsch, Elizabeth McGovern
- Out of the Blue – directed by and starring Dennis Hopper, with Linda Manz, Raymond Burr – Canada
- Pepi, Luci, Bom – directed by Pedro Almodóvar – Spain
Palermo or Wolfsburg – West Germany - Permanent Vacation – directed by Jim Jarmusch
- The Pilot, directed by and starring Cliff Robertson, with Diane Baker and Gordon MacRae
- Playing for Time, directed by Daniel Mann, starring Vanessa Redgrave and Jane Alexander
- Popeye – directed by Robert Altman, starring Robin Williams & Shelley Duvall
- Pray TV, starring Dabney Coleman
- Private Benjamin, directed by Howard Zieff, starring Goldie Hawn, Eileen Brennan, Armand Assante, Robert Webber, Harry Dean Stanton
- The Private Eyes, starring Tim Conway and Don Knotts
- Prom Night – starring Leslie Nielsen & Jamie Lee Curtis
- Qurbani (Sacrifice), directed by and starring Feroz Khan – (India)
- Raging Bull** – directed by Martin Scorsese, starring Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Cathy Moriarty
- Resurrection, starring Ellen Burstyn and Eva Le Gallienne
- The Return of the King – starring the voices of Orson Bean, John Huston, William Conrad
- Return of the Secaucus 7 – directed by John Sayles, starring Bruce MacDonald, Maggie Renzi, Adam LeFevre, Maggie Cousineau, Gordon Clapp, Jean Passanante, & David Strathairn
- El Retorno del Hombre Lobo (Return of the Werewolf) – (Spain)
- Roadie – directed by Alan Rudolph, starring Meat Loaf and Kaki Hunter
- Le Roi et l’oiseau (The King and the Mocking Bird), animated film – (France)
- Rockshow, concert film featuring Paul McCartney and Wings – (U.K.)
- Rough Cut – directed by Don Siegel, starring Burt Reynolds, Lesley-Anne Down, David Niven
- Rude Boy, a rockumentary featuring The Clash – (U.K.)
- Sällskapsresan (The Charter Trip), directed by and starring Lasse Åberg – (Sweden)
- The Sea Wolves, starring Gregory Peck, David Niven, Roger Moore – (UK/US/Switzerland)
- See You in the Next War (enja u sledećem ratu) – (Yugoslavia)
- Seems Like Old Times – starring Goldie Hawn, Chevy Chase & Charles Grodin
- Serial, starring Martin Mull, Tuesday Weld, Christopher Lee, Bill Macy, Sally Kellerman, Tom Smothers
- The Shining** – directed by Stanley Kubrick, starring Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, Scatman Crothers
- Simon – directed Marshall Brickman, starring Alan Arkin, Madeline Kahn, Austin Pendleton, Judy Graubart, William Finley, Wallace Shawn, Jayant, & Max Wright
- A Small Circle of Friends, starring Brad Davis and Karen Allen
- Smokey and the Bandit II – directed by Hal Needham, starring Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Jackie Gleason, Jerry Reed, & Dom DeLuise
- Solo Sunny – (East Germany)
- Somewhere in Time, starring Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour
- Special Treatment (Poseban tretman) – (Yugoslavia)
- Stardust Memories – directed by and starring Woody Allen, with Charlotte Rampling & Jessica Harper
- Stir Crazy – directed by Sidney Poitier, starring Richard Pryor & Gene Wilder
- Stalker, directed by Andrei Tarkovsky and released in 1979 but later released in 1980
- The Stunt Man, directed by Richard Rush, starring Peter O’Toole, Barbara Hershey, Steve Railsback
- Sunday Lovers – starring Gene Wilder, Roger Moore, Lino Ventura
- Superman II – directed by Richard Lester (replacing Richard Donner), starring Christopher Reeve, Gene Hackman, Margot Kidder, Terence Stamp
- Terror Train, starring Ben Johnson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Hart Bochner
- La terrazza (The Terrace), starring Marcello Mastroianni, Vittorio Gassman, Ugo Tognazzi – (Italy)
- That Sinking Feeling, directed by Bill Forsyth, starring John Gordon Sinclair – (U.K.)
- Those Lips, Those Eyes, starring Frank Langella, Glynnis O’Connor, Tom Hulce
- Times Square, directed by Allen Moyle, starring Robin Johnson, Trini Alvarado, Tim Curry
- To Love the Damned (Maledetti vi amerò) – (Italy)
- Tom Horn – starring Steve McQueen, Richard Farnsworth, Linda Evans, Slim Pickens
- Tribute – starring Jack Lemmon – (Canada)
- Twelve Months (Sekai Meisaku Douwa Mori wa Ikiteiru / Dvenadtsat mesyatsev) – (Japan/U.S.S.R.)
- The Unseen, starring Barbara Bach and Stephen Furst
- Up the Academy – directed by Robert Downey Sr., starring Wendell Brown, Tommy Citera, Ron Leibman, Harry Teinowitz, Hutch Parker, Ralph Macchio, Tom Poston, King Coleman, & Barbara Bach
- Urban Cowboy, directed by James Bridges, starring John Travolta, Debra Winger, Scott Glenn, Madolyn Smith, Barry Corbin
- Used Cars – directed by Robert Zemeckis, starring Kurt Russell, Deborah Harmon, Jack Warden, Gerrit Graham
- Virus (Fukkatsu no hi), starring Sonny Chiba and Glenn Ford – (Japan)
- Le Voyage en douce, starring Dominique Sanda and Geraldine Chaplin – (France)
- Waiter, Scarper! (Vrchní, prchni!) – (Czechoslovakia)
- The Watcher in the Woods, starring Bette Davis – (UK/US)
- When Time Ran Out – starring Paul Newman, Jacqueline Bisset, William Holden, Burgess Meredith, Ernest Borgnine, Red Buttons
- Where the Buffalo Roam – directed by Art Linson, starring Bill Murray & Peter Boyle
- Wholly Moses!, starring Dudley Moore, Laraine Newman, Paul Sand, Dom DeLuise
- Who’s Singin’ Over There? (Ko to tamo peva) – (Yugoslavia)
- Why Would I Lie?, starring Treat Williams, Lisa Eichhorn, Valerie Curtin
- Willie & Phil, directed by Paul Mazursky, starring Margot Kidder, Ray Sharkey, Michael Ontkean
- Windows – starring Talia Shire & Elizabeth Ashley
- Witches’ Brew, starring Teri Garr and Richard Benjamin
- Xanadu – starring Olivia Newton-John, Michael Beck, Gene Kelly
- The Young Master (Shi di chu ma), directed by and starring Jackie Chan – (Hong Kong)
- Yūgure made – (Japan)
- Zigeunerweisen – directed by Seijun Suzuki – Japan