The Best '80s Movies That Will Never Get Old

A writer serves as live-in caretaker at an isolated hotel with his wife and son, where a dark presence eats away at his sanity and provokes him to violence. Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall star in Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of the 1977 Stephen King novel.

This slapstick comedy follows a failed WWII pilot with a new fear of flying as he boards a domestic flight to try and win back his old girlfriend, a flight attendant. Disaster follows and Ted Striker finds himself thrust back into the pilot’s seat, with lives on the line.

This science fiction thriller based on the Philip K. Dick novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” takes place in a dystopic Los Angeles, where robots known as “replicants” are hunted by police officers called “blade runners”. Harrison Ford stars as a blade runner on the hunt for four extremely dangerous replicants on the run in his city.

Three professors of parapsychology (Murray, Aykroyd, and Ramis) are fired by their university, so they start their own business as paranormal exterminators in New York City. Calamity ensues when an ancient evil makes its way to Manhattan, and the Ghostbusters are the only ones able to stop it.

Spike Lee’s comedy-drama takes place in Bedford-Stuyvesant, a formerly Italian New York neighborhood that is now largely African-American, on the hottest day of the year. A discussion in a pizza parlor turns into real violence as tensions boil over and pour into the city streets.

This animated classic follows a young witch named Kiki as she spends her 13th year living among the residents of a quiet, seaside village. Disney purchased the distribution rights to the film in 1998, when it saw its first English release on video cassette.

Based on Tom Wolfe’s history of the U.S. Space Program published in 1979, Philip Kaufman’s adaptation follows the civilian and military test pilots who risked life and limb to make the first U.S. human spaceflight program a success. The film won four Oscars.

Matthew Broderick plays Robert Gould Shaw, the Union Army officer who led the first company of black soldiers in the American Civil War. The film won three Oscars, including Best Supporting Actor for Denzel Washington’s portrayal of Private Trip.

Woody Allen wrote, directed, and acted in this comedy-drama about a doctor whose mistress threatens to expose their affair. Martin Landau stars alongside Allen as a filmmaker in a failing marriage who falls for someone new.

The third installment of the Indiana Jones franchise brings Sean Connery into the fray as Indiana’s father, a famous scholar who has spent most of his career studying medieval history. Indiana must rescue his father from Nazis, who have taken him in an effort to finish their search for the Holy Grail.

Based on the 1952 novel “The Hoods,” this movie sees Robert De Niro playing a mobster — broke, and haunted by the memories of his past — returning to the Lower East Side after 35 years in hiding.

Rob Reiner’s definitive “mockumentary” follows English heavy metal band Spinal Tap as they mount an ill-fated comeback tour across the U.S. Viewers get a behind the scenes look into the men that made the music, for better or worse.

David Lynch’s biographical drama tells the story of a severely disfigured young man who lived in Victorian England. Forced into a life of meager subsistence as a side-show freak, Merrick sees his life changed by a doctor from the London Hospital.

This star-studded coming-of-age story is based on the Stephen King novella “The Body” (1982), in which a group of friends travel into the woods to see the dead body of a young boy who had recently gone missing.

Sam Lowry is a disconnected bureaucrat in a future burdened by inefficiencies, whose only relief is regular escape into his subconscious. Mistakenly identified as the perpetrator of a rash of terrorist attacks, Sam must set the record straight before it’s too late.

This animated feature follows a young girl with a magical amulet as she is chased by government officials, pirates, and an army on her way to find a hidden floating castle.

Robert De Niro stars as Jake LaMotta, a champion boxer who can’t control himself outside of the ring. Violence and jealousy push his family away, no matter how badly he wants their love. The film was awarded two Oscars.

Arnold Schwarzenegger stars with Linda Hamilton in this science-fiction blowout, in which both a soldier and a killer robot time travel into the past. One has come to kill Sarah Connor, the other to stop him before humanity’s last hope is gone.

Based on the 1979 novel “The Short-Timers,” Stanley Kubrick’s depiction of the Vietnam War lays bare the dehumanizing nature of combat. From the indignities of boot camp to the violence inflicted upon the Vietnamese during the Tet offensive, Kubrick doesn’t pull any punches.

This action-adventure classic tells the story of John McClane, an NYPD cop who travels to Los Angeles to visit his wife just as her office is seized by German terrorists. With no sign of help from the LAPD, John takes it upon himself to rescue his wife and the other hostages before it’s too late.

A young boy is read a story by his grandfather while sick in bed. The story is one of triumphs, tragedies, and most of all true love, as the protagonist goes to any lengths to rescue the eponymous princess bride from an evil prince.

The story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, this film adaptation of the 1979 play is told through the eyes of Antonio Salieri, a fellow composer in the Austrian court, who is plagued by his insufficiency in light of Mozart’s genius. The film won eight Oscars, including Best Picture.

Ellen Ripley is brought out of stasis more than a half-century after she survived her fight aboard the Nostromo to discover that she is needed once more to help colonial forces repel an onslaught of aliens. The film won two Oscars.

The first Indiana Jones film follows the intrepid archeologist on his pursuit of the Ark of the Covenant, a biblical artifact thought to contain great power. It’s 1936, and Dr. Jones must find the relic before it falls into the hands of the Nazis. The film won four Oscars and a Special Achievement Award.

This action-adventure classic follows high-schooler Marty McFly and his friend, the eccentric scientist Doc Brown, as they are accidently brought 30 years into the past by Doc’s time machine. Stranded, Marty now must intervene to make sure that his parents fall in love or else he’ll disappear forever.

Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Princess Leia must continue their fight against Darth Vader and the Galactic Empire after the destruction of the Death Star. Luke begins his Jedi training on the remote planet of Dagobah, with the help of Jedi Master Yoda. This sequel took home an Oscar and a Special Achievement Award .