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The Most Underrated Movies of the 1980s

April 15, 2024 Jordan Ruimy

On a slow news day, it’s again time for some film recommendations from myself and readers. We already tackled the most underrated films of the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s, now it’s time for the underrated works of the 1980s.

I used to dislike this decade’s onslaught of sequels and cheesy action, but then the last few years happened and now it feels semi-nostalgic to look back at the ‘80s— a time when midbudget, adult-oriented filmmaking was still very much alive. Truth be told this was also the decade that introduced filmmaking as a business for sequels, franchises and action, lots and lots of testosterone-fueled action.

As far as critics go, a good blueprint would be the massive critics poll I conducted a few years ago, which led to Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing” being crowned best of the ‘80s. None of the films from that poll should be counted as “underrated”, they all clearly have support. Rather, I’d like to zero in on the more unsung gems from this decade. I found 30 great films that, if you haven’t seen them, are well worth a look:

Michael Mann’s Thief, Sidney Lumet’s Prince of the City, Costa Gavras’ Missing, Ivan Passer’s Cutter’s Way, The Richard Rush’s The Stunt Man, Bob Fosse’s Star 80, Rick Rosenthal’s Bad Boys, Andrzej Żuławski‘s Possession, Jonathan Demme’s Melvin and Howard, Jerzy Skolimowski’s Moonlighting, Alan Parker’s Shoot the Moon, Tony Bill’s My Bodyguard, Loader/Rafferty’s Atomic Cafe, Paul Verhoeven’s The Fourth Man, Eric Rohmer’s The Green Ray, Hector Babenko’s Pixote, Richard Tuggle’s Tightrope, Robert Altman’s Secret Honor, Andrei Konchalovsky’s Runaway Train, Stephen Frears’ The Hit, John Schlesinger’s The Falcon and the Snowman, Jonathan Demme’s Something Wild, Kathryn Bigelow’s Near Dark, David Mamet’s House of Games, John Sayles’ Eight Men Out, Peter Greenway’s The Cook, The Thief, The Wife and Her Lover, Brian DePalma’s Casualties of War, David Cronenberg’s The Dead Zone, Sam Fuller’s White Dog, Patrice Leconte’s Monsieur Hire

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