Raiders of the lost art of ranking films
Empire, the prestigious film magazine, has just published its list of the 500 greatest movies of all time. How many are in the '80s? Plenty.
So plentiful in fact that the home office assigned Miguel Duarte, the Portugal bureau chief of Stuck in the '80s, to tally up the flicks appearing in just the top 100. Feel free to go through the whole list and let us know other interesting finds and trends.
Here's the list, along with their position in the ranking:
2. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
3. Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
11. Raging Bull (1980)
20. Blade Runner (1982)
23. Back to the Future (1985)
29. Die Hard (1988)
30. Aliens (1986)
47. E.T. (1982)
48. This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
49. Evil Dead 2 (1987)
52. The Shining (1980)
60. Come and See (1985) - Russian movie
70. Stand By Me (1986)
83. Brazil (1985)
85. Blue Velvet (1986)
87. The King of Comedy (1983)
88. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
90. When Harry Met Sally (1989)
91. Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983)
92. Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
Curious what the No. 1 movie was? The Godfather, of course. What was the last movie on the list? The 2001 remake of Ocean's Eleven. The lowest ranked '80s flick? Back to the Future Part II (No. 498). Biggest '80s injustice? I mean, aside from ranking Empire Strikes Back being so ridiculously high. That'd be ranking Full Metal Jacket (No. 457) behind Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (No. 453). To paraphrase Gunnery Sgt. Hartman: "What is your major malfunction, Empire?!?"
Click here to browse the list.
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Posted by: elen | July 13, 2009 at 10:49 PM
I think Blade Runner is a timeless scifi classic that deserves its recognition. It launched a vision of the future that inspired many other movies in the eighties. As far as Empire Strikes Back, I feel it is the strongest of the 3 initial Star Wars films so I feel it fully deserves the position it has.
Posted by: ARod | October 21, 2008 at 10:15 AM
What...no 'King Ralph'?
Posted by: Mike | October 20, 2008 at 06:12 PM
Caddyshack and Animal House! Those 2 films put catch phrases into the American lexicon, to numerous to list.
Posted by: Al | October 20, 2008 at 05:36 PM
Lord of the Rings were terrible. I have never been able to watch any of them completly. Just god awful junk.
Posted by: Ted | October 20, 2008 at 07:50 AM
Yeah, VGF, I get the who "existential" aspect of Blade Runner...I just can't watch the movie without dozing off.
As for the future, they might have had a few things correct. The "in-your-face" advertising billboards were definitely a sign of things to come...but I am still waiting for the flying car. Oh wait, that will never happen because if you crash, you die. Convenient, futuristic, or just cool; I don't care...I don't want to die.
I have to agree that the LOTR franchise surpassed Star Wars in terms of their entire collection, but I still hold The Empire Strikes Back as one of the best movies of All-time...It was all crap for Lucas after that movie.
Posted by: Rob Bass from Chicago | October 19, 2008 at 01:59 PM
but Rob, Blade Runner has those awesome light-up umbrellas, which you can buy now. And, the whole film is trying to tackle the issue of what it really means to be "human", how should society treat a robot that thinks like a human, etc. It is one of my favorite films, not just because I love Rachel's clothes.
Posted by: Vegasgirlfriend | October 19, 2008 at 10:14 AM
oh my god, smokey and the bandit is pure brilliance!!
Posted by: CHAD | October 18, 2008 at 09:23 PM
It`s true that Lord of the Rings movies are better than the Star Wars ones and are worse ranked on the list,but still..
Posted by: Miguel | October 18, 2008 at 09:13 PM
Blasphemy Spears!
Empire Strikes Back is masterful entertainment.And i`m not a big Lucas fan.
Posted by: Miguel | October 18, 2008 at 09:11 PM
Ah Johnny -- all Jedi had was a bunch of muppets!
Posted by: Spears | October 18, 2008 at 07:22 PM
I did not see Smokey and the Bandit.
Posted by: jay | October 18, 2008 at 07:09 PM
Spears,
Are you disagreeing with Empire being ranked so high? Have you forgotten what the guys from Clerks said about that movie?
Posted by: Johnny B. Goode | October 18, 2008 at 05:42 PM
Wow! Way to go, Miguel! Muy bueno (it sounds sexier when I say it.)
After reading the comments I have this suggestion to make: Everybody take a hit off Dennis Hopper's oxygen in Blue Velvet and chill. The world loves Indiana Jones. Relax. It was just a movie.
Posted by: Marissa | October 18, 2008 at 01:24 PM
I have watched "Blade Runner" about a dozen times now and I still cannot figure out what is so damn epic or "great" about that movie.
I think as far as Sci-fi movies go, I think that Robocop is far better than Blade Runner...not because Robocop was a great movie, because it really isn't...but when I was watching Robocop a few months ago; I could help but notice that the movie really had the future figured out. They had flip phones, flat screen televisions, laptop computers, and handheld gps devices. If you look at most movies that try to depict the future; they mostly had it completely wrong, but Robocop really nailed it.
Posted by: Rob Bass from Chicago | October 17, 2008 at 11:02 PM
One explination on how they got to this list.This list was voted by 10000 readers,50 of the best movie critics and 150 of cinema most prestigious people,like Quentin Tarantino,Cameron Crowe,David Fincher,Pedro Almodovar,Mike Leigh and many others,so that makes a very interesting and diverse list,and in a way unpretensious.
The list has 500 movies,most of them brilliant,not just Crystal Skull(a good movie by the way,although not deserving of a top 500 list).
Posted by: Miguel | October 17, 2008 at 08:38 PM
Meh. If "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Suck" made it in the top 1000, then the whole list is suspect.
BTW: Did anyone see the South Park episode that featured Lucas & Spielberg giving Indy the "Deliverance" treatment?
Posted by: Ray | October 17, 2008 at 06:58 PM
OK, time to stop lurking. Did anyone else notice that the review bits were invariably positive? Even the comment for the #500 flick sounded like it could have been for something in the top ten.
Posted by: Matt | October 17, 2008 at 01:26 PM
Oh,and Steve,being the Portugal bureau chief of Stuck in the 80s is an honor,and a very easy job.I think i`m the only member.Hahaha!
I blame it on the economic crysis.You know,i decided that if anybody wants to be a legitime sit80s member here,they have to pay 10 Euros a month!
Posted by: Miguel | October 17, 2008 at 11:55 AM
There were a lot of good 80s movies that didn`t make the list,including most of Woody Allen`s work that decade.
Crystal Skull in the list is not a huge surprise.If you go look at the list "The Dark Knight" is n.15 on the list.
The great thing about this month`s Empire is that they have 100 different magazine covers. I bought the "This is Spinal Tap" cover.
Posted by: Miguel | October 17, 2008 at 11:50 AM
Why did the "Crystal Skull" even make it on to the list??
Posted by: Michelle | October 17, 2008 at 11:33 AM
I never understood what made Stand by Me so great. Maybe I should watch it again. Did Repo Man make the list?
Overall, a great ranking, like most of the lists on this blog!
Posted by: Mark in East Texas | October 17, 2008 at 11:19 AM
Full Metal Jacket doesn't deserve to be behind Indy IV, but it REALLY doesn't deserve to be 96 spots behind.
Time to grab your eraser.
Posted by: Jeff in Cuba | October 17, 2008 at 10:10 AM