1980

Academy winner Ordinary People poster

Ordinary People

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Should have won The Empire Strikes Back poster

The Empire Strikes Back

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The Academy's ballot

🏆Ordinary People#1072.97 🎬The Elephant Man#380.23 🎬Raging Bull#479.62 🎬Coal Miner's Daughter#1569.08 🎬Tess#1767.9

Your #1 was The Empire Strikes Back (#1).

The full slate

The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

⭐ Top-rated🏛️ All-time great💰 Box office #1

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Dir. Irvin Kershner · Mark Hamill · Harrison Ford · Carrie Fisher · Billy Dee Williams

IMDb 8.7 (1,508,352 votes) · TMDB 8.391

The epic saga continues as Luke Skywalker, in hopes of defeating the evil Galactic Empire, learns the ways of the Jedi from aging master Yoda. But Darth Vader is more determined than ever to capture Luke. Meanwhile, rebel leader Princess Leia, cocky Han Solo, Chewbacca, and droids C-3PO and R2-D2 are thrown into various stages of capture, betrayal and despair.

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The Shining (1980)

⭐ Top-rated🏛️ All-time great

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Dir. Stanley Kubrick · Jack Nicholson · Shelley Duvall · Danny Lloyd · Scatman Crothers

IMDb 8.4 (1,229,405 votes) · TMDB 8.203

Jack Torrance accepts a caretaker job at the Overlook Hotel, where he, along with his wife Wendy and their son Danny, must live isolated from the rest of the world for the winter. But they aren't prepared for the madness that lurks within.

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The Elephant Man (1980)

🎬 Nominee⭐ Top-rated🏛️ All-time great

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Dir. David Lynch · Anthony Hopkins · John Hurt · Anne Bancroft · John Gielgud

IMDb 8.2 (281,850 votes) · TMDB 8.0

A Victorian surgeon rescues a heavily disfigured man being mistreated by his "owner" as a side-show freak. Behind his monstrous façade, there is revealed a person of great intelligence and sensitivity. Based on the true story of Joseph Merrick (called John Merrick in the film), a severely deformed man in 19th century London.

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Raging Bull (1980)

🎬 Nominee⭐ Top-rated🏛️ All-time great

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Dir. Martin Scorsese · Robert De Niro · Cathy Moriarty · Joe Pesci · Frank Vincent

IMDb 8.1 (410,755 votes) · TMDB 7.901

The life of boxer Jake LaMotta, whose violence and temper that led him to the top in the ring destroyed his life outside of it.

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The Blues Brothers (1980)

⭐ Top-rated💰 Box office #4

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Dir. John Landis · John Belushi · Dan Aykroyd · James Brown · Cab Calloway

IMDb 7.9 (230,080 votes) · TMDB 7.716

Jake Blues, just released from prison, puts his old band back together to save the Catholic home where he and his brother Elwood were raised.

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Airplane! (1980)

⭐ Top-rated💰 Box office #7

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Dir. Jerry Zucker · Robert Hays · Julie Hagerty · Leslie Nielsen · Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

IMDb 7.7 (289,196 votes) · TMDB 7.307

An ex-fighter pilot forced to take over the controls of an airliner when the flight crew succumbs to food poisoning.

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Kagemusha: The Shadow Warrior (1980)

⭐ Top-rated

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Dir. Akira Kurosawa · Tatsuya Nakadai · Tsutomu Yamazaki · Kenichi Hagiwara · Jinpachi Nezu

IMDb 7.9 (41,050 votes) · TMDB 7.8

Akira Kurosawa's lauded feudal epic presents the tale of a petty thief who is recruited to impersonate Shingen, an aging warlord, in order to avoid attacks by competing clans. When Shingen dies, his generals reluctantly agree to have the impostor take over as the powerful ruler. He soon begins to appreciate life as Shingen, but his commitment to the role is tested when he must lead his troops into battle against the forces of a rival warlord.

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Zübük (1980)

⭐ Top-rated

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Dir. Kartal Tibet · Kemal Sunal · Nevra Serezli · Metin Serezli · Bülent Kayabaş

IMDb 8.5 (12,146 votes) · TMDB 8.485

This is the story of the politician named Zübük. He gets expelled from the political party that he is a member of, due to corruption. The journalist Yaşar wants to make a news story about his case and investigates Zübük's doings. Yaşar gets baffled at the sly tricks Zübük played on his village people. In the end, he feels sorry about Zübük's present situation, however, as things happen he becomes aware that Zübük has been tricking him.

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Who's Singin' Over There? (1980)

⭐ Top-rated

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Dir. Slobodan Šijan · Pavle Vuisić · Dragoslav 'Dragan' Nikolić · Danilo 'Bata' Stojković · Aleksandar Berček

IMDb 8.7 (17,962 votes) · TMDB 7.6

On Saturday, 5 April 1941, one day before the Invasion of Yugoslavia of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, a colourful group of random passengers on a country road deep in the heart of Serbia board a dilapidated bus, headed for the capital Belgrade. The group includes two gypsy musicians, a World War I veteran, a Germanophile, a budding singer, a sickly looking man, and a hunter with a shotgun. The bus is owned by Krstic senior, and driven by his impressionable and dim-witted son Misko.

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#10

Ordinary People (1980)

🏆 Winner⭐ Top-rated

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Dir. Robert Redford · Donald Sutherland · Mary Tyler Moore · Judd Hirsch · Timothy Hutton

IMDb 7.7 (62,088 votes) · TMDB 7.4

Beth, Calvin, and their son Conrad are living in the aftermath of the death of the other son. Conrad is overcome by grief and misplaced guilt to the extent of a suicide attempt. He is in therapy. Beth had always preferred his brother and is having difficulty being supportive to Conrad. Calvin is trapped between the two trying to hold the family together.

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#11

Lion of the Desert (1980)

⭐ Top-rated

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Dir. Moustapha Akkad · Anthony Quinn · Oliver Reed · Irene Papas · Raf Vallone

IMDb 8.2 (18,891 votes) · TMDB 7.4

Resistance leader Omar Mukhtar opposes Italian colonization before World War II. The brutal guerrilla war against Italian General Rodolfo Graziani and the Fascist forces of Benito Mussolini highlights the struggle for Libyan independence and the harsh tactics utilised by the colonisers.

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#12

Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears (1980)

⭐ Top-rated

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Dir. Vladimir Menshov · Vera Alentova · Aleksey Batalov · Irina Muravyova · Aleksandr Fatyushin

IMDb 8.0 (15,827 votes) · TMDB 7.572

Living together in a workers' dorm, Katerina and her friends are determined to make it in Moscow. But when a boorish cameraman forces himself on her, Katerina finds herself pregnant and alone as her friends move on. Twenty years later, Katerina is a factory director, outpacing her old roommates career-wise, yet still alone but for her daughter. Love seems possible again when she meets a genial mechanic.

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#13

The Gods Must Be Crazy (1980)

⭐ Top-rated💰 Box office #3

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Dir. Jamie Uys · Marius Weyers · Sandra Prinsloo · N!xau · Louw Verwey

IMDb 7.3 (63,215 votes) · TMDB 7.267

A Coca-Cola bottle dropped from an airplane raises havoc among a normally peaceful tribe of African bushmen who believe it to be a utensil of the gods.

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#14

The Long Good Friday (1980)

⭐ Top-rated

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Dir. John Mackenzie · Bob Hoskins · Helen Mirren · Dave King · Bryan Marshall

IMDb 7.5 (29,721 votes) · TMDB 7.2

In the late 1970s, Cockney crime boss Harold Shand, a gangster trying to become a legitimate property mogul, has big plans to get the American Mafia to bankroll his transformation of a derelict area of London into the possible venue for a future Olympic Games. However, a series of bombings targets his empire on the very weekend the Americans are in town. Shand is convinced there is a traitor in his organization, and sets out to eliminate the rat in typically ruthless fashion.

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#15

Coal Miner's Daughter (1980)

🎬 Nominee💰 Box office #10

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Dir. Michael Apted · Sissy Spacek · Tommy Lee Jones · Levon Helm · Beverly D'Angelo

IMDb 7.5 (22,298 votes) · TMDB 7.2

Biography of Loretta Lynn, a country and western singer that came from poverty to fame.

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#16

Caddyshack (1980)

⭐ Top-rated

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Dir. Harold Ramis · Chevy Chase · Rodney Dangerfield · Ted Knight · Bill Murray

IMDb 7.2 (133,545 votes) · TMDB 6.601

At an exclusive country club, an ambitious young caddy, Danny Noonan, eagerly pursues a caddy scholarship in hopes of attending college and, in turn, avoiding a job at the lumber yard. In order to succeed, he must first win the favour of the elitist Judge Smails, and then the caddy golf tournament which Smails sponsors.

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#17

Tess (1980)

🎬 Nominee

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Dir. Roman Polanski · Nastassja Kinski · Peter Firth · Leigh Lawson · John Collin

IMDb 7.3 (19,946 votes) · TMDB 7.1

A strong-willed peasant girl is sent by her father to the estate of some local aristocrats to capitalize on a rumour that their families are from the same line. This fateful visit commences an epic narrative of sex, class, betrayal, and revenge.

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#18

Nine to Five (1980)

💰 Box office #5

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Dir. Colin Higgins · Jane Fonda · Lily Tomlin · Dolly Parton · Dabney Coleman

IMDb 6.9 (43,513 votes) · TMDB 6.945

Three female employees of a sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot find a way to turn the tables on him.

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#19

Superman II (1980)

💰 Box office #2

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Dir. Richard Lester · Christopher Reeve · Margot Kidder · Terence Stamp · Sarah Douglas

IMDb 6.8 (123,748 votes) · TMDB 6.759

Three Kryptonian criminals led by General Zod team up with Lex Luthor to conquer Earth, forcing a depowered Superman to regain his strength and stop them.

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#20

Stir Crazy (1980)

💰 Box office #6

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Dir. Sidney Poitier · Gene Wilder · Richard Pryor · Georg Stanford Brown · JoBeth Williams

IMDb 6.7 (32,699 votes) · TMDB 6.514

New Yorkers Skip Donahue and Harry Monroe have no jobs and no prospects, so they decide to flee the city and find work elsewhere, landing jobs wearing woodpecker costumes to promote the opening of a bank. When their feathery costumes are stolen and used in a bank robbery, they no longer have to worry about employment — they're sent to prison.

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#21

Private Benjamin (1980)

💰 Box office #9

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Dir. Howard Zieff · Goldie Hawn · Eileen Brennan · Armand Assante · Robert Webber

IMDb 6.2 (30,921 votes) · TMDB 5.955

A sheltered young high society woman joins the US Army on a whim and finds herself in a more difficult situation than she ever expected.

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#22

Any Which Way You Can (1980)

💰 Box office #8

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Dir. Buddy Van Horn · Clint Eastwood · Sondra Locke · Geoffrey Lewis · William Smith

IMDb 6.1 (22,590 votes) · TMDB 5.8

Philo takes part in a bare knuckle fight – as he does – to make more money than he can earn from his car repair business. He decides to retire, but when the Mafia come along and arrange another fight, he's pushed into it. A motorcycle gang and an orangutan called Clyde all add to the 'fun'.

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How scoring works: films are ranked by a composite of a weighted (Bayesian) IMDb rating — the same method as the IMDb Top 250, so a high score from few voters can't outrank a strong score from many — blended with TMDB. Box office is a tiebreaker and a badge, never part of the score. Raw IMDb ratings and vote counts are shown on each card.