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My Favorite Films from Every Year I’ve Been Alive (Part Two: 1980–1989)
It was a formative decade
When I decided to list my favorite movies from every year I’ve been alive, I thought that the decade of the 1980s would be the easiest. Just as was the case for this decade in my favorite albums series, the films released between 1980 and 1989 were among the most formative for me, and are surely the ones I still quote the most often. Given that, I assumed my ten favorites would be simple to choose.
To borrow a song title from John Mellencamp’s 1989 album Big Daddy: “Sometimes a Great Notion.” Yeah, John…same here.
What I have run into, among other things, is the question of how I determine what my favorite film for each year is. One glaring example of this is 1981; Raiders of the Lost Ark is my favorite film from that franchise, my favorite Harrison Ford role (yes, Eric Pierce, even more than Han Solo), and arguably the best film from that year (though Reds has a solid case for that distinction as well). It seems like a no-brainer that Raiders would be my favorite film of 1981. Except it isn’t, and you will see why when we get to the list.
The way I’ve decided to choose a favorite in essentially no-win situations like this is to ask myself which one I would take with me to a desert island, knowing I will…
