Great '80s Movies That Still Hold Up Today

As time marches on, it's tough to reckon with nostalgia for days gone by. On the one hand, you're bound to have some fondness for the movies of your youth ... but you're also likely to revisit them, and discover that they just don't hold up. Sometimes, however, you dig up an old favorite from decades ago that remains every bit as great as you remember it being. Those movies, as rare as they are wonderful, exist simultaneously as time capsules of their era and as timeless reflections of the world at large.

We're here to honor those films that stand the test of time by examining standouts from the 1980s. These movies might be decades old, but they remain visually compelling, brilliantly crafted, and — for better or worse — relevant in our world today. From Oscar-winning classics to sci-fi spectaculars, let's take a look back at the movies of the '80s that shine as brightly today as they did upon the date of their release.

While today's television news landscape might seem to have little in common with that of 1987, James L. Brooks' critically-acclaimed Broadcast News makes it clear that little has fundamentally changed. In fact, it might have only grown more relevant in the intervening years. After all, aren't we debating questions of truthfulness, sensationalism, and accuracy even today? Has the problem of news portrayed as entertainment grown any smaller? If anything, the social media age has made Broadcast News more important than ever.

And boy, is it entertaining. This movie boasts Oscar-nominated turns from Holly Hunter, William Hurt, and Albert Brooks, all of whom seamlessly navigate rip-roaring comedy and tear-jerking drama. Decades later, Broadcast News remains an illuminating look at what happens when the smartest people in the room realize that happiness isn't guaranteed. Seriously — this is a movie that shines a light on the factory that is news media and manages to make an unwieldy love triangle work. That's not just notable — it's practically miraculous.

You can't talk about cinema of the 1980s without talking about Steven Spielberg. And you can't talk about Spielberg without talking about his child-meets-alien blockbuster smash, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. No other movie has quite been able to capture the strange brand of whimsy E.T. exudes — it's creepy, it's cute, it's altogether weird, but in a way that works. Given the fact that the movie also features an all-star John Williams score and some seriously cool puppetry, it's no surprise it was such a massive success ... and that other films haven't been able to replicate its unique sense of wonder.

It's that sense of wonder that gives E.T. its serious staying power. You might think you're completely beyond sympathizing with Elliot now that you're an adult, but within minutes, E.T. proves you wrong. You remember that the child you once were lives within you still, waiting to be woken up by the right work of art — especially one you likely first enjoyed as a child. E.T. is a kids' movie through a kid's eyes, and as such, its sense of magic is undimmed. Even adults are affected by such open commitment to love, empathy, and altruism.

Hayao Miyazaki, master of animated whimsy, has won the hearts and minds of fans worldwide with classics like Kiki's Delivery Service, Porco Rosso, and the masterpiece that is Spirited Away. But early on in his career, Miyazaki created a film that's not only as charming as the rest of his oeuvre, but whose title character has become the symbol of Studio Ghibli as a whole and one of the most recognizable animated characters worldwide to boot.

1988's My Neighbor Totoro isn't a plot-driven movie. It mainly focuses on the day-to-day lives of two young sisters who have moved to the countryside to be closer to their hospitalized mother. Miyazaki's all-ages feature stands out today against a sea of loud, attention-seeking animated films — it's uniquely simple, and profoundly patient. Totoro takes the time to linger on a garden, sleeping animals of the forest, and the soaring branches of an old and mighty tree. And yet somehow, Totoro is also absolutely enrapturing for every moment of its just-under 90-minute runtime. Totoro was an early example of Miyazaki's genius, and still stands out as one of Studio Ghibli's most impressive creations.

1977's Star Wars kicked off a cinematic revolution that 1980's The Empire Strikes Back securely cemented. Decades later, time has only further highlighted the importance and artistry of this darker and more ambitious entry in the Star Wars saga. With series creator George Lucas passing the directing reins over to Irvin Kershner, Star Wars was able to grow into an epic tale of good and evil, bursting with complex relationships, dark themes, and truly oddball creatures from across the galaxy. It's vast, innovative, and anchored in true pathos. And it's just as good today as it was in 1980.

From the introduction of historic characters like Yoda and Lando Calrissian, to that final jaw-dropping reveal of Darth Vader's relationship to Luke, The Empire Strikes Back fires on all cylinders. It bumps up the visuals, deepens the world's lore, and takes a few risks that pay off massively. Empire proved that George Lucas' vision of a galaxy far, far away had staying power. And boy oh boy, has it stayed with us.

In a world where live-action actors are thrown into computer-generated landscapes in almost every blockbuster, it might be hard to remember exactly how groundbreaking Who Framed Roger Rabbit was upon its initial release. Going back and watching the film, it's still mesmerizing to see Bob Hoskins' drunkard detective Eddie Valiant seamlessly walking the same street as hand-drawn Yosemite Sam and Dumbo. It's a true technical marvel that time has only improved — it still looks incredible, in today's age of Avatar and Guardians of the Galaxy's Groot.

But beyond its visual achievements, Who Framed Roger Rabbit functions just as brilliantly as a classic detective story. This movie spins a grade-A mystery out of the conflict between the real world and Toontown, perfectly balancing the zany animated antics of Roger Rabbit with the hard-edged emotional turmoil of Detective Valiant. In so many ways, the movie shouldn't work: It's an odd blend of grown-up and kid-friendly themes and mediums, it's a smoky noir in which characters like Betty Boop and Mickey Mouse appear, and it's meta-textual in pretty much every direction. And yet, it all comes together to create something unlike any other movie. If you're looking for a satisfying mystery that's got more than a few tricks up its sleeve, Who Framed Roger Rabbit is the ideal choice.

Based on his manga of the same name, Katsuhiro Otomo's anime classic "Akira" takes place in a dystopian version of Tokyo that sprung up from the ashes of the former city following a devastating explosion. We come to learn the true nature of that explosion over the course of 124 gloriously animated minutes that still look as striking today as they did in 1988. The film follows best friends Kaneda and Tetsuo, members of a biker gang who run into something unexpected while out on a drive one night. When Tetsuo collides with Takashi (one of the Espers, a trio of powerful psychics) he begins to develop abilities that he cannot control. It's up to Kaneda to stop his friend before he becomes consumed by rage and brings destruction to Neo-Tokyo.

It's widely seen as one of the best anime films of all time, and "Akira" is also one of the best films of the 1980s, animated or otherwise. It's still a big deal in its home country to this day, and it's become a must-see cult classic worldwide. Otomo's tour de force "inspired a generation of creators in Japan and helped jump-start an appreciation of anime in the West," said The Japan Times. "'Akira' has seeped into every pop culture crack imaginable: from dance music to top streetwear brands to the Steven Spielberg film 'Ready Player One.'" If you're new to '80s anime, this is a great place to start.

He's played Scottish freedom fighters, he's played famous mutineers, he's even played a cocky circus rooster, but the role that's come to define Mel Gibson's career is the one that first put him on the map. Gibson made his debut as Max Rockatansky in George Miller's low-budget dystopian thriller "Mad Max" (1979), in which we got the now-famous character's origin story: he's a member of Australia's highway patrol who goes vigilante after his wife and child are run down by a gang of biker thugs. Australia is in chaos following war and widespread resource shortages in Miller's universe. Things are already pretty bad Down Under in the first film, but by the time we catch up with Max in 1981's "Mad Max 2" (released as "The Road Warrior" in the United States), the country has virtually collapsed.

This time around, Max goes up against the Marauders, another gang of thugs that roam the dusty outback looking for gasoline, food, and trouble. They find the latter in Max, who, still haunted by the loss of his family, has nothing left to lose. It's a typical Mel Gibson performance — and we mean that in the best of ways. This '80s classic is often considered Gibson's best movie, and it still holds up well to this day. "Time hasn't diluted The Road Warrior's impact," said The Guardian when it revisited the film. "Decades later it still comes on like gangbusters, offering a visceral oomph quite unlike anything else."

Mockumentary filmmaking is commonplace nowadays, but long before "The Office" and "Modern Family" utilized it so well, Rob Reiner showed the world how it was done in his directorial debut, "This Is Spinal Tap." Reiner features in the seminal film himself as Martin "Marty" Di Bergi, a documentary maker on tour with the fictional English rock band Spinal Tap. The initial idea came from actor and screenwriter Christopher Guest, who was inspired by a conversation he overheard in an L.A. hotel (a British rock band was checking in, and the bassist had left his bass at the airport). Despite being largely improvised, the film is hilarious from start to finish and contains dozens of endlessly quotable lines — if you've ever heard a joke about something going "up to 11," it comes from Spinal Tap's amps.

Writer Christopher Guest also stars in the film alongside Michael McKean and Harry Shearer. It's ultimately their chemistry and their comedic timing that make this '80s classic so great. The music and fashion may have moved on since the world met the titular rockers in 1984, but the comedy in "This Is Spinal Tap" hasn't aged one bit. "It remains the funniest, truest, most emotionally honest movie ever made about rock & roll and the people who live for it," Rolling Stone declared on the film's 30th birthday. "Can you trace the influence of this film through pop culture through the years? That would be like trying to dust vomit."

Interest in Frank Oz and Jim Henson's "The Dark Crystal" hit a new high when Netflix released the critically acclaimed prequel series "The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance" in 2019. Viewers who weren't even born when the all-puppet fantasy epic dropped in 1982 started to check it out, and they found that, despite the three-and-a-half-decade gap between them, the original film still holds up. The story unfolds in a world named Thra, where a Gelfling (a race of elf-like beings and the primary protagonists in the "Dark Crystal" story) named Jen has been asked to fulfill a prophecy: overthrow the tyrannical (and still, to this day, absolutely terrifying) Skeksis by finding a missing shard of the titular crystal and fixing it.

"The Dark Crystal" was met with mixed reviews upon release, though that's primarily because it got marketed as a movie for kids, despite being anything but (the result was a generation of scarred children). A cult following grew around the movie once people began to see it for what it was; a dark fantasy story for grown-ups that just happened to be told with puppets. In a world of CGI and green screens, it makes for a nostalgic escape. "'The Dark Crystal' remains a wonderfully crafted adventure from a simpler time," said Film School Rejects. "The effort and talent required for its creation are still visible on the screen in the design of the smallest creature on up to the biggest set or matte painting."

A movie based on a classic board game that angered critics before earning a cult status, 1985's "Clue" still has a dedicated following more than three decades later. Jonathan Lynn's farcical black comedy about a murder at a secluded New England mansion was made with alternate endings, and audiences saw different versions depending on which cineplex they visited. It was a stunt that left veteran film critic Roger Ebert fuming ("Why doesn't the studio abandon the ridiculous multiple-ending scheme and show all three endings at every theater?"), but it added to the intrigue surrounding the picture and helped "Clue" become a must-see movie in the long run. It's still very much worth your time today, for Tim Curry's performance if nothing else.

The ensemble cast includes Eileen Brennan (Mrs. Peacock), Madeline Kahn (Mrs. White), Christopher Lloyd (Professor Plum), Michael McKean (Mr. Green), Martin Mull (Colonel Mustard), and Lesley Ann Warren (Miss Scarlet), but it's Curry that steals the show as Wadsworth, the butler. He was best known for his turn as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" at this point in time, and he brought that same electric energy to Wadsworth, constantly moving and talking at pace. "Tim is a very disciplined guy," Michael McKean told BuzzFeed. "Every time when Marty and I would be goofing around — we thought quietly — between takes, Tim would give us a look like, 'I'm trying to remember the f****** phone book here.' And he can give a good look."

It seems strange that perhaps the most memorable Stephen King film of all time is not horror, but even the author admits that "Stand By Me" is a perfect adaptation. According to director Rob Reiner, King "was pretty broken up" the first time he saw the film, which is based on his novella "The Body." Reiner told the Chicago Tribune: "He excused himself for about 15 minutes. When he came back he said, 'That's the best film ever made out of anything I've written.'" There have been dozens more Stephen King adaptations since then, and while some of them have been successful (2017's "It" was a critical and commercial smash hit), none are likely to live as long in the memory as "Stand By Me," a coming-of-age masterpiece for the ages.

The film follows four boys (Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, and Jerry O'Connell) who decide to track down a dead body after overhearing some older kids talking about its location deep in the woods. They laugh and fight and cry along the way, opening up about their lives and deepening their bonds. It's the ultimate friendship tale, and the mature performances are as impressive now as they were at the time: it's hard not to be moved when River Phoenix's character, Chris, breaks down in tears. "Three decades on, this particular movie's influence and legacy remains," said iNews, pointing to the film's clear influence on the hit Netflix show "Stranger Things."

The unexpected success of the belated sequel series "Cobra Kai" has catapulted "The Karate Kid" back into the public consciousness in recent years, though this '80s classic was always guaranteed a place in pop culture history. Even if you've never sat down to watch the original film, chances are you've seen it referenced or quoted somewhere. From "wax on, wax off" to "sweep the leg," John Avildsen's beloved movie is packed full of memorable lines, but it's the relationship between the main characters that makes it so special — and studio interference almost ruined that.

According to writer Mark Robert Kamen, execs at Columbia were happy with the movie but they wanted it to be a little bit shorter. To achieve that, they were going to cut the scene in which Pat Morita's Mr. Miyagi gets drunk and mourns the loss of his wife and son, who died in a prisoner of war camp. It's a moving story that comes out of nowhere and hits Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio), as well as the audience, like a truck. Kamen insisted that the film be tested with the scene intact, and he was proven right by the reaction of the audience. Today, it's considered a highlight in a movie that's distinctly 1980s, yet refuses to age. "I do think 'The Karate Kid' holds up because it's genuine and the emotional beats are universal," Kamen told Uproxx. "And also because Pat Morita and Ralph Macchio were magic, especially Pat."

The 1980s saw the introduction of a new cinematic icon in Indiana Jones, who made his big-screen debut in 1981 and appeared in two sequels before the decade was out. 1984's "Indiana Jones and the Temple Of Doom" has not aged well at all (the somber tone and the film's depiction of India has rightfully come in for criticism in the years since), and while 1989's "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" recaptured the spirit of the first film, it doesn't hold up as well as the original.

"Raiders of the Lost Ark" was our introduction to Harrison Ford's gunslinging archaeology professor, a character inspired by the serialized dramas of the 1930s and '40s that creators Steven Spielberg and George Lucas grew up on. Jones does battle with a French rival and the Nazis as he attempts to reach the Ark of the Covenant (a long-lost relic with the power to make an army invincible) before they do. It's a film full of memorable moments, and Spielberg's insistence on using practical effects and filming on location means it looks as great as ever.

The shoot was beset with troubles (Ford was suffering from dysentery at one stage), though audiences loved the globetrotting adventure, which mixed classic sensibilities with New Hollywood filmmaking. "Four decades later, the iconic hit has become the pivot point between cinema's past and present," said The New York Times when "Raiders of the Lost Ark" turned 40 in 2021.

Like many of the entries on the list, Paul Verhoeven's subversive classic "RoboCop" was grossly misunderstood at the time of its release. Set in a sleazy, run-down future version of Detroit, the film became notable for its dark tone and extreme violence, but underneath all the blood and metal is a stinging rebuke of Ronald Reagan's America. It follows police officer Alex Murphy (Peter Weller), who is brought back to life by a megacorporation after being brutally gunned down by a vicious gang. Omni Consumer Products transforms Murphy into a cyborg cop and before long he's on the streets, mercilessly cleaning them up.

It is, of course, immensely satisfying seeing thugs and rapists get what's coming to them, and "RoboCop" remains highly entertaining in that regard — but the ultra violence on display isn't a simple stylistic choice. Verhoeven uses it as a way to frame Murphy's lost humanity and warn against the dangers of selling vital public services to the highest bidder (OCP owns the police force in the film and has every intention of taking its cyborg soldiers to the military). His message hits just as hard today. "In 1987, Verhoeven and writers Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner were extrapolating Reagan-era greed and enthusiasm for privatization by imagining a corporate takeover of public services," said Vulture on the film's 30th anniversary. "Now, that's barely an extrapolation — it's a serious proposal made by a startling number of America's most powerful industrialists."

There have been many heartbreaking anime movies about World War II over the years, but none of them punch you in the gut quite as hard as "Grave of the Fireflies," a beautiful but devastating film. Directed by Studio Ghibli co-founder Isao Takahata, "Grave of the Fireflies" was released as a double feature alongside Hayao Miyazaki's "My Neighbor Totoro" in 1988. Both are great movies, but they couldn't be more different in terms of setting. While Miyazaki's film takes place in the idyllic Japanese countryside during the late 1950s, Takahata's tragedy is set in the city of Kobe during the final days of the war. It follows Seita and Setsuko, recently orphaned siblings barely clinging to life. We already know their fate, but it doesn't make it any easier to swallow when it happens.

"Grave of the Fireflies" moved viewers to tears at the time and it has continued to do so in the years since. When film buff Roger Ebert saw the film over a decade after its release, he called it "an emotional experience so powerful that it forces a rethinking of animation," and that's exactly what it is. We know that Seita and Setsuko are doomed from the start, but you become so invested in their harrowing journey that, at times, you forget you're watching an anime. It's without a doubt one of the best anti-war movies ever made, and it's just as effective all these years later.