Best Movies of 1986
Here are my selections for the best movies of 1986.
List activity
1.4K views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
49 titles
- DirectorDavid LynchStarsIsabella RosselliniKyle MacLachlanDennis HopperThe discovery of a severed human ear found in a field leads a young man on an investigation related to a beautiful, mysterious nightclub singer and a group of psychopathic criminals who have kidnapped her child.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsMia FarrowDianne WiestMichael CaineBetween two Thanksgivings two years apart, Hannah's husband falls in love with her sister Lee, while her hypochondriac ex-husband rekindles his relationship with her sister Holly.
- DirectorRanda HainesStarsWilliam HurtMarlee MatlinPiper LaurieA new speech teacher at a school for the deaf falls in love with the janitor, a deaf woman speechless by choice.
- DirectorTrevor NunnStarsHelena Bonham CarterCary ElwesJohn WoodThe story of Lady Jane Grey, who was Queen of England for only nine days.
- DirectorJames CameronStarsSigourney WeaverMichael BiehnCarrie HennDecades after surviving the Nostromo incident, Ellen Ripley is sent out to re-establish contact with a terraforming colony but finds herself battling the Alien Queen and her offspring.
- DirectorRoland JofféStarsRobert De NiroJeremy IronsRay McAnallyEighteenth-century Spanish Jesuits try to protect a remote South American tribe in danger of falling under the rule of pro-slavery Portugal.
- DirectorDenys ArcandStarsDominique MichelDorothée BerrymanLouise PortalSexual revelations emerge when a group of academics and their partners spend a weekend at a country retreat.
- DirectorRob ReinerStarsWil WheatonRiver PhoenixCorey FeldmanA writer recounts a childhood journey with his friends to find the body of a missing boy.
- DirectorJean-Jacques BeineixStarsJean-Hugues AngladeBéatrice DalleGérard DarmonA lackadaisical handyman and aspiring novelist tries to support his younger girlfriend as she slowly succumbs to madness.
- DirectorJohn HughesStarsMatthew BroderickAlan RuckMia SaraA popular high school student, admired by his peers, decides to take a day off from school and goes to extreme lengths to pull it off, to the chagrin of his Dean, who'll do anything to stop him.
- DirectorNeil JordanStarsBob HoskinsCathy TysonMichael CaineA man recently released from prison manages to get a job driving a call girl from customer to customer.
- DirectorDavid AnspaughStarsGene HackmanBarbara HersheyDennis HopperA coach with a checkered past and a local drunk train a small-town high school basketball team to become a top contender for the state championship in 1950s Indiana.
- DirectorOliver StoneStarsJames WoodsJim BelushiMichael MurphyA burnt-out photojournalist becomes involved in a Central American revolution.
- DirectorJean-Jacques AnnaudStarsSean ConneryChristian SlaterHelmut QualtingerAn intellectually nonconformist friar investigates a series of mysterious deaths in an isolated abbey.
- DirectorChris BernardStarsPeter FirthAlfred MolinaTracy Marshak-NashTwo Soviet sailors, Peter and Sergei, go ashore in Liverpool to spend one night on the town. Peter can speak a minimal amount of English but it's enough to make contact with two Liverpudlian natives, Elaine and Theresa. Elaine and Peter immediately fall in love with each other, but the night is short and they must leave with the ship. Elaine can't forget him and writes a letter to Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev, asking him to make it possible for them to reunite.
- DirectorMichael MannStarsWilliam PetersenKim GreistJoan AllenFormer FBI profiler Will Graham returns to service to pursue a deranged serial killer dubbed "the Tooth Fairy" by the media.
- DirectorJim JarmuschStarsTom WaitsJohn LurieRoberto BenigniTwo men are framed and sent to jail, where they meet a murderer who helps them escape and leave the state.
- DirectorAlex CoxStarsGary OldmanChloe WebbDavid HaymanThe relationship between Sid Vicious, bassist for British punk group Sex Pistols, and his girlfriend Nancy Spungen is portrayed.
- DirectorHoward DeutchStarsMolly RingwaldJon CryerHarry Dean StantonA poor girl must choose between the affections of dating her childhood sweetheart or a rich but sensitive playboy.
- DirectorPedro AlmodóvarStarsAssumpta SernaAntonio BanderasNacho MartínezA matador is wounded by a bull and can no longer kill in the arena. It is just one of the problems of one of the characters that unexpectedly collide in this film.
- DirectorBruce BeresfordStarsDiane KeatonJessica LangeSissy SpacekThree southern sisters try to come to grips with the meaning of their mother's suicide.
- DirectorJaime Humberto HermosilloStarsArturo MezaMarco TreviñoGuadalupe Del ToroRodolfo ( Marco Treviño ) is a young bachelor doctor who has a love affair with a younger music student, Ramon ( Arturo Meza ). When Rodolfo's mother begins to urge his son to get married, he quickly asks modern and open-mind Olga ( Letícia Lupercio ) to become his wife. Ramon is heart-broken, but Dona Herlinda ( Guadalupe Del Toro ) has the final solution to make everybody happy: She asks Ramon to live with her, near by Rodolfo and Olga. Everybody together forever.
- DirectorDavid CronenbergStarsJeff GoldblumGeena DavisJohn GetzA brilliant but eccentric scientist begins to transform into a giant man/fly hybrid after one of his experiments goes horribly wrong.
- DirectorRobert DornhelmStarsSusan DeyTom HulceMichael BowenIn the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, everyone is more than they initially seem. May waits tables, raises a son, Henry, and is an aspiring actress. She needs a roommate and takes in a pizza deliverer named Jonathan, an aspiring songwriter. In the adjoining flat is August, an Austrian body sculptor who appears in a deodorant commercial and dreams big dreams. May takes a job delivering singing telegrams as a stripper, Jonathan invites Henry to tag along with him on deliveries, August gets into trouble with the police who call his father in Austria, and the friendships, frustrations, and love affairs of everyday life come to a head.
- DirectorFrancis Ford CoppolaStarsKathleen TurnerNicolas CageBarry MillerPeggy Sue faints at a high school reunion. When she wakes up, she finds herself in her own past, just before she finished school.
- DirectorTim HunterStarsCrispin GloverKeanu ReevesIone SkyeA high school slacker commits a shocking act and proceeds to let his friends in on the secret. However, the friends' reaction is almost as ambiguous and perplexing as the crime itself.
- DirectorJonathan DemmeStarsJeff DanielsMelanie GriffithGeorge 'Red' SchwartzA free-spirited woman "kidnaps" a yuppie for a weekend of adventure. But the fun quickly takes a dangerous turn when her ex-convict husband shows up.
- DirectorJulien TempleStarsPatsy KensitEddie O'ConnellDavid BowieIn London in 1958, a young photographer seeks media stardom to keep the love of a beautiful, aspiring fashion designer.
- DirectorLeonard NimoyStarsWilliam ShatnerLeonard NimoyDeForest KelleyTo save Earth from an alien probe, Admiral James T. Kirk and his fugitive crew go back in time to San Francisco in 1986 to retrieve the only beings who can communicate with it: humpback whales.
- DirectorPaul MazurskyStarsNick NolteBette MidlerRichard DreyfussA rich but troubled family find their lives altered by the arrival of a vagrant who tries to drown himself in their swimming pool.
- DirectorFrank OzStarsRick MoranisEllen GreeneVincent GardeniaA nerdy florist finds his chance for success and romance with the help of a giant man-eating plant who demands to be fed.
- DirectorDerek JarmanStarsNoam AlmazDexter FletcherNigel TerryA retelling of the life of the celebrated 17th-century painter through his brilliant, nearly blasphemous paintings and his flirtations with the underworld.
- DirectorDavid SeltzerStarsCorey HaimKerri GreenCharlie SheenA socially inept fourteen-year-old experiences heartbreak for the first time when his two best friends - Cappie, an older-brother figure, and Maggie, the new girl with whom he is in love - fall for each other.
- DirectorJim AbrahamsDavid ZuckerJerry ZuckerStarsBette MidlerDanny DeVitoJudge ReinholdA couple cheated by a vile businessman kidnaps his wife in retaliation, not knowing that their enemy is delighted that they did.
- DirectorPeter FaimanStarsPaul HoganLinda KozlowskiJohn MeillonAn American reporter goes to the Australian outback to meet an eccentric crocodile poacher and invites him to New York City.
- DirectorTony ScottStarsTom CruiseTim RobbinsKelly McGillisAs students at the United States Navy's elite fighter weapons school compete to be best in the class, one daring young pilot learns a few things from a civilian instructor that are not taught in the classroom.
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsPaul NewmanTom CruiseMary Elizabeth MastrantonioFast Eddie Felson teaches a cocky but immensely talented protégé the ropes of pool hustling, which in turn inspires him to make an unlikely comeback.
- DirectorRon ClementsBurny MattinsonDavid MichenerStarsVincent PriceBarrie InghamVal BettinBasil, the rodent Sherlock Holmes, investigates the kidnapping of a toy maker and uncovers its link to his archenemy, Professor Ratigan.
- DirectorDon BluthStarsDom DeLuiseChristopher PlummerErica YohnWhile emigrating to the United States, a young Russian mouse gets separated from his family and must locate them while trying to survive in a new country.
- DirectorAlan ClarkeStarsSiobhan FinneranMichelle HolmesGeorge CostiganRealistic story of working-class Yorkshire life, alternately serious and light-hearted, as two schoolgirls have a sexual fling with a married man.
- DirectorNick CastleStarsLucy DeakinsJay UnderwoodBonnie BedeliaAn autistic boy who dreams of flying touches everyone he meets, including a new family who has moved in after their father dies.
- DirectorGene SaksStarsBlythe DannerJonathan SilvermanStacey GlickEugene, a young teenage Jewish boy, recalls his memoirs of his time as an adolescent youth. He goes through the hardships of puberty, sexual fantasy, and living the life of a poor boy in a crowded house.
- DirectorRobert MandelStarsBryan BrownBrian DennehyDiane VenoraA movie special effects man is hired to fake a real-life mob killing for a witness protection plan, but finds his own life in danger.
- DirectorJohn FrankenheimerStarsRoy ScheiderAnn-MargretVanityA secret fling between a man and his mistress leads to blackmail and murder.
- DirectorJames FoleyStarsSean PennChristopher WalkenMary Stuart MastersonReunited with his career criminal father, tough teen Brad thinks he's found his ticket to an exciting life of crime, only to find out he's wrong.
- DirectorRobert HarmonStarsRutger HauerC. Thomas HowellJennifer Jason LeighA young man who escapes the clutches of a murderous hitchhiker is subsequently stalked by the hitcher and framed for his crimes.
- DirectorJim HensonStarsDavid BowieJennifer ConnellyToby FroudSixteen-year-old Sarah must solve a labyrinth to rescue her baby brother when he is taken by the Goblin King.
- DirectorRussell MulcahyStarsChristopher LambertSean ConneryClancy BrownAn immortal Scottish swordsman must confront the last of his immortal opponents, a murderously brutal barbarian who lusts for the fabled "Prize".
- DirectorPenny MarshallStarsWhoopi GoldbergStephen CollinsJohn WoodAn American computer wiz who works at a New York bank is suddenly thrust into the world of international espionage after she inadvertently receives a coded message from a British spy.