1989
by columbusbuck | created - 04 Oct 2017 | updated - 12 Oct 2017 | PublicMovies released calendar year 1989 that I failed to watch back in the day.
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1. Blaze (1989)
R | 120 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
A middle-aged Louisiana governor falls in love with a young stripper, which jeopardizes his political career and the radical policies which have made him a controversial figure.
Director: Ron Shelton | Stars: Paul Newman, Lolita Davidovich, Jerry Hardin, Gailard Sartain
Votes: 4,166 | Gross: $19.13M
2. Music Box (1989)
PG-13 | 124 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A lawyer defends her father accused of war crimes, but there is more to the case than she suspects.
Director: Costa-Gavras | Stars: Jessica Lange, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Frederic Forrest, Donald Moffat
Votes: 8,613 | Gross: $6.26M
3. Triumph of the Spirit (1989)
R | 120 min | Biography, Drama, History
In Greece during World War II, a young Jewish boxer, his girlfriend, and their families are sent to Auschwitz. When the camp guards learn of his boxing abilities, they force him to participate in weekly boxing matches.
Director: Robert M. Young | Stars: Willem Dafoe, Edward James Olmos, Robert Loggia, Wendy Gazelle
Votes: 2,750 | Gross: $0.41M
4. Dad (1989)
PG | 117 min | Comedy, Drama
While his mom recovers in hospital from a heart attack, John puts his busy life on hold to fly home and help his elderly dad around the house. John's son later joins them and they all truly bond for the first and, tragically, final time.
Director: Gary David Goldberg | Stars: Jack Lemmon, Ted Danson, Olympia Dukakis, Kathy Baker
Votes: 5,263 | Gross: $19.74M
5. An Innocent Man (1989)
R | 113 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A man is framed by two corrupt cops for drugs. After he gets out of prison, he comes after them.
Director: Peter Yates | Stars: Tom Selleck, F. Murray Abraham, Laila Robins, David Rasche
Votes: 7,619 | Gross: $20.05M
6. Chattahoochee (1989)
R | 98 min | Biography, Drama
In 1955 Florida, a Korean vet has a breakdown and is incarcerated in a "maximum security" mental health prison, where patients are abused.
Director: Mick Jackson | Stars: Gary Oldman, Dennis Hopper, Frances McDormand, Pamela Reed
Votes: 2,411 | Gross: $0.26M
7. A Dry White Season (1989)
R | 106 min | Drama, Thriller
A white middle class South African suburbanite with no interest in politics agrees to help his black gardener find his jailed son. His investigation opens his eyes to the horrors committed by the secret police and turns him into a target.
Director: Euzhan Palcy | Stars: Donald Sutherland, Janet Suzman, Zakes Mokae, Jürgen Prochnow
Votes: 6,134 | Gross: $3.77M
8. Erik the Viking (1989)
PG-13 | 107 min | Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy
Erik the Viking and his men travel across the sea to find Valhalla to ask the gods to end the Age of Ragnarok.
Director: Terry Jones | Stars: Tim Robbins, John Cleese, Mickey Rooney, Eartha Kitt
Votes: 14,449 | Gross: $1.93M
9. Shirley Valentine (1989)
R | 108 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Shirley is a 42-year-old bored Liverpudlian housewife who takes a holiday trip to Greece and meets a local man who bolsters her self-confidence. She evolves and transforms to the point that her husband doesn't even recognize her.
Director: Lewis Gilbert | Stars: Pauline Collins, Tom Conti, Julia McKenzie, Alison Steadman
Votes: 8,864 | Gross: $6.35M
10. Relentless (1989)
R | 92 min | Crime, Thriller
Two Los Angeles police detectives, cynical veteran Malloy and cocky rookie Dietz, hunt for a serial killer, an ex-cop named Taylor, who randomly chooses his victims from a phone directory.
Director: William Lustig | Stars: Judd Nelson, Robert Loggia, Leo Rossi, Meg Foster
Votes: 1,838 | Gross: $6.99M
11. The Package (1989)
R | 108 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Experienced Green Beret sergeant Johnny Gallagher is escorting a prisoner, Airborne Ranger Thomas Boyette, back to the US, but Boyette escapes and Gallagher must risk life and limb to catch him.
Director: Andrew Davis | Stars: Gene Hackman, Tommy Lee Jones, Joanna Cassidy, John Heard
Votes: 11,363 | Gross: $10.65M
12. Last Exit to Brooklyn (1989)
R | 102 min | Drama
Set in Brooklyn during the 1950s against a backdrop of union corruption and violence. A prostitute falls in love with one of her customers. Also a disturbed man discovers that he is homosexual.
Director: Uli Edel | Stars: Jennifer Jason Leigh, Stephen Lang, Burt Young, Peter Dobson
Votes: 6,912 | Gross: $1.73M
13. Licence to Kill (1989)
PG-13 | 133 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
A vengeful James Bond goes rogue to infiltrate and take down the organization of a drug lord who has murdered his friend's new wife and left him near death.
Director: John Glen | Stars: Timothy Dalton, Robert Davi, Carey Lowell, Talisa Soto
Votes: 111,757 | Gross: $34.67M
14. Do the Right Thing (1989)
R | 120 min | Comedy, Drama
On the hottest day of the year on a street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, everyone's hate and bigotry smolders and builds until it explodes into violence.
Director: Spike Lee | Stars: Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson
Votes: 111,971 | Gross: $27.55M
15. How to Get Ahead in Advertising (1989)
R | 90 min | Comedy, Fantasy
A cynical advertising exec has a block at work leading to a meltdown. He's hilariously out of control. Getting a big, talking boil on his shoulder doesn't help.
Director: Bruce Robinson | Stars: Richard E. Grant, Rachel Ward, Richard Wilson, Jacqueline Tong
Votes: 6,619 | Gross: $0.42M
16. Farewell to the King (1989)
PG-13 | 117 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Borneo, 1942: An American soldier escapes WWII and becomes the king of the headhunters in the jungle. Two British soldiers are parachuted into the area to find local support for the battle against the Japanese.
Director: John Milius | Stars: Nick Nolte, Nigel Havers, Frank McRae, Gerry Lopez
Votes: 3,124 | Gross: $2.42M
17. Parents (1989)
R | 81 min | Comedy, Horror, Mystery
A young boy living in 1950s suburbia suspects that his parents are cannibalistic murderers.
Director: Bob Balaban | Stars: Randy Quaid, Mary Beth Hurt, Sandy Dennis, Bryan Madorsky
Votes: 8,539 | Gross: $0.87M
18. Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
PG-13 | 104 min | Comedy, Drama
An ophthalmologist's mistress threatens to reveal their affair to his wife while a married documentary filmmaker is infatuated with another woman.
Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Martin Landau, Woody Allen, Bill Bernstein, Claire Bloom
Votes: 60,666 | Gross: $18.25M
19. Enemies, A Love Story (1989)
R | 119 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A ghostwriter finds himself romantically involved with his current wife, a married woman and his long-vanished wife.
Director: Paul Mazursky | Stars: Ron Silver, Anjelica Huston, Lena Olin, Malgorzata Zajaczkowska
Votes: 2,556 | Gross: $7.75M
20. Harlem Nights (1989)
R | 116 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
During the 1930s, a New York City illegal gambling house owner and his associates must deal with strong competition, gangsters, and corrupt cops in order to stay in business.
Director: Eddie Murphy | Stars: Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, Redd Foxx, Danny Aiello
Votes: 24,709 | Gross: $60.86M
21. The Little Mermaid (1989)
G | 83 min | Animation, Adventure, Family
A mermaid princess makes a Faustian bargain in an attempt to become human and win a prince's love.
Directors: Ron Clements, John Musker | Stars: Jodi Benson, Samuel E. Wright, Rene Auberjonois, Christopher Daniel Barnes
Votes: 289,978 | Gross: $111.54M
22. Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt (1989)
79 min | Documentary, Biography, History
A collection of profiles of people dead from AIDS who are remembered in the AIDS Memorial Quilt.
Directors: Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman | Stars: Sara Lewinstein, David Mandell, Suzi Mandell, Sallie Perryman
Votes: 1,073
23. Adam Clayton Powell (1989)
Not Rated | 54 min | Documentary
The Academy Award¨-nominated Adam Clayton Powell delves into the gripping life and career of the most influential and flamboyant civil rights leader in America in the Õ30s, Õ40s and Õ50s.
Director: Richard Kilberg | Stars: Julian Bond, John Brademas, Calvin O. Butts III, Stokely Carmichael
Votes: 75
24. Crack USA: County Under Siege (1989)
42 min | Documentary, Short
America Undercover goes to Florida's Palm Beach County in order to investigate the growing crack cocaine epidemic in the United States. It talks to police officers and follows them as they ... See full summary »
Directors: Vince DiPersio, Bill Guttentag | Stars: Joe Mantegna, Tim Wagman, Jack Maxwell, Susie Gray
Votes: 70
25. For All Mankind (1989)
Not Rated | 80 min | Documentary, History
An in-depth look at various NASA moon landing missions, starting with Apollo 8.
Director: Al Reinert | Stars: Jim Lovell, Ken Mattingly, Russell Schweickart, Eugene Cernan
Votes: 6,505 | Gross: $0.77M
26. Super Chief: The Life and Legacy of Earl Warren (1989)
88 min | Documentary
Featuring rare archival footage, explores the impact of Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren's historical rulings during a tumultuous time for American politics.
Director: Bill Jersey | Stars: Joseph Ball, Robert Bork, William Brennan, Herbert Brownell Jr.
Votes: 37
27. Jesus of Montreal (1989)
R | 120 min | Drama, Romance
A group of actors put on an unorthodox, but acclaimed Passion Play which incites the opposition of the Catholic Church while the actors' lives themselves begin to mirror the Passion itself.
Director: Denys Arcand | Stars: Lothaire Bluteau, Catherine Wilkening, Johanne-Marie Tremblay, Rémy Girard
Votes: 7,530 | Gross: $1.60M
28. What Happened to Santiago (1989)
105 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Santiago, a retired accountant, casually meets Angelina during one of his daily walks in Old San Juan. They soon become friends, even though she refuses to give out any personal information.
Director: Jacobo Morales | Stars: Tommy Muñiz, Gladys Rodríguez, Johanna Rosaly, René Monclova
Votes: 277
29. Memories of a Marriage (1989)
90 min | Drama
The active Regitze and passive Karl Aage have a party with friends and family at their allotment garden. He reminisces his life with her from meeting her during WWII, having a son, the son graduating, etc. up to present day.
Director: Kaspar Rostrup | Stars: Frits Helmuth, Mikael Helmuth, Ghita Nørby, Rikke Bendsen
Votes: 771
30. The Unbelievable Truth (1989)
R | 90 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A man returns to his home town after serving a prison sentence for homicide, and finds that the details of the crime have been forgotten and replaced with local legends and rumors.
Director: Hal Hartley | Stars: Adrienne Shelly, Robert John Burke, Chris Cooke, Julia McNeal
Votes: 6,259 | Gross: $0.55M
31. The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989)
NC-17 | 124 min | Crime, Drama
At Le Hollandais gourmet restaurant, every night is filled with opulence, decadence and gluttony. But when the cook, a thief, his wife and her lover all come together, they unleash a shocking torrent of sex, food, murder and revenge.
Director: Peter Greenaway | Stars: Richard Bohringer, Michael Gambon, Helen Mirren, Alan Howard
Votes: 41,554 | Gross: $7.72M
32. Leningrad Cowboys Go America (1989)
PG-13 | 79 min | Comedy, Music
Siberian rock band Leningrad Cowboys go to the USA in pursuit of fame.
Director: Aki Kaurismäki | Stars: Matti Pellonpää, Kari Väänänen, Sakke Järvenpää, Heikki Keskinen
Votes: 8,369
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