54th Academy Awards (1981)
by Erinaceus | created - 24 Dec 2015 | updated - 24 Dec 2015 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. Chariots of Fire (1981)
PG | 125 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
Two British track athletes, one a determined Jew and the other a devout Christian, are driven to win in the 1924 Olympics as they wrestle with issues of pride and conscience.
Director: Hugh Hudson | Stars: Ben Cross, Ian Charleson, Nicholas Farrell, Nigel Havers
Votes: 65,926 | Gross: $58.97M
Winner - Best Picture Nominated - Best Director for Hugh Hudson Nominated - Best Supporting Actor for Ian Holm Winner - Best Original Screenplay for Colin Welland Winner - Best Original Score for Vangelis Winner - Best Costume Design for Milena Canonero Nominated - Best Film Editing for Terry Rawlings
2. Atlantic City (1980)
R | 104 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
In a corrupt city, a small-time gangster and the estranged wife of a pot dealer find themselves thrown together in an escapade of love, money, drugs and danger.
Director: Louis Malle | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Susan Sarandon, Kate Reid, Michel Piccoli
Votes: 18,305
Nominated - Best Picture Nominated - Best Director for Louis Malle Nominated - Best Actor for Burt Lancaster Nominated - Best Actress for Susan Sarandon Nominated - Best Original Screenplay for John Guare
3. On Golden Pond (1981)
PG | 109 min | Drama
Norman is a curmudgeon with an estranged relationship with his daughter Chelsea. At Golden Pond, he and his wife nevertheless agree to care for Billy, the son of Chelsea's new boyfriend, and a most unexpected relationship blooms.
Director: Mark Rydell | Stars: Katharine Hepburn, Henry Fonda, Jane Fonda, Doug McKeon
Votes: 34,883 | Gross: $119.29M
Nominated - Best Picture Nominated - Best Director for Mark Rydell Winner - Best Actor for Henry Fonda Winner - Best Actress for Katharine Hepburn Nominated - Best Supporting Actress for Jane Fonda Winner - Best Adapted Screenplay for Ernest Thompson Nominated - Best Sound Nominated - Best Original Score for Dave Grusin Nominated - Best Cinematography for Billy Williams Nominated - Best Film Editing for Robert L. Wolfe
4. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
PG | 115 min | Action, Adventure
In 1936, archaeologist and adventurer Indiana Jones is hired by the U.S. government to find the Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis can obtain its awesome powers.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, John Rhys-Davies
Votes: 1,037,322 | Gross: $248.16M
Nominated - Best Picture Nominated - Best Director for Steven Spielberg Winner - Best Sound Nominated - Best Original Score for John Williams Winner - Best Art Direction Nominated - Best Cinematography for Douglas Slocombe Winner - Best Film Editing for Michael Kahn Winner - Best Visual Effects
5. Reds (1981)
PG | 195 min | Biography, Drama, History
A radical American journalist becomes involved with the Communist revolution in Russia, and hopes to bring its spirit and idealism to the United States.
Director: Warren Beatty | Stars: Warren Beatty, Diane Keaton, Edward Herrmann, Jerzy Kosinski
Votes: 24,726 | Gross: $40.38M
Nominated - Best Picture Winner - Best Director for Warren Beatty Nominated - Best Actor for Warren Beatty Nominated - Best Actress for Diane Keaton Nominated - Best Supporting Actor for Jack Nicholson Winner - Best Supporting Actress for Maureen Stapleton Nominated - Best Original Screenplay for Warren Beatty and Trevor Griffiths Nominated - Best Sound Nominated - Best Art Direction Winner - Best Cinematography for Vittorio Storaro Nominated - Best Costume Design for Shirley Russell Nominated - Best Film Editing for Dede Allen and Craig McKay
6. Arthur (1981)
PG | 97 min | Comedy, Romance
Alcoholic billionaire playboy Arthur Bach must marry a woman he does not love, or he will be cut off from his $750,000,000 fortune. But when Arthur falls in love with a poor waitress, he must decide if he wants to choose love or money.
Director: Steve Gordon | Stars: Dudley Moore, Liza Minnelli, John Gielgud, Geraldine Fitzgerald
Votes: 31,119 | Gross: $95.46M
Nominated - Best Actor for Dudley Moore Winner - Best Supporting Actor for John Giedgud Nominated - Best Original Screenplay for Steve Gordon Winner - Best Original Song for "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)"
7. Absence of Malice (1981)
PG | 116 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller
When a prosecutor leaks to a Miami reporter that a liquor wholesaler is suspected in the murder of a union head, the man's life begins to unravel.
Director: Sydney Pollack | Stars: Paul Newman, Sally Field, Bob Balaban, Melinda Dillon
Votes: 14,767 | Gross: $40.72M
Nominated - Best Actor for Paul Newman Nominated - Best Supporting Actress for Melinda Dillon Nominated - Best Original Screenplay for Kurt Luedtke
8. Only When I Laugh (1981)
R | 120 min | Comedy, Drama
A boozy Broadway actress comes out of a 12-week cure to face the problems of her best friends as well as her needy daughter. She tries to balance the terrors of returning to work with the ... See full summary »
Director: Glenn Jordan | Stars: Marsha Mason, Kristy McNichol, Ed Moore, Joan Hackett
Votes: 1,641 | Gross: $25.78M
Nominated - Best Actress for Marsha Mason Nominated - Best Supporting Actor for James Coco Nominated - Best Supporting Actress for Joan Hackett
9. The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981)
R | 124 min | Drama, Romance
Anna and Mike portray two characters in a film set in 19th century England who fall in love despite the fact that Mike's character is engaged.
Director: Karel Reisz | Stars: Meryl Streep, Jeremy Irons, Hilton McRae, Emily Morgan
Votes: 15,101 | Gross: $22.60M
Nominated - Best Actress for Meryl Streep Nominated - Best Adapted Screenplay for Harold Pinter Nominated - Best Art Direction Nominated - Best Costume Design for Tom Rand Nominated - Best Film Editing for John Bloom
10. Ragtime (1981)
PG | 155 min | Drama
A young black pianist becomes embroiled in the lives of an upper-class white family set among the racial tensions, infidelity, violence and other nostalgic events in early 1900s New York City.
Director: Milos Forman | Stars: James Cagney, Elizabeth McGovern, Howard E. Rollins Jr., Brad Dourif
Votes: 10,563 | Gross: $21.02M
Nominated - Best Supporting Actor for Howard E. Rollins, Jr. Nominated - Best Supporting Actress for Elizabeth McGovern Nominated - Best Adapted Screenplay for Michael Weller Nominated - Best Original Score for Randy Newman Nominated - Best Original Song for "One More Hour" Nominated - Best Art Direction Nominated - Best Cinematography for Miroslav Ondricek Nominated - Best Costume Design for Anna Hill Johnstone
11. Pennies from Heaven (1981)
R | 108 min | Drama, Musical, Romance
During the Great Depression, a sheet-music salesman seeks to escape his dreary life through popular music and a love affair with an innocent schoolteacher.
Director: Herbert Ross | Stars: Steve Martin, Bernadette Peters, Jessica Harper, Vernel Bagneris
Votes: 6,238 | Gross: $9.18M
Nominated - Best Adapted Screenplay for Dennis Potter Nominated - Best Sound Nominated - Best Costume Design for Bob Mackie
12. Prince of the City (1981)
R | 167 min | Crime, Drama
A New York City narcotics detective reluctantly agrees to cooperate with a special commission investigating police corruption, and soon realises he's in over his head, and nobody can be trusted.
Director: Sidney Lumet | Stars: Treat Williams, Jerry Orbach, Richard Foronjy, Don Billett
Votes: 9,525 | Gross: $8.12M
Nominated - Best Adapted Screenplay for Jay Presson Allen and Sidney Lumet
13. Mephisto (1981)
Unrated | 146 min | Drama
In early-1930s Germany, a passionate stage actor faces a dilemma: renounce his apolitical stance and comply with the Reich's doctrine, or face oblivion. But, Faustian bargains never end well. What is the price of success?
Director: István Szabó | Stars: Klaus Maria Brandauer, Ildikó Bánsági, Krystyna Janda, Rolf Hoppe
Votes: 11,600
Winner - Best Foreign Language Film (Hungary)
14. The Boat Is Full (1981)
PG | 101 min | Drama, War
During World War II, Switzerland severely limited refugees: "Our boat is full." A train from Germany halts briefly in an isolated corner of Switzerland. Six people jump off seeking asylum: ... See full summary »
Director: Markus Imhoof | Stars: Tina Engel, Hans Diehl, Martin Walz, Curt Bois
Votes: 704
Nominated - Best Foreign Language Film (Switzerland)
15. Man of Iron (1981)
PG | 156 min | Drama, History
A few years after the events of Man of Marble (1977), a journalist investigates Mateusz Birkut's son Maciek Tomczyk, now an activist leading a shipyard strike.
Director: Andrzej Wajda | Stars: Jerzy Radziwilowicz, Krystyna Janda, Marian Opania, Wieslawa Kosmalska
Votes: 3,797
Nominated - Best Foreign Language Film (Poland)
16. Muddy River (1981)
105 min | Drama
In post-War Japan, a boy from a noodle store-owning family befriends a neighboring boy living in poverty.
Director: Kôhei Oguri | Stars: Takahiro Tamura, Mariko Kaga, Nobutaka Asahara, Makiko Shibata
Votes: 1,035
Nominated - Best Foreign Language Film (Japan)
17. Three Brothers (1981)
PG | 113 min | Drama
Three men face their mother's death.
Director: Francesco Rosi | Stars: Philippe Noiret, Michele Placido, Vittorio Mezzogiorno, Andréa Ferréol
Votes: 1,795
Nominated - Best Foreign Language Film (Italy)
18. Outland (1981)
R | 109 min | Action, Crime, Sci-Fi
A federal marshal stationed at a mining colony on the Jupiter moon of Io uncovers a drug-smuggling conspiracy. He gets no help from the workers or authorities when he finds himself marked for murder.
Director: Peter Hyams | Stars: Sean Connery, Frances Sternhagen, Peter Boyle, James Sikking
Votes: 32,377 | Gross: $17.37M
Nominated - Best Sound
19. Genocide (1982)
PG | 90 min | Documentary, Drama, History
Orson Welles and Elizabeth Taylor compassionately narrate this harrowing documentary about Jewish persecution in Nazi Germany, which soon turned into a notoriously industrious plan to wipe them from existence.
Director: Arnold Schwartzman | Stars: Elizabeth Taylor, Orson Welles, Simon Wiesenthal, Neville Chamberlain
Votes: 686
Winner - Best Documentary Feature
20. Against Wind and Tide: A Cuban Odyssey (1981)
60 min | Documentary
The film chronicles the Mariel boatlift in 1980 and follows a year in the life of Cuban refugees.
Director: Jim Burroughs | Star: Jim Burroughs
Votes: 33
Nominated - Best Documentary Feature
21. Brooklyn Bridge (1981)
TV-G | 58 min | Documentary, History
This documentary chronicles the world-famous Brooklyn Bridge in New York City. The difficult construction process is described in interesting detail; later parts of the film interview ... See full summary »
Director: Ken Burns | Stars: Paul Roebling, Julie Harris, Arthur Miller, Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Votes: 1,012
Nominated - Best Documentary Feature
22. Eight Minutes to Midnight: A Portrait of Dr. Helen Caldicott (1980)
60 min | Documentary
Director: Mary Benjamin | Star: Helen Caldicott
Votes: 22
Nominated - Best Documentary Feature
23. El Salvador: Another Vietnam (1981)
53 min | Documentary
Examines the origins of the civil war in El Salvador and the US involvement in it, echoing memories of the prior Eastern Asia wars and America involved conflicts in Korea and Vietnam.
Directors: Glenn Silber, Teté Vasconcellos | Stars: Enrique Alvarez, John A. Bushnell, Terence Cooke, Archbishop Rivera y Damas
Votes: 48
Nominated - Best Documentary Feature
24. Close Harmony (1981)
30 min | Documentary, Short, Family
A chorus of 4th- and 5th-graders at the Brooklyn Friends School and a chorus of elderly retirees at a Brooklyn Jewish seniors' center combine to give an annual joint concert. Practicing ... See full summary »
Director: Nigel Noble | Star: Amy Israel
Votes: 55
Winner - Best Documentary Short
25. Americas in Transition (1982)
29 min | Documentary, Short
A close examination of American military intervention in Nicaragua, Guatemala, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Chile and El Salvador.
Director: Obie Benz | Stars: Edward Asner, Carlos Fuentes, Peggy Healey, Lyman Kirkpatrick
Votes: 42
Nominated - Best Documentary Short
26. Journey for Survival (1981)
15 min | Documentary, Short
Drought, desert, famine. Half the world's population must daily take a thirsty journey in search of water for survival, a search made even more difficult because the water they do find will almost certainly be contaminated.
Director: Dick Young | Star: Joel Crager
Votes: 19
Nominated - Best Documentary Short
27. See What I Say (1981)
24 min | Documentary, Short
This film features interviews with a number of hearing-impaired women, often in their homes, where the lighting is unusually dark.
Votes: 22
Nominated - Best Documentary Short
28. Urge to Build (1981)
27 min | Documentary, Short
Owner-builders share the experience of building their own homes. The different phases of construction provide a background for the more human issues: stress, confidence, and control of one's own life.
Director: Roland Hallé
Nominated - Best Documentary Short
29. Violet (1981)
31 min | Short
Badly scarred in a childhood accident, Violet boards a bus in North Carolina on a pilgrimage to Oklahoma to visit a TV preacher, the one that heals. On the bus, she meets two soldiers on their way to Fort Smith.
Director: Shelley Levinson | Stars: Didi Conn, Patrick Dollaghan, Rodney Saulsberry, Thomas McGowan
Votes: 148
Winner - Best Live Action Short
30. Couples and Robbers (1981)
PG | 29 min | Comedy, Short, Crime
Two couples - one with all the riches that dreams are made of, the other with only dreams and schemes - are brought together by the plotting of the poorer couple. A pair of newlyweds wander... See full summary »
Director: Clare Peploe | Stars: Frances Low, Rik Mayall, Peter Eyre, Frank Grimes
Votes: 50
Nominated - Best Live Action Short
31. First Winter (1981)
27 min | Short, Drama, History
With the father away, an Irish immigrant family struggle to survive their first winter in the Canadian wild.
Director: John N. Smith | Stars: Kathleen McAuliffe, Sharon O'Niell, Eric Patrick Godfrey, Kevin Kennedy
Votes: 151
Nominated - Best Live Action Short
32. Crac (1980)
15 min | Animation, Short, Drama
The industrialization of Montreal (Canada), as seen from the point of view of a rocking-chair.
Director: Frédéric Back
Votes: 1,638
Winner - Best Animated Short
33. The Creation (1981)
9 min | Animation, Short
The film is based on a poem by James Weldon Johnson depicting the power of the southern black American preacher's telling of the biblical creation story.
Director: Will Vinton | Star: James Earl Jones
Votes: 119
Nominated - Best Animated Short
34. The Tender Tale of Cinderella Penguin (1981)
10 min | Animation, Comedy, Short
Cinderella has to stay home while her evil stepsisters go to the ball. You know the rest except everyone here is a penguin (even the mice that become the "horses") and the lost slipper is more like a swimming flipper.
Director: Janet Perlman
Votes: 202
Nominated - Best Animated Short
35. Dragonslayer (1981)
PG | 109 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
A young wizarding apprentice is sent to kill a dragon which has been devouring girls from a nearby kingdom.
Director: Matthew Robbins | Stars: Peter MacNicol, Caitlin Clarke, Ralph Richardson, John Hallam
Votes: 19,978 | Gross: $14.11M
Nominated - Best Original Score for Alex North Nominated - Best Visual Effects
36. Endless Love (1981)
R | 116 min | Drama, Romance
Parental disapproval of a passionate romance between two teenagers leads to arguments, circumstance, insanity and tragedy.
Director: Franco Zeffirelli | Stars: Brooke Shields, Martin Hewitt, Shirley Knight, Don Murray
Votes: 9,582 | Gross: $31.18M
Nominated - Best Original Song for "Endless Love"
37. The Great Muppet Caper (1981)
G | 97 min | Adventure, Comedy, Crime
Kermit the Frog, The Great Gonzo, and Fozzie Bear are reporters who travel to Britain to interview a rich victim of jewel thieves and help her along with her secretary, Miss Piggy.
Director: Jim Henson | Stars: Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Dave Goelz, Jerry Nelson
Votes: 16,734 | Gross: $31.21M
Nominated - Best Original Song for "The First Time It Happens"
38. For Your Eyes Only (1981)
PG | 127 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
Secret service agent James Bond is assigned to find a missing British vessel equipped with a weapons encryption device and prevent it from falling into enemy hands.
Director: John Glen | Stars: Roger Moore, Carole Bouquet, Topol, Lynn-Holly Johnson
Votes: 108,338 | Gross: $62.30M
Nominated - Best Original Song for "For Your Eyes Only"
39. Heaven's Gate (1980)
R | 219 min | Adventure, Drama, Western
During the Johnson County War in 1890 Wyoming, a sheriff born into wealth does his best to protect immigrant farmers from rich cattle interests.
Director: Michael Cimino | Stars: Kris Kristofferson, Christopher Walken, John Hurt, Sam Waterston
Votes: 17,162 | Gross: $3.48M
Nominated - Best Art Direction
40. Excalibur (1981)
PG | 140 min | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
Merlin the magician helps Arthur Pendragon unite the Britons around the Round Table of Camelot, even as dark forces conspire to tear it apart.
Director: John Boorman | Stars: Nigel Terry, Helen Mirren, Nicholas Clay, Cherie Lunghi
Votes: 67,217 | Gross: $34.97M
Nominated - Best Cinematography for Alex Thomson
41. An American Werewolf in London (1981)
R | 97 min | Comedy, Horror
Two American college students on a walking tour of Britain are attacked by a werewolf that none of the locals will admit exists.
Director: John Landis | Stars: David Naughton, Jenny Agutter, Joe Belcher, Griffin Dunne
Votes: 120,601 | Gross: $30.57M
Winner - Best Makeup for Rick Baker
42. Heartbeeps (1981)
PG | 78 min | Comedy, Sci-Fi
Two household robots run away and try to start a family.
Director: Allan Arkush | Stars: Andy Kaufman, Bernadette Peters, Randy Quaid, Kenneth McMillan
Votes: 1,675 | Gross: $2.15M
Nominated - Best Makeup for Stan Winston
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