1983 Top 50 Movies
by MisterPinkInc | created - 09 Mar 2015 | updated - 07 Jun 2015 | PublicMy 50 favorite films of 1983 (US release).
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1. A Christmas Story (1983)
PG | 93 min | Comedy, Family
In the 1940s, a young boy named Ralphie Parker attempts to convince his parents, teacher, and Santa Claus that a Red Ryder Range 200 Shot BB gun really is the perfect Christmas gift.
Director: Bob Clark | Stars: Peter Billingsley, Melinda Dillon, Darren McGavin, Scott Schwartz
Votes: 168,647 | Gross: $20.61M
2. Silkwood (1983)
R | 131 min | Biography, Drama, History
A worker at a plutonium processing plant is purposefully contaminated, psychologically tortured and possibly murdered to prevent her from exposing worker safety violations at the plant.
Director: Mike Nichols | Stars: Meryl Streep, Kurt Russell, Cher, Craig T. Nelson
Votes: 22,220 | Gross: $35.62M
3. Scarface (1983)
R | 170 min | Crime, Drama
In 1980 Miami, a determined Cuban immigrant takes over a drug cartel and succumbs to greed.
Director: Brian De Palma | Stars: Al Pacino, Michelle Pfeiffer, Steven Bauer, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio
Votes: 917,135 | Gross: $45.60M
4. The Right Stuff (1983)
PG | 193 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama
The U.S. space program's development from the breaking of the sound barrier to selection of the Mercury 7 astronauts, from a group of test pilots with a more seat-of-the-pants approach than the program's more cautious engineers preferred.
Director: Philip Kaufman | Stars: Sam Shepard, Scott Glenn, Ed Harris, Dennis Quaid
Votes: 65,378 | Gross: $21.50M
5. WarGames (1983)
PG | 114 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
A young man finds a back door into a military central computer in which reality is confused with game-playing, possibly starting World War III.
Director: John Badham | Stars: Matthew Broderick, Ally Sheedy, John Wood, Dabney Coleman
Votes: 110,838 | Gross: $79.57M
6. Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)
PG | 131 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
After rescuing Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt, the Rebel Alliance attempt to destroy the second Death Star, while Luke struggles to help Darth Vader back from the dark side.
Director: Richard Marquand | Stars: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams
Votes: 1,122,120 | Gross: $309.13M
7. The King of Comedy (1982)
PG | 109 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A passionate yet unsuccessful comedian stalks and kidnaps his idol to take the spotlight for himself.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Robert De Niro, Jerry Lewis, Diahnne Abbott, Sandra Bernhard
Votes: 119,277 | Gross: $2.50M
8. Vacation (1983)
R | 98 min | Adventure, Comedy
The Griswold family's cross-country drive to the Walley World theme park proves to be much more arduous than they ever anticipated.
Director: Harold Ramis | Stars: Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, Imogene Coca, Randy Quaid
Votes: 120,184 | Gross: $61.40M
9. The Meaning of Life (1983)
R | 107 min | Comedy, Musical
The comedy team takes a look at life in all of its stages in their own uniquely silly way.
Director: Terry Jones | Stars: John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones
Votes: 125,366 | Gross: $14.93M
10. The Outsiders (1983)
PG | 91 min | Crime, Drama
In a small Oklahoma town in 1964, the rivalry between two gangs, the poor Greasers and the rich Socs, heats up when one gang member accidentally kills a member of the other.
Director: Francis Ford Coppola | Stars: C. Thomas Howell, Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, Patrick Swayze
Votes: 97,641 | Gross: $25.60M
11. Uncommon Valor (1983)
R | 105 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
Ten years after his son went M.I.A. in Vietnam, U.S. Marine retired Colonel Jason Rhodes assembles a private rescue team to find Americans held in P.O.W. camps in Laos.
Director: Ted Kotcheff | Stars: Gene Hackman, Patrick Swayze, Robert Stack, Fred Ward
Votes: 11,659 | Gross: $30.50M
12. The Year of Living Dangerously (1982)
PG | 115 min | Drama, Romance, War
A young Australian reporter tries to navigate the political turmoil of Indonesia during the rule of President Sukarno with the help of a diminutive photographer.
Director: Peter Weir | Stars: Mel Gibson, Sigourney Weaver, Linda Hunt, Bembol Roco
Votes: 22,904 | Gross: $10.28M
13. Terms of Endearment (1983)
PG | 132 min | Comedy, Drama
Follows hard-to-please Aurora looking for love and her daughter's family problems.
Director: James L. Brooks | Stars: Shirley MacLaine, Debra Winger, Jack Nicholson, Danny DeVito
Votes: 65,526 | Gross: $108.42M
14. Trading Places (1983)
R | 116 min | Comedy
A snobbish investor and a wily street con artist find their positions reversed as part of a bet by two callous millionaires.
Director: John Landis | Stars: Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd, Ralph Bellamy, Don Ameche
Votes: 165,902 | Gross: $90.40M
15. The Evil Dead (1981)
NC-17 | 85 min | Horror
Five friends travel to a cabin in the woods, where they unknowingly release flesh-possessing demons.
Director: Sam Raimi | Stars: Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, Richard DeManincor, Betsy Baker
Votes: 232,513 | Gross: $2.40M
16. Testament (1983)
PG | 90 min | Drama, Sci-Fi
The life of a suburban American family is scarred after a nuclear attack.
Director: Lynne Littman | Stars: Jane Alexander, William Devane, Rossie Harris, Roxana Zal
Votes: 7,224 | Gross: $2.04M
17. All the Right Moves (1983)
R | 91 min | Drama, Romance, Sport
An ambitious young football star is trapped in a dying mill town--unless his gridiron skills can win him a way out.
Director: Michael Chapman | Stars: Tom Cruise, Lea Thompson, Craig T. Nelson, Charles Cioffi
Votes: 20,407 | Gross: $17.23M
18. Under Fire (1983)
R | 128 min | Drama, War
Three journalists in a romantic triangle are involved in political intrigue during the last days of the corrupt Somoza regime in Nicaragua before it falls to a popular revolution in 1979.
Director: Roger Spottiswoode | Stars: Nick Nolte, Ed Harris, Gene Hackman, Joanna Cassidy
Votes: 8,518 | Gross: $5.70M
19. Tender Mercies (1983)
PG | 92 min | Drama, Music
A broken-down, middle-aged country singer gets a new wife, reaches out to his long-lost daughter, and tries to put his troubled life back together.
Director: Bruce Beresford | Stars: Robert Duvall, Tess Harper, Betty Buckley, Wilford Brimley
Votes: 12,036 | Gross: $8.44M
20. Sleepaway Camp (1983)
R | 84 min | Horror
Bunks and showers are a mad stabber's beat at a summer camp strictly for teens.
Director: Robert Hiltzik | Stars: Felissa Rose, Jonathan Tiersten, Karen Fields, Christopher Collet
Votes: 38,090 | Gross: $11.00M
21. Blue Thunder (1983)
R | 109 min | Action, Crime, Drama
The cop test pilot for an experimental police helicopter learns the sinister implications of the new vehicle.
Director: John Badham | Stars: Roy Scheider, Warren Oates, Candy Clark, Daniel Stern
Votes: 23,358 | Gross: $42.31M
22. Cujo (1983)
R | 93 min | Horror, Thriller
Cujo, a friendly St. Bernard, contracts rabies and conducts a reign of terror on a small American town.
Director: Lewis Teague | Stars: Dee Wallace, Daniel Hugh Kelly, Danny Pintauro, Christopher Stone
Votes: 51,015 | Gross: $21.20M
23. Bad Boys (1983)
R | 123 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Chicago crime kid Mick O'Brien is sent to reform school after accidentally killing a rival's kid brother.
Director: Rick Rosenthal | Stars: Sean Penn, Reni Santoni, Jim Moody, Eric Gurry
Votes: 17,081 | Gross: $9.20M
24. Risky Business (1983)
R | 99 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A Chicago teenager is looking for fun at home while his parents are away, but the situation quickly gets out of hand.
Director: Paul Brickman | Stars: Tom Cruise, Rebecca De Mornay, Joe Pantoliano, Richard Masur
Votes: 99,911 | Gross: $63.50M
25. The Dead Zone (1983)
R | 103 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
A man awakens from a coma to discover he has a psychic ability to foresee future events.
Director: David Cronenberg | Stars: Christopher Walken, Brooke Adams, Tom Skerritt, Herbert Lom
Votes: 77,368 | Gross: $20.77M
26. Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)
PG | 101 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
Four horror and science fiction segments, directed by four famous directors, each of them being a new version of a classic story from Rod Serling's landmark television series.
Directors: Joe Dante, John Landis, George Miller, Steven Spielberg | Stars: Dan Aykroyd, Albert Brooks, Vic Morrow, Doug McGrath
Votes: 41,210 | Gross: $29.50M
27. Videodrome (1983)
R | 87 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A programmer at a Toronto TV station that specializes in adult entertainment searches for the producers of a dangerous and bizarre broadcast.
Director: David Cronenberg | Stars: James Woods, Debbie Harry, Sonja Smits, Peter Dvorsky
Votes: 103,076 | Gross: $2.12M
28. The Big Chill (1983)
R | 105 min | Comedy, Drama
A group of seven former college friends gather for a weekend reunion at a South Carolina vacation home after the funeral of another of their college friends.
Director: Lawrence Kasdan | Stars: Tom Berenger, Glenn Close, Jeff Goldblum, William Hurt
Votes: 41,483 | Gross: $56.20M
29. Rumble Fish (1983)
R | 94 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
Absent-minded street thug Rusty James struggles to live up to his legendary older brother's reputation, and longs for the days of gang warfare.
Director: Francis Ford Coppola | Stars: Matt Dillon, Mickey Rourke, Diane Lane, Dennis Hopper
Votes: 37,714 | Gross: $2.49M
30. Local Hero (1983)
PG | 111 min | Comedy, Drama
An American oil company has plans for a new refinery and sends someone to Scotland to buy up an entire village, but things don't go as expected.
Director: Bill Forsyth | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Peter Riegert, Fulton Mackay, Denis Lawson
Votes: 26,716 | Gross: $5.90M
31. Valley Girl (1983)
R | 99 min | Comedy, Romance
Julie, a girl from the valley, meets Randy, a punk from the city. They are from different worlds and find love. Somehow they need to stay together in spite of her trendy, shallow friends.
Director: Martha Coolidge | Stars: Nicolas Cage, Deborah Foreman, Elizabeth Daily, Michael Bowen
Votes: 18,456 | Gross: $16.80M
32. Koyaanisqatsi (1982)
Not Rated | 86 min | Documentary, Music
A collection of expertly photographed phenomena with no conventional plot. The footage focuses on the relationship between nature, humanity, and technology.
Director: Godfrey Reggio | Stars: Edward Asner, Pat Benatar, Jerry Brown, Johnny Carson
Votes: 41,517 | Gross: $1.72M
33. Streamers (1983)
R | 118 min | Crime, Drama, War
Four young soldiers waiting to be shipped to Viet Nam deal with racial tension and their own intolerance when one soldier reveals he's gay.
Director: Robert Altman | Stars: Matthew Modine, Michael Wright, Mitchell Lichtenstein, David Alan Grier
Votes: 2,126
34. Sudden Impact (1983)
R | 117 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
When a woman exacts deadly revenge on the aggressors who raped her and her sister ten years earlier, Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan is assigned to the case.
Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, Pat Hingle, Bradford Dillman
Votes: 48,687 | Gross: $67.64M
35. Flashdance (1983)
R | 95 min | Drama, Music, Romance
An 18-year-old female amateur dancer who performs nightly at a dancing bar, and works as a welder during the day, dreams of joining the Pittsburgh ballet school.
Director: Adrian Lyne | Stars: Jennifer Beals, Michael Nouri, Lilia Skala, Sunny Johnson
Votes: 59,598 | Gross: $94.90M
36. The Star Chamber (1983)
R | 109 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Frustrated with a legal system gone haywire, a secret society of judges hires hitmen to snuff out criminals who escape courtroom justice - but one young judge questions the ethics of their vigilante system.
Director: Peter Hyams | Stars: Michael Douglas, Hal Holbrook, Yaphet Kotto, Sharon Gless
Votes: 7,738 | Gross: $5.56M
37. Christine (1983)
R | 110 min | Horror, Thriller
A nerdish boy buys a strange car with an evil mind of its own and his nature starts to change to reflect it.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Keith Gordon, John Stockwell, Alexandra Paul, Robert Prosky
Votes: 92,510 | Gross: $21.20M
38. Brainstorm (1983)
PG | 106 min | Sci-Fi, Thriller
Researchers develop a system where they can jump into people's minds. But when people involved bring their personal problems into the equation, it becomes dangerous - perhaps deadly.
Director: Douglas Trumbull | Stars: Christopher Walken, Natalie Wood, Louise Fletcher, Cliff Robertson
Votes: 13,132 | Gross: $8.90M
39. Octopussy (1983)
PG | 131 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
A fake Fabergé egg recovered from the body of a fellow agent leads James Bond to uncover a jewel smuggling operation led by the mysterious Octopussy, and a plot to blow up a NATO air base.
Director: John Glen | Stars: Roger Moore, Maud Adams, Louis Jourdan, Kristina Wayborn
Votes: 113,027 | Gross: $67.90M
40. Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983)
PG | 95 min | Fantasy, Mystery, Thriller
In a small American town, a diabolical circus and its demonic proprietor prey on the townsfolk.
Director: Jack Clayton | Stars: Mary Grace Canfield, Richard Davalos, Jake Dengel, Jack Dodson
Votes: 10,624 | Gross: $8.40M
41. The Hunger (1983)
R | 97 min | Drama, Horror
A love triangle develops between a beautiful yet dangerous vampire (Catherine Deneuve), her cellist companion (David Bowie), and a gerontologist (Susan Sarandon).
Director: Tony Scott | Stars: Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie, Susan Sarandon, Cliff De Young
Votes: 29,065 | Gross: $5.98M
42. Richard Pryor... Here and Now (1983 TV Special)
R | 83 min | Documentary, Comedy
Part live stand-up performance, part documentary, this film is one of comedian Richard Pryor's later stand-up performances. As foul-mouthed as ever, Pryor touches on most of the same topics as in his previous live shows.
Director: Richard Pryor | Stars: Richard Pryor, Paul Mooney
Votes: 2,446 | Gross: $16.16M
43. Fire and Ice (1983)
PG | 81 min | Animation, Adventure, Fantasy
At the end of the ice age, an evil queen and her son are set on conquering the world using magic and warriors. The lone survivor of a crushed village fights back as does the king of Fire Keep.
Director: Ralph Bakshi | Stars: Randy Norton, Cynthia Leake, Steve Sandor, Sean Hannon
Votes: 12,642 | Gross: $0.76M
44. Never Say Never Again (1983)
PG | 134 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
A S.P.E.C.T.R.E. agent has stolen two American nuclear warheads, and James Bond must find their targets before they are detonated.
Director: Irvin Kershner | Stars: Sean Connery, Kim Basinger, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Max von Sydow
Votes: 73,171 | Gross: $55.50M
45. Zelig (1983)
PG | 79 min | Comedy
"Documentary" about a man who can look and act like whoever he's around, and meets various famous people.
Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, Patrick Horgan, John Buckwalter
Votes: 44,201 | Gross: $11.80M
46. Mr. Mom (1983)
PG | 91 min | Comedy, Drama
After he's suddenly laid off, a husband switches roles with his wife. She returns to the workforce, and he becomes a stay-at-home dad, and he has to take care of three young children, a job he has no clue how to do.
Director: Stan Dragoti | Stars: Michael Keaton, Teri Garr, Frederick Koehler, Taliesin Jaffe
Votes: 27,851 | Gross: $64.80M
47. Lone Wolf McQuade (1983)
PG | 107 min | Action, Crime, Drama
After helping the local police with some horse thieves, a Texas Ranger aims at a drug lord with arms trade as well. They're interested in the same woman and they're both into martial arts.
Director: Steve Carver | Stars: Chuck Norris, David Carradine, Barbara Carrera, Leon Isaac Kennedy
Votes: 13,974 | Gross: $12.23M
48. Krull (1983)
PG | 121 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
A prince and a fellowship of companions set out to rescue his bride from a fortress of alien invaders who have arrived on their home planet, Krull.
Director: Peter Yates | Stars: Ken Marshall, Lysette Anthony, Freddie Jones, Francesca Annis
Votes: 36,277 | Gross: $16.52M
49. Strange Brew (1983)
PG | 90 min | Comedy, Crime, Sci-Fi
Canada's most famous hosers, Bob and Doug McKenzie, get jobs at the Elsinore Brewery, only to learn that something is rotten with the state of it.
Directors: Rick Moranis, Dave Thomas | Stars: Rick Moranis, Dave Thomas, Max von Sydow, Paul Dooley
Votes: 18,679
50. D.C. Cab (1983)
R | 100 min | Action, Comedy
The misadventures of a group of unfortunate but streetwise cabbies working for a Washington, D.C., decrepit taxicab company.
Director: Joel Schumacher | Stars: Max Gail, Adam Baldwin, Mr. T, Charlie Barnett
Votes: 5,267 | Gross: $16.13M
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