A reader asked me to compile the list a few months ago, but schedule commitments kept me from completing the task. So here's a look at my top 10 films from 1982, Ronald Reagan's second year as president, and a pretty good year for movies. I also added a few titles on a short list of honorable mentions. (All are presented in no particular order.)
My Top 10:
1. Blade Runner - Director Ridley Scott's dark but fascinating look at Los Angeles in the future (2019), where special police units known as blade runners hunt and "retire" human replicants. It remains one of the best sci-fi movies of the last 50 years, in my opinion. Harrison Ford stars and the cast includes Rutger Hauer, William Sanderson, Sean Young, Daryl Hannah, M. Emmet Walsh, Edward James Olmos, James Hong and Joanna Cassidy.
2. Diner - Director Barry Levinson's first installment of his trilogy of films set in Baltimore. Mickey Rourke, Steve Guttenberg, and Kevin Bacon lead an ensemble cast as a group of young men preparing for a friend's wedding. It's a wonderful movie that sadly is mostly unknown to younger audiences.
3. The Year of Living Dangerously - Dark, moody, and moving. Mel Gibson plays an obnoxious young reporter covering political turmoil in Indonesia. He's in over his head, but is helped by Sigourney Weaver, who plays an assistant in the British embassy. Linda Hunt won an Oscar for her work as an assistant to Gibson's character.
4. An Officer and a Gentleman - Richard Gere portrays an officer candidate at the Navy's challenging aviation training center. Debra Winger plays a new-found girlfriend, and Louis Gossett Jr. won an Oscar for his performance as the drill sergeant. It's an entertaining movie that stands the test of time.
5. Tootsie - Dustin Hoffman stars as a man dressed as a woman in order to land an acting job on a day-time soap opera. The supporting cast includes Jessica Lange, Dabney Coleman, Teri Garr, and Bill Murray. Lange won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. Director Sydney Pollack delivers a comedy for the ages with this work.
6. The Verdict - Paul Newman is a lawyer on the back end of a once-promising career who takes a case to trial when everyone around tells him to settle out of court. The supporting cast includes Charlotte Rampling, Jack Warden, and the great James Mason.
7. 48 Hours - Nick Nolte plays a cop who teams with temporarily paroled convict Eddie Murphy to hunt a cop killer and his partner. Director Walter Hill delivers with the best action film of the year and one of the best entries in the "cop-buddy" genre of the 1980s. The supporting cast includes Frank McRae, Annette O'Toole, and James Remar as Albert Ganz, a criminal audiences loved to hate.
8. The Thing - Director John Carpenter gives audiences the best version of the sci-fi classic. Kurt Russell leads a solid cast that includes Wilford Brimley, Keith David, Richard Dysart and David Clennon. A team in Antarctica confronts an alien creature that is killing them one at a time.
9. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan - Arguably the best of the Star Trek movies. The special effects have lost some of their impact over the years, but the movie still delivers, thanks to the cast and an engaging story about revenge and friendship. William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and others from the cast of the original TV series appear and are joined by Ricardo Montalban and a young Kirstie Alley.
10. Fast Times at Ridgemont High - This movie led the field in the genre of 80s teen movies, and there were many good ones in that category. Sean Penn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Judd Reinhold, and Phoebe Cates. The movie remains a classic for its characters, their lines and for a few key scenes.
Honorable Mentions:
-- Thanks for reading. Please feel free to leave a comment or submit a question. I can be reached by email at kbotterman@gmail.com.
