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Best Drama Movies

of the 1980s

The 20 highest-rated drama movies released between 1980 and 1989, ranked by IMDb score.

1

Grave of the Fireflies(1988)

8.5 IMDb100% RT94 Meta

In the final months of World War II, 14-year-old Seita and his sister Setsuko are orphaned when their mother is killed during an air raid in Kobe, Japan. After a falling out with their aunt, they move

2

Anne of Green Gables(1985)

8.5 IMDb83% RT

At the turn of the century on Prince Edward Island, Matthew Cuthbert and his sister Marilla decide to take on an orphan boy as help for their farm. But they get an unexpected jolt when they're mistake

3

Amadeus(1984)

8.4 IMDb90% RT87 Meta

Disciplined Italian composer Antonio Salieri becomes consumed by jealousy and resentment towards the hedonistic and remarkably talented young Salzburger composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

4

Das Boot(1981)

8.4 IMDb98% RT85 Meta

A German submarine hunts allied ships during the Second World War, but it soon becomes the hunted. The crew tries to survive below the surface, while stretching both the boat and themselves to their l

5

Come and See(1985)

8.3 IMDb90% RT

The invasion of a village in Belarus by German forces sends young Florya into the forest to join the weary Resistance fighters, against his family's wishes. There he meets a girl, Glasha, who accompan

6

Once Upon a Time in America(1984)

8.3 IMDb86% RT75 Meta

A former Prohibition-era Jewish gangster returns to the Lower East Side of Manhattan over thirty years later, where he once again must confront the ghosts and regrets of his old life.

7

Scarface(1983)

8.3 IMDb79% RT65 Meta

After getting a green card in exchange for assassinating a Cuban government official, Tony Montana stakes a claim on the drug trade in Miami. Viciously murdering anyone who stands in his way, Tony eve

8

Ran(1985)

8.2 IMDb96% RT97 Meta

Shakespeare's King Lear is reimagined as a singular historical epic set in sixteenth-century Japan where an aging warlord divides his kingdom between his three sons.

9

The Elephant Man(1980)

8.2 IMDb91% RT78 Meta

A Victorian surgeon rescues a heavily disfigured man being mistreated by his "owner" as a side-show freak. Behind his monstrous façade, there is revealed a person of great intelligence and sensitivity

10

Dead Poets Society(1989)

8.1 IMDb85% RT79 Meta

At an elite, old-fashioned boarding school in New England, a passionate English teacher inspires his students to rebel against convention and seize the potential of every day, courting the disdain of

11

Stand by Me(1986)

8.1 IMDb92% RT75 Meta

After learning that a boy their age has been accidentally killed near their rural homes, four boys decide to go see the body. Gordie, Vern, Chris, and Teddy encounter a mean junk man and a marsh full

12

Paris, Texas(1984)

8.1 IMDb95% RT81 Meta

A man wanders out of the desert not knowing who he is. His brother finds him, and helps to pull his memory back of the life he led before he walked out on his family and disappeared four years earlier

13

Blade Runner(1982)

8.1 IMDb89% RT84 Meta

In the smog-choked dystopian Los Angeles of 2019, blade runner Rick Deckard is called out of retirement to terminate a quartet of replicants who have escaped to Earth seeking their creator for a way t

14

Raging Bull(1980)

8.1 IMDb92% RT90 Meta

The life of boxer Jake LaMotta, whose violence and temper that led him to the top in the ring destroyed his life outside of it.

15

Pink Floyd: The Wall(1982)

8 IMDb73% RT47 Meta

A troubled rock star descends into madness in the midst of his physical and social isolation from everyone.

16

Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters(1985)

7.9 IMDb79% RT84 Meta

A fictional account of the life of Japanese author Yukio Mishima, combining dramatizations of three of his novels and a depiction of the events of November 25th, 1970.

17

Pixote(1980)

7.9 IMDb94% RT

10-year-old Pixote endures torture, degradation, and corruption at a local youth detention center where two of its members are murdered by policemen who frame Lilica, a 17-year-old trans hustler. Pixo

18

Kagemusha(1980)

7.9 IMDb89% RT84 Meta

Akira Kurosawa's lauded feudal epic presents the tale of a petty thief who is recruited to impersonate Shingen, an aging warlord, in order to avoid attacks by competing clans. When Shingen dies, his g

19

Kiki's Delivery Service(1989)

7.8 IMDb85 Meta

A young witch, on her mandatory year of independent life, finds fitting into a new community difficult while she supports herself by running an air courier service.

20

The Plague Dogs(1982)

7.7 IMDb70% RT

Two dogs, Rowf and Snitter, struggle to survive in the countryside after escaping from an animal research laboratory. They are pursued by search parties and then the military after rumors spread that

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