Tampabay.com
OCTOBER 17, 2008

Raiders of the lost art of ranking films

Large27 Empire, the prestigious film magazine, has just published its list of the 500 greatest movies of all time. How many are in the '80s? Plenty.

So plentiful in fact that the home office assigned Miguel Duarte, the Portugal bureau chief of Stuck in the '80s, to tally up the flicks appearing in just the top 100. Feel free to go through the whole list and let us know other interesting finds and trends.

Here's the list, along with their position in the ranking:

2. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
3. Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
11. Raging Bull (1980)
20. Blade Runner (1982)
23. Back to the Future (1985)
29. Die Hard (1988)
30. Aliens (1986)
47. E.T. (1982)
48. This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
49. Evil Dead 2 (1987)
52. The Shining (1980)
60. Come and See (1985) - Russian movie
70. Stand By Me (1986)
83. Brazil (1985)
85. Blue Velvet (1986)
87. The King of Comedy (1983)
88. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
90. When Harry Met Sally (1989)
91. Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983)
92. Once Upon a Time in America (1984)

Curious what the No. 1 movie was? The Godfather, of course. What was the last movie on the list? The 2001 remake of Ocean's Eleven. The lowest ranked '80s flick? Back to the Future Part II (No. 498). Biggest '80s injustice? I mean, aside from ranking Empire Strikes Back being so ridiculously high. That'd be ranking Full Metal Jacket (No. 457) behind Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (No. 453). To paraphrase Gunnery Sgt. Hartman: "What is your major malfunction, Empire?!?"

Click here to browse the list.

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About the blogger

Relive the '80s music, movies and culture with Tampa Bay Times entertainment news editor Steve Spears. A teen during the greatest decade ever, Steve is obsessed with everything from Duran Duran to Journey, John Hughes to John Cusack, and parachute pants to Reaganomics.

E-mail Steve Spears:
stuckinthe80s@tampabay.com
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