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Top Films by Year (1984-1986)

**--Won Academy Award for Best Picture.
*--Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture.

1984

Rank Title Director(s) Overall
Rank
1 The Terminator James Cameron 110
2 This Is Spinal Tap Rob Reiner 127
3 Amadeus** Milos Forman 141
4 Once Upon a Time in America Sergio Leone 233
5 Ghostbusters Ivan Reitman 429
6 Paris, Texas Wim Wenders 431
7 A Nightmare on Elm Street Wes Craven 451
8 Blood Simple Joel Coen 500
9 Stranger than Paradise Jim Jarmusch 537
10 The Killing Fields* Roland Joffé 544
11 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Steven Spielberg 673
12 The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension W.D. Richter 855
13 Sixteen Candles John Hughes 979
14 Gremlins Joe Dante 1003
15 Splash Ron Howard 1030
16 Repo Man Alex Cox 1042
17 Beverly Hills Cop Martin Brest 1080
18 Stop Making Sense Jonathan Demme 1130
19 The Natural Barry Levinson 1167
20 The Karate Kid John G. Avildsen 1170
21 Places in the Heart* Robert Benton 1193
22 Heimat Edgar Reitz 1350
23 Romancing the Stone Robert Zemeckis 1478
24 Top Secret! Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker 1691
25 A Passage to India* David Lean 1758
26 Love Streams John Cassavetes 1774
27 A Soldier's Story* Norman Jewison 1791
28 A Sunday in the Country Bertrand Tavernier 1810
29 All of Me Carl Reiner 1839
30 Starman John Carpenter 1866
31 Broadway Danny Rose Woody Allen 1958
32 The Brother from Another Planet John Sayles 2050
33 Yellow Earth Kaige Chen 2091
34 Birdy Alan Parker 2141
35 Revenge of the Nerds Jeff Kanew 2260
36 The Times of Harvey Milk Rob Epstein 2306
37 The Company of Wolves Neil Jordan 2387
38 Footloose Herbert Ross 2399

1985

Rank Title Director(s) Overall
Rank
1 Brazil Terry Gilliam 97
2 Back to the Future Robert Zemeckis 137
3 Ran Akira Kurosawa 177
4 The Breakfast Club John Hughes 381
5 A Room with a View* James Ivory 443
6 Out of Africa** Sydney Pollack 445
7 Shoah Claude Lanzmann 479
8 The Color Purple* Steven Spielberg 481
9 Witness* Peter Weir 532
10 Come and See Elem Klimov 570
11 My Beautiful Laundrette Stephen Frears 637
12 My Life as a Dog Lasse Hallström 646
13 The Purple Rose of Cairo Woody Allen 804
14 Re-Animator Stuart Gordon 896
15 Prizzi's Honor* John Huston 903
16 Lost in America Albert Brooks 945
17 The Official Story Luis Puenzo 974
18 Desperately Seeking Susan Susan Seidelman 992
19 Tampopo Juzo Itami 1053
20 Vagabond Agnès Varda 1069
21 After Hours Martin Scorsese 1163
22 Pee-wee's Big Adventure Tim Burton 1177
23 28 Up Michael Apted 1507
24 Cocoon Ron Howard 1538
25 The Goonies Richard Donner 1541
26 Day of the Dead George A. Romero 1634
27 The Time to Live and the Time to Die Hsiao-hsien Hou 1840
28 To Live and Die in L.A. William Friedkin 1925
29 Kiss of the Spider Woman* Hector Babenco 1983
30 Fletch Michael Ritchie 1988
31 Rambo: First Blood Part II George P. Cosmatos 1994
32 Runaway Train Andrei Konchalovsky 2015
33 Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome George Miller and George Ogilvie 2083
34 Better Off Dead… Savage Steve Holland 2139
35 Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters Paul Schrader 2262
36 St. Elmo's Fire Joel Schumacher 2280
37 Mask Peter Bogdanovich 2361
38 Fright Night Tom Holland 2449
39 Jagged Edge Richard Marquand 2495
40 Pale Rider Clint Eastwood 2511

1986

Rank Title Director(s) Overall
Rank
1 Blue Velvet David Lynch 61
2 Aliens James Cameron 88
3 Platoon** Oliver Stone 111
4 Stand by Me Rob Reiner 336
5 Ferris Bueller's Day Off John Hughes 347
6 Hannah and Her Sisters* Woody Allen 372
7 Jean de Florette Claude Berri 385
8 Top Gun Tony Scott 461
9 The Fly David Cronenberg 524
10 Manon of the Spring Claude Berri 572
11 Hoosiers David Anspaugh 754
12 She's Gotta Have It Spike Lee 808
13 Down by Law Jim Jarmusch 881
14 Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer John McNaughton 1084
15 Highlander Russell Mulcahy 1109
16 Betty Blue Jean-Jacques Beineix 1206
17 The Color of Money Martin Scorsese 1255
18 Manhunter Michael Mann 1288
19 Children of a Lesser God* Randa Haines 1338
20 Sherman's March Ross McElwee 1382
21 Labyrinth Jim Henson 1386
22 Sid and Nancy Alex Cox 1414
23 Crocodile Dundee Peter Faiman 1453
24 9 1/2 Weeks Adrian Lyne 1483
25 Little Shop of Horrors Frank Oz 1524
26 Salvador Oliver Stone 1562
27 Pretty in Pink Howard Deutch 1599
28 The Hitcher Robert Harmon 1621
29 The Mission* Roland Joffé 1623
30 A Better Tomorrow John Woo 1650
31 Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home Leonard Nimoy 1693
32 Summer Eric Rohmer 1761
33 River's Edge Tim Hunter 1851
34 The Sacrifice Andrei Tarkovsky 1872
35 The Name of the Rose Jean-Jacques Annaud 1875
36 Peggy Sue Got Married Francis Ford Coppola 2080
37 Something Wild Jonathan Demme 2157
38 The Horse Thief Zhuangzhuang Tian 2221
39 Laputa: Castle in the Sky Hayao Miyazaki 2276
40 'Round Midnight Bertrand Tavernier 2331
41 Down and Out in Beverly Hills Paul Mazursky 2380
42 Parting Glances Bill Sherwood 2440
43 About Last Night… Edward Zwick 2465
44 The Decline of the American Empire Denys Arcand 2490

**--Won Academy Award for Best Picture.
*--Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture.

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This page was last modified on April 5, 2008