1981's Best Movies: 40 Years Later

In keeping with previous polls, I've gone with the contenders in the top 2,000 films, but they now offer the entire starting spreadsheet. Here are the titles that carry through through the top 5,000 films ever.

2054	1541	Mandala	Im Kwon-taek	1981	South Korea	105
2145	3034	Howling, The	Dante, Joe	1981	USA	91
2200	2340	Lola	Fassbinder, Rainer Werner	1981	Germany	114
2225	2128	Decline of Western Civilization, The	Spheeris, Penelope	1981	USA	100
2294	3507	Aviator's Wife, The	Rohmer, Eric	1981	France	104
2351	2164	Time Bandits	Gilliam, Terry	1981	UK	110
2369	2220	Body Heat	Kasdan, Lawrence	1981	USA	113
2373	2189	Thief	Mann, Michael	1981	USA	122
2454	2253	My Dinner with Andre	Malle, Louis	1981	USA	110
2489	2699	Do You Remember Dolly Bell?	Kusturica, Emir	1981	Yugoslavia	106
2518	3284	Lili Marleen	Fassbinder, Rainer Werner	1981	West Germany	120
2548	2350	They All Laughed	Bogdanovich, Peter	1981	USA	115
2576	2380	Reisender Krieger [TV]	Schocher, Christian	1981	West Germany	195
2624	2770	Ms. 45	Ferrara, Abel	1981	USA	84
2680	2480	Postman Always Rings Twice, The	Rafelson, Bob	1981	USA	123
2685	2588	Coup de torchon	Tavernier, Bertrand	1981	France	128
2690	2490	...All the Marbles	Aldrich, Robert	1981	USA	113
2865	2746	Cutter's Way	Passer, Ivan	1981	USA	105
2931	2735	Deprisa, deprisa	Saura, Carlos	1981	Spain	99
3162	3545	Polyester	Waters, John	1981	USA	86
3173	3294	Blood Wedding	Saura, Carlos	1981	Spain	72
3228	3145	Christiane F.	Edel, Uli	1981	Germany	124
3433	3220	Muddy River	Oguri, Kohei	1981	Japan	105
3500	3303	Dialogue with a Woman Departed	Hurwitz, Leo	1981	USA	225
3520	3319	Kagerô-za	Suzuki, Seijun	1981	Japan	139
3536	3439	Tango	Rybczynski, Zbigniew	1981	Poland	8
3578	3706	Scanners	Cronenberg, David	1981	Canada	102
3782	3669	French Lieutenant's Woman, The	Reisz, Karel	1981	UK	123
3806	3594	T.G.: Psychic Rally in Heaven	Jarman, Derek	1981	UK	8
3831	3630	Vernon, Florida	Morris, Errol	1981	USA	55
4197	3809	They Don't Wear Black Tie	Hirszman, Leon	1981	Brazil	120
4222	3835	Hotel America	Téchiné, André	1981	France	95
4347	3947	Pennies from Heaven	Ross, Herbert	1981	USA	107
4366	5198	Three Brothers	Rosi, Francesco	1981	France	113
4537	4272	Prince of the City	Lumet, Sidney	1981	USA	167
4591	4331	Man of Iron	Wajda, Andrzej	1981	Poland	140
4671	4413	Empire of Desire, The	Reichenbach, Carlos	1981	Brazil	110
4685	4429	Woman Alone, A [TV]	Holland, Agnieszka	1981	Poland	92
4756	4508	Montenegro	Makavejev, Dusan	1981	Sweden	98
4824	4881	Sweet Dreams	Moretti, Nanni	1981	Italy	105
4857	4615	Rat-Trap	Gopalakrishnan, Adoor	1981	India	121
4860	4621	Eijanaika	Imamura, Shohei	1981	Japan	151

Surprised that ‘Diva’ and ‘Gregory’s Girl’ didn’t even make the long list.

Blow Out, easily, of the six or seven I've seen. The Evil Dead's funny.

This is totally between Mad Max 2 and Possession

Pixote, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Evil Dead, and Modern Romance are on my '81 list. Hm.

I've seen six on the main list and don't feel that strongly about any. Voted for the Rivette which is pretty second-rate by his standards.
On the lower list, would have voted for Time Bandits as a kid.

it's between Excalibur and Reds for me

The Rivette is the most okay Rivette ever.

Modern Romance for me but Blow Out imo is quintessential De Palma, like everything he is in one film.

Polyester

possession

1. Blow Out
2. Modern Romance
3. Raiders of the Lost Ark

On my watchlist: Blind Chance, Le Pont du Nord, Pixote, and The Woman Next Door

What a year

Possession and The Beyond both made my top 100 ballot so it's between those two waking nightmares

Voted Possession before a second-thoughts derailment.

1. Possession
2. Escape from New York

Chariots is one of the most boring Oscar winners. The beach scene with the music is the only good part.

Gregory's Girl is listed as 1980 on IMDB.

I remember really liking the films Peter Weir made between 1975-1982 - Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Last Wave, Gallipoli, The Year of Living Dangerously, Witness - but I haven’t seen any of them in decades

Atlantic City an 1980 film I'd rank among my 1981 ones.

Possession doesn't seem to be available in the US at all at the moment - not on streaming, as a dvd rental, or for purchase

the sword of power!

Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Blind Chance was completed in 1981 before the declaration of martial law in Poland but it was shelved by authorities until 1987, which is why it is often listed as a 1987 film. It presents three alternative futures for the protagonist

have never seen Excalibur, Possession, The Evil Dead or The Woman Next Door.

Surprised My Dinner With Andre isn't higher.

Das Boot, Gallipoli, Mad Max 2, Pixote, Reds I remember liking and want to see again. I was scornful of Chariots of Fire at the time but also want to revisit it

Didn't realize that Raiders of the Lost Ark has been considered to be the greatest film from this year. I am skeptical

https://media4.giphy.com/media/H3wg2L1NZ5oOmmcK7e/200.gif

watched Blow Out again recently and thought it was great. It had a rapt quality and it referenced two of my other favorite films, Blow Up and The Conversation

I liked what Pauline Kael said about Travolta and Allen, that in the films in which they starred together (Carrie and Blow Out) they gave out the same amount of energy and were equally vivid

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Modern Romance over Possession.

don't feel like this was a great year ultimately

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.