The Top Ten Movies of 1981

The year 1981 saw the debut of Tom Cruise into acting and Chariots Of Fire took the Best Picture Oscar. However, does a Tom Cruise movie make my top ten list? Or did Chariots of Fire rank very high in numbers at the box office?

First, below, are the top ten grossing films for the year 1981 and then my list follows of what I thought were the top ten films of that year.

Top Grossing Movies In The USA 1981:
1. Raiders Of The Lost Ark
2. On Golden Pond
3. Superman 2
4. Arthur
5. Stripes
6. The Cannonball Run
7. Chariots Of Fire
8. For Your Eyes Only
9. The Four Seasons
10. Time Bandits

My picks for the best:

10. Taps: It was a showdown between Taps and Stripes for this number ten spot and I went for the Tom Cruise flick and drama, as opposed to a more comedic film that wasn’t all that funny really.

9. An American Werewolf in London: A highly regarded werewolf movie, one of three released in 1981, it won the Saturn Award for Best horror that year.

8. Outland: A science fiction western of sorts, a real high noon style building of tension as Sean Connery plays the new head of security at a mining station being compromised by mind breaking drugs. Peter Boyle’s turn as the villain of the piece is strong.

7. The Howling: This is one of those movies that some people love and some people hate, but its silliness ranks it higher than the other werewolf movie of my list. I remember being young and sneaking peeks at the television while older kids watched this one.

6. Heavy Metal: I doubt any women would include this comic come to life movie on their lists of favorite movies from 1981. However, I grew up very much a boy and getting the chance to see animated heroes hanging out with big boobed women: priceless.

5. Excalibur: The first time I ever saw this King Arthur tale was in school and I don’t mean the PG edited version either. My teacher asked us kindly to turn around at certain points during the R Rated feature.

4. Scanners: The creative genius that is David Cronenberg was well on display with this flick about psychic powers. The most memorable moment of course involves a cranial explosion.

3. Escape From New York: It was one of many action movies I would zone in and out of while watching at my grandmas, however, the fact that we chose to zone in and out to it many times over must mean it was pretty good.

2. Raiders of the Lost Ark: The legend of Indiana Jones was born to film!

1. The Fox and the Hound: I actually read the book more times than I watched the movie, but obviously this Disney tale of friendship holds some nostalgic value to me to list it at number one.