# Which year had the best group of Best Picture nominees? (1980s) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 25, 2011, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-year-had-the-best-group-of-best-picture-nominees-1980s/568879 "2011-01-25T03:49:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-year-had-the-best-group-of-best-picture-nominees-1980s/568879/1 "2011-01-25T03:49:05Z")
**1980** Coal Miner’s Daughter The Elephant Man Ordinary People Raging Bull Tess **1981** Atlantic City Chariots of Fire On Golden Pond Raiders of the Lost Ark Reds **1982** E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial Gandhi Missing Tootsie The Verdict **1983** The Big Chill The Dresser The Right Stuff Tender Mercies Terms of Endearment **1984** Amadeus The Killing Fields A Passage To India Places in the Heart A Soldier’s Story **1985** The Color Purple Kiss of the Spider Woman Out of Africa Prizzi’s Honor Witness **1986** Children of a Lesser God Hannah and Her Sisters The Mission Platoon A Room with a View **1987** Broadcast News Fatal Attraction Hope and Glory The Last Emporer Moonstruck **1988** The Accidental Tourist Dangerous Liasions Mississippi Burning Rain Man Working Girl **1989** Born on the Fourth of July Dead Poets Society Driving Miss Daisy Field of Dreams My Left Foot ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-year-had-the-best-group-of-best-picture-nominees-1980s/568879/2 "2011-01-25T03:55:43Z")
[Poll for the 1990s](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=594338) [Poll for the 2000s](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=594178) ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-year-had-the-best-group-of-best-picture-nominees-1980s/568879/3 "2011-01-25T06:40:24Z")
That was tough. There are so many great movies in every year. I kept wavering between 1980 and 1982, but finally chose 1982. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-year-had-the-best-group-of-best-picture-nominees-1980s/568879/4 "2011-01-25T13:07:30Z")
This decade is a bit tighter than the 90s, I’d say. 🙂 I went back and forth between 80, 81, & 82, but ended up going for 1981. Not just for Raiders; I think all five are solid films. mmm ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-year-had-the-best-group-of-best-picture-nominees-1980s/568879/5 "2011-01-25T19:09:40Z")
I agree that this was a difficult choice; several years had a bunch of great movies. I ended up choosing 1984 because it has one of my favorite movies of the entire decade, “Amadeus”, plus several other very good movies. But 1982 and 1987 were great also. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-year-had-the-best-group-of-best-picture-nominees-1980s/568879/6 "2011-01-25T20:30:25Z")
1. The other years have great movies, but the class of 85 have all stood the test of time. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-year-had-the-best-group-of-best-picture-nominees-1980s/568879/7 "2011-01-25T20:35:37Z")
I went with '84 - _The Killing Fields_ is probably my favorite of all the movies listed for any year. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-year-had-the-best-group-of-best-picture-nominees-1980s/568879/8 "2011-01-25T21:14:09Z")
'81. Chariots of Fire and Raiders ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-year-had-the-best-group-of-best-picture-nominees-1980s/568879/9 "2011-01-25T21:56:44Z")
> [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](#): > > 1. The other years have great movies, but the class of 85 have all stood the test of time. Well, so far you’re the only one who thinks so. 🙂 I have not seen Kiss of the Spider Woman, but I think the four others are pretty average, except Witness. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-year-had-the-best-group-of-best-picture-nominees-1980s/568879/10 "2011-01-26T00:14:39Z")
Raiders trumps every other year on that list by itself. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-year-had-the-best-group-of-best-picture-nominees-1980s/568879/11 "2011-01-26T00:27:38Z")
I went with 1982 - just a slightly better collection of movies than other years. I really wanted to vote for 1984 (Amadeus!) but couldn’t because the other movies aren’t, imho, as good as the losers of '82. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-year-had-the-best-group-of-best-picture-nominees-1980s/568879/12 "2011-01-26T01:48:11Z")
Harder choices, especially since there wasn’t a year with at least one so-so film on the list. I went with 1980 for Raging Bull, but 82 is close (and would have won if it wasn’t for **The Verdict** (submediocre Oscar bait for Paul Newman).