To make this list a movie had to be made in 1982. Obviously many movies made in 1981 earned box office dollars in 1982. On the other side many movies made in 1982 made money in 1983 and later. This page will looks at over 140 movies made in 1982. The movies are listed in two massive tables that lets you rank the movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information.
Our UMR Top 50 of 1982
1982 Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table
The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.
- Sort 1982 Movies by movie titles and movie trailers
- Sort 1982 Movies by the stars or in some cases the director of the movie.
- Sort 1982 Movies by domestic adjusted box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort 1982 Movies how they were received by critics and audiences. 60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
- Sort by how many Oscar® nominations each 1982 Movies received and how many Oscar® wins each 1982 Movies received.
- Sort 1982 Movies by Ultimate Movie Ranking Score (UMR). Our UMR score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
Top earners in 1982 for Adjusted USA Box Office:
Quigley’s 1982 Top Stars List
1. Burt Reynolds
2. Clint Eastwood
3. Dudley Moore
4. Dolly Parton
5. Jane Fonda
6. Harrison Ford
7. Alan Alda
8. Bo Derek
9. Goldie Hawn
10. Bill Murray
11. Cheech & Chong
12. Brooke Shields
13. Richard Pryor
14. John Belushi
15. Christopher Reeve
16. Sally Field
17. Meryl Streep
18. Sissy Spacek
19. Robert Redford
20. Roger Moore
21. Marsha Mason
22. Chuck Norris
23. Gene Wilder
24. Steve Martin
25. Lily Tomlin
John Willis’ Screen World 1982 Promising Newcomers
- Mara Hobel
- Doug McKeon
- Elizabeth McGovern
- Ken Wahl
- Howard E. Rollins
- Christine Lahti
- Denzel Washington
- Rachel Ticotin
E.T. is number 4 on alltime adjusted domestic box office for UMR. it probably has enough young people relevance to pass number 3 the sound of music (needs $8 million). a great UMR site to peruse this is under UMR research on the site index, at the bottom it lists the UMR top 500. this is mislabelled, it actually is the top 1000. it can be sorted to give the top 1000 by adj dom bo, or top 1000 Oscar nominees, or top 1000 reviews, or top 1000 UMR rankings without Oscar nominations. it is my favourite UMR site. wonderful research, wonderful trivia, wonderful movies. yea UMR, yea Cogerson, yea WoC. the top 10 for 1982 adj dom bo all make the top 1000 adj dom bo for UMR with the verdict in last place ready to fall off with the next comic book movie, so sad. it is tied with charlies angels, no great loss for me. I love UMR . thanks to all the commenters.
Hey bob cox. E.T. was the number one movie of all-time. Granted it did not hold that record for long…but it was the champ for awhile. Thanks for the shout out to UMR page…it gets some views….but it is not a huge view getter for us…..so thanks for bring attention to it. I like how you looked at the two pages….so The Verdict is waiting for Venom to knock it off the list….so sad. Great comment!
I saw 38 , including top 15. 10s and favorites: blade runner, e t, 48 hours, Ghandi, victor Victoria, tootsie . 10s : verdict, sophies choice. Hidden gems: diner an 8, world according to garp an 8 with robin williams, the year of living dangerously an 8 with 3 solid performances Gibson/weaver/hunt, sophies choice incredibly dark with 3 fantastic performances , a ten.
Hey bob cox. My tally actually dropped from 1981 to 1982..as I have seen 59 of these movies. I have seen the entire Top 20 with the exception of Fanny and Alexander. Of your 10s…I love 48 Hours and Blade Runner. Hid gems…I agree with you 100% on Garp and Diner…..Garp’s first half is awesome…then it gets so dark…..but overall….one of my favorite Robin Williams movies. Good feedback.
Boy you’re certainly making the nickname Work Horse look like an understatement with the way you’re churning out these annual reviews at both ends of the spectrum. I still haven’t completely absorbed and processed within my systems your 1929 and 1981 Reviews but well done – ie a “Vote Up!”
My personal faves among the top films of 1982 are Tootsie, An Officer and a Gentleman, Blade Runner and especially Newman’s The Verdict, which won Paul his 2nd consecutive 1980s Oscar nomination after getting a nom the previous year for Absence of Malice. As you know he finally won for the 1986 Colour of Money though if it had been up to me he would have won for Verdict as well.
Mason also got a supporting actor Oscar nom for The Verdict and he too should have won in my view. One film historian in an article that examined the work of numerous top actors opined that James was ”the greatest screen actor of all time.” Also James and Paul were both given Golden Globe noms as well for The Verdict.
By the way whatever happened to Debra Winger? She started off as the sexy, cheeky young thing of the early 80s in back to back monster hits with 1982’s An Officer and a Gentleman and Terms of Endearment the following year, but that was her last really big hit and was 35 years ago now though she had a modest hit with Redford in 1986’s Eagles. I almost cry when I think of so much promise disappearing.
The last I heard of her she was involved with that Brando film that ran out of money in Ireland and folded, Divine Rapture way back in 1995. She sued the producers for her fee but was told in court that Marlon who had been paid in advance had made off with whatever money was left in the kitty. [Sorry Joel – but it’s winner takes all you know!]
I would love to see a debra winger page. great thought from the real UMR Bob seconded by the other Bob, yours truly. I hope Bruce stays focussed on the yearly pages and then no more research for individual pages for box office.
Hey bob cox….I will add Debra Winger to the request list in my head and on the Request page. Not sure we can ever get away from the individual pages. Having the movies on each year is good….but having an actor’s entire career on one page is even cooler in my eyes. Good stuff.
Hey Bob
1. That is now 53 straight years of yearly reviews…1929 to 1982.
2. I am really enjoying seeing the 1980 pages….thus….the rapidness of their arrival.
3. I went from 13 to 22 from 1980 to 1989….so many of these movies bring back very fond memories.
4. Also…WoC has done a lot of work in the database……granted that was months ago….but I am discovering that she had many of these movies completely researched…when she was playing around with automatic updates….that made doing this page pretty easy.
5. My dad loved The Verdict….he would agree with your assessment that Newman should have gotten the Oscar for that role versus The Color of Money. It was Mason’s last great role.
6. As for Debra Winger….she had a very good career….but when looking at the curse of 39…she turned that age in 1994…..the three movies before that birthday were Wilder Napalm, Leap of Faith and A Dangerous Woman….all three were box office duds……since then she has been working but in supporting roles.
7. Interesting trivia on Divine Rapture….all is good if Marlon got his money.
Good feedback as always.
HI BRUCE Thanks for your comprehensive feedback on my post about your 1982 Annual Review.
Good thoughts from you on Winger. According to Shirley MacLaine Debs was a pain in the *** to work with but I liked her in Officer and Gent, Terms of Endearment and the little thriller Black Widow. She would probably agree with you that she had a good overall career because her net worth today is said to be $16 million [even without the money that Brando got to first!].
Also even those performers who had a reasonably long movie career of some importance can to be largely forgotten as time goes on. For example probably few if any modern cinemagoers would know who Donald O’Connor was and even you and Steve haven’t profiled HIM. [I’ve copied this to Steve as a hint to him as well though he rarely acts on my hints and in this case he could have an aversion to Donald as many think that the latter out danced Steve’s cherished Gene in Singin’ in the rain.]
Even long after his heyday though Donald retained a sense of humour. I saw him interviewed on TV when he was in his 60s, obese and out of shape, and the interviewer showed him some old clips of the O’Connor highly energetic dancing routines in musicals and asked Donald what he thought about when he looked back on some of the great physical feats that he used to perform as a dancer. Laughingly Don relied “A thin guy!”
Hey Bob…eventually we will get a Debra Winger page published. I thought she was the sexiest in Cannery Row….a movie that I really enjoyed….and a movie I saw many times when it was in heavy rotation on HBO back in the 1980s. Nolte is good in the movie too. As for Donald O’Connor…he has been requested…so he will get an UMR page too…..heck he might be the next classic thespian to get one. Are these yearly reviews that feature movies made 36 years ago classic pages? Good stuff.
HI BRUCE
I look forward to any pages from you on Winger and Donald O’Connor – maybe that will goad Steve into action too and we will then get some marvellous posters that musicals like the ones Donald was in are sure to provide via Steve.
No doubt to a teenager today a movie made 36 years ago would seem like something from the dark ages. For example I was 12 in 1953 and for example to me a Gable film like Idiot’s Delight in 1939, just 14 years previous, may as well have been produced way back in Abe Lincoln’s time when there were of course no movies so dated did I consider that Gable flick to be. However film historians seem to reckon that the Hollywood Classic Era ended in 1962.
A QUESTION – All your stats on the main tables of the individual performers’ pages seem to have been updated to reflect the latest tickets prices but have the worldwide gross figures on the additional tables [where provided] also been correspondingly adjusted
You have National Lampoon’s Class Reunion twice on the list at 117 and at 119 as just Class Reunion.
By your ranking I saw these in theaters back then, 1 through 15, 17, 18, 20 through 26, 28 through 33, 35 through 47, 49, 51 through 53, 56, 58 through 60, 66 through 72, 74, 79, 80, 85, 88, 90 through 93, 95, 96, 98, 100 through 103, 106 through 109, 111 through 113, 115 through 118, 121 through 125, 128, 130, 131, 134 through 137 & 142.
These are the 31 1982’s ( wow those numbers are getting low)I’ve seen for the first time since December 1992. Key – film, studio, stars if I listed, date seen & source (TV channel, DVD or tape). E.T. was my best film of 1982 and # 2 was Poltergeist (this back in 82).
37 NINJA KIDS (TAIWAN) 1982 FIRST FILMS 9/6 2010 DVD
ATTACK FORCE Z (AUSTRALIA) 1982 JOHN PHILLIP LAW MEL GIBSON 11/27 1994 TBS
BALLAD OF GREGORIA CORTEZ 1982 COL XXX XXX 11/22 1997 BRAVO
BOOGENS, THE 1982 PAR XXX XXX 8/28 2005 IFC
BRUCE AND THE SHAOLIN BRONZEMEN (H.K.) 1982 6/13 2010 DVD
CARNIVAL MAGIC 1982 KRYPTON FILM 3/26 2011 TCM
COLD RIVER 1982 PIE 6/20 2012 EFAM
DEATH VALLEY 1982 UNI XXX XXX 3/18 1996 A & E
DRAGON STRIKE (H.K.) 1982 3/2 2016 DVD
EL QUE NO CORLE VUELA (MEX.) 1982 ADENA FILMS 3/5 2013 DVD
FORCED VENGEANCE 1982 MGM CHUCK NORRIS 4/6 1996 TNT
FRIDAY THE 13TH PT. 3 1982 PAR XXX XXX 12/31 1996 TNT
FUNNY MONEY 1982 NORFOLK INTL. XXX XXX 8/7 1994 TAPE
HARRY TRACY 1982 QUARTET FILMS 3/30 2009 WEST
HEADHUNTER, THE (H.K.) 1982 10/27 2010 DVD
HEY GOOD LOOKIN’ (CAR.) 1982 WB XXX XXX 10/22 1999 MAX
HONKYTONK MAN 1982 WB CLINT EASTWOOD 1/21 1996 TNT
IMAGE OF BRUCE LEE (H.K.) 1982 21ST CENTURY XXX XXX 12/24 2011 DVD
IMPOSSIBLE KID (PHILIPPINES) 1982 LILOW FILMS 4/10 2012 DVD
LITTLE MAD GUY (H.K.) 1982 L & T 8/7 2010 DVD
MAD MISSION (H.K.) 1982 ATLAS XXX XXX 4/27 1993 TAPE
NATIONAL LAMPOON’S MOVIE MADNESS 1982 UA DIANE LANE 9/27 1995 TNT
PRIVATES ON PARADE (U.K.) 1982 ORION CLASSICS XXX XXX 12/31 2001 IFC
SAVAGE PASSION 1982 IFC 2/27 1993 TAPE
SHAOLIN DEADLY KICKS (H.K.) 1982 WHA TU XXX XXX 11/11 2011 DVD
SHAOLIN INCREDINLE TEN 1982 HARMONY 1/30 1993 TAPE
SHAOLIN TEMPLE (CH-U.K.) 1982 C.A.V. DIST. 4/28 2012 DVD
SMITHEREENS 1982 NL 3/27 2016 TCM
STRANGER IS WATCHING 1982 MGM/UA RIP TORN 9/14 1994 TBS
STUNT ROCK (AUSTRALIAN – NETH.) 1982 FVI XXX XXX 10/15 2011 TCM
TRIUMPHS OF A MAN CALLED HORSE 1982 JENSEN FARLEY RICHARD HARRIS 8/30 1995 11
Hey Dan.
1. Thanks for the catch on the two Class Reunions….that error should be fixed in a few minutes….as I am updating the website as I type these comments.
2. So you saw the back to back alien movies E.T. and The Thing? In the dvd commentary for The Thing…John Carpenter and Kurt Russell thought the bad timing of coming so closely to ET’s release, hurt them at the box office. Talk about two different types of aliens…lol.
3. You overall total might have gone…but it is still impressive…especially the tally of ones seen in theaters.
4. My total dropped from 75 in 1981 movies to 59 in 1982 movies…I thought my tally would be so much higher.
5. I like your Top 2 of 1982….both are very good movies….and ones that became part of movie history.
As always…thanks for sharing your movie memories and thoughts on 1982 movies.
My birth year. So these movies do not seem old at all. ET is a classic. Over the years I have grown to really appreciate The King of Comedy, The Long Good Friday and Pink Floyd’s The Wall. Movies that generated little revenue but are quality movies. No way these movies are 36 years old!
Hey Steve. Glad we got your birth year completed. So you are a young pup of 1982? You are right these movies are not so old. I really like The King Of Comedy and The Wall (So that one in theaters)…..as for The Long Good Friday…..not as good as I thought it would be….great Hoskins is stellar in the lead role…and the meat cooler scene is an all-time classic. Thanks for checking out our latest yearly review.