To make this list a movie had to be made in 1983. Obviously many movies made in 1982 earned box office dollars in 1983. On the other side many movies made in 1983 made money in 1984 and later. This page will looks at over 140 movies made in 1983. 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 1983
1983 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 1983 Movies by movie titles and movie trailers
- Sort 1983 Movies by the stars or in some cases the director of the movie.
- Sort 1983 Movies by domestic adjusted box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort 1983 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 1983 Movies received and how many Oscar® wins each 1983 Movies received.
- Sort 1983 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 1983 for Adjusted USA Box Office:
Quigley’s 1983 Top 25 Box Office Stars
1. Clint Eastwood
2. Eddie Murphy
3. Sylvester Stallon
4. Burt Reynolds
5. John Travolta
6. Dustin Hoffam
7. Harrison Ford
8. Richard Gere
9. Chevy Chase
10. Tom Cruise
11. Sean Connery
12. Richard Pryor
13. Meryl Streep
14. Debra Winger
15. Roger Moore
16. Paul Newman
17. Teri Garr
18. Dudley Moore
19. Barbra Streisand
20. Goldie Hawn
21. Lou Gossett, Jr.
22. Al Pacino
23. Mark Hamill
24. Jane Fonda
25. Dany Aykroyd
L’Argent
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085180/
French award winner
Hey Sidney….add L’Argent to the database. It’s UMR Score is 59.38. Should be ranked 64th when website is updated with all of these new to the database movies. Good suggestions.
https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1984
WRITING (SCREENPLAY WRITTEN DIRECTLY FOR THE SCREEN)
NOMINEES
WARGAMES
Lawrence Lasker, Walter F. Parkes
SOUND
NOMINEES
NEVER CRY WOLF
Alan R. Splet, Todd Boekelheide, Randy Thom, David Parker
MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)
NOMINEES
UNDER FIRE
Jerry Goldsmith
Hey Sidney….all of these errors have been fixed…you are the man!
I saw 28, including 16 of top 17, 10s and favorites both: yentl, the big chill, tender mercies. another 10 is terms of endearment. another favourite is trading places a 9 (thank you Jaime lee). recent UMR honouree is alec Guinness number 1 for box office 1983. hidden gems are silkwood and tender mercies. if you consider 5 Oscar nominations each as hidden.
Hey bob cox….thanks for checking out our latest yearly review. 16 of the 17 is pretty darn impressive. I love Terms of Endearment…actually almost re-watched that tonight…but some new movies…Bruce Willis’ Reprisal (not good but decent for a directed to dvd movie) and Sicario 2 (decent…but the story did not really go anywhere). I know what you mean about Silkwood and Tender Mercies seeming like hidden gems. Pretty much forgotten today (it has been 35 years) but both are good movies. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on 1983 movies.
In your rankings for 1983 the following films I saw in a cinema, 1 through 16, 18 through 26, 28 through 39, 41 through 46, 49, 51,52, 54,56, 58, 62 through 64, 67 through 74, 76 through 80, 83 through 85, 91, 92, 94 through 96, 99. 100. 103, 104, 107, 110 through 114, 116, 118 through 121, 123 through 128, 130, 134 through 138, 140, 141, 143 through 146, 148, 150 through 153 and 155 through 158. That’s 113 of your list I went to back then. It would be easier now just listing the numbers of the ones I haven’t seen. The following 41 films from 1983 I’ve seen for the first time since December 1992. You know the setup, title, studio, stars if listed, date seen and source (TV channel, DVD or tape).
18 BRONZE GIRLS (H.K.) 1983 6/7 2010 DVD
ACES GO PLACES 2 (H.K) 1983 CINEMA CITY 12/31 1992 T-M
BETRAYAL 1983 FOX JEREMY IRONS BEN KINGSLEY 5/30 1993 A & E
BILL COSBY – HIMSELF 1983 FOX XXX XXX 5/23 1995 TMC
BMX BANDITS (AUSTRALIA) 1983 6/14 2013 DVD
CREATURE WASN’T NICE 1983 CREATURES FEATURES XXX XXX 3/26 1996 TAPE
DAFFY DUCK’S MOVIE: FANTASTIC ISLAND 1983 WB 10/13 2011 EFAM
DEAR MR. WONDERFUL (GER.) 1983 UA CLASSICS 6/18 2013 DVD
DEVONSVILLE TERROR 1983 MFM ROBERT WALKER JR. 12/28 1996 SCI
DOUBLE EXPOSURE 1983 CROWN INTL. 8/19 2015 DVD
FEARLESS HYENA II (H.K.) 1983 LO WEI JACKIE CHAN 11/7 1993 TAPE
FOUR ASSASSINS (H.K.) 1983 SHAW BROS. 10/17 1993 TAPE
GALAXY INVADERS 1983 6/15 2012 DVD
HYDRA 1983 FVI 9/11 2012 DVD
IN HEAVEN THERE IS NO BEER (DOC.) 1983 FLOWER FILMS 7/29 2015 TCM
JULIE DARLING 1983 TWIN CONTINENTAL ANTHONY FRANCIOSA SYBIL DANNING 1/16 1995 TAPE
LAST NIGHT AT THE ALAMO 1983 CINECOM XXX XXX 7/30 1994 BRAVO
LIANNA 1983 UNI CLASSICS XXX XXX 11/28 2005 IFC
LOLA LA TRAILERA (MEX.) 1983 SCOPE XXX XXX 12/3 1998 TAPE
LONELY HEARTS (AUSTRALIA) 1983 SAMUEL GOLDWYN 6/1 2014 TCM
LOVE IN HONG KONG 1983 KENT INTL. XXX XXX 4/30 1994 TMC
MAID IN CHAINS (U.K.) 1983 XXX XXX 12/24 1994 TAPE
MINOR MIRACLE 1983 6/21 2013 DVD
MY BROTHER’S WEDDING 1983 MITERTONE 1/26 2008 TCM
OF UNKNOWN ORIGINS 1983 WB 5/7 2017 TCM
ORDER OF DEATH (IT.) 1983 NEW LINE 8/31 2010 DVD
POSSESSION (FR-W.GER) 1983 LIMELIGHT 12/20 2015 TCM
PRISONERS OF THE LOST UNIVERSE 1983 5/28 2015 DVD
RAIDERS OF ATLANTIS (PT-PHI.) 1983 10/5 2012 DVD
ROCK AND RULE 1983 MGM/UA XXX XXX 4/19 1995 TNT
SHE 1983 AMERICAN NATIONAL 3/8 1998 TNT
SLAUGHTER 1983 7/29 1995 TNT
SMORGASBOARD 1983 WB JERRY LEWIS 1995 COM
STRANGERS KISS 1983 MOVIE STORE PETER COYOTE VICTORIA TENNANT 1/27 1998 STZ
STREAMERS 1983 UA 5/5 2014 EPIX 2
TENDER MERCIES 1983 UNI ROBERT DUVALL 12/24 1993 TBS
TIME TO DIE 1983 ALMI PICTURES 9/29 2013 DVD
TOUGH ENOUGH 1983 FOX DENNIS QUAID 2/8 1996 TMC
TWICE UPON A TIME 1983 LADD CO. 2/1 2015 TCM
TWILIGHT TIME 1983 MGM / UA 8/6 2016 TCM
VIADUKT (HUN.) 1983 6/23 2013 DVD
Hey Dan…..a truly impressive amount of 1983 movies seen….and I thought I was on a roll by reaching a tally of 80. Maybe when we get to the mid 1980s, I will be able to topple your tally. I worked at a video store from 1985 to 1989…..and I watched a ton of movies. I know exactly what you mean about it being easier to list the ones you have not seen versus the ones you have seen. I think the most impressive stat on your viewing numbers is seeing 92% of the Top 50 in theaters….now that is a serious movie fan. So glad such a knowledgable fan found our little website. Your contributions continue to be impressive.
I’ve seen 61 of the 159 films on the chart. I was starting to rent a lot of movies on VHS by 1983 and catching up on a lot of classics I had missed or ignored.
Looking at my files I have 55 films from 1983 in my movie collection, so for the first time I’ve seen more than I have collected. It might sound strange but on previous charts I had collected more movies than I had seen, if that makes any sense.
Favorites are –
Blue Thunder
Brainstorm
Christine
Dead Zone ,The
Fire & Ice
Halloween III
Krull
Lone Wolf McQuade
Man With Two Brains ,The
Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life
National Lampoon’s Vacation
Never Say Never Again
Octopussy
Osterman Weekend ,The
Outsiders ,The
Psycho II
Right Stuff ,The
Scarface (1983)
Something Wicked This Way Comes
SpaceHunter
Star Wars VI – Return of the Jedi
Strange Invaders
Sudden Impact
Superman III
Ten to Midnight
To Be or Not to Be
Trading Places
Twilight Zone the Movie
Uncommon Valour
Under Fire
Videodrome
Wargames
zz-China – Project A
zz-China – Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain
Good to see The Right Stuff at no.1 on the critics chart, one of my top favorites of the 1980s. I was not happy when it lost the Best Picture Oscar to Terms of Endearment. There is a connection between the two [cue gasps] Jack Nicholson plays a retired astronaut in Terms.
Return of the Jedi easily the biggest hit of the year. George Lucas waited 16 years before unleashing another Star Wars.
Good stuff Bruce. Vote Up!
Hey Steve….thanks for the comment, the visit, sharing your thoughts on 1983 movies and your tally. I have seen 80 of these movies….as for ones in my DVD collection….let’s see….I have 10 on DVD. Glad to see Fire & Ice on your favorites list…I love that animated movie…used to play “Fire and Ice” with my older boys…..we would reenact the finale when the good guy powers his way through to get the bad guy…..my ex-wife would get on me about letting the boys watch that movie….apparently the women in the movie do not wear many clothes….I will have to check to see if that is indeed the truth….lol.
Glad you like our critic/audience number one….I like both movies….so I did not get too upset when Terms won….I think the fact that The Right Stuff struggled at the box office….hurt it’s chances to get the Best Picture Oscar. Yep Star Wars 3 is the easy winner when looking at box office totals. I have seen all of your favorites….10 To Midnight is one of Charles Bronson’s last good movies…..that one has a good villain in it. As always…thanks for stopping by.