10 Movies From 1981 That Are Now Considered Classics

John Travolta in a scene from Brian De Palma's Blow Out

John Travolta in a scene from Brian De Palma's 1981 thriller 'Blow Out.'Image via Filmways Pictures

By Luc Haasbroek Published Feb 9, 2026, 6:30 PM EST Luc Haasbroek is a writer and videographer from Durban, South Africa. He has been writing professionally about pop culture for eight years. Luc's areas of interest are broad: he's just as passionate about psychology and history as he is about movies and TV. He's especially drawn to the places where these topics overlap. Luc is also an avid producer of video essays and looks forward to expanding his writing career. When not writing, he can be found hiking, playing Dungeons & Dragons, hanging out with his cats, and doing deep dives on whatever topic happens to have captured his interest that week. Sign in to your Collider account Add Us On Summary Generate a summary of this story follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Thread Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap

1981 was a year of transition. The bold experimentation of 1970s filmmaking was colliding with the emerging blockbuster logic of the 1980s. The result was a diverse slate of films: muscular and thoughtful, mythic and grounded, commercial and deeply personal.

With this in mind, this list looks at some of the most enduring classics of 1981. They helped define what action, horror, romance, historical drama, and political cinema could look like in a changing industry. The best of them more than hold up today.

10 'Excalibur' (1981)

Image via Warner Bros.

"You will be the land, and the land will be you." Excalibur retells the legend of King Arthur as a dark, operatic myth rather than a chivalric fairy tale. It charts Arthur’s (Nigel Terry) rise from illegitimate child to king, the forging of the Round Table, and the eventual collapse of his kingdom through betrayal, ambition, and moral decay. Knights quest for the Holy Grail, loyalties fracture, and magic slowly drains from the world. As Arthur weakens, so does the land itself.

The film was directed by John Boorman, the mind behind Point Blank and Deliverance, explaining its grimmer, grittier edge. Still, the fantasy aesthetic remains striking and immersive. Watching Excalibur now, the stylized performances, gleaming armor, and ritualistic tone feel intentionally heightened rather than dated. The supporting cast is strong, too, including Patrick Stewart, Liam Neeson, and a bewitching Helen Mirren as Morgan le Fay.

9 'Body Heat' (1981)

William Hurt and Kathleen Turner sit and talk in Body Heat. Image via Warner Bros.

"You're not too smart, are you? I like that in a man." Body Heat follows a small-town lawyer (William Hurt) who becomes entangled in a dangerous affair with a married woman (Kathleen Turner) intent on escaping her wealthy, controlling husband (Richard Crenna). What begins as pure lust quickly evolves into manipulation, deception, and even murder, with the lawyer gradually realizing he may not be the one in control.

The plot is tightly wound, drawing heavily from classic film noir while updating its sexual frankness and moral cynicism. Every decision compounds the last, turning desire into a trap that tightens without warning. In particular, the movie's understanding of power dynamics, whether sexual, economic, or psychological, gives it lasting bite. In other words, while it has the trappings of an erotic thriller, Body Heat is really a sharp neo-noir. Much of its success hinges on the phenomenal femme fatale performance from Turner.

8 'Thief' (1981)

James Caan's Frank from Thief (1981)Image via United Artists

"There's a thousand ways to get hurt in this business." Thief was Michael Mann's debut, and it contains many of his stylistic calling cards in microcosm. At the center of it is Frank (James Caan), a professional safecracker determined to complete one last big job so he can finally build a normal life. When he agrees to work for a powerful crime boss, his carefully controlled world begins to unravel as independence gives way to obligation. Every step toward legitimacy pulls him deeper into the criminal underworld. Frank’s tragedy isn’t moral failure, but believing he can negotiate with systems that only consume.

All this makes for an unusually smart thriller, one of the best crime films of the early '80s. While Mann's later work would get much more ambitious and elaborate, Thief remains punchy even now. Its cool visual style and electronic score have aged well, and its de-romanticized take on crime feels much more honest than you usually find in this genre.

7 'Reds' (1981)

Image via Paramount Pictures

"I want to make a difference." Reds dramatizes the life of American journalist John Reed (Warren Beatty, who also directs), whose radical politics and romantic idealism draw him into the Russian Revolution. The film traces his relationship with fellow writer Louise Bryant (Diane Keaton), their political commitments, and the strain ideology places on their connection. The movie is simultaneously epic and intimate, moving between personal romance and historical upheaval.

To accommodate this ambitious storytelling scope, the movie clocks in at well over three hours long, something that not every viewer will appreciate. Others have taken issue with the way it presents the protagonists' politics. Still, for those interested in this period, there's a lot to be enjoyed here. Weatty and Keaton's acting is great, as one would expect, and the film does make some nuanced points about both potential and the perils of trying to bring about revolution.

6 'An American Werewolf in London' (1981)

Image via Universal Pictures

"Beware the moon." This seminal comedy-horror follows two American tourists (played by David Naughton and Griffin Dunne) attacked by a mysterious creature on the English moors. One is killed, the other survives, only to discover he is slowly transforming into a werewolf. As his body changes, he’s haunted by visions of his dead friend, who warns him of what he’s becoming. While that sounds like typical horror fare, the story is shot through humor as well, as well as more than a little of that classic John Landis absurdity.

The special effects alone ensure An American Werewolf in London's place in genre history. The transformation scenes were groundbreaking for the time: painful and intimate, emphasizing bodily violation rather than spectacle. All in all, this movie is funny, frightening, and unexpectedly sad, a genre hybrid that has never really been replicated. It paved the way for many great comedy-horrors that followed.

5 'Blow Out' (1981)

Nancy Allen appears in Brian De Palma's Blow Out

Nancy Allen in a climatic scene from Brian De Palma's 1981 thriller 'Blow Out.'Image via Filmways Pictures

"You can hear the screams." Blow Out is Brian De Palma's pulpier, harder-hitting take on Michelangelo Antonioni's Blow-Up, but switches that movie's focus on photography to a focus on audio recording. John Travolta is great in it as Jack Terry, a sound technician who accidentally records evidence of what may be a political assassination while gathering audio for a low-budget horror film. He begins piecing together the truth using sound, images, and film fragments, but soon becomes entangled in a conspiracy far larger than himself.

While the movie is structured like a paranoid thriller, its real subject is perception itself. Jack believes that if he can assemble the evidence correctly, reality will assert itself. Instead, every step toward clarity reveals how easily truth can be distorted, erased, or repackaged. His technical expertise becomes both his power and his curse. In this sense, Blow Out very much channels the spirit of Alfred Hitchcock.

4 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' (1981)

Indiana Jones thinking about seizing a gold statue in the opening of Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)Image via Paramount Pictures

"It's not the years, honey. It's the mileage." One of the most purely entertaining movies of all time, Raiders of the Lost Ark introduces the legendary Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford), an archaeologist-adventurer racing against Nazi forces to locate the Ark of the Covenant, a biblical artifact said to wield immense power. The plot moves briskly across continents, blending chases, puzzles, and narrow escapes into a relentless pursuit, all harking back to the classic adventures of Hollywood's Golden Age. Every obstacle escalates the stakes, and every action sequence advances the character development.

All these decades later, the movie's clarity of storytelling, sense of wonder, and tonal confidence remain unmatched. Raiders is joyful and fun, simply jam-packed with plot in the best way. Plus, in contrast to most adventure blockbusters of the era, the protagonist is not invincible. Indy survives through improvisation, endurance, and occasional luck. That vulnerability grounds the spectacle.

3 'Escape from New York' (1981)

Snake Plissken aiming his rifle at something off-camera in Escape From New York

Kurt Russell as Snake Plissken in Escape From New YorkImage via AVCO Embassy Pictures

"Call me Snake." Escape from New York is set in a near-future where Manhattan has been converted into a maximum-security prison. When the President (Donald Pleasence) crash-lands inside the city, the government recruits Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell), a disgraced former soldier, to rescue him within a strict time limit. The story that follows is spare and cynical. Snake navigates rival gangs, collapsed infrastructure, and shifting alliances, not out of loyalty, but obligation. In this world, authority is corrupt, survival is transactional, and heroism is deeply suspect.

John Carpenter wrote it as a direct response to the Watergate scandal and the pessimistic public mood it engendered. On release, some critics dismissed all this as genre pulp. However, as is often the case with Carpenter movies, Escape from New York went on to become a cult classic. It's grimy, action-packed, and full of attitude. Snake’s refusal to play along becomes the film’s quiet act of resistance.

2 'Das Boot' (1981)

Image via Neue Constantin Film

"It's cold. It's dark. And it's very quiet." Das Boot follows the crew of a German U-boat during World War II as they patrol the Atlantic under constant threat from Allied forces. Hours stretch into days stretch into weeks as tension mounts and morale deteriorates. The film confines the audience within the submarine’s cramped interior, creating a claustrophobic experience that mirrors the crew’s psychological state. Attacks are sudden, survival is uncertain, and victory offers no relief, only temporary reprieve.

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This refusal to glorify combat allows fear and exhaustion to dominate. The result is one of the most immersive war films ever made. The tension is tautly controlled throughout, the plot elements are all bolted into their right place, and the realism of the submarine is genuinely impressive. Every movie since that takes place owes Das Boot a debt of gratitude, and probably falls short of the high bar it set.

1 'Chariots of Fire' (1981)

A group of young men running on the beach in Chariots of Fire

Image via 20th Century Studios

"I believe God made me for a purpose." That year's Best Picture Oscar was won by this inspirational drama. Chariots of Fire follows two British athletes preparing for the 1924 Olympics: one (Ian Charleson) driven by religious conviction, the other (Ben Cross) by a desire to overcome class prejudice. For them, running becomes an expression of belief, whether spiritual or personal. Their parallel journeys become vehicles to explore faith, discipline, and the cost of ambition. Breaking with genre convention, the emphasis here is on training, doubt, and moral conflict rather than competition itself.

Basically, this is a well-crafted prestige sports drama, anchored by strong performances. The visuals are granded and the score is great. It all builds up that famous slow-mo sequence to the sounds of Vangelis, a sence that has been endlessly referenced and parodied in the decades since. The movie's admirers include Christopher Nolan, who called it "a masterpiece of British understatement."