Highest-Rated Movies about 'Year 1981'

The Usual Suspects (1995), Argo (2012), Mysterious Skin (2004), Hunger (2008), Bandit Queen (1994), Predestination (2014), A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), Mao's Last Dancer (2009) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Year 1981 movies.

#1. The Usual Suspects (1995)

Storyline: Following a truck hijack in New York, five criminals are arrested and brought together for questioning. As none of them are guilty, they plan a revenge operation against the police. The operation goes well, but then the influence of a legendary mastermind criminal called Keyser Söze is felt. It becomes clear that each one of them has wronged Söze at some point and must pay back now. The payback job leaves 27 men dead in a boat explosion, but the real question arises now: Who actually is Keyser Söze?

Plot Keywords: criminal, suspect, criminal mastermind, flashback, mind game, surprise ending, neo noir ...

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#2. Argo (2012)

Storyline: In 1979, the American embassy in Iran was invaded by Iranian revolutionaries and several Americans were taken hostage. However, six managed to escape to the official residence of the Canadian Ambassador and the CIA was ordered to get them out of the country. With few options, exfiltration expert Tony Mendez devised a daring plan: create a phony Canadian film project looking to shoot in Iran and smuggle the Americans out as its production crew. With the help of some trusted Hollywood contacts, Mendez created the ruse and proceeded to Iran as its associate producer. However, time was running out with the Iranian security forces closing in on the truth while both his charges and the White House had grave doubts about the operation themselves.

Plot Keywords: cia, based on true story, year 1979, f word, escape, hostage, iran ...

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#3. Mysterious Skin (2004)

Storyline: Brian Lackey is determined to discover what happened during an amnesia blackout when he was eight years old, and then later woke with a bloody nose. He believes he was abducted by aliens, and N. McCormick, a fellow player on Brian's childhood baseball team, may be the key as to exactly what happened that night. As Brian searches for the truth and tries to track him down, Neil McCormick takes up hustling and moves to New York, in attempts to forget childhood memories that haunt him. Together, the two of them uncover the terrible truth of the scars they share.

Plot Keywords: male rape, repressed memory, pedophilia, child molestation, man boy relationship, loss of innocence, male nudity ...

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#4. Hunger (2008)

Storyline: Hunger follows life in the Maze Prison, Northern Ireland with an interpretation of the highly emotive events surrounding the 1981 IRA Hunger Strike, led by Bobby Sands. With an epic eye for detail, the film provides a timely exploration of what happens when body and mind are pushed to the uttermost limit.

Plot Keywords: nudity, male frontal nudity, beating, torture, police brutality, irish republican army, northern ireland ...

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#5. Bandit Queen (1994)

Storyline: The movie tells the story of the bandit queen Phoolan Devi who was sent to prison in 1983 and got free in 1994. For five years she was prosecuted by the Indian police and turned into a legend (like a modern Robin Hood) by the Indian press. Although the press tended to make her the optimal hero with blue eyes, dark hair, being tall and beautiful she was in reality an average Indian which makes it hard for the movie to fulfill the expectations of the audience and tell the truth at the same time. Later in her life, she entered into politics and was assassinated in 2001.—Volker Boehm

Plot Keywords: nudity, female nudity, rape and revenge, public nudity, organized crime, vengeance, social injustice ...

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#6. Predestination (2014)

Storyline: PREDESTINATION chronicles the life of a Temporal Agent sent on an intricate series of time-travel journeys designed to ensure the continuation of his law enforcement career for all eternity. Now, on his final assignment, the Agent must pursue the one criminal that has eluded him throughout time.

Plot Keywords: time travel, time machine, time paradox, time loop, transgender, secret government organization, undercover agent ...

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#7. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

Storyline: On Elm Street, Nancy Thompson and a group of her friends (comprising Tina Gray, Rod Lane and Glen Lantz) are being tormented by a clawed killer in their dreams named Fred Krueger. Nancy must think quickly, as Fred tries to pick them off one by one. When he has you in your sleep, who is there to save you?

Plot Keywords: slasher, serial killer, slasher flick, american horror, first of series, murder, sleep deprivation ...

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#8. Mao's Last Dancer (2009)

Storyline: A drama based on the autobiography by Li Cunxin. At the age of 11, Li was plucked from a poor Chinese village by Madame Mao's cultural delegates and taken to Beijing to study ballet. In 1979, during a cultural exchange to Texas, he fell in love with an American woman. Two years later, he managed to defect and went on to perform as a principal dancer for the Houston Ballet and as a principal artist with the Australian Ballet.—Anonymous

Plot Keywords: snowing, waltz, food, eating, piano, pianist, year 1986 ...

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#9. The Age of Adaline (2015)

Storyline: After miraculously remaining 29 years old for almost eight decades, Adaline Bowman has lived a solitary existence, never allowing herself to get close to anyone who might reveal her secret. But a chance encounter with charismatic philanthropist Ellis Jones reignites her passion for life and romance. When a weekend with his parents threatens to uncover the truth, Adaline makes a decision that will change her life forever.

Plot Keywords: aging, san francisco california, hospital, immortality, party, dog, lie ...

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#10. Love & Basketball (2000)

Storyline: In 1981 in L.A., Monica moves in next door to Quincy. They're 11, and both want to play in the NBA, just like Quincy's dad. Their love-hate relationship lasts into high school, with Monica's edge and Quincy's top-dog attitude separating them, except when Quincy's parents argue and he climbs through Monica's window to sleep on the floor. As high school ends, they come together as a couple, but within a year, with both of them playing ball at USC, Quincy's relationship with his father takes an ugly turn, and it leads to a break up with Monica. Some years later, their pro careers at a crossroads, they meet again. It's time for a final game of one-on-one with high stakes.

Plot Keywords: 1980s, high school, basketball movie, post coital scene, condom, man wearing a tank top, tank top ...

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#12. Breathe (2017)

Storyline: When Robin is struck down by polio at the age of 28, he is confined to a hospital bed and given only a few months to live. With the help of Diana's twin brothers (Tom Hollander) and the groundbreaking ideas of inventor Teddy Hall (Hugh Bonneville), Robin and Diana dare to escape the hospital ward to seek out a full and passionate life together - raising their young son, traveling and devoting their lives to helping other polio patients.

Plot Keywords: inventor, wheelchair, twin, marriage, illness, disability, love ...

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#13. A Most Violent Year (2014)

Storyline: A crime drama set in New York City during the winter of 1981, statistically one of the most violent years in the city's history, and centered on the lives of an immigrant and his family trying to expand their business and capitalize on opportunities as the rampant violence, decay, and corruption of the day drag them in and threaten to destroy all they have built.

Plot Keywords: american dream, new york city, year 1981, tunnel, husband wife relationship, coat, child with gun ...

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#14. Behind the Candelabra (2013)

Storyline: Scott Thorson, a young bisexual man raised in foster homes, is introduced to flamboyant entertainment giant Liberace and quickly finds himself in a romantic relationship with the legendary pianist. Swaddled in wealth and excess, Scott and Liberace have a long affair, one that Scott eventually begins to find suffocating. Kept away from the outside world by his flashily effeminate yet deeply closeted partner, and submitting to extreme makeovers and even plastic surgery at the behest of his lover, Scott eventually rebels. When Liberace finds himself a new lover, Scott is tossed onto the street. He then seeks legal redress for what he feels he has lost. But throughout, the bond between the young man and the star never completely tears.

Plot Keywords: pianist, gay relationship, 1970s, based on autobiography, piano, glamour, candelabra ...

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#15. Basquiat (1996)

Storyline: Basquiat tells the story of the meteoric rise of youthful artist Jean Michel Basquiat. Starting out as a street artist, living in Thompkins Square Park in a cardboard box, Basquiat becomes a star and a part of Andy Warhol's art world circle. But success has a price, and Basquiat pays with friendships, love, and eventually, his life.

Plot Keywords: independent film, drug abuse, fisticuffs, gay slur, graffiti, interview, jealousy ...

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