Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
Before Woody Allen dived in to the murky realm of mediocrity with pretty faces and melodrama, he directed and wrote films like "Crimes and Misdemeanors" a two fold film about a director stuck in a dead end unhappy marriage contemplating infidelity that could lead down a bad road if he isn't careful, and an optometrist whose torrid love affair has gone much too far and threatens to destroy every aspect of his life if doesn't end it as soon as possible. Hiring his brother to murder his mistress, Judah Rosenthal as played by Martin Landau, is left with the shreds of memories and remorse for his lover, and Allen never quite turns away from the unrelenting guilt experienced when greed and vanity gives way to a cruel death. While Allen is noted for describing his discontent for his own comedic sub-plot, it makes for an interesting case of juxtaposing an affair that's gone horribly awry, and a possible affair that could go potentially awry if Allen's character Cliff doesn't step carefully. In the end both men are shells of their former selves, and Allen went on to remake this in to the putrid "Match Point." This 1989 dramedy though stands as a personal favorite from Allen's legacy.
 

Ordinary People (1980)
Hate and regret can be poison in our systems. Horrific accidents and senseless crimes can bring out the worst in us and muster up old emotions and suppressed resentment within us and our family members and in the case of Robert Redford's family drama, it's an endless stream of reminders that nepotism and guilty will always go hand in hand when it comes to certain parents. Redford's dramatic character study is one of the few dramas that focus in on the subject of tragedy and death that doesn't wrap up in a nice neat little bow. Timothy Hutton leads a cast of all-stars in a story of Conrad, a younger brother of a beloved young man who almost perished in a horrible boat accident one night. Conrad, the black sheep, managed to survive while his brother died out in sea. Conrad is sadly forced to go back to his normal life enduring the hatred and neglect from his mother Beth who favored his brother over Conrad, the depression of his put upon father Calvin who must watch helplessly as mother and son turn on one another, while Conrad sees a local therapist as a last ditch effort to retrieve some sense of personal closure and hope to re-claim a life he lost when his brother died so many years earlier. Constantly gripping and consistently compelling, Redford's drama keeps me going back every time.
 

Airplane! (1980)
Any fan of comedy, laughing, genius, and all around timeless lampoon cinema will want to plant themselves down and watch the 1980 comedy disaster flick "Airplane!" about an airplane doomed to crash unless its hapless crew and control team don't guide it down on to the ground safe and sound. A spoof of the popular disaster flicks of the late seventies, Jim Abrahams and David Zucker composed a slew of non-stop hilarious one-liners and skits all of which manage to form in to a surprisingly coherent narrative about an ex war veteran who happens on board the doomed airliner with an old love who is a stewardess. Thanks to bad food that has an unusual side effect, it's up to him to fly the ship, and that's if he can stop regaling passengers with his accounts of his love affair, that always ends in a suicide. Tackling classic commercials, the incoherence of jive talk, and breaking all stereotypes by giving Leslie Nielsen one of his first of many comedy roles, "Airplane!" is a non-stop laugh riot that competes for the title of the best spoof of all time and even gives Mel Brooks a run for his money. You won't have a second to catch your breath.
 

The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Pretty much the pinnacle of the "Star Wars" mythology and the signpost up ahead that explained to millions of fans that this just about as good as it gets, "The Empire Strikes Back" is a masterpiece of science fiction cinema. The darker and much more complex sequel to "Star Wars," Lucas handed the reigns over to Irvin Kirschner who directed a moody and melodic confrontation between good and evil that ends in a lost limb, a fallen hero, and a revelation that changes the characters forever. Being one of the few youth oriented science fiction epics to end with a dark open ended climax, "Empire Strikes Back" manages to develop these characters beyond their fantasy archetypes established by Lucas in the previous film and adds quirks and idiosyncrasies to every hero and villain who take on black and white and delve in to shades of grey. Luke experiences the full brunt of his force training after the death of Obi-Wan, Leia soon finds something new to fight for in her life, and Han Solo, once the selfish pirate, soon become the valiant hero whose choices ultimately prove to develop his friends for much better and for much worse. "Empire Strikes Back" is that one capsule of eighties cinema that was never again duplicated... but it hasn't stopped dozens of filmmakers from trying at it.
 

A Christmas Story (1983)
Pretty much the perfect holiday film for all kids and family members, Bob Clark's Christmas dramedy revolves around the classic themes of growing up and aiming for your goals, however small or trivial they may be. Reaching down in to realistic themes of materialistic fulfillment, Clark zeroes in on Ralphie, a young bespectacled boy who lives a humble life in the early 1900's among a bratty little brother, a caring mother, and a working class father stuck in an endless tug of war with hillbilly neighbors. Involving everything from the first utterance of the F word, Ralphie's father's obsession with a leg lamp that also ends up being his introduction in to sex, and his battle with a vicious bully who gets his kicks out of tormenting the neighborhood kids, Ralphie only wants "an official Red Ryder carbine-action 200-shot range model air rifle with a compass in the stock, and this thing which tells time," if only he could convince his parents to buy him one... because he'll shoot his eye out. What's a kid to do? Clark's tale of a boy and his beloved toy has become a bonafide Christmas tradition for yours truly.