# The Best Picture winners of the 1980s

The ten films released between 1980 and 1989 that won the Academy Award for Best Picture, from Ordinary People to Driving Miss Daisy.

- 48 votes · 10 items
- Mar 25, 2026 · Karla Álvarez
- https://even.best/en/l/747/the-best-picture-winners-of-the-1980s

## Top 10

1. **Out of Africa** (7 · ▲7 ▼0) — Sydney Pollack, 1985. Meryl Streep as Karen Blixen in Kenya.
2. **Chariots of Fire** (6 · ▲6 ▼0) — Hugh Hudson, 1981. Two British athletes at the 1924 Olympics and Vangelis' music.
3. **Platoon** (5 · ▲5 ▼0) — Oliver Stone, 1986. The Vietnam War through a recruit's eyes.
4. **Amadeus** (4 · ▲4 ▼0) — Miloš Forman, 1984. Mozart seen through a jealous Salieri; eight Oscars.
5. **Rain Man** (4 · ▲4 ▼0) — Barry Levinson, 1988. Tom Cruise and his autistic brother, Dustin Hoffman.
6. **Ordinary People** (3 · ▲4 ▼1) — Robert Redford, 1980. A family broken by a son's death; Redford's directing debut.
7. **Terms of Endearment** (3 · ▲4 ▼1) — James L. Brooks, 1983. A mother and daughter over thirty years.
8. **Gandhi** (0 · ▲3 ▼3) — Richard Attenborough, 1982. Ben Kingsley as Mahatma Gandhi; eight Oscars.
9. **The Last Emperor** (0 · ▲1 ▼1) — Bernardo Bertolucci, 1987. Puyi, from the Forbidden City to communist China; nine Oscars from nine nominations.
10. **Driving Miss Daisy** (-2 · ▲1 ▼3) — Bruce Beresford, 1989. An elderly Jewish woman and her chauffeur in Atlanta over 25 years.

How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.