Year 1981 movies and TV shows
The list contains the best, new and most relevant year 1981 movies ordered by relevance. The recommendation service has sorted out realistic, serious, talky, weird, visually appealing and sexy films and TV shows about / with catastrophe, mentor, runaway, female nudity, dialogue, storytelling, culture clash, brutality, adaptation and nude plots mostly in Drama, Romance and Thriller genres shot in USA, UK, France and other countries.
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TOP 10 movies tagged as year 1981: Lola (1981), Mephisto (1981), Diva (1981), Ragtime (1981), Reds (1981), Southern Comfort (1981), Three Brothers (1981), The Amateur (1981), American Pop (1981), An American Werewolf in London (1981).
Best films
New films
List of year 1981 movies
7K
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: West Germany
Duration: 115 min.
Story:
Germany in the autumn of 1957: Lola, a seductive cabaret singer-prostitute exults in her power as a temptress of men, but she wants out—she wants money, property, and love. Pitting a corrupt building contractor against the new straight-arrow ...
Style:
art house, realistic, tense, stylized, sexual ...
Plot:
nymph, prostitution, brothel, prostitute, sex, cabaret singer, crazy love, capitalism, cabaret, femme fatale, small town, bourgeoisie ...
Time:
year 1981, 50s, 20th century, 1950s, 1930s ...
Place:
germany, west germany, bavaria, europe, berlin germany
Is relevant?
12K
Genre: Drama
Country: Hungary, West Germany, Austria
Duration: 146 min.
Story:
A German stage actor finds unexpected success and mixed blessings in the popularity of his performance in a Faustian play as the Nazis take power in pre-WWII Germany. As his associates and friends flee or are ground under by the Nazi terror, the ...
Style:
political, horror musical, art film, mind twisting, disturbing ...
Plot:
nazi, nazi germany, actor, pact with the devil, theater, nazism, ambition, ethics, success, price of fame, female nudity, biopic ...
Time:
year 1981, 1930s, 1920s
Place:
germany, hamburg germany, berlin germany, eastern europe, europe ...
Is relevant?
Genre: Adventure, Family, Fantasy
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 152 min.
Story:
Harry Potter has lived under the stairs at his aunt and uncle's house his whole life. But on his 11th birthday, he learns he's a powerful wizard -- with a place waiting for him at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. As he ...
Style:
fairy tale, entertaining, exciting, touching, sexy ...
Audience:
kids, teens, family outing, pre-teens, teen fantasy ...
Plot:
harry potter, magic, friendship, witch, fantasy world, wizard, witchcraft, magical, best friend, chosen one, boarding school, children ...
Time:
year 1981, year 1991, year 2001, year 1992, 80s ...
Place:
england, london, yorkshire, europe
Is relevant?
15K
Genre: Crime, Drama, Music, Thriller
Country: France
Duration: 117 min.
Story:
Jules, a young Parisian postman, secretly records a concert performance given by the opera singer Cynthia Hawkins, whom he idolises. The following day, Jules runs into a woman who is being pursued by armed thugs. Before she is killed, the woman ...
Style:
visually stunning, visual, lyrical, surreal, stylized ...
Plot:
classical music, opera, murder, postman, opera singer, hotel, blackmail, concert, henchman, police corruption, music, car chase ...
Time:
year 1981, 80s, year 1980, 20th century
Place:
paris france, france, europe
Is relevant?
Related movie lists
11K
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 155 min.
Story:
A young black pianist becomes embroiled in the lives of an upper-class white family set among the racial tensions, infidelity, violence, and other nostalgic events in early 1900s New York City.
Style:
clever, bleak, cult classic, independent film, controversial ...
Audience:
kids
Plot:
racism, jazz, renaissance, racial injustice, american history, racial discrimination, trial, female nudity, friendship, murder, anarchist, unrequited love ...
Time:
year 1981, victorian era, 1900s, 1910s, 20th century ...
Place:
new york, eastern europe, harlem, usa, atlantic city new jersey ...
Is relevant?
27K
Genre: Biography, Drama, History, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 195 min.
Story:
A radical American journalist becomes involved with the Communist revolution in Russia and hopes to bring its spirit and idealism to the United States.
Style:
epic, political, breathtaking, philosophical, sentimental ...
Plot:
politics, communism, journalism, russian revolution, revolutionary, biopic, writers, love story, reporter, infidelity, cold war, train ...
Time:
1920s, 1910s, year 1917, year 1981, 20th century ...
Place:
russia, soviet union, st. petersburg russia, new york, usa ...
Is relevant?
Genre: Action, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min.
Story:
A squad of National Guards on an isolated weekend exercise in the Louisiana swamp must fight for their lives when they anger local Cajuns by stealing their canoes. Without live ammunition and in a strange country, their experience begins to mirror ...
Style:
atmospheric, psychological, grindhouse, cult classic, gothic ...
Plot:
survival, wilderness, backwoods, swamp, lost in the woods, ambush, poacher, murder, american south, dog attack, pursuit, on the run ...
Time:
year 1981, year 1973, 70s
Place:
louisiana, southern usa, usa, vietnam, texas ...
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 113 min.
Story:
In a farmhouse in southern Italy, an old woman dies. Her husband summons their sons: from Rome, Raffaele, a judge facing a political case for which he risks assassination; from Naples, the religious and ideological Rocco, a counselor at a ...
Style:
contemplative, realistic, serious, touching, gloomy ...
Plot:
chess, peasant, terrorism, mafia, death, funeral, family relations, hopes, farm, social worker, estrangement, family problems ...
Time:
year 1981, 20th century, 80s
Place:
italy, europe, naples italy, germany, southern italy ...
Is relevant?
Genre: Action, Crime, Thriller
Country: Canada
Duration: 112 min.
Story:
A researcher for the CIA who convinces his superiors to send him to the eastern bloc in order to avenge the murder of his wife by enemy agents discovers a web of deception underneath his wife's death.
Style:
political thriller, serious, realistic, exciting, rough ...
Plot:
terrorist, espionage, spy, covert operation, revenge, assassin, secret mission, law enforcement, hostage, intrigue, politics, murder ...
Time:
year 1981, 80s, 20th century
Place:
italy, europe, prague, central europe, eastern europe ...
Is relevant?
Genre: Animation, Drama, History, Music
Country: USA, Netherlands, UK, South Korea
Duration: 96 min.
Story:
American Pop is an American animated film that tells the story of four generations of a Russian Jewish immigrant family of musicians whose careers parallel the history of American popular music.
Style:
adult animation, intense, disturbing, sentimental, captivating ...
Audience:
adult
Plot:
jazz, music, music business, songwriter, rock and roll, justice, dark hero, dysfunctional family, multiple storylines, family relations, love and romance, musician's life ...
Time:
20th century, 1940s, year 1981, 80s, 70s ...
Place:
new york, kansas, israel, russia, san francisco ...
Is relevant?
Genre: Comedy, Horror
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 97 min.
Story:
Two American tourists in England are attacked by a werewolf that none of the locals will admit exists.
Style:
suspense, black comedy, gothic, horror comedy, cult classic ...
Audience:
teens, adult
Plot:
werewolf, monster, nightmare, transformation, supernatural, full moon, violence, monster as victim, gory, wolf, ghost, hospital ...
Time:
80s, year 1981, 20th century
Place:
england, london, europe, united kingdom, northern england ...
Is relevant?
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min.
Story:
In 1970, three children are born at the height of a total eclipse. Due to the sun and moon blocking Saturn, which controls emotions, they have become heartless killers ten years later, and are able to escape detection because of their youthful and ...
Style:
slasher, sexy, suspenseful, psychological, tense ...
Plot:
evil child, solar eclipse, child in peril, holiday horror, patricide, bare breasts, sociopath, creepy child, children, birthday, elementary school, creepy kid ...
Time:
80s, year 1981, year 1980, 70s, year 1970
Is relevant?
Related movie lists
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min.
Story:
For the first time in history a woman is appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, where she becomes a friendly rival to a liberal associate.
Style:
light, melancholic, entertaining, realistic, semi serious ...
Audience:
girls' night, chick flick
Plot:
supreme court, courtroom drama, battle of the sexes, justice, judiciary, unlikely couple, politics, fighting the system, rivalry, workplace romance, opposites attract, workplace ...
Time:
80s, year 1981
Place:
washington d.c., usa, manhattan new york city, new york, new jersey
Is relevant?
Genre: Action, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 146 min.
Story:
George Romero's unusual story of a modern-day Renaissance troupe whose participants follow a medieval code of honor.
Style:
stylized, meditative, light, road movie, cult classic ...
Plot:
biker, life philosophy, friendship, performer's life, social misfits, rivalry, desire for fame, idealism, life is a bitch, downfall, bike, legend ...
Time:
year 1981, 80s, medieval times
Place:
pittsburgh, tokyo, new jersey
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, France, West Germany
Duration: 104 min.
Story:
A film adaptation of D.H. Lawrence's novel. After a crippling injury leaves her husband impotent, Lady Chatterly is torn between her love for her husband and her physical desires. With her husband's consent, she seeks out other means of ...
Style:
sexy, erotic, sexual, controversial, sensual ...
Audience:
teens, adult
Plot:
sex, impotent husband, obsession, world war one, nudity, master and servant, love triangle, erotica, female masturbation, dysfunctional marriage, war injury, infidelity ...
Time:
year 1981, 1910s, 80s
Place:
england, britain, france, europe
Is relevant?
Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 101 min.
Story:
Twenty years after the American people have been told the oil has run out and disease has scared them into complacency, the United States has become a fascist state. One man, former race car driver Franklyn Hart, now a puppet spokesman for public ...
Style:
apocalyptic, grindhouse, cult classic, independent film, road movie ...
Audience:
boys' night
Plot:
post apocalypse, post apocalyptic, car, automobile, distopia, terror, post-apocalyptic future, planet, epidemic, classic car, dystopian future, apocalypse ...
Time:
year 1981, future, distant future
Place:
california, usa
Is relevant?
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min.
Story:
When the young Texas Ranger, John Reid, is the sole survivor of an ambush arranged by the militaristic outlaw leader, Butch Cavendich, he is rescued by an old childhood Comanche friend, Tonto. When he recovers from his wounds, he dedicates his life ...
Style:
realistic, serious, exciting, captivating, humorous ...
Plot:
texas ranger, horse, man with no name, lone ranger, heroes, superhero, cowboy, justice, murder, violence, jungle, usa president ...
Time:
19th century, year 1981, 1860s, 1870s, 80s
Place:
texas, austin texas, usa, california
Is relevant?
35K
Genre: Action, Crime, Sci-Fi, Thriller, Western
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 109 min.
Story:
Thriller about an honest marshal in a corrupt mining colony on Io, Jupiter's sunless third moon, who is determined to confront a violent drug ring even though it may cost him his life. After his wife angrily deserts him, he waits alone for the ...
Style:
atmospheric, suspenseful, futuristic, visually stunning, serious ...
Audience:
boys' night
Plot:
corruption, mining, jupiter the planet, spacesuit, alien, space opera, outer space, attempted murder, tough guy, courage, marital separation, video surveillance ...
Time:
future, year 1981, distant future
Place:
space western
Is relevant?
Related movie lists
Genre: Drama, History, Romance
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 117 min.
Story:
In the 1860's, Giorgio (Giraudeau), a young Italian soldier is sent to a remote post, far away from his lover, Clara (Antonelli). He is lodged in the house of the colonel (Girotti). He becames friends with the colonel and the local doctor ...
Style:
sexual, novela, realistic, serious, offbeat ...
Plot:
broadway, illness, duel, obsession, soldier, female nudity, passion, nude girl, relationships, amor, infidelity, love triangle ...
Time:
19th century, year 1981, victorian era, 1860s
Place:
italy, europe
Is relevant?
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min.
Story:
A single man searches for a woman who will bear his baby with no strings attached.
Style:
semi serious, realistic, humorous, touching, romantic comedy
Audience:
girls' night, date night
Plot:
pregnancy, unfulfilled love, youth, babies and infants, fall in love, self discovery, love and romance, buddies, single parent, friends, couples, family relations ...
Time:
year 1981, 80s, 20th century
Place:
usa, new york, manhattan new york city, madison square garden manhattan new york city
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama, War
Country: Italy, France
Duration: 131 min.
Story:
Naples, year 1943, in the middle of World War II. The city has just be liberated by American troops in an era in which nobody knows just when the war or where begins the peace; winners and losers face...
Style:
controversial, serious, rough, realistic, disturbing ...
Plot:
world war two, wartime life, female pubic hair, world war, translator, captivity, war, chaos and mayhem, against humanity, military, soldier, life is a bitch ...
Time:
year 1981, 1940s, 20th century
Place:
italy, naples italy, rome italy
Is relevant?
10K
Genre: Comedy
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min.
Story:
A suburban housewife's world falls apart when her pornographer husband admits he's serially unfaithful to her, her daughter gets pregnant, and her son is suspected of being the foot-fetishist who's been breaking local women's ...
Style:
independent film, black comedy, disturbing, controversial, cult classic ...
Audience:
teens
Plot:
misfit, satire, dysfunctional family, alcoholism, abortion, loser, housewife, playboy, transvestite, lgbtq, surrealism, middle class ...
Time:
year 1981, 80s, 20th century
Place:
baltimore, maryland, usa, boston, california
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama, Horror
Country: France, West Germany
Duration: 124 min.
Story:
A young woman left her family for an unspecified reason. The husband determines to find out the truth and starts following his wife. At first, he suspects that a man is involved. But gradually, he finds out more and more strange behaviors and ...
Style:
surreal, controversial, demonic, mind bending, creepy ...
Audience:
adult
Plot:
surrealism, occult, insanity, obsession, body horror, cosmic horror, possession, supernatural power, private detective, supernatural horror, berlin wall, sex ...
Time:
year 1981, 80s, 20th century, year 1980
Place:
germany, west berlin west germany, berlin germany, europe, west germany ...
Is relevant?
Related movie lists
Genre: Crime, Drama, Romance, Thriller
Country: West Germany, USA
Duration: 122 min.
Story:
This remake of the 1946 movie of the same name accounts an affair between a seedy drifter and a seductive wife of a roadside cafe owner. This begins a chain of events that culminates in murder. Based on a novel by James M. Cain.
Style:
neo noir, sexy, erotic, independent film, suspense ...
Plot:
infidelity, sex scene, unfaithful wife, illicit love, femme fatale, murder, nudity, tragic romance, female orgasm, adultery, love affair, sexual content ...
Time:
1930s, 20th century, year 1981
Place:
california, usa, san diego california, los angeles
Is relevant?
Genre: Adventure, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min.
Story:
A speculation on the fate of the famous hijacker who parachuted with his ransom and disappeared in the mountains. Has Cooper succeeded in following a meticulous plan to disappear into anonymity despite the best efforts of a dogged cop?
Style:
independent film, realistic, serious, rough, suspenseful ...
Audience:
boys' night
Plot:
chase, hijacking, destiny, money, bare breasts, nudity, aviation, robbery, perfect crime, intrigue, murder, missing person ...
Time:
year 1981, 70s, 1930s
Place:
oregon, washington state, seattle, portland oregon, new jersey ...
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, France
Duration: 101 min.
Story:
Quartet is the story of a girl who, adrift with her feckless husband amidst the literati of glittering Paris in the 1920s, becomes entrapped by a rich and sybaritic English couple. Adapted from the wistful, melancholy autobiographical novel by Jean ...
Style:
romantic drama, costume drama, independent film, serious, realistic ...
Plot:
couples, male pubic hair, hotel, dancing, prison, theft, performer's life, dishonesty, lifestyle, couple relations, womanizer, artists and showbiz ...
Time:
1920s, year 1981
Place:
paris france, france, europe
Is relevant?
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama
Country: Australia, New Zealand, USA, UK
Duration: 91 min.
Story:
In a lake high in the mountains of New Zealand hunter Gibbie Gibson discovers a plane wreck from WW2. When he tells it around, a gang of crooks follows and threatens him and his daughter, because they know there are 50 million dollars in the wreck. ...
Style:
suspenseful, rough, realistic, serious, independent film
Audience:
boys' night
Plot:
treasure hunt, chase, escapades, obsessive quest, airplane, adventurer, one man army, survival, danger, aviation, wilderness, treasure hunter ...
Time:
80s, year 1981
Place:
new zealand
Is relevant?
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min.
Story:
Nita, a divorced mother of two boys, is stuck working as a telephone operator in a small Texas town in World War II. Her friendship with a sailor on leave causes tongues to wag in town.
Style:
atmospheric, suspense, talky, serious, sincere ...
Audience:
kids, teens
Plot:
world war two, small town, friendship, secrets, mentor, manipulation, love story, adolescence, crime gone awry, family relations, couples, parents and children ...
Time:
1940s, year 1981, 20th century
Place:
texas, austin texas, usa, new jersey
Is relevant?
Genre: Horror
Country: USA
Duration: 84 min.
Story:
A group of friends and their girlfriends head out for what is expected to be a vacation of hiking, camping and a good time, but when a backwoods mama finds them on her turf, it becomes anything but a vacation.
Style:
slasher, suspenseful, suspense, serious, grindhouse ...
Audience:
teens
Plot:
fugitives, camp, woods, murder, backwoods, stalking, prank, bus, psychopath, youth, gory, serial killer ...
Time:
80s, year 1981, 20th century
Place:
california, southern california
Is relevant?
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min.
Story:
A collection of twentysomethings try to cope with relationships, loneliness, desire and their individual neuroses.
Style:
talky, witty, melancholic, semi serious, feel good ...
Audience:
girls' night, date night, teens, chick flick
Plot:
new year, new year's eve, love, friendship, nightlife, couples, love and romance, best friend, looking for love, singleness, twentysomething life, sexual dysfunction ...
Time:
80s, year 1981, year 1999, 20th century, year 1982
Place:
new york, manhattan new york city, usa, lower east side manhattan new york city, new jersey
Is relevant?
Related movie lists
