1984 Flashback: My top 10 from 30 years ago

Bill Murray in Ghostbusters

1984 is one of my favorite years in pop cultural history. It was the year Martin Short and Billy Crystal blew up on SNL. It was the year of Michael Jackson's Thriller music video and quite possibly my favorite album of all time -- Prince's Purple Rain (more on that later). The Cosby Show debuted in 1984 and the greatest Super Bowl commercial of all time aired too.

The prestige movies of the year (with the notable exception of Amadeus) were largely forgettable and didn't really connect with audiences. It was the pop hits that have stood the test of time. Many of them were not critical hits when they debuted but were widely embraced as classics later.

These are movies that I watch all the time, can quote from with ease and have entered the public consciousness to an insane degree. Everyone knows Ghostbusters or Nightmare on Elm Street or The Terminator, even if they've never seen them. And that's quite a feat.

This is my latest top 10 list, following 2004 and 1994, and this was definitely the hardest because I liked more movies from this year than I did in the prior posts. For instance, the great Mickey Rourke drama The Pope of Greenwich Village just barely missed my top 10. And quite possibly my favorite Muppet movie, The Muppets Take Manhattan, didn't make the cut either.

I think with basically one outlier, all of my picks for 1984 have one thing in common -- they're really fun movies. The kind of movies you buy because you'll want to keep revisiting them.

The most underrated Indy movie

10) A Nightmare on Elm Street - Funny story about this movie. When I was a little kid just the image of Freddy Krueger in commercials terrified me and my older brother convinced me it was based on a true story that took place in our town. I never saw the movie until college and I walked away thinking it was one of the most original, influential horror films of all time. While the sequels devolved into self-parody -- the original still has great power and genuine scares.

9) The Natural - One of my all-time favorite sports movies with an iconic leading role for one of my favorite actors, Robert Redford. This romantic fable of a mysterious baseball hero is old fashioned fun if you buy into the fantasy of it all, which I do. This is the movie that makes all those mythic sports moments we dream of come to life.

8) This Is Spinal Tap - This largely improvised parody of rock n' roll excess is one of the great comedies of the decade and its meta-sly inventiveness is still apparent in modern comedies today. The verbal runs of Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer are unforgettable. It works because the songs are awesome and hilarious. And like all great comedy it's played entirely straight. "This one goes to 11."

7) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - Sometimes it's knocked as the weakest of the original Indiana Jones movies and I suppose it is, but not by a mile. Its opening rivals Raiders for excitement and it's darker more nasty tone actually holds up quite well. I still remember my big brother (again bullying me) pretending to take my heart out after we watched this film. Yes, Kate Capshaw is the weakest, most annoying female lead in the series. But the scene where Indiana Jones cuts that drawbridge is more than enough to get in my top 10. "You call him Dr. Jones!"

6) Beverly Hills Cop - Quite possibly the quintessential Eddie Murphy movie. This classic fish out of water comedy brilliantly utilized Murphy's unique set of skills -- his mimicry, ability to take on personas, his wiseass side and his inherent likability -- are all on display here. His Axel Foley is just the epitome of cool, almost always one step ahead of everyone. He would never be (and may never be) that badass again.

5) The Terminator - The original and still my favorite of the Arnold Schwarzenegger-as-killing-machine action spectaculars. The first film revolutionized both the sci-fi and thriller genres and helped make Schwarzenegger an A-List icon. It doesn't waste a second for sentimentality, it just plunges into this neo-noir world with something very real at stake. This is when James Cameron was just a hungry filmmaker trying to make his mark -- and boy, did her ever. He'd be back.

4) Repo Man - A loose, funny and inventive piece of punk rock cinema which is like one big middle finger to the whole Reagan aesthetic. Naturally one of the best takes on American culture would be made by a Brit. This movie is almost impossible to describe. It's ostensibly a comedy about a pair of mismatched repo men (Emilio Estevez and Harry Dean Stanton) and their cohorts but it's also got science fiction and social commentary. I love this film and it's become more and more of a favorite of mine over the years.

Prince in Purple Rain

3) Purple Rain - As I said earlier Purple Rain is probably my favorite album of all time and Prince is without a doubt my favorite singer, so naturally this has to be in my top three. I think this may be the best concert performance movie ever made (although the same year's Stop Making Sense, featuring the Talking Heads, is a close second). It's also a great film. Prince is an unusual but compelling leading man and Apollonia is one of the sexiest stars of the decade. Dark and brooding but also funky as hell, the movie perfectly captures a singular musical (and fashion) moment in time.

2) Paris, Texas - So this is my one serious film on the list. This glacial, bittersweet story features a stellar lead performance by the legendary Harry Dean Stanton (was this his year or what?). It's a moving portrait of a troubled man who disappeared years ago only to suddenly resurface and come into contact with his young son and estranged wife. Beautifully shot, staged and scored -- it's simply put one of my favorite movies of all time. It justly won the Palm D'Or at Cannes.

1) Ghostbusters - What can I say about this movie? It's perfection. An incredible premise, a dream cast and flawless execution. Even if some of the special effects seem dated now they still have a nostalgic charm. After several hits, this was the movie that rightfully made Bill Murray an icon. Alongside Harold Ramis, Dan Aykroyd, Rick Moranis, Ernie Hudson and Sigourney Weaver (who he had great chemistry with) he elevated what would have been a fun movie into something sublime. Murray's persona would evolve over time, but his bemused, sarcastic and lovable Peter Venkman was the version we'll always love most. One of the best comedies ever made and one of the best films of the decade.