Flashback 1980: My top 10 favorite movies from 40 years ago

I've said this before and I'll say it again -- if I have to pick a personal favorite year for movies it would be 1980. Three of my all time favorite movies came out that year -- which gives it a leg up -- also it carries over that auteur-driven flavor of the 1970s into a new decade.

The films of 1980 offer something for everyone -- amazing blockbusters, hilarious comedies, stirring dramas...

A lot of really terrific movies just missed the cut here, hits like Ordinary People. American Gigolo, Private Benjamin, and The Blue Brothers, as well as misunderstood greats like Heaven's Gate and Cruising.

I've been looking forward to making this list for a while because I feel so passionately about these pictures and revisit many of them on a regular basis. It's hard to believe these movies are as old as they are, especially since they all hold up so well. Basically these movies being 40 makes me feel very old.

10) The Elephant Man - After his breakthrough debut with Eraserhead, director David Lynch demonstrated his versatility with this comparatively straightforward telling of the moving and tragic life of John Merrick, a severely deformed man who went from being a circus sideshow to the toast of London. John Hurt gives an incredibly touching performance under very heavy makeup. And Lynch brings his eccentric flair to material that could have been sentimental in a lesser director's hands.

9) 9 to 5 - The classic and highly influential women's liberation comedy has only grown in stature since its release. Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda and Dolly Parton make a perfect, unlikely trio and Dabney Coleman is not perfect as their sexist pig boss. Delightfully silly but also full of very sincere and serious observations about women are mistreated in the workplace, with a satisfying finale that's irresistible.

8) Stir Crazy - My personal favorite of the Gene Wilder-Richard Pryor pairings finds the duo getting accidentally fingered for an armed robbery while on a cross country road trip and thrown behind bars. Wilder is the consummate optimist while Pryor is his apoplectic best friend. Lots of very funny set pieces and wonderful chemistry between the two of them (even if they apparently were not close in real life). Pryor's subsequent comedies largely lacked bite, but this one is a banger.

7) Airplane! - The biggest comedy of the year in a particularly strong year for them is packed with more jokes than perhaps any movie ever made.  A note perfect parody of disaster films, with a terrific cast playing straight (including Leslie "Don't Call Me Shirley" Nielsen and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and delivering increasingly looney lines and content. Endlessly quotable and and entertaining, this is the goal standard by which all future parody films should be measured.

6) The Stunt Man - A little seen masterpiece about the magic of movie making featuring one of Peter O' Toole's most electrifying performances as a maniacal director who hides a fugitive from the law on his movie set (as a stunt man) because he thinks it'll add more tension to the project. Unpredictable, funny and fierce -- this deserved to be more widely seen then and now. One of my favorite movies about movies.

5) Dressed to Kill - Brian De Palma's salacious homage to Psycho is very problematic today but no less entertaining, stylish and scary. Some of the director's most thrilling visual sequences on display here, as well as sympathetic performances from Nancy Allen and Angie Dickinson and the heroines of the story. A particularly gnarly killing starts a mystery involving psychotherapy, sexual identity and just sex in general. Tawdry to be sure, but you can't look away.

4) Raging Bull - Martin Scorsese's brutal and strangely beautiful biopic about a pretty repugnant person -- boxer Jake LaMotta. Robert De Niro won the Oscar for his physically transformative performance as the deeply jealous, emotionally unstable man whose stubbornness and sensitivity was his downfall. Many critics consider this the greatest film of the decade and it's not hard to see why -- it's a honest telling of some of the darker sides of the American dream. Success often yields excess and we rarely see the fallout like we do here.

3) The Empire Strikes Back - The most satisfying of all the Star Wars films -- it's got the Han-Leia romance, Luke's training at the feat of Yoda, the introduction of Lando Calrissian and the emergence of Darth Vader as one of the most formidable villains of all time. A fast-paced, charming and magical movie experience. Literally every scene is famous on some level of another and the sci fi fantasy world building is unparalleled. This may be the peak of this franchise now and forever.

2) Caddyshack - This just might be my favorite movie comedy of all time. It's a laid back hang out movie -- a series of ambling vignettes loosely held together by a coming of age story about a young caddy. But the film's broader theme of the snobs vs the slobs has always been deeply appealing to me, and there may be no better foursome in comedy feature than Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield, Ted Knight and Bill Murray, all of whom are unforgettable and perfectly cast as eccentrics who populate the fictional country club of Bushwood. I'll always treasure this proudly un-PC fan favorite.

1) The Shining - This should come as a surprise to no one who knows me -- but of course my favorite movie of all time would top this list. The craziest thing about Stanley Kubrick's horror masterpiece is how savaged it was by critics when it was first released. Today, it could be his most influential film (besides maybe 2001). Everything about this puzzle of a motion picture has become iconic -- even the pattern on a rug! -- and with good reason. It's one of those rare movies where you can something fresh and fascinating out of it upon every new viewing which ensures that it'll remain a vital piece of cinema for many years to come.

PAST TOP 10 FAVORITE LISTS
1974 #1 movie - The Godfather Part II
1975 #1 movie - Nashville
1976 #1 movie - Taxi Driver
1977 #1 movie - Star Wars
1978 #1 movie - The Deer Hunter
1979 #1 movie - The Jerk
1984 #1 movie - Ghostbusters
1985 #1 movie - Fletch
1986 #1 movie - Blue Velvet
1987 #1 movie - The Untouchables
1988 #1 movie - Coming to America
1989 #1 movie - Batman
1990 #1 movie - The Grifters
1994 #1 movie - Pulp Fiction
1995 #1 movie - Heat
1996 #1 movie - Fargo
1997 #1 movie - Boogie Nights
1998 #1 movie - The Big Lebowski
1999 #1 movie - Eyes Wide Shut
2000 #1 movie - Nurse Betty
2004 #1 movie - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2005 #1 movie - A History of Violence
2006 #1 movie - Casino Royale
2007 #1 movie - There Will Be Blood
2008 #1 movie - The Wrestler
2009 #1 movie - Inglourious Basterds
2010 #1 movie - The Social Network