Year by year: 1989
by cafg-0 | created - 21 Dec 2012 | updated - 11 months ago | PublicMy 50 favorite movies of 1989
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1. Do the Right Thing (1989)
R | 120 min | Comedy, Drama
On the hottest day of the year on a street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, everyone's hate and bigotry smolders and builds until it explodes into violence.
Director: Spike Lee | Stars: Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson
Votes: 112,511 | Gross: $27.55M
2. The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989)
NC-17 | 124 min | Crime, Drama
At Le Hollandais gourmet restaurant, every night is filled with opulence, decadence and gluttony. But when the cook, a thief, his wife and her lover all come together, they unleash a shocking torrent of sex, food, murder and revenge.
Director: Peter Greenaway | Stars: Richard Bohringer, Michael Gambon, Helen Mirren, Alan Howard
Votes: 41,780 | Gross: $7.72M
3. Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
PG-13 | 104 min | Comedy, Drama
An ophthalmologist's mistress threatens to reveal their affair to his wife while a married documentary filmmaker is infatuated with another woman.
Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Martin Landau, Woody Allen, Bill Bernstein, Claire Bloom
Votes: 60,815 | Gross: $18.25M
4. Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
R | 145 min | Biography, Drama, War
The biography of Ron Kovic. Paralyzed in the Vietnam war, he becomes an anti-war and pro-human rights political activist after feeling betrayed by the country for which he fought.
Director: Oliver Stone | Stars: Tom Cruise, Bryan Larkin, Raymond J. Barry, Caroline Kava
Votes: 116,052 | Gross: $70.00M
5. Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989)
R | 100 min | Drama
A sexually repressed woman's husband is having an affair with her sister. The arrival of a visitor with a rather unusual fetish changes everything.
Director: Steven Soderbergh | Stars: James Spader, Andie MacDowell, Peter Gallagher, Laura San Giacomo
Votes: 59,485 | Gross: $24.74M
6. Cinema Paradiso (1988)
R | 174 min | Drama, Romance
A filmmaker recalls his childhood when falling in love with the pictures at the cinema of his home village and forms a deep friendship with the cinema's projectionist.
Director: Giuseppe Tornatore | Stars: Philippe Noiret, Enzo Cannavale, Antonella Attili, Isa Danieli
Votes: 283,147 | Gross: $11.99M
7. Dead Poets Society (1989)
PG | 128 min | Comedy, Drama
Maverick teacher John Keating returns in 1959 to the prestigious New England boys' boarding school where he was once a star student, using poetry to embolden his pupils to new heights of self-expression.
Director: Peter Weir | Stars: Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard, Ethan Hawke, Josh Charles
Votes: 546,836 | Gross: $95.86M
8. Enemies, A Love Story (1989)
R | 119 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A ghostwriter finds himself romantically involved with his current wife, a married woman and his long-vanished wife.
Director: Paul Mazursky | Stars: Ron Silver, Anjelica Huston, Lena Olin, Malgorzata Zajaczkowska
Votes: 2,579 | Gross: $7.75M
9. My Left Foot (1989)
R | 103 min | Biography, Drama
Christy Brown, born with cerebral palsy, learns to paint and write with his only controllable limb - his left foot.
Director: Jim Sheridan | Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Brenda Fricker, Alison Whelan, Kirsten Sheridan
Votes: 79,821 | Gross: $14.74M
10. When Harry Met Sally... (1989)
R | 95 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Harry and Sally have known each other for years, and are very good friends, but they fear sex would ruin the friendship.
Director: Rob Reiner | Stars: Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan, Carrie Fisher, Bruno Kirby
Votes: 242,939 | Gross: $92.82M
11. Jesus of Montreal (1989)
R | 120 min | Drama, Romance
A group of actors put on an unorthodox, but acclaimed Passion Play which incites the opposition of the Catholic Church while the actors' lives themselves begin to mirror the Passion itself.
Director: Denys Arcand | Stars: Lothaire Bluteau, Catherine Wilkening, Johanne-Marie Tremblay, Rémy Girard
Votes: 7,553 | Gross: $1.60M
12. Black Rain (1989)
Not Rated | 123 min | Drama, War
The story of the aftermath of the Hiroshima bombing, based on Masuji Ibuse's novel.
Director: Shôhei Imamura | Stars: Yoshiko Tanaka, Kazuo Kitamura, Etsuko Ichihara, Shôichi Ozawa
Votes: 3,967
13. Batman (1989)
PG-13 | 126 min | Action, Adventure
The Dark Knight of Gotham City begins his war on crime with his first major enemy being Jack Napier, a criminal who becomes the clownishly homicidal Joker.
Director: Tim Burton | Stars: Michael Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Kim Basinger, Robert Wuhl
Votes: 404,511 | Gross: $251.19M
14. The Gang of Four (1989)
160 min | Drama, Mystery
A drama following 4 women at stage school. Considered by some to be the summation of director Jacques Rivette's work as a whole.
Director: Jacques Rivette | Stars: Bulle Ogier, Benoît Régent, Fejria Deliba, Laurence Côte
Votes: 1,155
15. The Seventh Continent (1989)
Not Rated | 108 min | Drama
A European family who plan on escaping to Australia seem caught up in their daily routine, only troubled by minor incidents. However, behind their apparent calm and repetitive existence, they are actually planning something sinister.
Director: Michael Haneke | Stars: Birgit Doll, Dieter Berner, Leni Tanzer, Udo Samel
Votes: 17,060
16. Leningrad Cowboys Go America (1989)
PG-13 | 79 min | Comedy, Music
Siberian rock band Leningrad Cowboys go to the USA in pursuit of fame.
Director: Aki Kaurismäki | Stars: Matti Pellonpää, Kari Väänänen, Sakke Järvenpää, Heikki Keskinen
Votes: 8,460
17. Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)
G | 103 min | Animation, Family, Fantasy
A young witch, on her mandatory year of independent life, finds fitting into a new community difficult while she supports herself by running an air courier service.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Kirsten Dunst, Minami Takayama, Rei Sakuma, Kappei Yamaguchi
Votes: 165,752
18. Glory (1989)
R | 122 min | Biography, Drama, History
Robert Gould Shaw leads the U.S. Civil War's first all-black volunteer company, fighting prejudices from both his own Union Army, and the Confederates.
Director: Edward Zwick | Stars: Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, Cary Elwes, Morgan Freeman
Votes: 144,562 | Gross: $26.83M
19. Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
PG | 99 min | Comedy, Drama
An old Jewish woman and her African-American chauffeur in the American South have a relationship that grows and improves over the years.
Director: Bruce Beresford | Stars: Morgan Freeman, Jessica Tandy, Dan Aykroyd, Patti LuPone
Votes: 117,608 | Gross: $106.59M
20. Music Box (1989)
PG-13 | 124 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A lawyer defends her father accused of war crimes, but there is more to the case than she suspects.
Director: Costa-Gavras | Stars: Jessica Lange, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Frederic Forrest, Donald Moffat
Votes: 8,670 | Gross: $6.26M
21. Henry V (1989)
PG-13 | 137 min | Biography, Drama, History
In the midst of the Hundred Years War, the young King Henry V of England embarks on the conquest of France in 1415.
Director: Kenneth Branagh | Stars: Kenneth Branagh, Derek Jacobi, Simon Shepherd, James Larkin
Votes: 31,676 | Gross: $10.16M
22. Camille Claudel (1988)
R | 175 min | Biography, Drama, History
Camille Claude impresses already-famous sculptor Auguste Rodin. He hires her as an assistant, but soon Camille begins to sculpt for herself and she also becomes his mistress. But after a while, she would like to get out of his shadow.
Director: Bruno Nuytten | Stars: Isabelle Adjani, Gérard Depardieu, Madeleine Robinson, Laurent Grévill
Votes: 7,398 | Gross: $0.20M
23. Valmont (1989)
R | 137 min | Drama, Romance
France before 1789: When a widow hears that her lover is to marry her cousin's daughter, she asks the playboy Valmont to take the girl's virginity. But first she bets him, with her body as prize, to seduce a virtuous, young, married woman.
Director: Milos Forman | Stars: Colin Firth, Annette Bening, Meg Tilly, Fairuza Balk
Votes: 14,307 | Gross: $1.13M
24. The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989)
R | 114 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
The lives of two struggling musicians, who happen to be brothers, inevitably change when they team up with a beautiful, up-and-coming singer.
Director: Steve Kloves | Stars: Jeff Bridges, Michelle Pfeiffer, Beau Bridges, Ellie Raab
Votes: 25,864 | Gross: $18.10M
25. A City of Sadness (1989)
157 min | Drama, History
The story of a family embroiled in the "White Terror" that was wrought on the Taiwanese people by the Kuomintang government after their arrival from mainland China in the late 1940s.
Director: Hsiao-Hsien Hou | Stars: Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Shu-Fen Hsin, Sung-Young Chen, Jack Kao
Votes: 6,107
26. The Abyss (1989)
PG-13 | 140 min | Adventure, Drama, Mystery
A civilian diving team is enlisted to search for a lost nuclear submarine and faces danger while encountering an alien aquatic species.
Director: James Cameron | Stars: Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Michael Biehn, Leo Burmester
Votes: 193,620 | Gross: $54.46M
27. Eat a Bowl of Tea (1989)
PG-13 | 102 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A study in culture bridging, including ... a new US-born husband, trying to work within the traditional ways, a new China-born wife, eager to join the "dream" of America, two family-minded ... See full summary »
Director: Wayne Wang | Stars: Cora Miao, Russell Wong, Victor Wong, Sau-Kei Lee
Votes: 835 | Gross: $0.23M
28. The War of the Roses (1989)
R | 116 min | Comedy, Romance
A married couple tries everything to drive each other out of the house in a vicious divorce battle.
Director: Danny DeVito | Stars: Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, Danny DeVito, Marianne Sägebrecht
Votes: 57,410 | Gross: $86.89M
29. Mystery Train (1989)
R | 110 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Three stories are connected by a Memphis hotel and the spirit of Elvis Presley.
Director: Jim Jarmusch | Stars: Masatoshi Nagase, Yûki Kudô, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Cinqué Lee
Votes: 30,848 | Gross: $0.37M
30. Field of Dreams (1989)
PG | 107 min | Drama, Family, Fantasy
Iowa farmer Ray Kinsella is inspired by a voice he can't ignore to pursue a dream he can hardly believe. Supported by his wife, Ray begins the quest by turning his ordinary cornfield into a place where dreams can come true.
Director: Phil Alden Robinson | Stars: Kevin Costner, James Earl Jones, Ray Liotta, Amy Madigan
Votes: 128,233 | Gross: $64.43M
31. The Little Mermaid (1989)
G | 83 min | Animation, Adventure, Family
A mermaid princess makes a Faustian bargain in an attempt to become human and win a prince's love.
Directors: Ron Clements, John Musker | Stars: Jodi Benson, Samuel E. Wright, Rene Auberjonois, Christopher Daniel Barnes
Votes: 291,171 | Gross: $111.54M
32. Drugstore Cowboy (1989)
R | 101 min | Crime, Drama
A pharmacy-robbing dope fiend and his crew pop pills and evade the law.
Director: Gus Van Sant | Stars: Matt Dillon, Kelly Lynch, James Le Gros, Heather Graham
Votes: 40,671 | Gross: $4.73M
33. Amanece, que no es poco (1989)
110 min | Comedy, Fantasy
A village and the crazy situations encountered by its citizens.
Director: José Luis Cuerda | Stars: José Sazatornil, Carmen de Lirio, Francisco Martínez, Ovidi Montllor
Votes: 4,241
34. Monsieur Hire (1989)
PG-13 | 81 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A recluse is accused of murdering a young woman simply because his neighbors think he is strange.
Director: Patrice Leconte | Stars: Michel Blanc, Sandrine Bonnaire, Luc Thuillier, André Wilms
Votes: 7,140 | Gross: $1.42M
35. Sweetie (1989)
R | 97 min | Comedy, Drama
An introspective young woman's life is upturned by the arrival of her maladjusted sister.
Director: Jane Campion | Stars: Geneviève Lemon, Karen Colston, Tom Lycos, Jon Darling
Votes: 5,383 | Gross: $0.94M
36. Say Anything (1989)
PG-13 | 100 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A noble underachiever and a beautiful valedictorian fall in love the summer before she goes off to college.
Director: Cameron Crowe | Stars: John Cusack, Ione Skye, John Mahoney, Lili Taylor
Votes: 96,001 | Gross: $20.78M
37. Casualties of War (1989)
R | 113 min | Action, Crime, Drama
During the Vietnam War, a soldier finds himself the outsider of his own squad when they unnecessarily kidnap a female villager.
Director: Brian De Palma | Stars: Michael J. Fox, Sean Penn, Don Harvey, John C. Reilly
Votes: 48,154 | Gross: $18.67M
38. Heathers (1988)
R | 103 min | Comedy, Crime
At Westerburg High where cliques rule, jocks dominate and all the popular girls are named Heather, it's going to take a Veronica and mysterious new kid to give teen angst a body count.
Director: Michael Lehmann | Stars: Winona Ryder, Christian Slater, Shannen Doherty, Lisanne Falk
Votes: 115,972 | Gross: $1.11M
39. Che ora è? (1989)
97 min | Comedy, Drama
The visit of a lawer to his military son is an opportunity to recall the past, discuss the future and find a meeting point between two diametrically opposite personalities.
Director: Ettore Scola | Stars: Marcello Mastroianni, Massimo Troisi, Anne Parillaud, Renato Moretti
Votes: 1,305
40. I Want to Go Home (1989)
100 min | Comedy
A grumpy American is suffering during his visit to Europe.
Director: Alain Resnais | Stars: Laura Benson, Adolph Green, Linda Lavin, Gérard Depardieu
Votes: 810
41. The Bear (1988)
PG | 96 min | Adventure, Drama, Family
An orphan bear cub hooks up with an adult male as they try to dodge human hunters.
Director: Jean-Jacques Annaud | Stars: Tchéky Karyo, Bart the Bear, Youk the Bear, Jack Wallace
Votes: 19,096 | Gross: $31.75M
42. Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt (1989)
79 min | Documentary, Biography, History
A collection of profiles of people dead from AIDS who are remembered in the AIDS Memorial Quilt.
Directors: Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman | Stars: Sara Lewinstein, David Mandell, Suzi Mandell, Sallie Perryman
Votes: 1,086
43. The Killer (1989)
R | 111 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A disillusioned assassin accepts one last hit in hopes of using his earnings to restore vision to a singer he accidentally blinded.
Director: John Woo | Stars: Chow Yun-Fat, Danny Lee, Sally Yeh, Kong Chu
Votes: 51,105
44. Meet the Feebles (1989)
Not Rated | 97 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Music
Multiple animals and insects experience the sleazier side of show business while working on a variety show.
Director: Peter Jackson | Stars: Danny Mulheron, Donna Akersten, Stuart Devenie, Mark Hadlow
Votes: 22,212
45. Marquis (1989)
R | 83 min | Animation, Comedy
The scene is a pre-French Revolution Bastille, where various political prisoners are being held: a woman who was raped and impregnated by the king, a police chief who was accused of selling... See full summary »
Director: Henri Xhonneux | Stars: François Marthouret, Valérie Kling, Michel Robin, Isabelle Wolfe
Votes: 1,527
46. Memories of a Marriage (1989)
90 min | Drama
The active Regitze and passive Karl Aage have a party with friends and family at their allotment garden. He reminisces his life with her from meeting her during WWII, having a son, the son graduating, etc. up to present day.
Director: Kaspar Rostrup | Stars: Frits Helmuth, Mikael Helmuth, Ghita Nørby, Rikke Bendsen
Votes: 777
47. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
PG-13 | 127 min | Action, Adventure
In 1938, after his father goes missing while pursuing the Holy Grail, Indiana Jones finds himself up against the Nazis again to stop them from obtaining its powers.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Harrison Ford, Sean Connery, Alison Doody, Denholm Elliott
Votes: 811,524 | Gross: $197.17M
48. Roger & Me (1989)
R | 91 min | Documentary
After General Motors closes its factory in Flint, Michigan, eliminating 35,000 jobs, filmmaker Michael Moore undertakes a quixotic quest to interview General Motors' chairman, Roger B. Smith.
Director: Michael Moore | Stars: Michael Moore, Roger B. Smith, Rhonda Britton, Fred Ross
Votes: 27,520 | Gross: $6.71M
49. Death of a Tea Master (1989)
107 min | Biography, Drama, History
Years after the death of legendary tea master Rikyu, his disciple Honkakubo attempts to resolve the mystery of the master's death.
Director: Kei Kumai | Stars: Eiji Okuda, Toshirô Mifune, Kinnosuke Nakamura, Gô Katô
Votes: 380
50. Moon Child (1989)
118 min | Fantasy, Sci-Fi
Adopted by a treacherous semi-scientific cult where extraordinary mental powers are common, extraordinary 12-year-old David begins an archetypal journey across two continents to find his destiny as Child of the Moon.
Director: Agustí Villaronga | Stars: Maribel Martín, Lisa Gerrard, Enrique Saldana, Lucia Bosè
Votes: 639
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