It's the year of the Eurythmics and the world is living dangerously. Reagan gets on TV and speaks of the importance of not selling arms to Iran. The U.S. Embassy is bombed in Lebanon. Meanwhile, fearing the genesis of another Cuba, the U.S. invades Grenada after Marxist influences arrest its Prime Minister. The second largest bank robbery in American history occurs when someone makes off with seven million dollars from a Wells Fargo warehouse and escapes to Castro's homeland.

Yet, there is social progress. Eddie Murphy and Michael Jackson take the entertainment world by storm. Vanessa Williams becomes the first African-American Miss America. Sally K. Ride, aboard the Challenger, is the first female in space. A few months later, aboard the same ship, Gulon Bluford is the first African-American. It isn't more than three months after that when Reagan signs legislation that establishes a national holiday on Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday.

J.R. is still tops in the TV ratings but for one record night, M*A*S*H* glues 125 million viewers to their couches when the final episode airs. It was the final episodes for Karen Carpenter and Dennis Wilson's life as well; they left us all for a better place. Speaking of better places, the very last DeLorean is manufactured, but it will live on in infamy in only a couple of years. We just didn't know what Doc Brown had in store for us yet.

New inventions and concepts were everywhere. In Clearwater, Florida the very first Hooters opens its doors. 1983 was the year of Cabbage Patch Kids dolls and camcorders. And something called "compact discs" began to surface. Crack cocaine is let loose on the American public after it's developed in the Bahamas. This is great news for actors. A whole new role was born: the crackhead. Hellooooo Oscar!

The "Just Say No" campaign wasn't far behind. But America doesn't say "no" to Flashdance or National Lampoon's Vacation. Both are huge hits. Stephen King's Pet Cemetery and Christine were a real scream at the bookstores.

I was only five years old, but I remember seeing Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs for the first time. I even remember where I watched it: Yonkers. Ironically, I only saw two of the movies on this list in the theater. But I got to the rest of them eventually.

1.) Terms of Endearment
Director: James L. Brooks
Starring: Shirley McClane, Jack Nicholson, Debra Winger, Jeff Daniels, John Lithgow
Why a Fave? James L. Brooks gives tearjerkers a good name because his character relationships are honest or interesting and usually they're both. Sometimes he's a hair off but even his misfires (Spanglish, I'll Do Anything) are watchable. There was no misfiring here. This movie always gets me scratching my head, wondering ... whatever happened to Debra Winger?

2.) Scarface
Director: Brian DePalma
Starring: Al Pacino, Michelle Pfieffer, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Robert Loggia, Steven Bauer
Why a Fave? You might have heard of this one. It's become a mega cult classic and stars that dude from The Godfather. Pfieffer is at her sultriest and Robert Loggia plays a Jewish Cuban. This movie has been criticized as being over-the-top and it is. But if you think DePalma and Pacino took too many liberties, you might want to check out the terrific documentary, Cocaine Cowboys. That doc makes this movie look sane.

3.) The Big Chill
Director: Lawrence Kasdan
Starring: Kevin Kline, Tom Berenger, Glenn Close, William Hurt, Mary Kay Place. Jeff Goldblum, JoBeth Williams, Meg Tilly
Why a Fave? I'm not sure how it happened, but somehow, Lawrence Kasdan didn't become one of the great Hollywood directors. This is the guy who was key to writing The Empire Strikes Back and Raiders of the Lost Ark. He had a pretty good decade-long run that started with Body Heat in '81 and ended with Grand Canyon in '91. After that? You got it. Wyatt Earp. Still, it was right after Body Heat that he wrote and directed this classic about a bunch of friends getting together after the death of a friend. Now in The Big Chill, Kasdan cut Kevin Costner's only scene (he played the dead guy and was to appear in a flashback). In Wyatt Earp, Costner had the lead. Coincidence? Yeah, probably.

4.) The Right Stuff
Director: Philip Kaufman
Starring: Sam Shepard, Dennis Quaid, Scott Glenn, Ed Harris, Fred Ward, Barbara Hershey, Lance Henrikson, Veronica Cartwright, Pamela Reed
Why a Fave? This is the best film ever made about the space program because it takes a long hard look at the people who actually wanted to leave earth and fly into space, despite the massive risks of the time. Some call that bravery. I call it a neurological disorder. I like earth. It feels good beneath my feet. When I'm laying on my bed, sometimes I like to check and make sure it's still there. These guys wanted to leave our atmosphere. They wanted to be guinea pigs. Hey, here's to those guys.

5.) Trading Places
Director: John Landis
Starring: Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ralph Bellamy, Don Ameche
Why a Fave? So many fallen heroes in this movie. Landis, Murphy and Aykroyd were at their peak. Everything works here: the comedy, the cast, and the plot. Every time you watch it you're reminded just how gifted a comedian Murphy was before he went completely soft.

6.) Year of Living Dangerously
Director: Peter Weir
Starring: Mel Gibson, Sigourney Weaver, Linda Hunt
Why a Fave? Director Peter Weir is a man known for his authenticity and this is one of the films that established that trait. This turbulent tale of an Indonesian regime on dangerous ground is a highlight for all parties involved. Linda Hunt deservedly won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar ... for playing a man.

7.) Videodrome
Director: David Cronenberg
Starring: James Woods, Sonja Smits, Deborah Harry
Why a Fave? To this day, I have not seen many movies as wonderfully bizarre, with as many disturbing images or concepts as Cronenberg's Videodrome. This one made me a James Woods fan.

8.) Risky Business
Director: Paul Brickman
Starring: Tom Cruise, Rebecca De Mornay, Joe Pantoliano, Bronson Pinchot
Why a Fave? Every time we hear Seger's "Old Time Rock & Roll," will we ever not think of Tom Cruise's Fruit of the Looms? It's a problem.

9.) Wargames
Director: John Badham
Starring: Matthew Broderick, Ally Sheedy, Dabney Coleman, John Wood
Why a Fave? This is still a solid, engaging thriller today. It doesn't matter how old the computers look, the premise is a real pressure cooker. "WOULD YOU LIKE TO PLAY A GAME?" is still a creepy line. That Joshua character, I tell ya ...

10.) Return of the Jedi
Director: Richard Marquand
Starring: Mark Hamil, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams ... yes, this Billy Dee
Why a Fave? I know, I know. I'm putting the weak-link from the original trilogy in the top ten and passing up movies like Tender Mercies. What can I say, the force is still strong in me.

Last time I omitted the fine but overrated Breaking Away. How did I screw up this time? Leave a comment below to give me an earful.

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Dre writes three times a week for Film.com. He can flashdance with the best of them. E-mail him!

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