★ = recommended, ♥ = personal favorite

The Deer Hunter (1978) ★

• starring Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, John Savage, John Cazale, Meryl Streep, George Dzundza
• directed by Michael Cimino
• 183 minutes, color
• Won 5/9 Oscars, including Best Supporting Actor (Walken) and Best Director

Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) ♥

• starring Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, Justin Henry, Jane Alexander
• directed by Robert Benton
• 105 minutes, color
• Won 5/9 Oscars, including Best Actor (Hoffman), Best Supporting Actress (Streep), Best Director and Best Screenplay

Ordinary People (1980) ★

• starring Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Judd Hirsch, Timothy Hutton
• directed by Robert Redford
• 124 minutes, color
• Won 4/6 Oscars, including Best Supporting Actor (Hutton), Best Director and Best Screenplay

Chariots of Fire (1981)

• starring Ben Cross, Ian Charleson, Nigel Havers, Cheryl Campbell, Alice Krige, Lindsay Anderson, Dennis Christopher, Nigel Davenport, Brad Davis, Peter Egan, John Gielgud, Ian Holm, Patrick Magee
• directed by Hugh Hudson
• 119-124 minutes, color
• Won 4/7 Oscars, including Best Screenplay

Gandhi (1982)

• starring Ben Kingsley, Candice Bergen, Edward Fox, John Gielgud, Trevor Howard, John Mills, Martin Sheen
• directed by Richard Attenborough
• 188-191 minutes, color
• Won 8/11 Oscars, including Best Actor (Kingsley), Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Cinematography

Terms of Endearment (1983) ♥

• starring Shirley MacLaine, Debra Winger, Jack Nicholson, Danny DeVito, John Lithgow
• directed by James L. Brooks
• 131-132 minutes, color
• Won 5/11 Oscars, including Best Actress (MacLaine), Best Supporting Actor (Nicholson), Best Director and Best Screenplay

Amadeus (1984) ★

• starring F. Murray Abraham, Tom Hulce, Elizabeth Berridge, Simon Callow, Roy Dotrice, Christine Ebersole, Jeffrey Jones, Charles Kay
• directed by Miloš Forman
• 160-161 minutes, color
• Won 8/11 Oscars, including Best Actor (Abraham), Best Director and Best Screenplay

Out of Africa (1985)

• starring Robert Redford, Meryl Streep, Klaus Maria Brandauer
• directed by Sydney Pollack
• 161 minutes, color
• Won 7/11 Oscars, including Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Cinematography

Platoon (1986)

• starring Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe
• directed by Oliver Stone
• 120 minutes, color
• Won 4/8 Oscars, including Best Director

The Last Emperor (1987)

• starring John Lone, Joan Chen, Peter O'Toole, Ying Ruocheng, Victor Wong, Dennis Dun, Ryuichi Sakamoto
• directed by Bernardo Bertolucci
• 160-163 minutes, color
• Won 9/9 Oscars, including Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Cinematography