“I don’t mean what is the best 80’s movie, or the most popular 80’s movie, but what is the movie that most encapsulates everything about the decade. I’m talking the aesthetics, the politics, the cultural trends, developments in the film industry, the music. I’m talking about a movie that could not exist in any other decade. Something that you could hand to someone who’s never seen a movie and say this is the 1980s embodied in one film.”

The top 10 contenders, in alphabetical order.

• Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo 1984
• Flashdance 1983
• Invasion 1985 Chuck Norrissssss
• Purple Rain 1984
• Rocky IV 1985
• Scarface 1983
• The Secret of My Success 1987
• Staying Alive 1983
• Thrashin’ 1986
• Top Gun 1986