Best Drama Movies of 1983

The highest-rated drama films from 1983, ranked by MovieMagicScore based on authentic viewer ratings.

Drama 1982 Drama 1984 All Time Drama

Action Comedy Horror Science Fiction Thriller Romance Animation Documentary Fantasy Crime

Scarface

1983

After getting a green card in exchange for assassinating a Cuban government official, Tony Montana stakes a claim on the drug trade in Miami. Viciously murdering anyone who stands in his way, Tony eventually becomes the biggest drug lord in the state, controlling nearly all the cocaine that comes through Miami. But increased pressure from the police, wars with Colombian drug cartels and his own drug-fueled paranoia serve to fuel the flames of his eventual downfall.

8.2

Nostalgia

1983

A Russian poet, Andrei and his interpreter, Eugenia travel to Italy to research the life of an 18th-century composer.

7.8

The Right Stuff

1983

At the dawn of the Space Race, seven test pilots set out to become the first American astronauts to enter space. However, the road to making history brings momentous challenges.

7.4

The Outsiders

1983

In 1960s Tulsa, class divisions ignite a violent rivalry between the working-class Greasers and the privileged Socs. When a deadly encounter forces two Greasers, Ponyboy and Johnny, to flee, their struggle for survival and redemption exposes the fragile innocence and enduring bonds of youth on the wrong side of town.

7.2

Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence

1983

Island of Java, 1942, during World War II. British Major Jack Celliers arrives at a Japanese prison camp, run by the strict Captain Yonoi. Colonel John Lawrence, who has a profound knowledge of Japanese culture, and Sergeant Hara, brutal and simpleton, will witness the struggle of wills between two men from very different backgrounds who are tragically destined to clash.

7.3

WarGames

1983

High school student David Lightman has a talent for hacking. But while trying to hack into a computer system to play unreleased video games, he unwittingly taps into the Department of Defense's war computer and initiates a confrontation of global proportions. Together with his friend and a wizardly computer genius, David must race against time to outwit his opponent and prevent a nuclear Armageddon.

7.1

Barefoot Gen

1983

A story about the effect of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on a boy's life and the lives of the Japanese people.

7.5

Terms of Endearment

1983

Aurora, a finicky woman, is in search of true love while her daughter faces marital issues. Together, they help each other deal with problems and find reasons to live a joyful life.

7.1

So Long, Stooge

1983

In the 18th Arrondissement of Paris, Lambert, an aloof garage manager working the night shift at a petrol station spends his time drinking on the job, content in his own company. One night, Bensoussan, a small-time drug pusher in dire straits falls in on a stolen moped pretending to need a spark plug. The two men develop an unlikely friendship.

7.4

#10

The Ballad of Narayama

1983

In a small village in a valley everyone who reaches the age of 70 must leave the village and go to a certain mountain top to die. If anyone should refuse they would disgrace their family. Old Orin is 69. This winter it is her turn to go to the mountain. But first she must make sure that her eldest son Tatsuhei finds a wife.

7.5

#11

El Sur

1983

A woman recalls her childhood growing up in the North of Spain, focusing on her relationship with her father.

7.7

#12

Rumble Fish

1983

Absent-minded street thug Rusty James struggles to live up to his legendary older brother's reputation, and longs for the days of gang warfare.

7.0

#13

Toxic Love

1983

The alienating and repetitive life of a group of heroin junkies in 1980s Rome.

7.3

#14

And the Ship Sails On

1983

In 1914, a cruise ship sets sail from Naples to spread the ashes of beloved opera singer Edmea Tetua near Erimo, the isle of her birth. During the voyage, the eclectic array of passengers discovers a group of Serbian refugees aboard the vessel. Peace and camaraderie abound until the ship is descended upon by an Austrian flagship. The Serbians are forced to board it, but naturally they resist, igniting a skirmish that ends in destruction.

7.2

#15

The Big Chill

1983

Seven old college friends gather for a weekend reunion after the funeral of one of their own.

6.8

#16

Silkwood

1983

A plutonium processing plant worker is purposefully contaminated, psychologically tortured, and possibly murdered to prevent her from exposing safety violations.

6.9

#17

Bad Boys

1983

Mick O'Brien is a young Chicago street thug torn between a life of petty crime and the love of his girlfriend. But when the heist of a local drug dealer goes tragically wrong Mick is sentenced to a brutal juvenile prison where violence is a rite of passage and respect is measured in vengeance.

7.0

#18

L'Argent

1983

A forged 500-franc note is passed from person to person and shop to shop, until it falls into the hands of a genuine innocent who doesn't see it for what it is—which will have devastating consequences on his life.

7.0

#19

Pauline at the Beach

1983

Marion is about to divorce from her husband and takes her 15-year-old niece, Pauline, on a vacation to Granville. There, she meets an old love...

7.0

#20

One Deadly Summer

1983

In spring 1976, a 19-year-old beauty, her German-born mother, and her crippled father move to the town of a firefighter nicknamed Pin-Pon. Everyone notices the provocative Eliane. She singles out Pin-Pon and soon is crying on his shoulder (she's myopic and hates her reputation as a dunce and as easy); she moves in with him, knits baby clothes, and plans their wedding. Is this love or some kind of plot? She asks Pin-Pon's mother and aunt about the piano in the barn: who delivered it on a November night in 1955? Why does she want to know, and what does it have to do with her mother's sorrows, her father's injury, this quick marriage, and the last name on her birth certificate?

6.9

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Best Drama Movies of 1983

This ranking features the top drama movies released in 1983, sorted by MovieMagicScore viewer ratings. Looking for more? Browse all genres from 1983 or see the best drama movies of all time.