Best 1980s Documentary Movies

Looking for the best 1980s Documentary movies? These are the 19 highest-rated 1980s Documentary titles in our catalogue, led by U2: Live at Red Rocks - Under a Blood Red Sky, Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers and The Great Chess Movie. The list is ranked by audience score; open any title for its cast, trailer and legal places to watch.

1. U2: Live at Red Rocks - Under a Blood Red Sky (1983)

★ 8.1/10

Recorded at the breathtakingly beautiful Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado in 1983, this concert features Irish rock sensation U2 and front man Bono in their early glory days. Including five previously unreleased…
2. Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers (1980)

★ 7.5/10

A zesty paean of praise to the greater glories of garlic. This lip-smacking foray into the history, consumption, cultivation and culinary/curative powers of the stinking rose features chef Alice Waters of Chez Panisse…
3. The Great Chess Movie (1982)

★ 7.5/10

In this Gilles Carle feature documentary on the game of chess, the international chess match is cast as a classic Western shoot-out. Three chess greats dominate the film: Russia's Anatoly Karpov; Viktor Korchnoi, a…
4. Urgh! A Music War (1981)

★ 7.3/10

Urgh! A Music War is a British film released in 1982 featuring performances by punk rock, new wave, and post-punk acts, filmed in 1980. Among the artists featured in the movie are Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark…
5. Iron Maiden: Behind The Iron Curtain (1984)

★ 7.1/10

Shot during Maiden's historic tour of Poland and other parts of the Eastern Bloc in 1984, featuring interviews, live and offstage footage, capturing the atmosphere of this remarkable journey behind the Wall at the…
6. Filming 'The Trial' (1981)

★ 7.0/10

An unfinished 1981 essay-documentary project by Orson Welles, based on a filmed Q&A session at USC following a screening of The Trial, intended as a reflective companion piece to the film but never edited or completed…
7. Elvis '56 (1988)

★ 7.0/10

The year Elvis Presley went from rising star to pop culture sensation is chronicled through rare footage, interviews and that pelvis-gyrating music.
8. Near Death (1989)

★ 7.0/10

A film about the Medical Intensive Care Unit at Boston's Beth Israel Hospital. The film is concerned with how people face death. More specifically the film presents the complex interrelationships among patients…
9. Los Sures (1984)

★ 6.8/10

A documentary on the inhabitants of South Williamsburg, New York, whose lives are explored through the testimony of five inhabitants of the Brooklyn neighborhood. In the late 70s and early 80s, Los Sures was one of the…
10. About Tap (1985)

★ 6.7/10

ABOUT TAP features stylistic performances and recollections by three of America’s leading male tap dancers: Steve Condos, Jimmy Slyde, and Chuck Green.
11. Gap-Toothed Women (1987)

★ 6.7/10

A charming valentine to women born with a space between their teeth, ranging from lighthearted whimsy to a deeper look at issues like self-esteem and societal attitudes toward standards of beauty. Interviews were…
12. Before Stonewall (1984)

★ 6.5/10

New York City's Stonewall Inn is regarded by many as the site of gay and lesbian liberation since it was at this bar that drag queens fought back against police June 27-28, 1969. This documentary uses extensive…
13. In Heaven There Is No Beer? (1984)

★ 6.5/10

A joyous romp through the dance, food, music, friendship, and even religion of the Polka. The explosive energy and high spirits of the polka subculture are rendered with warmth and dedication to scholarship in this…
14. The Store (1983)

★ 6.4/10

THE STORE is a film about the main Neiman-Marcus store and corporate headquarters in Dallas. The sequences in the film include the selection, presentation, marketing, pricing, advertising and selling of a vast array of…
15. Model (1981)

★ 6.4/10

MODEL shows male and female models at work on TV commercials, fashion shows, magazine covers, and advertising for a variety of products, including designer collections, fur coats, sports clothes and automobiles. The…
16. Fela Kuti: Music Is the Weapon (1982)

★ 6.2/10

Musician Fela Anikulapo Kuti recorded more than 60 albums to promote the magic of Afrobeat but never lost his political voice as an outspoken critic against widespread government corruption in Nigeria. This documentary…
17. Let's Spend the Night Together (1982)

★ 6.0/10

The Rolling Stones' record-breaking 1981 North American arena tour documented by director Hal Ashby. Featuring the biggest Rolling Stones songs from the first 20 years - in the words of Mick Jagger, "a feel of what…
18. Sprout Wings and Fly (1983)

★ 5.8/10

Set in the North Carolina Appalachians, Sprout Wings and Fly honors the fiddle playing of 82-year-old Tommy Jarrell of Toast, NC. Tommy was quirky, gregarious and generous, and this film shows him at his best, in fine…
19. In Her Own Time (1985)

★ 0.0/10

A documentary about Dr. Barbara Myerhoff and Los Angeles's Fairfax district.