7 Best Time Travel Movies Of The 1980s, Ranked

Time travel was all the rage in 1980s cinema, but these seven films represent the best time travel movies of the decade. Exciting, thought-provoking, and sometimes confusing, the idea of time travel is not a new concept in science fiction. H.G. Wells penned The Time Machine all the way back in 1895, and storytellers have been running with the idea of traveling forward or backward in time ever since.

Science fiction hit something of a crescendo in the 1980s, and it was finally accepted as a legitimate genre thanks to blockbuster films like Star Wars. Unlike the previous decade, sci-fi in the ’80s took a decidedly more accessible approach. The best science fiction films of the period blended with other genres to make their heady concepts easier to understand. As such, sci-fi was everywhere.

Trends come and go in popular cinema, and there’s no denying that time travel had a moment between 1980 and 1989. Perhaps it has something to do with the overt nostalgia of the ’80s, and how many were trying to recapture the idealized version of the past that existed in their heads. Many time travel films from the ’80s involve characters going back to the 1950s, a nostalgic period for moviegoers at the time.

That being said, the best time travel films from the decade are a pretty diverse bunch. There are action films, comedies, romances, and some movies that are a bit harder to define. Filmmakers in the ’80s pushed time travel concepts to their limits, and modern movies owe a debt to the classics from the past.

7

Somewhere In Time (1980)

Proving the flexibility of time travel tropes in cinema, Somewhere in Time focuses less on hard science fiction and more on the power of love to transcend reality. The film concerns a playwright who falls madly in love with a portrait of a 19th century stage actress while staying at a historic resort. Through hypnosis, he travels back to her time and begins a torrid love affair. Time travel is a means to an end.

Somewhere in Time is a romance story through and through, and is anchored by stellar performances from Christopher Reeve, Jane Seymour, and Christopher Plummer. It has all the opulence of a costume drama, and the added intrigue of 19th century science fiction. It’s a bit more magical and thought-provoking than the usual time travel scenario.

It falls to the bottom of this list, primarily because the time travel elements are the weakest of the lot. While the drama is gripping and the romance thrilling, the time travel is an afterthought. Somewhere in Time doesn’t really do anything clever with time travel, and really just uses it to enhance the theme of the power of love. It’s one of the best time travel movies of the ’80s, but it needs just a bit more.

6

Back To The Future Part II (1989)

How do you follow one of the greatest sci-fi films ever made? That was the question that Back to the Future Part II had to solve in 1989. In an effort to save Marty’s future progeny from a disastrous life, the time travelers accidentally create a dystopian future where Biff is a multi-millionaire. Humorously, Back to the Future Part II is set in the distant year of 2015.

Unlike the first film, which is all about bringing the 1950s to life for nostalgia’s sake, the sequel invents a future. Part II‘s future setting is playful and interesting, and though it gets almost nothing right about 2015, it’s still an amusing glimpse into what people thought the 2010s would look like. As for the plot, Back to the Future Part II is the most complex of the trilogy.

It balances separate timelines pretty effectively, but gets a bit muddled and drops the action/adventure tone of the original for long stretches. It’s as good as a follow-up to Back to the Future could be, but is the worst of the three movies because it overthinks things just a bit. Even so, it’s a classic that easily makes it on the best time travel movies of the ’80s list.

5

Peggy Sue Got Married (1986)

Baby Boomer nostalgia drove a lot of the cinema of the 1980s, and Francis Ford Coppola got in on the action with 1986’s Peggy Sue Got Married. The title character attends her high school reunion, but finds she’s unhappy with the last 25 years of her life. She suddenly faints and awakens back in 1960 with the chance to fix things before they go wrong. Peggy Sue Got Married is another “magical” time travel movie that eschews scientific explanations.

The underrated ’80s classic poses a pretty tough question: what would you do if you could go back and change your life? As Peggy learns, the bonds of love and the pain of the past are intertwined in ways she could never imagine. Behind all the doo-wop and cheesy comedy, Peggy Sue Got Married is one of the most thoughtful time travel films ever made. In a lot of ways, it warns about the dangers of nostalgia.

It isn’t a warning about tampering with timeline or anything so literal, it’s more about discovering that life shouldn’t be lived with regret. Kathleen Turner and Nicolas Cage star, and it’s one of the latter’s best early performances. It fits so nicely in the ’80s cinematic canon because it is one of the more self-aware films from the period. Peggy Sue Got Married is a startlingly sincere experience from one of the maestro’s of modern movies.

4

Time Bandits (1981)

Most science fiction in the ’80s is pretty easy to put in boxes, but Time Bandits exists in a category all its own. The Terry Gilliam flick concerns a young boy who is whisked away by a group of thieves who have stolen a map from the supreme being. This map allows them to visit various places in space and time, and steal priceless artifacts from each era. Effortlessly weird and endlessly imaginative, Time Bandits is something else.

Gilliam’s sense of humor shines in the historical sequences, and it’s hilarious seeing the important figures spoofed. The film conforms to an almost dream-like logic, and is never afraid to become downright surreal at times. Instead of treating time travel so literally, Time Bandits just does whatever it wants for two hours. Naturally, the film is a cult classic that lives just outside the mainstream.

It’s a little too esoteric to be a children’s film, but a bit too goofy to appeal to adult audiences who take themselves seriously. Nevertheless, it’s one of the few films from the decidedly stuffy decade that can be called one-of-a-kind. Because there are so many great ’80s time travel movies, Time Bandits falls way down the list. Nevertheless, it’s a real gem.

3

Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989)

Released at the tail-end of the decade, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure was a precursor to what was coming in the irreverent 1990s. Two high school slackers are about to see their rock and roll dreams go up in smoke because they’re failing history class. However, a mysterious traveler from the future arrives to lend some assistance and help them become the rock gods the future needs.

There are a lot of slacker comedies out there, but Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure is the silliest of them all. It brilliantly parodies the surfer dude persona that was popularized in the ’80s, while treating the characters with respect. It’s hilarious watching them interact with various historical figures, and their well-meaning ignorance drives the humor of the movie’s plot. Though time travel is essentially one big joke, it’s an effective one nonetheless.

The first Bill & Ted movie is warm and nostalgic. The duo of Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves practically live in the lead roles, and no other actors could have done the film justice. Not only were time travel movies common in the ’80s, but so too were time travel comedies. However, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure blows many of them out of the water because of how infectiously fun it is.

2

The Terminator (1984)

James Cameron’s gritty noir-inspired sci-fi thriller, The Terminator, launched one of the biggest franchises in cinema history. Though it’s about so much more, the beloved ’80s classic is a quintessential time travel film. A resistance fighter from the future is sent to the past to protect Sarah Connor from a deadly android sent back to prevent the birth of humanity’s savior. It made Arnold Schwarzenegger a mega-star and redefined the sci-fi action genre.

The simplicity of the movie’s time travel setup is intentionally undermined by its use of a predestination paradox. While that all sounds very confusing, The Terminator never allows its headier science fiction concepts to get in the way of its truly effective thriller storyline. It’s legitimately frightening at times, and has an edge that is sadly lost in all the subsequent Terminator films.

There are only a handful of films that define popular cinema in the ’80s, and The Terminator easily makes it on that illustrious Mt. Rushmore. From its memorable quotes to its undeniable aesthetic, Cameron really came into his own as a filmmaker with the 1984 classic. Unfortunately, one other ’80s time travel movie does things just a bit better.

1

Back To The Future (1985)

The movie topping the list of the greatest time travel films of the 1980s is easily Back to the Future. Marty McFly is accidentally sent back to 1955 by his zany friend, Dr. Brown, and he interferes with his parents falling in love. This timeline tampering means he’s slowly fading from history. Robert Zemeckis’ masterpiece is an amalgamation of everything that makes cinema such a perfect medium.

Back to the Future is funny, exciting, and charming, and comes pre-made with a warm sense of nostalgia. Production design is usually overlooked in film discourse, but Back to the Future deserves credit for its creative choices onscreen. Elements like the DeLorean time machine and Marty’s iconic vest are etched in pop culture forever. The brilliance of the film as a time travel story is that it distills the concept down to its core ideas.

Back to the Future is accessible to every kind of moviegoer, and has nothing that would alienate someone from loving it. This is exceedingly rare in any medium of art, let alone something as subjective as film. There’s something so quintessentially ’80s about the blockbuster classic, and no other time travel movie from the era even stands a chance.