Can You Score 20/20? Ultimate 80s Drama Films Trivia Quiz Challenge

Answers Below – No Peeking!

Step into the emotional world of 1980s drama films with this ultimate trivia quiz! From heart-wrenching family sagas to epic historical tales, test your knowledge with 20 questions ranging from easy warm-ups to fiendish challenges. How many can you get right?

20 Trivia Questions on 80s Drama Films

Question 1: Who directed the 1980 family drama Ordinary People?

A. Martin Scorsese
B. Robert Redford
C. Sidney Lumet
D. James L. Brooks

Question 2: In which 1980 film did Robert De Niro portray boxer Jake LaMotta?

A. Raging Bull
B. The King of Comedy
C. Taxi Driver
D. Mean Streets

Question 3: Which film won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1981?

A. Chariots of Fire
B. Reds
C. On Golden Pond
D. Raiders of the Lost Ark

Question 4: Who played the title role in the 1980 film The Elephant Man?

A. Anthony Hopkins
B. John Hurt
C. John Gielgud
D. Freddie Jones

Question 5: In Terms of Endearment (1983), who played Aurora Greenway?

A. Jane Fonda
B. Shirley MacLaine
C. Debra Winger
D. Sissy Spacek

Question 6: Which 1983 film about astronauts features Sam Shepard as Chuck Yeager?

A. The Right Stuff
B. Octopussy
C. WarGames
D. Flashdance

Question 7: Amadeus (1984) was directed by whom?

A. Miloš Forman
B. Peter Weir
C. Roland Joffé
D. David Lean

Question 8: In The Killing Fields (1984), who played photojournalist Sydney Schanberg?

A. Sam Waterston
B. John Malkovich
C. Haing S. Ngor
D. Julian Sands

Question 9: Meryl Streep won a Best Actress Oscar for which 1985 drama?

A. Out of Africa
B. Silkwood
C. Ironweed
D. A Cry in the Dark

Question 10: Who directed the Vietnam War drama Platoon (1986)?

A. Francis Ford Coppola
B. Oliver Stone
C. Stanley Kubrick
D. Michael Cimino

Question 11: In The Color of Money (1986), Paul Newman reprised which role from The Hustler?

A. Fast Eddie Felson
B. Minnesota Fats
C. Sarah Packard
D. Bert Gordon

Question 12: Which 1987 film stars Glenn Close as Alex Forrest?

A. Fatal Attraction
B. Wall Street
C. Broadcast News
D. Hope and Glory

Question 13: Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise star in which 1988 road-trip drama?

A. Rain Man
B. Big
C. Working Girl
D. Midnight Run

Question 14: Who directed Dangerous Liaisons (1988)?

A. Stephen Frears
B. Milos Forman
C. Alan Parker
D. Barry Levinson

Question 15: In Dead Poets Society (1989), Robin Williams plays which teacher?

A. John Keating
B. Neil Perry
C. Todd Anderson
D. Charlie Dalton

Question 16: Driving Miss Daisy (1989) was directed by whom?

A. Martin Scorsese
B. Bruce Beresford
C. Peter Bogdanovich
D. Norman Jewison

Question 17: Which film won Best Picture at the Oscars in 1987?

A. The Last Emperor
B. Platoon
C. Out of Africa
D. Hannah and Her Sisters

Question 18: Who played the young Abraham Lincoln in Gore Vidal’s Lincoln (1988)?

A. Sam Waterston
B. Daniel Hugh Kelly
C. John Ashton
D. Steven Culp

Question 19: In Field of Dreams (1989), who plays the ghostly Shoeless Joe Jackson?

A. Ray Liotta
B> Burt Lancaster
C. James Earl Jones
D. Timothy Busfield

Question 20: Jessica Tandy won Best Actress for Driving Miss Daisy in which year?

A. 1989
B. 1988
C. 1990
D. 1987

Answers

  1. B. Robert Redford – He made his directorial debut with Ordinary People, which won Best Picture; Scorsese directed action-dramas like Raging Bull, Lumet did Dog Day Afternoon, Brooks helmed Terms of Endearment.
  2. A. Raging Bull – De Niro gained weight for the role and won Best Actor; the others are different Scorsese films with him.
  3. A. Chariots of Fire – It beat Reds for Best Picture; On Golden Pond won acting Oscars, Raiders was nominated.
  4. B. John Hurt – Hurt’s transformative performance under David Lynch’s direction; Hopkins played Frederick Treves, the doctor.
  5. B. Shirley MacLaine – She won Best Actress opposite Debra Winger; Fonda was in On Golden Pond, Spacek in Coal Miner’s Daughter.
  6. A. The Right Stuff – Philip Kaufman directed this Best Picture nominee; others are unrelated 80s films.
  7. A. Miloš Forman – He won Best Director for the Mozart biopic; Weir did Witness, Joffé The Killing Fields, Lean A Passage to India.
  8. A. Sam Waterston – Waterston starred with Haing S. Ngor, who won Supporting Actor; Malkovich was later, Sands minor role.
  9. A. Out of Africa – Streep won for her role as Karen Blixen; Silkwood was nominated, others later.
  10. B. Oliver Stone – Stone’s semi-autobiographical film won Best Picture and Director; Coppola did Apocalypse Now.
  11. A. Fast Eddie Felson – Newman won Best Actor reprising the role opposite Tom Cruise; others from original Hustler.
  12. A. Fatal Attraction – Close’s obsessive role earned a nomination; others feature different leads.
  13. A. Rain Man – Hoffman won Best Actor as Raymond Babbitt; Cruise was in Born on the Fourth of July later.
  14. A. Stephen Frears – Frears adapted the French novel with Glenn Close and John Malkovich; others directed different dramas.
  15. A. John Keating – Williams’ inspirational English teacher; others are students.
  16. B. Bruce Beresford – Beresford directed the Best Picture winner; others unrelated.
  17. A. The Last Emperor – Bernardo Bertolucci’s epic won 9 Oscars including Best Picture; Platoon won in 1986.
  18. A. Sam Waterston – Waterston portrayed Lincoln in the TV film; Kelly played young Lincoln briefly, others supporting.
  19. A. Ray Liotta – Liotta as the baseball legend; Lancaster played Moonlight Graham, Jones the writer.
  20. A. 1989 – Tandy won at the 62nd Oscars for the 1989 film; awards are for previous year’s releases.

How did you do? Share your score in the comments and challenge friends to beat it – true 80s drama fans only!