Do You Know These 80s Crime Movies? Ultimate 20-Question Trivia Quiz Challenge!

Answers Below – No Peeking!

Are you a true fan of the explosive action, gritty gangsters, and buddy-cop thrills of 1980s crime movies? This quiz dives into classics like Scarface, Lethal Weapon, and RoboCop, with questions ranging from easy starters to hardcore trivia only die-hards will nail. Grab some popcorn, no Googling, and test your knowledge!

20 Trivia Questions on 80s Crime Movies

Question 1: Which 1983 crime film features Al Pacino as Cuban drug lord Tony Montana?

A. The Godfather Part II
B. Scarface
C. Carlito’s Way
D. Donnie Brasco

Question 2: Who directed the 1984 action-comedy crime film Beverly Hills Cop?

A. Michael Mann
B. Martin Brest
C. Michael Bay
D. Tony Scott

Question 3: In Lethal Weapon (1987), what is Danny Glover’s character’s name?

A. Martin Riggs
B. Roger Murtaugh
C. Axel Foley
D. John McClane

Question 4: For which role did Sean Connery win a Supporting Actor Oscar in The Untouchables (1987)?

A. Al Capone
B. Eliot Ness
C. Jim Malone
D. Frank Nitti

Question 5: Which Dutch director helmed the 1987 cyberpunk crime film RoboCop?

A. Paul Verhoeven
B. John McTiernan
C. James Cameron
D. Ridley Scott

Question 6: In Midnight Run (1988), Robert De Niro plays a bounty hunter chasing whom?

A. A mob accountant played by Charles Grodin
B. A corrupt cop
C. A hitman
D. A drug lord

Question 7: Mississippi Burning (1988) is primarily about investigations into which real-life events?

A. 1960s civil rights murders in Mississippi
B. 1980s drug wars
C. Mafia hits
D. Bank robberies

Question 8: In Black Rain (1989), what does Michael Douglas portray?

A. A New York cop sent to Japan
B. A Japanese detective
C. A Yakuza boss
D. An FBI agent

Question 9: Which actor played James Bond in the 1989 crime-revenge film Licence to Kill?

A. Timothy Dalton
B. Roger Moore
C. Sean Connery
D. Pierce Brosnan

Question 10: In which city is To Live and Die in L.A. (1985) primarily set?

A. Miami
B. New York
C. Los Angeles
D. Chicago

Question 11: What 1982 buddy-cop film marked Eddie Murphy’s breakout role alongside Nick Nolte?

A. 48 Hrs.
B. Trading Places
C. Beverly Hills Cop
D. Coming to America

Question 12: Who directed the surreal 1986 neo-noir crime mystery Blue Velvet?

A. David Lynch
B. David Fincher
C. Darren Aronofsky
D. Stanley Kubrick

Question 13: Blood Simple (1984) was the directorial debut of which brothers?

A. Coen brothers
B. Wachowski sisters
C. Russo brothers
D. Safdie brothers

Question 14: Once Upon a Time in America (1984) was the final film directed by whom?

A. Sergio Leone
B. Francis Ford Coppola
C. Martin Scorsese
D. Brian De Palma

Question 15: The iconic line “Go ahead, make my day” was first spoken by Clint Eastwood in which 1983 film?

A. Dirty Harry
B. Magnum Force
C. Sudden Impact
D. The Dead Pool

Question 16: Manhunter (1986) features the first cinematic appearance of which character?

A. Hannibal Lecter (as “Lecktor”) played by Brian Cox
B. John Doe
C. Keyser Söze
D. Verbal Kint

Question 17: Who directed The Untouchables (1987)?

A. Brian De Palma
B. Michael Mann
C. Oliver Stone
D. Sydney Pollack

Question 18: In Die Hard (1988), what is the name of the skyscraper where the crime unfolds?

A. Nakatomi Plaza
B. Fox Plaza
C. Century City
D. Trump Tower

Question 19: What nationality was the director of the 1989 crime thriller Black Rain?

A. British
B. American
C. Japanese
D. Australian

Question 20: In Scarface (1983), what drug does Tony Montana primarily traffic?

A. Cocaine
B. Heroin
C. Marijuana
D. Methamphetamine

Answers

  1. B. Scarface – Al Pacino stars as Tony Montana in Brian De Palma’s 1983 crime epic; The Godfather Part II (1974) and Carlito’s Way (1993) are other Pacino films, Donnie Brasco (1997) stars Johnny Depp.
  2. B. Martin Brest – Brest directed the hit starring Eddie Murphy as Detroit cop Axel Foley; Mann did Miami Vice TV, Bay and Scott are later action directors.
  3. B. Roger Murtaugh – Glover plays the family man sergeant partnered with Mel Gibson’s Riggs; others are characters from different 80s films.
  4. C. Jim Malone – Connery’s Irish cop role earned him the 1987 Oscar; Robert De Niro played Capone, Costner was Ness.
  5. A. Paul Verhoeven – The Dutch filmmaker directed RoboCop starring Peter Weller; others directed other 80s action films.
  6. A. A mob accountant played by Charles Grodin – De Niro’s Jack Walsh hunts Grodin’s Jonathan Mardukas across the US; others are generic archetypes.
  7. A. 1960s civil rights murders in Mississippi – Based on FBI probes into 1964 killings of activists Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner; not drug or mafia stories.
  8. A. A New York cop sent to Japan – Douglas teams with Andy Garcia against Yakuza; others are supporting or villain roles.
  9. A. Timothy Dalton – Dalton’s second Bond film focuses on drug lord revenge; Moore’s last was 1985, Connery returned later.
  10. C. Los Angeles – William Friedkin’s film follows a Secret Service agent’s obsessive pursuit of a counterfeiter in LA; others are settings of different films.
  11. A. 48 Hrs. – Nolte’s cop teams with Murphy’s convict in Walter Hill’s film; Murphy’s other hits came later.
  12. A. David Lynch – Lynch’s Lynchian mystery stars Kyle MacLachlan investigating a severed ear; others are neo-noir directors from later decades.
  13. A. Coen brothers – Joel and Ethan Coen’s noir thriller debuted in 1984; others are later sibling directors.
  14. A. Sergio Leone – Leone’s epic Jewish gangster saga starring De Niro was his final film before 1989 death; others directed other 80s crime films.
  15. C. Sudden Impact – Eastwood’s Dirty Harry sequel (which he directed) features the line to a robber; prior Harry films had different catchphrases.
  16. A. Hannibal Lecter (as “Lecktor”) played by Brian Cox – Michael Mann’s adaptation of Thomas Harris novel predates Hopkins’ version; others from 90s films.
  17. A. Brian De Palma – De Palma directed Costner and Connery against Capone; Mann did Heat later, others unrelated.
  18. A. Nakatomi Plaza – John McTiernan’s film has Alan Rickman’s Hans Gruber rob the fictional LA tower; Fox Plaza was filming location.
  19. A. British – Ridley Scott directed Douglas and Garcia’s cop-Yakuza story; not the nationalities of stars or setting.
  20. A. Cocaine – Tony Montana rises via Miami cocaine trade in De Palma’s film; others are drugs in different crime stories.

How did you score? Drop your results in the comments and challenge friends to tackle these 80s crime classics!