Top 10 Films celebrates the actors and filmmakers that made the 1980s such a special decade for film. The Heroes of the 1980s Hall of Fame profiles the work of those men and women who made the most memorable, funny, touching, scary, dramatic, awe-inspiring, thought-provoking and magical films during the decade.

1980s Heroes: Chevy Chase, Michael J. Fox
The Best of 1980s Film: 1980 – Dressed To Kill | 1981 – My Bloody Valentine | 1983 – Class, Scarface | 1984 – Splash | 1985 – Fright Night, The Goonies, The Man With One Red Shoe, Once Bitten, Return of the Living Dead, Silver Bullet | 1986 – Down and Out in Beverly Hills, FX: Murder By Illusion, Ruthless People, The Hitcher, The Money Pit, Something Wild, Stand By Me | 1987 – Innerspace, Near Dark, Outrageous Fortune, Roxanne, Withnail and I | 1988 – Big, Punchline, Tequila Sunrise | 1989 – The ‘Burbs, Let It Ride, Turner and Hooch

Chevy Chase was born in 1943. He entered the world of entertainment through National Lampoon and was one of the founding members of Saturday Night Live. His first major role was in the Hitchcockesque Foul Play alongside Goldie Hawn in which he played a San Francisco police detective who is drawn into a murder mystery after Hawn unwittingly comes into the possession of a secret roll of film. This funny, stylish comedy-thriller rightly makes our top ten Chevy Chase list, as do his next two major films Caddyshack and Seems Like Old Times (where he once again starred alongside Goldie Hawn).

Chase’s career would go up a notch a couple of years later with starring roles in the two finest films of his career – National Lampoon’s Vacation and Fletch. In Harold Ramis’ Vacation, he plays the hapless but lovable Clark Griswold who takes his family across country in a car that refuses to stay in one piece. In Fletch, a role that allowed him to portray a diverse range of characters, he is an undercover reporter who has a speciality with disguises. Both films have proved to be the highlights of a career that diminished in the mid-nineties after a badly judged decision to take on more dramatic roles misfired.

See our top ten Chevy Chase films here

Michael J. Fox was born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada in 1961. Making a name for himself in the television comedy Family Ties, starring in seven seasons, the small-in-stature big-in-personality actor was an iconic face during the eighties. His feature film debut came in 1980 with a role in Midnight Madness before he played the upstanding student in Mark L. Lester’s violent Class of 1984. But it was Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale who would propel Fox to superstardom and a place amongst Hollywood cinema’s eighties greats.

In 1985, Fox starred in Back To The Future, the brilliant time-travelling adventure film that sees teenager Marty McFly (Fox) travel back to the 1950s where he must ensure his parents meet and fall in love to protect his own existence. The wonderful humour, awe-inspiring production design and special-effects, and energetic performances from a wonderful cast make Back To The Future one of the finest films of the decade. Thankfully, Fox would return for two sequels released in 1989 and 1990 (See our Top 10 Sequels of the 1980s & Top 10 Parts 3′s that are better than Part 2′s)

Aside from Back To The Future, Michael J. Fox starred in several other excellent films including the comedy-drama The Secret of My Success, coming-of-age fantasy Teen Wolf, and Vietnam conflict film Casualties of War.

Michael J. Fox films appear in many top 10s on the site including Top 10 Sequels of the 1980s, Top 10 Parts 3′s that are better than Part 2′s, Top 10 1980s Science-Fiction films for Children, and Top 10 Family Films of all time.

See our top ten Michael J. Fox films here