Best Adventure Movies of 1980

Three escaped criminals from the planet Krypton test the Man of Steel's mettle. Led by General Zod, the Kryptonians take control of the White House and partner with Lex Luthor to destroy Superman and rule the world. But Superman, who attempts to make himself human in order to get closer to Lois, realizes he has a responsibility to save the planet.

Two small children and a ship's cook survive a shipwreck and find safety on an idyllic tropical island. Soon, however, the cook dies and the young boy and girl are left on their own. Days become years and Emmeline and Richard make a home for themselves surrounded by exotic creatures and nature's beauty. But will they ever see civilization again?

A football player and his mates travel to the planet Mongo and find themselves fighting the tyranny of Ming the Merciless to save Earth.

Perennially stoned Cheech and Chong tear through the city of Los Angeles, causing trouble wherever they go. After Cheech loses his job, the two pot enthusiasts head to the welfare offices where Cheech's girlfriend, Donna, works. Instead of collecting unemployment, they find themselves thrown back on the streets, searching for a way to earn new income. But when Cheech's cousin, "Red" Mendoza, arrives, things get even crazier.

Philo takes part in a bare knuckle fight - as he does - to make some more money than he can earn from his car repair business. He decides to retire from fighting, but when the Mafia come along and arrange another fight, he is pushed into it. A motorcycle gang and an orangutan called Clyde all add to the 'fun'.

Shaggy and Scooby-Doo quit their Saturday morning TV series in pursuit of Hollywood stardom.

In the 16th Century, a Dutch ship sails the Pacific from the Americas in order to escape the Spanish. Blackthorn is the pilot of the ship and the first to realize the possibilities of Japan. Japan is a feudal society which has a strong presence of the Portugese. A struggle is in the final stages for who will be the Shogun, the leader who, under the emperor, governs the land. Toranaga sees in Blackthorn things he can use to at least survive the struggle to come, and if both play their hands correctly, become Shogun.

An English navigator becomes both pawn and player in the deadly political games in feudal Japan.

Popeye is a super-strong, spinach-scarfing sailor man who's searching for his father. During a storm that wrecks his ship, Popeye washes ashore and winds up rooming at the Oyl household, where he meets Olive. Before he can win her heart, he must first contend with Olive's fiancé, Bluto.

Two Hobbits struggle to destroy the Ring in Mount Doom while their friends desperately fight evil Lord Sauron's forces in a final battle.

Mercenary James Shannon, on a reconnaissance job to the African nation of Zangaro, is tortured and deported. He returns to lead a coup.

Recently diagnosed with a terminal illness, a man returns home to Australia to die in the wildness. His plans become complicated when he meets a young boy and decides to take him under his wing.

A young farmer assembles a band of diverse mercenaries to defend his peaceful planet from an evil tyrant.

An ancient Indian warrior who has reached the end of his life is brought back from his 'death' to save his family from a raiding party of enemy Indians in this unique story of 'Indians without a single cowboy.

When terrorists take over two oil rigs, and threaten to blow them up if their demands are not met, an eccentric anti-terrorism expert volunteers his unique commando unit to stop them.

The adorable little VW helps its owners break up a counterfeiting ring in Mexico.

The story concerns two grizzled mountain men -- Bill Tyler and Henry Frapp -- during the dying days of the fur-trapping era. The plot begins when Running Moon runs away from her abusive husband Heavy Eagle and comes across the two seedy fur trappers. The mountain men take her in, unaware that Heavy Eagle has dispatched an army of Indian braves to reclaim her.

Survivors of a tragic shipping collision are rescued by a mysterious black ship which appears out of the fog. Little do they realise that the ship is actually a Nazi torture ship which has sailed the seas for years, luring unsuspecting sailors aboard and killing them off one by one.

A romantic comedy with action and suspense. Two sophisticated jewel thieves join forces to steal $30 million in uncut jewels. Despite a continuous exchange of quips they eventually become romantically involved.

The only chance to escape a desert island is to convert the plane carrying many different animals into a boat.

A modern-day pirate hijacks private yachts, steals the valuables on board, and sends the passengers to the bottom of the ocean. But his current captives have no intentions of being tossed into the briny.

A young man wishes he could get away and his wish is granted in a globetrotting, song singing way.

David Nau leads a band of modern day pirates who raid yachts and sail boats of people on vacation in the Caribbean. When reporter Blair Maynard and his son arrive to investigate the mystery of the disappearing boats, Nau and his band of raiders decide to induct them into their tribe.

To obtain a supply of a rare mineral, a ship raising operation is conducted for the only known source, the Titanic.

A puppy encounters a series of tragedies and losses brought on by the evils of uncaring humans as she tries to find a family and a place to call home.

Giff Hoyt, a cafe owner in Cabo Blanco, Peru after World War II is caught between refuge-seeking Nazis and their enemies. After the murder of a sea explorer is passed off as accidental death by the corrupt local police, Giff becomes suspicious. The police chief also intimidates a new arrival Marie, and Giff intervenes to help her. Giff suspects Beckdorff, a Nazi refugee living in the area. Beckdorff, it emerges, is seeking to uncover sunken treasure.

Scott James, a veteran martial arts expert, is recruited as the protector of the wealthy and beautiful Justine after she becomes the target of a ninja clan. When Scott finds out that his ruthless arch-nemesis, McCarn , is involved with the stealthy and dangerous criminals, he is eager to settle old scores. Soon Scott is facing off against McCarn and the entire ninja horde in an effort to take them all down.

A knight returns home from the Crusades to find his village devastated by disease and his family gone. He roams the forest searching for them, until he finds a mysterious maiden who is being held prisoner by a black knight. In order to free her, he must confront her captor.

An active volcano threatens a south Pacific island resort and its guests as a power struggle ensues between the property's developer and a drilling foreman.

This movie chronicles Jack London's epic journey from San Francisco to the Klondike gold fields in 1898.

This Pirates of Penzance is primarily a historical document, part of the Broadway Theater Archive television series. It presents, with some inevitable, tiny technical shortcomings, a live 1980 performance in Central Park, not the 1983 movie of the same name that also starred Linda Ronstadt and Kevin Kline. Those who remember that film, which had the benefit of retakes and editing, a lavish production budget, and the spaciousness of a Hollywood studio, may find this video less polished. On its own terms, it is nonetheless thoroughly enjoyable.

When an unworldly country man is released from prison setting out a new revenge, a night club singer crosses his path. He eagerly leads her to his lonesome country life out in woods, where there is no way back to society.

Hawk the Slayer, after seeing both his father and bride die at the hands of his malevolent brother, Voltan, sets out for revenge and the chance to live up to his title. Tooling himself up with the "mind-sword" and recruiting a motley band of warriors: a giant, a dwarf, a one-armed man with a machine-crossbow and an elf with the fastest bow in the land; Hawk leads the battle against Voltan to free the land from the forces of evil and avenge his loved ones.

The story of a champion Eskimo sled dog named Kavik who survives a plane crash in the wilds of Alaska and is found and cared for by a young boy named Andy Evans. But the dog's owner finds Kavik and takes him back to his home in Colorado where the dog escapes and embarks on a 2,000-mile odyssey in search of Andy.

A former astronaut helps a government agent and a police detective track the source of mysterious alien pod spores, filled with lethal flesh-dissolving acid, to a South American coffee plantation controlled by alien pod clones.

Shortly after the Civil War, while exploring the long deserted and reputedly haunted Sullivan's Island off Charleston S.C., a boy encounters two obsessed eccentrics living there. These men chase him away and warn him never to return or to tell anyone about them. Soon, however, they locate him and summon him back, because he has unknowingly given them a clue vital to their quest and they need his help to unravel the rest of the mystery. If he can do so, they will find buried pirate treasure and all become rich. But in joining the search, he falls under the same obsession and curse -- an ominous fate suggested by the unearthly electronic music which contributes to the film's atmosphere.

Public-works engineer entrusted with a big project faces problems in his home life and conflicts with a corrupt local businessman.

Set during the Sung Dynasty, patriotic monks of the Shaolin Temple fight against foreign invasion.

Human astronauts Burke and Virdon, with their chimp companion Galen, are forced to become involved in the strange gladiatorial games of the district run by prefect Tolar. The trio escape the gorilla police and find an abandoned government research project with a computer containing a vast amount of recording information about the old human-ruled world. [The second of five telefilms edited from episodes of the 1974 TV series; this film combines the episodes "The Gladiators" and "The Legacy"]

A grizzled veteran forest ranger finds himself in conflict with a decisive but impatient Army Search and Rescue officer who does not want to share command of an operation to rescue several stranded weekend climbers from a mountain ledge.

The fugitives Burke, Virdon and Galen try to save the life of a human blacksmith and his son, whome gorilla leader Urko has threatened with death should his horse lose another race. The trio also attempt to expose a crooked gorilla by framing him in a plot to kill Urko. [The third of five telefilms edited from episodes of the 1974 TV series; this film combines the episodes "The Horse Race" and "The Tyrant"]

When fugitive human astronaut Virdon is shot, his chimp companion Galen must charm an old flame into accepting that a book on human surgery is no hoax. Meanwhile, their friend Burke is captured by the ape authorities and is to be brainwashed by a brilliant ape scientist named Wanda. [The fourth of five telefilms edited from episodes of the 1974 TV series; this film combines the episodes "The Surgeon" and "The Interrogation"]

Magnum's old Navy buddy is dead and the Navy says he was a cocaine smuggler. Magnum sets out to prove his buddy was framed.

Two CIA agents, a kung fu master and a suave womanizer, track the stolen formula for a super-sterility drug from Spain to Hong Kong, battling Neo-Nazi terrorists and a Vietnamese spy ring for its possession.

Robert Conrad and Ross Martin reprise their roles as Secret Service agents of the 1890s.

An ivory ape escapes from a freighter and makes its way to Bermuda. Two anthropologists want to save it, but the local authorities hire a big-game hunter to track it down and kill it.

The wicked queen creates an ice storm meant to get rid of the younger Snow White, but instead freezes the whole village, just barely missing her. Snow White travels to the land of the Seven Friendly Giants and makes friends with them. Snow White is never safe from the wicked queen because she'll always be able to find her. Can the giants save Snow White from her vengeance, or will she end up an icicle like her parents?

When the astronauts Burke and Virdon, with their chimp companion Galen, are captured in a fishing village that employs human slave labor, they must prove their worth as fishermen or be sacrificed to the 'gods of the sea,' or what the men call sharks. Escaping from the forced labor camp, the trio become involved in a plot to develop a glider to drop a fragmentation bomb on the gorilla council. [The fifth of five telefilms edited from episodes of the 1974 TV series; this film combines the episodes "Tomorrow's Tide" and "Up Above the World So High"]

Astronauts Pete Burke and Allan Virdon crash on Earth in the far future and are captured by the apes. The men befriend a chimp named Galen who helps them to escape. In the hopes of finding a way to get back to their own time, the astronauts search for a computer in an eathquake-threatened city, with which they will be able to access their flight records. [The first of five telefilms edited from episodes of the 1974 TV series; this film combines the episodes "Escape from Tomorrow" and "The Trap"]