List of movies of the year: 1981

Bugs Bunny hosts an award show featuring several classic Looney Tunes shorts and characters.

A caretaker at a summer camp is burned when a prank goes tragically wrong. After several years of intensive treatment at hospital, he is released back into society, albeit missing some social skills. What follows is a bloody killing spree with the caretaker making his way back to his old stomping ground to confront one of the youths that accidently burned him.

Bullied by classmates, a pudgy military-school student fights back by computer with the devil.

When one of Europe's most lethal terrorists shows up in New York, an elite undercover cop is assigned to take him down by any means necessary.

After a man with extraordinary—and frighteningly destructive—telepathic abilities is nabbed by agents from a mysterious rogue corporation, he discovers he is far from the only possessor of such strange powers, and that some of the other “scanners” have their minds set on world domination, while others are trying to stop them.

A squad of National Guards on an isolated weekend exercise in the Louisiana swamp must fight for their lives when they anger local Cajuns by stealing their canoes. Without live ammunition and in a strange country, their experience begins to mirror the Vietnam experience.

An honest marshal in a corrupt mining colony on Io, Jupiter's sunless third moon, is determined to confront a violent drug ring even though it may cost him his life. After his wife angrily deserts him, he waits alone for the arrival of killers hired by the company to eliminate him.

In the class-obsessed and religiously divided UK of the early 1920s, two determined young runners train for the 1924 Paris Olympics. Eric Liddell, a devout Christian born to Scottish missionaries in China, sees running as part of his worship of God's glory and refuses to train or compete on the Sabbath. Harold Abrahams overcomes anti-Semitism and class bias, but neglects his beloved sweetheart in his single-minded quest.

Messalina (played by gorgeous Betty Roland) is a power-hungry nymphomaniac who will stop at nothing to become Empress of Rome. She brings herself to the attention of Caligula by battling in the gladiator arena and it is not long before she achieves her goal, upsetting the Emperor's youngest sister Agrippina, who hopes that her son Nero will eventually become ruler of Rome. Agrippina successfully plots Caligula's downfall, but Messalina rains on her parade by immediately jumping into the sack with his successor, Claudius. But naughty old Messalina can't commit herself to one man, and shags everyone in sight, including a grotesque, but well-endowed, frequenter of brothels, a randy midget, her eunuch(!?!?) and an ex-lover. When she ends up pregnant, and it is obvious that the father is not Claudius (since he has been away fighting in foreign lands), Agrippina finally sees her opportunity to be rid of her nemesis once and for all.

A shy and mute seamstress goes insane after being attacked and raped twice in one day. She wanders the New York streets at night in a sexy black dress with her attacker's gun strapped to her garter belt, blowing away any man who tries to pick her up.

Since her parents' death, 19-year old Della lives with her aunt Marsha and Andrew, her old husband. One morning Marsha has sex with Alex, her husband's doctor. Right afterwords, Della seduces him at the beach while Marsha watches them from her window. The two women have a fight which results to Della leaving the house. She finds refuge at Maria's (a friend of hers) place but as it appears she is missing and the house is inhabited by Aris and Samantha. Della makes a pass at Aris, managing to infuriate Samantha. In the meanwhile, the local authorities are investigating the murder of Aris' business partner, Steve Brynner. When all trace leads to Aris, Della suggests a swap: She'll travel to Italy to get fake passports for the couple as long as they accept to murder Marsha.

In this dark tale of revenge, Bruce Lee "returns" as Billy Lo, whose best friend Chin Ku dies of a sudden illness. But suspicion of foul play arises when a gang tries to steal Ku's coffin at the funeral using a helicopter. When Lo's younger brother Lo hears about the incident, he leaves his Buddhist master to investigate the truth. His trail soon leads him to the Castle of Death, the last place Chin Ku was seen alive. There, he meets and befriends an unlikely ally--a cruel and merciless martial arts expert who is also the tower's master. But when the master dies under mysterious circumstances, Lo ends up dueling with someone far more terrifying.

Phillip Filmore is a naive, 15-year-old, preoccupied with sex, who develops a crush on Nicole Mallow, the new 30-something, French housekeeper and sitter to look after him when Phillip's father is out of town for the summer on a "business" trip. But Mr. Filmore's unscrupulous chauffeur, Lester Lewis, takes advantage of Phillip's crush on Nicole to hire her to seduce the youth, then draws her into a plot to fake her own death in a blackmail scheme aimed to drain Phillip's trust fund.

In 1954 Florida, a group of high schoolers seek out to lose their virginity which leads them to seek revenge on a sleazy nightclub owner and his redneck sheriff brother for harassing them.

When a feisty little fox named Tod is adopted into a farm family, he quickly becomes friends with a fun and adorable hound puppy named Copper. Life is full of hilarious adventures until Copper is expected to take on his role as a hunting dog -- and the object of his search is his best friend!

Damien Thorn has helped rescue the world from a recession, appearing to be a benign corporate benefactor. When he then becomes U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Damien fulfills a terrifying biblical prophecy. He also faces his own potential demise as an astronomical event brings about the second coming of Christ.

Secrets of Midland Heights is a short-lived American nighttime soap opera which ran on CBS from December 6, 1980 to January 24, 1981 for eight episodes. Produced after the enormous success of Dallas, Lorimar Productions likewise produced the new serial for CBS. Secrets of Midland Heights was aimed at the teen audience, and featured romantic triangles and secrets among the teens and their parents who populated a fictional midwestern college town called Midland Heights. Aired on Saturday night at 10 PM EST/9 PM Central, the series never found an audience and was canceled after eight episodes. The show resembled a dark, 1980s-style Peyton Place, both dealing with hidden secrets and scandalous affairs in a small town. Lisa Rogers carried on with college jock Burt Carroll while also seeing fraternity jerk Mark; good girl heiress Ann Dulles secretly dated high school dropout John; Holly Wheeler wanted to lose her virginity to her boyfriend Teddy Welsh, but the teens were shocked to discover her mother Dorothy was having an affair with Teddy's father Nathan.

A Roman general leads the epic 1st-century siege of Masada, the mountain fortress where more than 900 Jews made a heroic stand against 5,000 Roman soldiers.

240-Robert is an American drama series that ran on ABC from 1979 to 1981. The series title is a reference to the call-sign designation for the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department's search and rescue/paramedic teams.

Bless Me Father is a British sitcom starring Arthur Lowe, Daniel Abineri, Gabrielle Daye, Patrick McAlinney, David Ryall, Derek Francis and Sheila Keith. It was aired on ITV from 1978 until 1981 and described the adventures of an Irish Catholic priest, Father Charles Duddleswell and his young curate in the fictional parish of St. Jude's in suburban London. 21 episodes, written by Peter De Rosa, were aired. De Rosa wrote the books on which the series was based using the pseudonym of Neil Boyd which was also the name of the young curate character; Boyd also served as the narrator in the series of novels upon which the series was based. It was made for the ITV network by London Weekend Television. The series was set in 1950 and 1951 and marked a departure from the middle class 'bank manager' roles associated with Lowe such as that in Dad's Army. The other regular characters included Mrs Pring, the housekeeper, the hard-drinking Dr Daley, the non-religious neighbour Billy Buzzle, and abbess Reverend Mother Stephen.

In the United States, the Civil War has just broken and Mr March, a physician and father of four daughters, went to the front. Madam March remains alone with her four daughters: the eldest Margaret (Meg), Josephine (Jo) budding writer, a real boy failed, Elisabeth (Beth), the timid passionate piano, and the latest addition, Amy, who loves to draw. The four girls will quickly get to know their neighbor Mr. Lawrence, which they had a little scared at first, but also to his grandson Laurie who at the age of Jo. Together, they go through many hardships, more or less happy, the furies of Aunt March, jealousies, the joys and the war in fabric background, hoping that their father will come back safe and sound...

Heathcliff is an animated TV series that debuted on October 4, 1980. It was the first series based on the Heathcliff comic strip and was produced by Ruby-Spears Productions. It ran until September 18, 1982 with a total of 25 episodes, under two different names.

Shotaro Kaneda is a young boy whose dead scientist father created the giant robot Tetsujin 28 after realizing the chances of attacks from outer galaxies. Shotaro has possession of the only controller, kept in an attached case, which enables him to have direct command of the all mighty Tetsujin 28. If the controller goes into the hands of the enemy, this could lead Tetsujin 28 to fight for villains who want to destroy The Earth. Whenever peace in this world is threaten, Shotaro together with his friends, Dr. Shikishima, Detective Otsuka, must unleash the power of our metallic super hero.

Meeting of Minds is a television series, created by Steve Allen, which aired on PBS from 1977 to 1981. The show featured guests who played significant roles in world history. Guests would interact with each other and host Steve Allen, discussing philosophy, religion, history, science, and many other topics. It was conceptually quite similar to the Canadian television series Witness to Yesterday, created by Arthur Voronka, which preceded Meeting Of Minds to the air by three years. Steve Allen actually appeared on a 1976 episode of Witness to Yesterday as George Gershwin, one year before Meeting Of Minds premiered. As nearly as was possible, the actual words of the historical figures were used. The show was fully scripted, yet the scripts were carefully crafted to give the appearance of spontaneous discussion among historic figures. Guests included: Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, Cleopatra, Marie Antoinette, Florence Nightingale, Thomas Paine, Francis Bacon, Thomas Jefferson, Voltaire, Karl Marx, Charles Darwin, Daniel O'Connell, Catherine II, and Oliver Cromwell. Typically, each episode would be split into two parts, broadcast separately, with most or all of the guests introduced over the course of the first part, and the discussions continuing into the second part. A total of 24 episodes were produced.

Redd Foxx isn’t done scheming and wise-cracking in the spin-off to one of America's most beloved sitcoms.

Pipkins was a British children's TV programme. Hartley Hare, Pig, Topov and the gang were the stars of ATV's pre-school series which ran from January 1973 to 29 December 1981.

Elspeth and her unconventional parents decide to settle down in Kenya and begin a coffee plantation. This is a time of discovery for Elspeth, as she encounters the incredible beauty and cruelty of nature, and new friendships with both Africans and British expatriates. A side plot involves the beautiful and bored British Lettice Palmer who enters into an affair with a handsome safari guide. Eventually, however, the excitement of Elspeth's life is disrupted by the onset of WW I, and the changes it brings.

20th-century astronaut Buck Rogers awakens in the 25th century after a freak accident puts him in suspended animation for 500 years. Upon returning to Earth and discovering the planet is recovering from a nuclear war, Buck uses his combat skills and ingenuity to protect Earth and fight evil throughout the galaxy alongside starfighter pilot Colonel Wilma Deering and robot companion Twiki.

Lalabel, also known as Lalabel, The Magical Girl or Magical Girl Lalabel, is a magical girl anime by Toei Animation. A 15 minutes long "movie" special called Magical Girl Lalabel: the Sea Calls for a Summer Vacation was also created, it aired in Japan in July 1980.

In 2030 AD, after being abandoned by his creator, a young boy robot is rescued by an Android Advocate, Dr Elefun, who adopts him as his own and guides him in the use of his special powers to aid and protect mankind and robot-kind.

The All-New Popeye Hour is an animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and King Features Syndicate. Starring the popular comic strip character Popeye, the series aired from 1978 to 1983 on CBS.