These are the 1984 Endy Awards, wherein I pretend to give out maneki-neko statues to the best in that year in film. This is also a tie-in with our 1984 Year in Review episode of The George Sanders Show. Awards for many other years can be found in the Endy Awards Index. Eligibility is determined by imdb date and by whether or not I’ve seen the movie in question. Nominees are listed in alphabetical order and the winners are bolded. And the Endy goes to. . .

Best Picture:

1. Choose Me
2. The Eight-Diagram Pole Fighter
3. Gremlins
4. Shanghai Blues
5. Stop Making Sense
6. Starman
7. Stranger Than Paradise
8. This Is Spinal Tap
9. The Terminator
10. Wheels on Meals

Best Director:

1. Alan Rudolph, Choose Me
2. Lau Kar-leung, The Eight-Diagram Pole Fighter
3. Tsui Hark, Shanghai Blues
4. Jim Jarmusch, Stranger than Paradise
5. Sammo Hung, Wheels on Meals

Best Actor:

1. Bill Murray, Ghostbusters
2. John Cassavetes, Love Streams
3. Robert DeNiro, Once Upon a Time in America
4. Jeff Bridges, Starman
5. David Byrne, Stop Making Sense

Best Actress:

1. Lesley Ann Warren, Choose Me
2. Gena Rowlands, Love Streams
3. Sylvia Chang, Shanghai Blues
4. Karen Allen, Starman
5. Eszter Balint, Stranger than Paradise

Supporting Actor:

1. M. Emmet Walsh, Blood Simple
2. Fred Gwynne, The Cotton Club
3. Rick Moranis, Ghostbusters
4. Pat Morita, The Karate Kid
5. Christopher Guest, This is Spinal Tap

Supporting Actress:

1. Mia Farrow, Broadway Danny Rose
2. Diane Lane, The Cotton Club
3. Phoebe Cates, Gremlins
4. Jennifer Connolly, Once Upon a Time in America
5. Sally Yeh, Shanghai Blues

Original Screenplay:

1. Alan Rudolph Choose Me
2. Dan Aykroyd & Harold Ramis, Ghostbusters
3. Chan Koon-chung, Szeto Cheuk-hon & Raymond To, Shanghai Blues
4. Jim Jarmusch, Stranger than Paradise
5. Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Sheareer & Rob Reiner, This is Spinal Tap

Adapted Screenplay:

1. Peter Shaffer, Amadeus
2. William Kennedy & Francis Ford Coppola, The Cotton Club
3. Fengcho, Love in a Fallen City
4. Hayao Miyazaki, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
5. Leonardo Benvenuti, Piero De Bernardi, Enrico Medioli, Franco Arcalli, Franco Ferini & Sergio Leone, Once Upon a Time in America

Non-English Language Film:

1. The Eight-Diagram Pole Fighter (Lau Kar-leung)
2. The Long Arm of the Law (Johnny Mak)
3. Shanghai Blues (Tsui Hark)
4. Wheels on Meals (Sammo Hung)
5. Yellow Earth (Chen Kaige)

Documentary Film:

1. Stop Making Sense (Jonathan Demme)
2. The Times of Harvey Milk (Rob Epstein)

Animated Film:

1. Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (Hayao Miyazaki)

Unseen Film:

1. Fear City (Abel Ferrara)
2. The Hit (Stephen Frears)
3. The Home and the World (Satyajit Ray)
4. Secret Honor (Robert Altman)
5. Under the Volcano (John Huston)

Film Editing:

1. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
2. Once Upon a Time in America
3. Shanghai Blues
4. Stop Making Sense
5. Wheels on Meals

Cinematography:

1. Choose Me
2. Once Upon a Time in America
3. Shanghai Blues
4. Stranger than Paradise
5. A Summer at Grandpa’s

Art Direction:

1. Amadeus
2. Dune
3. Once Upon a Time in America
4. Shanghai Blues
5. Streets of Fire

Costume Design:

1. Amadeus
2. Dune
3. Full Moon in Paris
4. Once Upon a Time in America
5. Wheels on Meals

Make-up:

1. Amadeus
2. Dune
3. Ghostbusters
4. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
5. The Terminator

Original Score:

1. Choose Me
2. Once Upon a Time in America
3. Purple Rain
4. Starman
5. This is Spinal Tap

Adapted Score:

1. Amadeus
2. The Cotton Club
3. Footloose
4. Stop Making Sense
5. Stranger than Paradise

Original Song:

1. “Axel F”, Harold Faltermeyer, Beverly Hills Cop
2. “Holding Out for a Hero”, Bonnie Tyler, Footloose
3. “Let’s Hear it for the Boy”, Deniece Williams, Footloose
4. “Purple Rain”, Prince, Purple Rain
5. “When Doves Cry”, Prince, Purple Rain

Sound:

1. Amadeus
2. Choose Me
5. The Cotton Club
4. Stop Making Sense
3. The Terminator

Sound Editing:

1. Dune
2. Ghostbusters
3. Gremlins
4. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
5. The Terminator

Visual Effects:

1. The Eight-Diagram Pole Fighter
2. Ghostbusters
3. Gremlins
4. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
5. The Terminator