I’m looking for a recommendation for a movie from the 1980s that is renowned for its exceptionally high-definition and high-quality picture quality. Specifically, I’m interested in films that achieved remarkable visual clarity and detail through advanced filming techniques and equipment for their time, not through the use of CGI or special effects. The goal is to find a film whose visual quality stands out and is comparable to the sharp, detailed images we see with today's advanced camera technology.
Pretty much all of them, as long as they have been transferred properly to BD or UHD BD. Nearly all of them were shot on 35mm film, the negatives of which resolve to about 4K digital resolution. But if you want even better than 35mm, there's only one choice from the 1980s, i.e., the only 70mm one: Tron (1982). 70mm resolves to about 12K, but I don't know if Tron has gotten a particularly good home video transfer or not. No matter how good the transfer is though, there is no home video format that can fully express the quality of 70mm. UHD (often called "4K") is low resolution compared to 70mm film.
"The goal is to find a film whose visual quality stands out and is comparable to the sharp, detailed images we see with today's advanced camera technology."
70mm blows "today's advanced camera technology" out of the water. "Today's advanced camera technology" is only advanced for digital, but like with some other modern technologies, it's a "one step forward, two steps back" scenario.
While the statement that 70mm film "blows today's advanced camera technology out of the water" holds some merit due to the inherent resolution advantages of 70mm film, it's an oversimplification that overlooks several key aspects of modern digital technology.
With modern cameras you get:
Dynamic Range and Color Depth
Digital footage provides greater flexibility in post-production
Digital cameras offer consistent results with every shot, as they are not subject to the same variability as film stock, such as grain structure and chemical processing inconsistencies.
"With modern cameras you get: Dynamic Range and Color Depth"
Digital doesn't beat film in those areas, especially not when talking about a home video release. Even the "latest and greatest" HDR 10-BPC UHD BD (many of which use film-source content to begin with) uses the same 4:2:0 chroma subsampling that DVDs and standard BDs use, so while they have a high (by digital standards) color depth, they have terrible (relatively speaking) color resolution.
"Digital footage provides greater flexibility in post-production"
That has nothing to do with the context of this thread, which is picture quality.
"Digital cameras offer consistent results with every shot, as they are not subject to the same variability as film stock, such as grain structure and chemical processing inconsistencies."
There's not enough variability in those things (assuming good quality film stock and competent processing) to be noticeable, and certainly not enough to trump drastically higher resolution.
"Here is a footage of Gemini Man (2019) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i82xURPkLWo I can't think of any movie from the 90s that even compares to the level of sharpness, detail, dynamic range and clarity as this footage."
That was shot on a 3.2K camera, which is very low resolution compared to 70mm. And there were only two movies from the 1990s shot in 70mm, one of which was a documentary, and no one (aside from perhaps some people in the movie industry) have ever seen them at their best, i.e., projected from a first-generation film print struck directly from the camera negatives (i.e., interpositive, AKA: IP). Theatrical film prints have several generations of loss.
Without getting into theoretical aspects, just look at "Gemini Man" and "Tron" side by side. Do you not see that "Gemini Man" has far better picture quality? Yes, 3.2K is much lower resolution compared to 70mm, but the results are evident. And yes, you're right that there has been a generation of loss— "first-generation film prints struck directly from the camera negatives"—which we can't see today. So, there's no way to truly compare them at their best. Also, I cannot go back in time. May be my intention was not clear in my post: I want to find a movie that I can enjoy watching for its visual quality, not for academic or historical comparisons.
" just look at "Gemini Man" and "Tron" side by side."
I don't have a copy of either one to compare, and the best official home video release of Tron is only standard BD (1080p), which is ridiculously low resolution compared to 70mm. Do you even have Tron on lowly BD for a comparison?
"Yes, 3.2K is much lower resolution compared to 70mm, but the results are evident."
No, they aren't evident, because you haven't seen the actual results. You haven't even seen a modern UHD (2160p) transfer of Tron, because there isn't one.
"And yes, you're right that there has been a generation of loss— "first-generation film prints struck directly from the camera negatives"—which we can't see today."
There were several generations of loss in the theatrical film prints, so even if you saw it in a theater equipped with a 70mm projector, you still wouldn't be seeing it at its best, because they wouldn't be showing the IP that's locked away in a vault somewhere, they would be showing an ordinary theatrical film print.
However, when transfers of film to digital are done, they use the IP if they can, so those several generations of loss that you would have seen at the theater are gone. The problem is, digital home video formats and video displays haven't progressed far enough to do 70mm justice, so you'll be waiting a long time to see it at its best, assuming it ever happens at all. Then you can compare your 12K copy of Tron to your 3.2K (native resolution) copy of Gemini Man.
"So, there's no way to truly compare them at their best."
Not right now for most people; maybe in the future. But like I mentioned above, I'm wondering if you even have the best available copy of Tron to use as a comparison (standard BD).
" I'm wondering if you even have the best available copy of Tron to use as a comparison (standard BD)"
No my friend. I don't. That is what I am trying to explain to you. I don't have the Tron in all it's glory not even standard BD. Nobody does as it's just not out there. And that's also my point. Since the only version of Tron that is available is just 1080p and that too grainy. It's of no use to me. As I said earlier. I have asked this question not for academic debate but for enjoying it in my leisure time. What use is it to me even if it was shot on world's best camera in the history of mankind, if original is 4k or 400k if it's just not available.
Then why did you say, "just look at "Gemini Man" and "Tron" side by side." and "the results are evident" if you don't even have the Tron BD to look at? How could you possibly know what the results are?
"That is what I am trying to explain to you. I don't have the Tron in all it's glory not even standard BD. Nobody does as it's just not out there."
What are you talking about? The standard BD is certainly out there, and it's cheap:
"And that's also my point. Since the only version of Tron that is available is just 1080p and that too grainy."
You've never seen it so how do you know it's "too grainy"? If you're trying to say that it's too grainy simply due to being 1080p, then that doesn't make any sense because resolution has nothing to do with how grainy a video is.
Older than what I was looking for but thanks. I will definitely check it out. To me it seems like the landscape changed drastically between 60s and 80s in the movies.