L-M
| Title | Director | Cast | Genre | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| L.A. Takedown | Animated | |||
| Last Exit to Brooklyn | Uli Edel | Jennifer Jason Leigh | Drama | |
| Lauderdale | Bill Milling | Renee Shugart | Comedy | |
| Lean on Me | John G. Avildsen | Morgan Freeman, Lynne Thigpen, Robert Guillaume | Biopic, Drama | story of principal Joe Clark |
| Let It Ride | Joe Pytka | Richard Dreyfuss, Teri Garr, Jennifer Tilly | Comedy | |
| Lethal Weapon 2 | Richard Donner | Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Joe Pesci | Action, Comedy | sequel to Lethal Weapon |
| Leviathan | George Pan Cosmatos | Peter Weller, Richard Crenna, Amanda Pays | Horror | |
| Listen to Me | Douglas Day Stewart | Kirk Cameron, Jami Gertz, Roy Scheider, Christopher Atkins | Drama | Razzie for Atkins |
| Little Golden Book Land | Drama | |||
| The Little Mermaid | Ron Clements, John Musker | voices of Jodi Benson, Pat Carroll, Buddy Hackett | Animated | won 2 Oscars |
| Little Monsters | Richard Greenberg | Fred Savage, Daniel Stern | Comedy | |
| Lock Up | John Flynn | Sylvester Stallone, Donald Sutherland | Drama | 3 Razzie nominations |
| Lonesome Dove | Simon Wincer | Robert Duvall, Tommy Lee Jones, Diane Lane, Danny Glover, Anjelica Huston, Robert Urich, Rick Schroeder, D. B. Sweeney, Frederic Forrest, Glenne Headly, Chris Cooper | Western | based on Larry McMurtry novel; 7 Emmy awards, 19 nominations |
| Look Who's Talking | Amy Heckerling | John Travolta, Kirstie Alley, Olympia Dukakis | Comedy | followed by 2 sequels |
| Lords of the Deep | Mary Ann Fisher | Bradford Dillman, Priscilla Barnes | Sci-Fi | |
| Lost Angels | Hugh Hudson | Donald Sutherland | Drama | |
| Major League | David S. Ward | Tom Berenger, Charlie Sheen, Corbin Bernsen, Rene Russo | Comedy | followed by 2 sequels |
| The Making of Me | Glenn Gordon Caron | Martin Short | Short subject | |
| Meet the Hollowheads | Thomas R. Bowman | Juliette Lewis, John Glover | Comedy | |
| The Mighty Quinn | Carl Schenkel | Denzel Washington, Robert Townsend | Crime drama | filmed in Jamaica |
| Mike Hammer: Murder Takes All | John Nicolella | Stacy Keach, Lynda Carter | Crime drama | made for TV; based on story by Mickey Spillane |
| Millennium | Michael Anderson | Kris Kristofferson, Cheryl Ladd, Daniel J. Travanti, Robert Joy | Sci-Fi | |
| Miss Firecracker | Thomas Schlamme | Holly Hunter, Tim Robbins, Mary Steenburgen | Comedy | based on Beth Henley play |
| Moontrap | Robert Dyke | Walter Koenig, Bruce Campbell | Sci-Fi | |
| Music Box | Costa-Gavras | Jessica Lange, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Frederic Forrest | Drama | Academy Award nomination for Lange |
| My Mom's a Werewolf | Michael Fischa | Comedy | ||
| My Name is Bill W. | Daniel Petrie | James Garner, James Woods, JoBeth Williams | Drama, Biopic | made for TV; story of Alcoholics Anonymous; Emmy for Woods |
| Mystery Train | Jim Jarmusch | Youki Kudoh, Masatoshi Nagase | Anthology, Drama |
Read more about this topic: List Of American Films Of 1989