Favourite Films of 1985

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1985 is 40 years ago. Yes, really. On a personal level, it was when I really got into pop culture. Cheap Tuesdays meant I went to the movies most weeks, and in school holidays, we'd go twice. On weekends, sport permitting, we might go again, a large group and get a group discount. And we didn't care what we saw. If the trailers looked good, we'd go. I saw everything from comedy to action to rom-coms to dramas. It was the first year when I immersed myself completely in pop culture.

As such, I thought it might be fun to look back at my favourite films from a year that informed so much of myself.



Anyway, these are my top 10 films of 1985, with two extras thrown in for good measure.

This is films that had a theatrical release in 1985. No made-for-TV films, no re-releases, and no concert films. Those are all the rules I have set for this list.

Let's start with a quick list of honourable mentions: A View To A Kill (the Bond film); American Ninja; Cat's Eye; Cocoon; Commando; King Solomon's Mines; Legend; Lifeforce (completely bonkers, but so much fun); Police Story (Jackie Chan Hong Kong film); Red Sonja; Runaway Train; Silver Bullet; Spies Like Us; Teen Wolf; Water (UK comedy); Weird Science; White Nights; Witness (under-rated Harrison Ford film).

So I'll start with the two extras.


That's Dancing!

Directed by Jack Haley Jr.
This is a compilation film, sort of a companion piece to That's Entertainment, a look at the MGM classic films. This one looks at dance movies from across many studios and many years, and is so much fun and just glorious. And shows that they don't dance as well as they used to. I've separated this as it is more compilation/ documentary and not what I would consider a movie. Though seeing it on the big screen was awesome.


Gymkata

Directed by Robert Clouse
Starring: Kurt Thomas
And this is here because it is a truly awful film, but it is my favourite bad film of all time. Using gymnastics as a martial art is a great idea; this film was not. I mean, doesn't every town have a pommel horse in its town square so a gold medal-winning gymnast can use it to hurt people attacking conveniently one at a time? Silly, bad acting, lousy story… but I love every second of it. This is not Santa With Muscles which is just the worst film ever; this is a fun bad film. This is my The Room (by Tommy Wiseau).


Right! Now my favourite ten films from 1985! In alphabetical order, with one exception.


Back To The Future

Directed by Robert Zemeckis
Starring: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd
A sci-fi comedy, family drama, mix that works and is still watchable even now, forty years later, and is just as entertaining as it ever was. The film hinges on Michael J Fox's lovable character of Marty McFly, and he carries this film so well. Don't think too hard about things and the butterfly effect, or the plot hole of Marty looking like his parents' friend Calvin. It is a rollicking ride and just a fun film.


Brazil

Directed by Terry Gilliam
Starring: Jonathan Pryce
This is a dystopian science fiction film, an updated version of Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four where it is bureaucracy that holds sway over the world. It is weird and has a fantasy elements, but the ending (and I know we got a different ending in Australia and the UK to that in the USA) was downright depressing. Terry Gilliam is a masterful filmmaker, and this is still a deep and strong film.


Clue

Directed by Jonathan Lynn
Starring: Eileen Brennan, Tim Curry, Madeline Kahn, Christopher Lloyd, Michael McKean, Martin Mull, Lesley Ann Warren
Based on the board game called Cluedo in Australia and the UK, this film is crazy and funny. Apparently, when it was released at the cinema, the ending was random, as there were three different endings, but I saw it first on VHS a year or so later, and they had all three endings, one after the other. It is very clever and well done, with some great gags and Tim Curry at his most Tim Curry-est as Mr Butler. Well-written, well-acted and a great film.


Enemy Mine

Directed by Wolfgang Petersen
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Louis Gossett Jr.
Based on a novella I didn't read until a few years later, this is an intelligent science fiction film that has a message of working together despite differences and hostilities and yet doesn't beat you over the head with the message as it is more intelligent than that. It is a film that did not do well at the box office (I saw it at the cinema!) but which is well worth it as something deserving being watched and engaged with.


Ladyhawke

Directed by Richard Donner
Starring: Matthew Broderick, Rutger Hauer, Michelle Pfeiffer
This is one of my favourite fantasy films of the 1980s and, watching it again recently, it still works. It is not special effects heavy, but is reliant on story and the romance between the two cursed lovers. That is what makes it for me – the story. The acting is strong, but the story is really good. The happy ever-after ending suits the film, but, wow, there is a lot to get through to get there. Well worth the effort.


Pale Rider

Directed by Clint Eastwood
Starring: Clint Eastwood
One of my favourite modern westerns, the Preacher has an eerie aura about him, and the fact that he might not be all he says adds to this film. It is a standard film of hard-working people against a corrupt system, but the mood, the sets and the acting all make it feel so real. This film made me go back and hire old Eastwood (spaghetti) westerns from the 1960s on VHS. But I think I prefer his later ones, starting here. And he is clearly a really good director. This is not just a good Western, this is a good film.


That Was Then... This Is Now

Directed by Christopher Cain
Starring: Emilio Estevez
I was dragged along to see this film by a friend, who had already seen it. I didn't want to go because I was not a big fan of the book. This is one of the rare cases where I prefer the film. It is dark, it is brooding, and the ending is not the happiest, but it is still quite a film. I need to be in the right mood to watch it nowadays, but it can still hit just as hard. Maybe it was my age when I first saw it, but I find this film strong.


The Breakfast Club

Directed by John Hughes
Starring: Emilio Estevez, Paul Gleason, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy
Set in a school, Saturday morning detention, primarily in the library, this is a film that is a character study and one that works so incredibly well. It still captivates me. John Hughes spoke to an awful lot of my teenaged years, and it is films like this that I could relate to. Sure, some things annoyed me – Ally Sheedy changing herself to attract a guy annoyed me even back then, for example – but I could see myself and my friends in this group of people with little in common come together through circumstance. And the teacher was also recognisable. My teenaged years, in part, on the big screen.


The Jewel Of The Nile

Directed by Lewis Teague
Starring: Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, Danny DeVito
The sequel to Romancing The Stone is not as good as the original (still one of the best action-adventure comedies ever made) and yet is a film I really enjoyed. There seemed to be a good rapport between Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas that translates to the screen. This is fun. It doesn't take itself seriously, and just carries the viewer along for the ride. I enjoy them both and have been known to just watch them back to back.


St. Elmo's Fire

Directed by Joel Schumacher
Starring: Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, Mare Winningham
The reason this is out of order is that this is my favourite film of 1985. It is even a film I have written about before because, to me, it is the film that, the older I get, the more I get out of it as a piece of work. I think a lot of that is down to the director Joel Schumacher and the way he keeps the cast under control. This film is well-acted and still gets to me every single time.
And it has the greatest 1980s movie theme song.



So, there you go – my favourite 10 films from 1985, such a great year for pop culture for me.

Hope you found something to enjoy here!

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