Monday, September 29, 2025

Picks of 1985

You can sum up 1985 as the year when Arnold Schwarzenegger, Chuck Norris and the legendary veteran Charles Bronson earned higher body counts than Prince. On the subject of 80s action heroes, let it be known that Sylvester Stallone did more for world peace than any stoner hippie, glorified philosopher or corrupt politician by ending the Cold War with one of the greatest movie speeches of all time. 

After Hours (Martin Scorsese)
Back to the Future (Robert Zemeckis)
The Boys Next Door (Penelope Spheeris) 
Brazil (Terry Gilliam)
The Breakfast Club (John Hughes)
Commando (Mark L. Lester) 
Day of the Dead (George A. Romero)
Death Wish 3 (Michael Winner) 
Flesh + Blood (Paul Verhoeven)
Fright Night (Tom Holland)
The Goonies (Richard Donner)
Invasion U.S.A. (Joseph Zito) 
Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome (George Miller, George Ogilvie)
The Mean Season (Philip Borsos) 
Mr. Vampire (Ricky Lau)
Phenomena (Dario Argento)
Police Story (Jackie Chan) 
The Quiet Earth (Geoff Murphy)
Rambo: First Blood Part II (George P. Cosmatos) 
Ran (Akira Kurosawa) 
Re-Animator (Stuart Gordon) 
Rocky IV (Sylvester Stallone) 
Silver Bullet (Daniel Attias)
The Stuff (Larry Cohen) 
To Live and Die in L.A. (William Friedkin)
Weird Science (John Hughes)
Witness (Peter Weir) 

Blindspots & Incomplete Viewings:

The Coca-Cola Kid (Dušan Makavejev); Come and See (Elem Klimov); Confessions of a Serial Killer (Mark Blair); Crimewave (Sam Raimi)Into the Night (John Landis); The Last Dragon (Michael Shultz); Legend (Ridley Scott); Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (Paul Schrader); Pale Rider (Clint Eastwood); Runaway Train (Andrei Konchalovsky); Teen Wolf (Rod Daniel); Typhoon Club (Shinji Sōmai)

1985 was a treasure trove for perfect musical montages and needledrops gracing various films. A personal fave is the scene from William Friedkin's To Live and Die in L.A. when Willem Dafoe makes counterfeit bills and Wang Chung's City of the Angels plays.

To Live and Die in L.A. | Making Counterfeit Money Scene
William Friedkin | 1985 

4 comments:

Kelvin Mack10zie said...

I was also pleasantly surprised by this.

The bit where Justine dozes off in her car and the trance-ifed mum comes out of the house, gets in the car and chops off a chunk of her hair was one of the tensest things I've seen in a while.

Spartan said...

That, and the scene where Paul gets a bunch of used syringes in his face, really made me wince.

Kelvin Mack10zie said...

I replied to the wrong post 🤦‍♂️

Wait, you've never seen Teen Wolf or just not in full?

One of my favourite years for movies. Explorers was another childhood fave.

Spartan said...

Never seen Teen Wolf in full and neither the sequel.

I've not seen Explorers since the 80s. I can only remember River Phoenix being in it, and part of their craft being made from a dustbin (if I recall correctly).