Peruse a list of films released in 1985 and you’ll notice a surprisingly high number of movies that have become classics in the ensuing 40 years. Sure, there were blockbusters like Back to the Future, The Goonies, Pale Rider, The Breakfast Club and Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, but there were also critical arthouse favorites like Kiss of the Spider Woman and Akira Kurosawa’s masterpiece, Ran. Since we’re going into a long Thanksgiving weekend, I’ve made a list, in alphabetical order, of some of the quirkier gems from 1985 that have stood the test of time. (Some of the films first premiered at film festivals or in smaller international markets in 1984, but they were released in the US in 1985.)
(Some spoilers below but no major reveals.)
After Hours
Credit: Warner Bros.
Have you ever had a dream, bordering on a nightmare, where you were trying desperately to get back home but obstacle after obstacle kept getting in your way? Martin Scorsese’s After Hours is the cinematic embodiment of that anxiety-inducing dreamscape. Griffin Dunne stars as a nebbishy computer data entry worker named Paul, who meets a young woman named Marcy (Rosanna Arquette) and heads off to SoHo after work to meet her. The trouble begins when his $20 cab fare blows out the window en route. The date goes badly, and Paul leaves, enduring a string of increasingly strange encounters as he tries to get back to his uptown stomping grounds.
After Hours is an unlikely mix of screwball comedy and film noir, and it’s to Scorsese’s great credit that the film strikes the right tonal balance, given that it goes to some pretty bizarre and occasionally dark places. The film only grossed about $10 million at the box office but received critical praise, and it’s continued to win new fans ever since, even inspiring an episode of Ted Lasso. It might not rank among Scorsese’s masterworks, but it’s certainly among the director’s most original efforts.