Welcome to an exciting year-long project here at The Nerdy. 1985 was an exciting year for films giving us a lot of films that would go on to be beloved favorites and cult classics. It was also the start to a major shift in cultural and societal norms, and some of those still reverberate to this day.
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We’re going to pick and choose which movies we hit, but right now the list stands at nearly four dozen.
Yes, we’re insane, but 1985 was that great of a year for film.
The articles will come out – in most cases – on the same day the films hit theaters in 1984 so that it is their true 40th anniversary. All films are also watched again for the purposes of these reviews and are not being done from memory. In some cases, it truly will be the first time we’ve seen them.
This time around, it’s February 15, 1985, and we’re off to see The Bay Boy, The Breakfast Club, Fast Forward, and Lost in America.
The Bay Boy
It’s amazing what can happen to someone in such a short span of time.
Set in 1937, and semi-based on the life of director Daniel Petrie, the story follows Donald Campbell (Keifer Sutherland) as he witnesses a double murder, nearly gets molested by a priest, and loses his virginity to a girl in his town. And all of this happens in what seems like an improbably short period of time. The film is very much a coming of age story and a slice of life of Canada in the waning days of the Great Depression, but before the full impact of World War II was to be known.
This film marks Sutherland’s screen debut, and while clearly not a polished actor at this point, he was very clearly showing promise.
As to the film itself, the timeline of events just feels too compacted. It feels like a person telling stories of their youth later in life and they aren’t clear on when anything happened and it just ends up being the same time period over and over.
It’s not a bad movie, it’s just a bit boring and impractical in its narrative.
The Breakfast Club
Sometimes when I get to a movie in this project it fills me with dread. Will it be as good as I remember? Do I have rose-colored glasses about it? This film was very much on that list.
Five kids, from completely different walks of life, end up serving Saturday detention together, and they discover that perhaps none of us are as different from one another as we thought.
This film, more than just about any other of the time, became a rallying cry for teenagers. We saw ourselves in it, and… it changed nothing. We all thought that we would like to like them, but at the end of the day, everything just went on as it always had.
Coming back to this film all of these years later gave me some new appreciations for it. First, and foremost, is how much it’s like a play as opposed to a film. The characters are allowed to breath and are not burdened by set pieces or flashiness, they are just allowed to expand and grow to fill those spaces.
Secondly, the under appreciation of Paul Gleason as Richard Vernon and John Kapelos as Carl Reed. In the 80s you saw them as the annoying adults keeping the kids down, but now you can look back at them and realize that they were once these kids, and in some ways, still are.
It’s a timeless narrative, and one I found myself enjoying in new ways that made me appreciate it even more. And while it does have a few troubling moments of dated concepts, at least it’s nothing on the level of Sixteen Cnadles.
Fast Forward
Oh good… another movie trying to cash in on misunderstood dancing teenagers.
Yay.
“The Adventurous Eight” depart Sandusky, Ohio for an audition in New York City, only to discover the man who invited them there has died. Now they have to make their way in the city for a few weeks until an open casting call for a talent competition. Will these plucky kids be able to overcome the city, a lack of money, and an ‘evil’ talent agent to live out their dreams?
I don’t even know where to start with this movie. It feels like it wanted to tap into the (quickly declining) break dancing rage, but it forgot to include much break dancing.
A completely paint-by-numbers attempt to cash-in on successes such as Breakin’. I forgot it nearly as soon as I turned it off when I was done.
Lost in America
We were barely halfway through the decade and people were already questioning what it all meant.
David (Albert Brooks) and Linda Howard (Julie Hagerty) have had enough of their yuppie existence and want to change their destinies. They both quit their jobs – Linda more than David’s firing/quitting – and use their money to buy an RV to make their way across the country. And while this seemed like a great idea, but their plans go off the rails after an ill-advised night in Las Vegas. They have to make some changes to their plans that makes them realize that perhaps life is more about what you make of it.
Brooks has a unique eye, and it’s definitely on display here. But it also feels like the work of someone who is still fine-tuning his voice. He had a lot to say, but instead of embracing it fully, he makes some detours down well worn roads. Nothing in this movie comes as a surprise, and while it doesn’t impact the overall message, it does distract to a degree.
Even with that in mind, it’s an easy recommendation for being one of the earliest examples of someone trying to let the world know the 1980s were not some utopian land of success.
1985 Movie Reviews will launch on February 22, 2025, with Into the Night, The Mean Season, Turk 182!, and Vision Quest.
