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 1985 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 Dec. 20, 1985, and we’re off to see A Chorus Line, The Color Purple, Enemy Mine, and Out of Africa.
A Chrous Line
For a film about dancers, it’s amazing how lifeless it feels.
Set during the auditions for the chorus line of a new musical, the story follows the lives and dreams of the assembled men and women that cover multiple age brackets and backgrounds.
At the time, A Chorus Line was the most successful Broadway show ever. The film was meant to do for movie musicals what it had done for the stage, and while it did turn a minor profit, the film just completely falls flat.
No one in this film is believable in their roles. There is no hunger, no fire in their eyes. It’s just cold and dead. This film feels exactly what it is, a bunch of actors reciting lines, and not once did I feel pulled into their stories.
A massive let down on just about every level.
The Color Purple
Going from the rote performances of A Chorus Line to the transcendent turns of The Color Purple was downright near whiplash.
The film follows Celie (Desreta Jackson as young Celie, Whoopi Goldberg as adult Celie) across multiple decades of her life that see her go from a sexually abused child to a woman who eventually finds her own way in the South of the early 20th Century.
Let me just get this out of the way from the jump: Every single actor in this film delivers an unbelievable performance. Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey in particular shine here, but no one was slacking to be sure.
That being said, I do not feel Steven Spielberg was the right choice to direct here. His instincts are always to lean toward the sentimental moments, and this is a harsh story to its core. It is constantly interrupted by swelling music, hopeful shots, and more of his worst instincts.
Spielberg is a master director without question, but that doesn’t mean his style can be plugged into every style of story, and it doesn’t feel like it worked here.
It’s still a worthwhile film, but you have to wonder how much greater it could have been with someone else directing it.
Enemy Mine
Some times a film just proves how valuable a good editor is.
Set in 2092, Humans are at war with the reptilian Dracs. Willis E. Davidge (Dennis Quad) crash lands on a planet with a Drac named Jeriba “Jerry” Shigan (Louis Gossett Jr.) after a dogfight, and the two have to rely on one another for survival.
I’ve enjoyed this movie since I first watched as a video rental back in the 80s. Gossett is so hidden in the makeup it’s unfathomable to think you know the actor in the costume. And Quaid turns in a really strong performance as well leaving you with a truly enjoyable sci-fi romp.
But… the editing. Late in the film when Davidge is rescued, he is accused by higher ranking officers of being in league with the Drac, and this is capped off by everyone hearing him speak the Drac language. The implication is clear they think he is a traitor.
In the very next scene he is clean shaven, healed, and walking in his uniform on his way to steal a starfighter to fulfill a promise he made to Jerry.
So, either a scene was cut of him clearing his name, or maybe we should have never had the scene implying he was a traitor? It was a jarring jump in logic, and shows just how important editing can be to a film.
Out of Africa
I have never been more bored while watching something so pretty.
Danish aristocrat Karen Dinesen (Meryl Streep) moves to Africa to marry her friend, Baron Bror Blixen (Klaus Maria Brandauer) and set up a farm. While there, she meets Denys Finch Hatton (Robert Redford) and becomes enamored with him, eventually leaving her husband for him.
The film is semi-autobiographical, just proving that not every biography, no matter how exotic, needs to be turned into a film. Between Streeps horrific attempt an accent, and far too many details about everyone’s life, the only thing I enjoyed was the scenery, and even that was a stretch at times.
Quite glad to never have to revisit this film.
1985 Movie Reviews will return on Dec. 27, 2025, with Murphy’s Romance, Revolution, and The Trip to Bountiful.
