These films turn 30 in 2015… Feel old yet?
2015 is shaping up to be an excellent year for cinema, with BIRDMAN released last week, FOXCATCHER coming out next week, and a plethora of other promising films – including THE HATEFUL EIGHT, STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS, AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON and JURASSIC WORLD – lined up for the months ahead.
With this in mind, Movies.ie decided to cast our eye back over the years, and remind ourselves of the best films that were released in 1985, and are turning 30 this year.
BACK TO THE FUTURE
Original Release Date: December 20th, 1985
BACK TO THE FUTURE 2 is perhaps one of the films most often referenced when we think of 2015 – hoverboards are a reality people, they’re just not very good – but BACK TO THE FUTURE is one of the most beloved films to come out 30 years ago.
The combination of a cool car that’s also a time machine, Marty McFly’s every man qualities, and a loveable mad scientist in the form of Doc Brown made BTTF, as it’s affectionately known – a thrilling adventure for kids and teens alike. Hands up if you had a skateboard, and desperately wanted to be as cool as Marty!
THE GOONIES
Original Release Date: December 6th 1985
Ah THE GOONIES… Lifelong friends, fiercely loyal to one another, set out to save their homes from foreclosure. Along the way, they encounter baddies, misunderstood goodies, a pirate ship and a load of treasure… Sounds like the perfect adventure for a summer’s day, and one many of us wished we could have gone along on.
Written by Steven Spielberg and directed by Richard Donner, THE GOONIES was not only Josh Brolin’s big screen debut – he played Brand – but also brought some of the finest 80s actors to the fore, including Sean Astin, Corey Feldman and Jef Cohen, as well as giving us the infamous catchphrase ‘HEY YOU GUUUUUUYS!’
THE BREAKFAST CLUB
Original Release Date: September 13th 1985
What would an article about films from the 80s be without a mention of John Hughes!? The master of the 80s teen movie made one of his most distinctive and beloved films 30 years ago; THE BREAKFAST CLUB, which starred many members of the so called Brat Pack – Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, and Ally Sheedy – reminded audiences that while we may belong to different high school cliques, we have more in common than we thought.
As well as tearing down the stereotypes that plagued high schools in the 1980s, THE BREAKFAST CLUB is also insightful, funny and just a little bit sad. We still get a little misty eyed when we hear Don’t You (Forget About Me) by Simple Minds, and we know that each one of us is ‘a brain… and an athlete…and a basket case… a princess…and a criminal’.
BRAZIL
Original Release Date: May 31st 1985
Turning away from teen movies for a moment, one of the most unlikely Christmas films of all time – Terry Gilliam’s BRAZIL – was also released in 1985.
Gilliam’s film takes a leaf from Orwell’s 1984, and creates a grim, bureaucratic and consumer-driven future, in which a low level government employee – played by Jonathan Pryce – tries to correct a mistake made by a whimsical, but poorly maintained machine, and finds himself a wanted criminal and enemy of the state.
Often considered to be one of Gilliam’s best films, BRAZIL carefully undermines serious ideas, and satirises politics and government. BRAZIL has inspired filmmakers throughout the years since its release, not least The Coen Brothers’ THE HUDSUCKER PROXY, and Richard Ayoade’s THE DOUBLE.
A VIEW TO A KILL
Original Release Date: July 5th 1985
The 14th instalment of the James Bond franchise – A VIEW TO A KILL – graced Irish cinemas 30 years ago this year. Perhaps one of the most silly, over the top and, frankly, 80s Bond films of the lot, A VIEW TO A KILL stars Roger Moore as James Bond, and Christopher Walken in a wonderfully over the top performance as villain Max Zorin.
Bond finds himself investigating a horse-racing scam after the death of 003, and discovers Zorin, a government contractor with grand designs on Silicon Valley, and a plan to create a catastrophic earthquake along the San Andreas Fault.
Although Moore later came out and said he believed the violence in A VIEW TO A KILL was not what Bond films were about, the film was highly praised as lavish, ambitious and fun when it was released. This style of Bond may have gone out of favour with the newest 007 films, but we have to be eternally grateful to A VIEW TO A KILL for giving us one of the best 80s theme songs of all time. Take a bow Duran Duran.
Honourable Mentions to: A CHORUS LINE, CLUE, LEGEND, WEIRD SCIENCE and TEEN WOLF.
Words: Brogen Hayes