1985

Academy winner Out of Africa poster

Out of Africa

Composite 70.44

Should have won Back to the Future poster

Back to the Future

Composite 84.2

The Academy's ballot

🏆Out of Africa#1670.44 🎬The Color Purple#774.97 🎬Witness#1470.95 🎬Kiss of the Spider Woman#1867.43 🎬Prizzi's Honor#2164.28

Your #1 was Back to the Future (#1).

The full slate

Back to the Future (1985)

⭐ Top-rated🏛️ All-time great💰 Box office #1

Composite 84.2

Dir. Robert Zemeckis · Michael J. Fox · Christopher Lloyd · Crispin Glover · Lea Thompson

IMDb 8.5 (1,457,012 votes) · TMDB 8.327

Eighties teenager Marty McFly is accidentally sent back in time to 1955, inadvertently disrupting his parents' first meeting and attracting his mother's romantic interest. Marty must repair the damage to history by rekindling his parents' romance and - with the help of his eccentric inventor friend Doc Brown - return to 1985.

details ↗

Come and See (1985)

⭐ Top-rated🏛️ All-time great

Composite 80.16

Dir. Elem Klimov · Aleksei Kravchenko · Olga Mironova · Liubomiras Laucevičius · Vladas Bagdonas

IMDb 8.3 (123,813 votes) · TMDB 8.2

The invasion of a village in Belarus by German forces sends young Florya into the forest to join the weary Resistance fighters, against his family's wishes. There he meets a girl, Glasha, who accompanies him back to his village. On returning home, Florya finds his family and fellow peasants massacred. His continued survival amidst the brutal debris of war becomes increasingly nightmarish, a battle between despair and hope.

details ↗

Ran (1985)

⭐ Top-rated🏛️ All-time great

Composite 79.37

Dir. Akira Kurosawa · Tatsuya Nakadai · Akira Terao · Jinpachi Nezu · Daisuke Ryū

IMDb 8.2 (152,544 votes) · TMDB 8.0

Shakespeare's King Lear is reimagined as a singular historical epic set in sixteenth-century Japan where an aging warlord divides his kingdom between his three sons.

details ↗

The Breakfast Club (1985)

⭐ Top-rated

Composite 77.18

Dir. John Hughes · Emilio Estevez · Judd Nelson · Molly Ringwald · Anthony Michael Hall

IMDb 7.8 (473,830 votes) · TMDB 7.721

Five high school students from different walks of life endure a Saturday detention under a power-hungry principal. The disparate group includes rebel John, princess Claire, outcast Allison, brainy Brian and Andrew, the jock. Each has a chance to tell his or her story, making the others see them a little differently -- and when the day ends, they question whether school will ever be the same.

details ↗

Brazil (1985)

⭐ Top-rated

Composite 76.41

Dir. Terry Gilliam · Jonathan Pryce · Robert De Niro · Katherine Helmond · Ian Holm

IMDb 7.8 (221,881 votes) · TMDB 7.663

Low-level bureaucrat Sam Lowry escapes the monotony of his day-to-day life through a recurring daydream of himself as a virtuous hero saving a beautiful damsel. Investigating a case that led to the wrongful arrest and eventual death of an innocent man instead of wanted terrorist Harry Tuttle, he meets the woman from his daydream, and in trying to help her gets caught in a web of mistaken identities, mindless bureaucracy and lies.

details ↗

The Goonies (1985)

⭐ Top-rated

Composite 75.67

Dir. Richard Donner · Sean Astin · Josh Brolin · Jeff Cohen · Corey Feldman

IMDb 7.7 (327,568 votes) · TMDB 7.515

Young teen Mikey Walsh and his friends set off on a quest to find Pirate One-Eyed Willie's treasure in hopes of saving their homes from demolition. However, on their quest to find the treasure, they run into a family of recently escaped criminals, determined to capture the kids and reach the treasure first.

details ↗

The Color Purple (1985)

🎬 Nominee⭐ Top-rated💰 Box office #6

Composite 74.97

Dir. Steven Spielberg · Danny Glover · Whoopi Goldberg · Margaret Avery · Oprah Winfrey

IMDb 7.7 (104,473 votes) · TMDB 7.725

An epic tale spanning forty years in the life of Celie, an African-American woman living in the South who survives incredible abuse and bigotry. After Celie's abusive father marries her off to the equally debasing 'Mister' Albert Johnson, things go from bad to worse, leaving Celie to find companionship anywhere she can. She perseveres, holding on to her dream of one day being reunited with her sister in Africa.

details ↗

⭐ Top-rated

Composite 70.72

Dir. Dan O'Bannon · Clu Gulager · James Karen · Don Calfa · Thom Mathews

IMDb 7.3 (77,703 votes) · TMDB 7.196

When two bumbling employees at a medical supply warehouse accidentally release a deadly gas into the air, the vapors cause the dead to rise again as zombies.

details ↗

#16

Out of Africa (1985)

🏆 Winner💰 Box office #4

Composite 70.44

Dir. Sydney Pollack · Robert Redford · Meryl Streep · Klaus Maria Brandauer · Michael Kitchen

IMDb 7.2 (93,370 votes) · TMDB 7.2

Tells the life story of Danish author Karen Blixen, who at the beginning of the 20th century moved to Africa to build a new life for herself. The film is based on her 1937 autobiographical novel.

details ↗

#17

Rocky IV (1985)

💰 Box office #2

Composite 69.09

Dir. Sylvester Stallone · Sylvester Stallone · Dolph Lundgren · Carl Weathers · Talia Shire

IMDb 6.9 (246,014 votes) · TMDB 7.092

Rocky Balboa holds the world heavyweight championship, but a new challenger has stepped forward: Drago, a six-foot-four, 261-pound fighter who has the backing of the Soviet Union. This time, Rocky's training regimen takes him to Siberia, where he prepares for a globally televised match in the heart of Moscow. But nothing can truly prepare him for what he's about to face – a fight to the finish, in which he must defend not only himself, but also the honor of his country!

details ↗

#18

Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985)

🎬 Nominee

Composite 67.43

Dir. Héctor Babenco · William Hurt · Raúl Juliá · Sonia Braga · José Lewgoy

IMDb 7.3 (19,430 votes) · TMDB 6.963

The story of two radically different men thrown together in a Latin American prison cell. One is Valentin, a journalist being tortured for his political beliefs. The other is Molina, a gay window-dresser who fills their lonely nights by spinning romantic fantasies drawn from memories of old movies.

details ↗

#19

Cocoon (1985)

💰 Box office #9

Composite 65.8

Dir. Ron Howard · Steve Guttenberg · Tahnee Welch · Brian Dennehy · Don Ameche

IMDb 6.7 (73,534 votes) · TMDB 6.631

When a group of trespassing seniors swim in a pool containing alien cocoons, they find themselves energized with youthful vigor.

details ↗

#20

Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)

💰 Box office #3

Composite 65.21

Dir. George P. Cosmatos · Sylvester Stallone · Richard Crenna · Charles Napier · Steven Berkoff

IMDb 6.5 (196,450 votes) · TMDB 6.663

John Rambo is released from prison by the government for a top-secret covert mission to the last place on Earth he'd want to return - the jungles of Vietnam.

details ↗

#21

Prizzi's Honor (1985)

🎬 Nominee

Composite 64.28

Dir. John Huston · Jack Nicholson · Kathleen Turner · Robert Loggia · John Randolph

IMDb 6.7 (28,660 votes) · TMDB 6.4

Charley Partanna is a hitman who works for the Prizzis, one of the richest crime families in the US. When he sees Irene Walker, it's love at first sight. But he soon finds that she, too, is a killer for hire. Charley can overlook his suspicions, but he can't turn off his heart. And the couple must remember that even if they love each other, the Prizzis love only money.

details ↗

#22

A View to a Kill (1985)

💰 Box office #5

Composite 62.65

Dir. John Glen · Roger Moore · Tanya Roberts · Christopher Walken · Grace Jones

IMDb 6.3 (113,108 votes) · TMDB 6.248

A newly-developed microchip designed by Zorin Industries for the British Government that can survive the electromagnetic radiation caused by a nuclear explosion has landed in the hands of the KGB. James Bond must find out how and why. His suspicions soon lead him to big industry leader Max Zorin who forms a plan to destroy his only competition in Silicon Valley by triggering a massive earthquake in the San Francisco Bay.

details ↗

#23

The Jewel of the Nile (1985)

💰 Box office #8

Composite 61.43

Dir. Lewis Teague · Michael Douglas · Kathleen Turner · Danny DeVito · Spiros Focás

IMDb 6.1 (66,350 votes) · TMDB 6.215

Joan Wilder is thrust back into a world of murder, chases, foreign intrigue... and love. This time out she's duped by a duplicitous Arab dignitary who brings her to the Middle East, ostensibly to write a book about his life. Of course, he's up to no good, and Joan is just another pawn in his wicked game. But Jack Colton and his sidekick Ralph show up to help our intrepid heroine save the day.

details ↗

#24

Teen Wolf (1985)

💰 Box office #10

Composite 61.42

Dir. Rod Daniel · Michael J. Fox · James Hampton · Susan Ursitti · Jerry Levine

IMDb 6.1 (65,792 votes) · TMDB 6.213

When a shy teenager's new-found powers help him score at basketball - and with the popular girls - he has some pretty hairy decisions to make.

details ↗

How scoring works: films are ranked by a composite of a weighted (Bayesian) IMDb rating — the same method as the IMDb Top 250, so a high score from few voters can't outrank a strong score from many — blended with TMDB. Box office is a tiebreaker and a badge, never part of the score. Raw IMDb ratings and vote counts are shown on each card.