1985 was a special year. How special? Read on, my friends, read on.
1985 was special. 1985 was the year I graduated from college. 1985 was the year I began teaching high school. I also saw 125 movies in a theater that year. How could I possibly remember this detail almost 30 years later? That was the year, gentle reader, that I started to keep The List.
Originally, The List was handwritten in a spiral notebook. I kept track of every movie I saw by writing down the date, the title, the theater, and a star rating based on a five-star system. I no longer have that battered notebook; I transcribed The List to a word-processing document long ago. I didn’t bother to include the star ratings; I wish I had. God, I wish I still had that notebook. It has been through a few format updates, but I do still have The List. It’s now 43 pages long. OCD can be a beautiful thing.
After reading Adam Riske’s column yesterday and consulting The List, I can safely tell Adam (and you, gentle reader) that I originally saw Witness on February 8th at the Coed Theater, Desperately Seeking Susan on March 29th at Stratford Square, Purple Rose of Cairo on April 2nd at the Old Orchard Theater, Vision Quest on April 9th at the Urbana Cinema, Cat’s Eye on April 13th at County Fair, Rambo on June 13th at Town & Country, Silverado on August 3rd at the Woodfield 2, Real Genius on August 15th at the Century Theater, After Hours on November 8th at the Coed, and The Color Purple on December 20th at the Woodfield 3.
I have never seen The Black Cauldron. (Sigh.) I’m just one man!
TANGENT: I’m glad Adam’s trip through 1985 included Real Genius. I once saw Real Genius at the School of the Art Institute on a double bill with Valley Girl. Director Martha Coolidge was there and hosted a lively Q & A session between the two films. After the screening, we had a chance to speak briefly. I said that, as a high-school teacher, I really appreciated Real Genius and how it was so much better and more intelligent than most other films of its ilk. Then I recited for her my favorite line in the film: “It’s good to be smart, Mitch. People depend on you.” Coolidge said that she had heard similar sentiments from a lot of teachers.
Looking at The List does more than just tell me what movies I saw in 1985. In a way, it tells me who I was in 1985. For instance, the first half of the year includes a bunch of “University Screenings”; that was my final semester at University of Illinois in Champaign. Many of the films I saw were either the type of influential “curriculum” films screened in a film studies class (Our Daily Bread, Triumph of the Will) or the kind of arty, underground films (Eraserhead, An Experiment in Television) shown by various campus groups in lecture halls and church basements all around town, sometimes for only a buck a ticket. A buck! Later in the year, the “Classroom Screening” entries on The List serve as a record of what I showed my first film studies class as a brand-new teacher.
1985 was the year my girlfriend stayed in Champaign to take summer classes and, thanks to The List, I can tell which weekends I drove down to visit. I can check how many weekends I made that long, boring drive – and I notice that I took her to see at least one movie every weekend I visited. No wonder she married me!
How do I know that Saturday, September 21 was a Saturday? The List. I returned to Champaign that weekend for a friend’s wedding, and the little lady and I blew off the church ceremony in order to see Godzilla 1985. Arriving late to the reception, I remember mumbling something about “car trouble.” Turns out we made the right decision; that couple later divorced. We’re still married.
What happens to certain films? Some of them seem to fall off the face of the Earth. Looking over The List, I wonder what ever happened to Mrs. Soffel, The Mean Season, The River, Into The Night, A Soldier’s Story, Gotcha!, Summer Rental, American Flyers, Volunteers, Twice in a Lifetime, Compromising Positions, Creator, or Rustler’s Rhapsody (one of the worst films I have ever seen – some movies DESERVE to be forgotten.)
But there are other 1985 films on The List that are seldom screened or discussed anymore, but should be. Comfort and Joy (a Bill Forsythe film about a depressed radio deejay brokering a peace between two warring ice cream franchises), The Falcon and the Snowman, Choose Me, One From The Heart, The Quiet Earth, Birdy, Streetwise, Year of the Dragon, and White Nights are all wonderful films that deserve more repertory screenings.
I can also sing a sad, sad song for many of these theaters, which no longer exist.
Of the theaters in suburban Chicago, the Woodfield 1 & 2 is now a Discount Shoe Warehouse. Woodfield 3 & 4 is now a strip mall. The Woodfield 5, 6, 7, & 8 is now an Improv Comedy Club. The Century Theater, after a brief stint as a Harlem Furniture Outlet Store, is now a Super Chinese Hibachi Buffet. The Mount Prospect is now a banquet hall. The Golf Mill, Old Orchard, Town and Country, and 53 Drive-In were all demolished. In Champaign, the Coed Theaters were razed to make way for a luxury student apartment building; the Orpheum is now a children’s museum; Market Place and County Fair, two mall multiplexes, were demolished; the Urbana Cinema is now a coffee shop; and the Thunderbird is now a bar. Only the beautiful Virginia, now owned by the Champaign Park District, is still showing movies. It is the site of the annual Ebertfest film festival.
My God, The List could make a weaker man cry. Not me, though – I’ve had a great time reliving 1985 through the movies that shaped my year. And 1985, we ain’t done with you yet. Please join us this Saturday for F This Movie Fest III. We will be enjoying Pee Wee’s Big Adventure (which I first saw on August 4th at the Century Theater), Commando (November 4th at the Woodfield 2), Explorers (July 13th at the Century), The Goonies (June 30th at Golf Mill), and Back to the Future (July 25th at the Coed Theater). This just might be the perfect time to start Your List!
Oh – and for the insatiably curious, here’s my entire 1985:
January 02 1985 Johnny Dangerously Woodfield Theaters3
January 04 1985 Stranger Than Paradise Fine Arts
January 05 1985 Once Upon A Time in America Biograph
January 07 1985 The Flamingo Kid Stratford Square
January 11 1985 The River Woodfield Theaters2
January 12 1985 A Passage to India Woodfield Theaters1
January 19 1985 Comfort and Joy Orpheum
January 22 1985 Blonde Venus University Screening
January 25 1985 The Falcon & The Snowman Code Theaters
January 25 1985 Eraserhead University Screening
January 26 1985 That’s Dancing! County Fair
January 27 1985 The Birds University Screening
February 01 1985 Stop Making Sense Thunderbird
February 02 1985 Choose Me Orpheum
February 03 1985 The Killing Fields Market Place
February 03 1985 One From The Heart University Screening
February 05 1985 Our Daily Bread University Screening
February 06 1985 Scarface (1933) University Screening
February 08 1985 Witness Coed Theaters
February 09 1985 Mrs. Soffel Orpheum
February 12 1985 Mr. Smith Goes to Washington University Screening
February 13 1985 The Rules of the Game University Screening
February 17 1985 The Breakfast Club County Fair
February 19 1985 Sullivan’s Travels University Screening
February 20 1985 You Only Live Once University Screening
February 20 1985 The Mean Season Coed Theaters
February 22 1985 Places in the Heart Urbana Cinema
February 25 1985 On The Town University Screening
February 26 1985 Triumph of the Will University Screening
March 03 1985 The Sure Thing Coed Theaters
March 05 1985 Shane University Screening
March 06 1985 Rebel Without A Cause University Screening
March 09 1985 Into the Night Coed Theaters
March 12 1985 The Naked City University Screening
March 13 1985 Pierrot le Fou University Screening
March 13 1985 A Soldier’s Story County Fair
March 14 1985 An Experiment in Television University Screening
March 16 1985 Brother from Another Planet Coed Theaters
March 19 1985 Touch of Evil University Screening
March 20 1985 Distant Thunder University Screening
March 21 1985 (illegible) Coed Theaters
March 22 1985 Mask Coed Theaters
March 26 1985 Stardust Memories University Screening
March 27 1985 Bonnie & Clyde University Screening
March 29 1985 Desperately Seeking Susan Stratford Square
April 02 1985 The Purple Rose of Cairo Old Orchard
April 05 1985 Lost in America Woodfield Theaters2
April 06 1985 Ladyhawke (sneak) Woodfield Theaters2
April 09 1985 Vision Quest Urbana Cinema
April 13 1985 Cat’s Eye County Fair
April 16 1985 Written on the Wind University Screening
April 21 1985 Return of the Secaucus Seven University Screening
April 24 1985 Gotcha! (sneak) Coed Theaters
May 08 1985 Young Mr. Lincoln University Screening
May 08 1985 Code of Silence Coed Theaters
May 09 1985 A Clockwork Orange Classroom Screening
May 10 1985 Rustler’s Rhapsody Mount Prospect
May 11 1985 The Quiet Earth Woodfield Theaters5
May 12 1985 Martin University Screening
June 06 1985 Birdy Orpheum
June 08 1985 Brewster’s Millions (sneak) Woodfield Theaters3
June 10 1985 Fletch Town & Country
June 13 1985 Rambo: First Blood Part II Town & Country
June 15 1985 Cocoon Woodfield Theaters2
June 18 1985 Lifeforce Woodfield Theaters6
June 19 1985 Prizzi’s Honor Town & Country
June 21 1985 Perfect Golf Glenn
June 28 1985 Blood Simple Woodfield Theaters3
June 30 1985 The Goonies Golf Mill
July 01 1985 A View To A Kill Woodfield Theaters1
July 03 1985 St. Elmo’s Fire Coed Theaters
July 04 1985 (illegible) Market Place
July 11 1985 Streetwise Biograph
July 13 1985 Explorers Century Theaters
July 18 1985 Summer Rental Woodfield Theaters2
July 25 1985 Back to the Future Coed Theaters
August 03 1985 Silverado Woodfield Theaters2
August 04 1985 Pee Wee’s Big Adventure Century Theaters
August 10 1985 Compromising Positions Woodfield Theaters3
August 12 1985 Return of the Living Dead 53 Drive-In
August 12 1985 Fright Night 53 Drive-In
August 15 1985 Real Genius Century Theaters
August 16 1985 Pale Rider Century Theaters
September 07 1985 Year of the Dragon County Fair
September 08 1985 Volunteers Orpheum
September 10 1985 Cops Classroom Screening
September 12 1985 Agnes of God Old Orchard
September 17 1985 The Birth of a Nation Classroom Screening
September 19 1985 Invasion USA Town & Country
September 20 1985 National Lampoon's European Vacation Coed Theaters
September 21 1985 Godzilla 1985 Virginia Theatre
September 22 1985 (illegible) Coed Theaters
September 25 1985 Insignificance Fine Arts
September 28 1985 Creator Woodfield Theaters3
September 29 1985 The Battleship Potemkin Classroom Screening
September 30 1985 American Flyers Woodfield Theaters2
October 01 1985 Day of the Dead Woodfield Theaters5
October 06 1985 The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari Classroom Screening
October 08 1985 Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome County Fair
October 09 1985 The Gods Must Be Crazy Orpheum
October 13 1985 Frankenstein Classroom Screening
October 14 1985 Death Wish 3 Town & Country
October 20 1985 Invasion of the Body Snatchers Classroom Screening
October 27 1985 Psycho Classroom Screening
November 04 1985 Night of the Living Dead Classroom Screening
November 04 1985 Commando Woodfield Theaters2
November 08 1985 After Hours Coed Theaters
November 09 1985 Kiss of the Spider Woman Orpheum
November 11 1985 Halloween Classroom Screening
November 22 1985 Jagged Edge Woodfield Theaters5
November 25 1985 White Heat Classroom Screening
November 28 1985 White Nights Esquire
November 31 1985 The Godfather Classroom Screening
December 06 1985 Spies Like Us Market Place
December 07 1985 Young Sherlock Holmes Virginia
December 09 1985 42nd Street Classroom Screening
December 11 1985 Rocky IV GM
December 12 1985 Singing in the Rain Classroom Screening
December 14 1985 A Hard Day’s Night Classroom Screening
December 15 1985 Clue Town & Country
December 17 1985 Hair Classroom Screening
December 20 1985 The Color Purple Woodfield Theaters3
December 23 1985 A Chorus Line Woodfield Theaters7
December 27 1985 Twice in a Lifetime Woodfield Theaters8
December 30 1985 Ran Biograph
I wish I kept a list myself. Do you remember that mural they put up above the concession stand at the Town and Country theaters? I loved that!
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