1985: Year in Review
Fritz Golden Superlatives

1. When Father Was Away on Business (dir: Emir Kusturica)

2. Ran (dir: Akira Kurosawa)

3. Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (dir: Paul Schrader)

4. City of Pirates (dir: Raoul Ruiz; US Release Date)

5. Re-Animator (dir: Stuart Gordon)

6. Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (dir: Tim Burton)

7. The Purple Rose of Cairo (dir: Woody Allen)

8. After Hours (dir: Martin Scorsese)

9. Brazil (dir: Terry Gilliam)

10. Smooth Talk (dir: Joyce Chopra)

Honorable Mentions (in alphabetical order): Back to the Future (dir: Robert Zemeckis), The Company of Wolves (dir: Neil Jordan), Day of the Dead (dir: George A. Romero), Desert Hearts (dir: Donna Deitch), Desperately Seeking Susan (dir: Susan Seidelman), Fright Night (dir: Tom Holland), Mask (dir: Peter Bogdanovich), Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (dir: Hayao Miyazaki; US Release Date), Pale Rider (dir: Clint Eastwood), Phenomena (dir: Dario Argento), Shoah (dir: Claude Lanzmann), Streetwalkin’ (dir: Joan Freeman), and Tampopo (dir: Juzo Itami).

Best Film of the Year: When Father Was Away on Business
Director: Emir Kusturica Producers: Mirza Pasic
US Distributor: Cannon

Best Director:
Akira Kurosawa, Ran
2. Paul Schrader, Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
3. Emir Kusturica, When Father Was Away on Business
4. Raoul Ruiz, City of Pirates
5. Woody Allen, The Purple Rose of Cairo

Best Actor:
Albert Brooks, Lost in America
2. Paul Reubens, Pee Wee's Big Adventure 
3. Daniel Day-Lewis, My Beautiful Laundrette
4. Jack Nicholson, Prizzi's Honor
5. Sean Penn, The Falcon and the Snowman

Best Actress:
Miranda Richardson, Dance with a Stranger
2. Rosanna Arquette, Desperately Seeking Susan
3. Mia Farrow, The Purple Rose of Cairo
4. Anne Alvaro, City of Pirates
5. Joyce Hyser, Just One of the Guys

Best Supporting Actor:
Ian Holm, Brazil AND Dance with a Stranger AND Dreamchild AND Wetherby
2. Treat Williams, Smooth Talk
3. Harry Dean Stanton, Fool for Love
4. Dale Midkiff, Streetwalkin’
5. Crispin Glover, Back to the Future

Best Supporting Actress:
Anjelica Huston, Prizzi’s Honor
2. Oprah Winfrey, The Color Purple
3. Andra Akers, Desert Hearts
4. Barbara Crampton, Re-Animator
5. Julie Newmar, Streetwalkin’

Best Original Screenplay:
Brazil — Terry Gilliam, Tom Stoppard and Charles McKeown
2. Back to the Future — Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale
3. The Purple Rose of Cairo – Woody Allen
4. Tampopo – Juzo Itami
5. When Father Was Away on Business – Abdulah Sidran

Best Adapted Screenplay:
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters – Paul Schrader and Leonard Schrader
2. Re-Animator – Stuart Gordon, Dennis Paoli and William Norris
3. Ran – Akira Kurosawa, Hideo Oguni and Masato Ide
4. 4. The Company of Wolves — Angela Carter and Neil Jordan
5. Smooth Talk — Tom Cole

Best Cinematography:
City of Pirates — Acácio de Almeida
2. Brazil — Roger Pratt
3. After Hours – Michael Ballhaus
4. Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters – John Bailey
5. Ran – Asakazu Nakai, Takao Saito and Shoji Ueda

Best Original Score:
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters — Philip Glass  
2. Back to the Future – Alan Silvestri
3. City of Pirates — Jorge Arriagada
4. Re-Animator – Richard Brand
5. Ran – Toru Takemitsu

Best Film Editing:
Re-Animator – Lee Percy 
2. City of Pirates — Valeria Sarmiento
3. After Hours – Thelma Schoonmaker
4. Back to the Future – Arthur Schmidt and Harry Keramidas
5. Brazil – Julian Doyle

Best Production Design:
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters – Eiko Ishioka and Kyoji Saski
2. Brazil – Norman Garwood and Maggie Gray
3. Ran – Shinobu Muraki, Yoshiro Muraki, Jiro Hirai, Mitsuyuki Kimura, Yasuyoshi Ototake, Tsuneo Shumura and Osumi Tousho
4. Back to the Future – Lawrence G. Paull and Hal Gausman
5. Company of Wolves — Anton Furst and Stuart Rose

Best Costume Design:
Ran — Emi Wada
2. The Company of Wolves — Elizabeth Waller
3. The Color Purple — Aggie Guerard Rodgers
4. Brazil — James Acheson
5. Out of Africa — Milena Canonero

Best Visual Effects
The Company of Wolves
2. Back to the Future
3. Brazil

Best Sound
Brazil
2. Pee-wee’s Big Adventure
3. Ran

Best Makeup
The Company of Wolves
2. Mask
3. Ran

Best Documentary Feature:
Claude Lanzmann, Shoah

Best Animated Feature: 
Hayao Miyazaki, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

Best Ensemble Cast:
When Father Was Away on Business

Orson Welles' Best First Feature:
Stuart Gordon, Re-Animator

Best Ensemble Cast (dir: Emir Kusturica; in alphabetical order): Slobodan Aligrudic, Moreno D’E Bartoli, Aco Djorcev, Mira Furlan, Emir Hadzihafizbegov (pictured), Mirjana Karanovic (pictured), Pedrag Lakovic, Pedgrag Manojlovic (pictured), Mustafa Nadarevic, Eva Ras, and Pavle Vusic

Best First Feature: Bruce Abbott and Barbara Crampton (pictured) in Stuart Gordon's Re-Animator 

RECAP

W I N S :

Brazil — 3, Mishima — 3,
The Company of Wolves — 2, Dance with a Stranger — 2, Ran — 2, Re-Animator — 2, When Father Was Away on Business — 2, City of Pirates — 1, Dreamchild — 1, Lost in America — 1, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind — 1, Prizzi’s Honor — 1, Purple Rose of Cairo — 1, Shoah — 1, Weatherby — 1

M U L T I P L E
N O M I N A T I O N S :

Brazil — 9, Ran — 9,
City of Pirates — 6, Mishima — 6, Re-Animator — 6, Back to the Future — 5, The Company of Wolves — 5, After Hours — 4, The Purple Rose of Cairo — 4, When Father Was Away on Business — 4, Pee-wee’s Big Adventure — 3, Smooth Talk — 3, Dance with a Stranger — 2, Prizzi’s Honor — 2, Streetwalkin’ — 2

the year-end project:
2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997, 1996, 1995, 1994, 1993, 1992, 1991, 1990, 1989, 1988, 1987, 1986, 1985, 1984, 1983, 1982, 1981, 1980, 1979, 1978, 1977, 1976, 1975, 1974, 1973, 1972, 1971, 1970, 1969, 1968, 1967, 1966, 1965, 1964, 1963, 1962, 1961, 1960, 1959, 1958, 1957, 1956, 1955, 1954, 1953, 1952, 1951, 1950, 1940 - 1949, 1930 - 1939, 1920 - 1929 + Superlatives Index

Best of the Decade:
2010s, 2000s, 1990s, 1980s