#ICC25: Was 1985 the Greatest Year in Movies (with Riwo)?

CatBusRuss left Indiana Comic Con extremely honored by who he was able to share panels with. They were all inspirational.

In the event of the "Was 1985 the Greatest Year in Movies?" panel, he got to speak with filmmaker and founder of the Gal's Guide Women History Library, Dr. Leah "Riwo" Leach. Our podcast host may come off as a cinematic know-it-all, so it was great that he was partnered up with a feminist who has created films, something CatBusRuss still aspires to do (Check out MainEventOfTheDead.com to find out more about his pro-wrestling, zombie-comedy script).

Each panelist came into the panel with a thesis. CatBus thought that 1985 was a year the year 1982 finally got its flowers. Harrison Ford received his only Oscar nomination for "Witness", but he should have got one for "Blade Runner". John Carpenter's "Starman" had lasting box office success, but that should have occurred with "The Thing". Steven Spielberg was being taken seriously as an artistic director with "The Color Purple" despite "E.T." was just as dramatic.

Riwo, being a Twin Cities gal, thinks 1985 is remembered so fondly thanks to Prince and Musicland forcing "Purple Rain" to be an affordably priced VHS tape. We did not have to go to the theater anymore to love these films, so the initial box office suffered for this.

Our two movie experts and the audience talk about a wide range of films. Russ's homework from the week prior served well as he could talk to the audience about "Better of Dead" and "The Last Dragon". Riwo got to head into the two remaining days of the convention knowing that there would people checking out her panel about the fortieth anniversary of "Clue". And the "I Dig Crazy Flicks" host gets to contemplate whether his childhood development was stunted by not getting to see "Weird Science" and "Life Force" as a five year-old. Maybe he should have graduated in 1998 instead of being a year older than his classmates, Mom.