President Ronald Reagan took his second oath of office in 1985, the same year Coke changed its formula and Bruce Springsteen sang, “Born in the U.S.A.”

The year also delivered an embarrassment of pop-culture riches. Hit after hit. Franchise starter after franchise starter. And the movie that turned a “Saturday Night Live” alum into Hollywood’s most bankable comedian. Here, in no particular order, are the top movies from 1985.

Back to the Future

Few films flirt with pop culture perfection quite like this time-travel romp. Marty McFly’s trip to his parent’s teen years inspired a hugely popular trilogy, made Michael J. Fox a superstar and remains a film no sane soul seriously wants to reboot.

Director Robert Zemeckis recalled in 2013 that “everybody rejected” the original film’s screenplay, but he instinctively knew how special it was at the time.

“Every line of dialogue, every beat, every cut, every shot is doing what movies are supposed to do, which is propelling the plot or establishing character.”

Mask

This tender tale often gets overlooked in our chronic ‘80s nostalgia. That’s a mistake given the work of both Cher and Eric Stolz as the lad with the curious “mask.”

“She can’t act … she won Best Actress at Cannes because I shot her very well. And she can’t sustain a scene. She couldn’t do what Tatum [O’Neal] did in Paper Moon. She’d start off in the right direction, but she’d go off wrong somehow, very quickly. So I shot a lot of close-ups of her because she’s very good in close-ups. Her eyes have the sadness of the world.”

Lost in America

That’s all you need to hear and suddenly you’re on the road with Albert Brooks and Julie Hagerty in this comedy classic. They play a couple eager to live off the grid when Hagerty’s character blows their life savings in one ill-advised gambling jaunt.

“I thought it would be funny to have a story about dropping out and dropping in two weeks later,” he said in grand spoiler-alert fashion.

Fletch

The 1990 sequel “Fletch Lives” is now “problematic” to the core, but even then it lacked the spark of the source material. Jon Hamm’s take on Irwin Fletcher proved better than anyone expected, and it took a box office swan dive in 2022.

Chase jokingly admitted the character proved the closest to the real actor, and there’s some truth to it given his deadpan interviews and inscrutable off-screen image.

Rocky IV

The fourth “Rocky” film may be the most unabashedly patriotic movie of the decade, and that includes 1984’s “Red Dawn.” Sylvester Stallone wrote, directed and starred as the Italian Stallion, this time taking on the pride of the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War.

One particularly brutal fight sequence sent Stallone to the hospital, and he spent four days in intensive care before he resumed filming.

The Sure Thing

Rob Reiner’s directorial hot streak may never be duplicated. “This Is Spinal Tap.” “Stand By Me.” “The Princess Bride.” “When Harry Met Sally…” “Misery.” “A Few Good Men.” Few people talk about his 1985 comedy starring John Cusack and Daphne Zuniga as the unlikeliest couple around.

“The great thing about Rob was that he was an actor. So he knew exactly what actors need — they need momentum, they need to concentrate, they need to feel safe. He zealously guards actors. So as a 17-year-old kid, I was like, ‘Oh wow, this is how it’s going to be on all movies.’ Rob ruined me for other directors.”

Better Off Dead

“I want my two dollars…”

This black comedy follows a hapless teen (Cusack, again) dead set on suicide after his vapid girlfriend ditches him for a skiing champion. “Savage” Steve Holland’s blend of ‘80s schmaltz, irreverent animation and wacky side characters is as infectious today as it was in 1985.

Fright Night

Holland’s success writing the shockingly good sequel to “Psycho” gave him the industry clout to get “Fright Night” made.

The writer/director says the personal approach he brought to the material made all the difference.

“I was writing about the movies that I loved when I was 15, 16, 17, and they were the AIP and Hammer Horror films, which starred Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, and Vincent Price… that’s how you get Peter Vincent, the horror movie host.”

The Breakfast Club

John Hughes didn’t own the ‘80s. He just made the decade better, funnier and wiser.

The story behind the song’s inclusion in the film could make a movie unto itself. Just know Chrissie Hynde, then married to Simple Minds’ singer Jim Kerr, convinced him to tackle the song after multiple musicians passed on it.

Cocoon

The sweet sci-fi comedy gave director Ron Howard yet another career boost, while proving you’re never too old to swipe a movie from your younger co-stars.

Wilford Brimley, one-third of the elderly trio, was actually 49 when he was cast in the film and turned 50 during the production.

Witness

Harrison Ford proved he’s more than a swashbuckling hero with his Oscar-nominated turn as a lawman lurking within Amish country.

The actor’s unlikely bond with a local mother (Kelly McGillis) proved a box office hit, earning multiple Oscar nominations in the process. For some, “Witness” offered a first look at a community rarely showcased on the big screen.

After Hours

It might be the most unlikely Martin Scorsese film in his canon, made while the auteur waited to get “The Last Temptation of Christ” off the cinematic ground. Griffin Dunne plays an Everyman caught in the worst day of his life in this bleak, biting and darkly comic tale.

The film’s deep cast (Teri Garr! Catherine O’Hara! John Heard!) is just part of the fun.

Vision Quest

Matthew Modine plays a determined wrestler whose dreams get distracted by a beautiful stranger (Linda Fiorentino). It’s hardly your typical coming-of-age story, thanks to Modine’s intense performance and a sturdy musical soundtrack.

“I thought, ‘Oh, she must be doing a concert here.’ But then I looked at the poster a little bit closer and at the bottom I saw myself [in a scene from the film] with my arms in the air. The movie had gone from being a Matthew Modine movie that Madonna was in to a Madonna movie that Matthew Modine was in! That’s how fate would have it.”

Re-Animator

“Gonzo” barely describes this unhinged horror fest featuring a love that defied this mortal coil. Jeffrey Combs stars as an impassioned med student who concocts a serum that brings the dead back to life.

What could go wrong? How about, “Everything?”

That’s part of the fun in this well-orchestrated blast of mayhem, based on an H.P. Lovecraft short story.

The Return of the Living Dead

It’s one of the most re-watchable zombie films ever made, a perfect blend of silliness and seriously creepy kills. The trouble begins in an all too familiar way, but the sense of dread starts early and never lets up.

The story has its share of humanity, too. We watch the two fools who unleashed the undead terror slowly succumb to their disease. That tragic subplot connects the various storylines and offers real pathos.

The Color Purple

Steven Spielberg’s reign as Mr. Blockbuster could have convinced him to stay in his lane until the box office receipts slowed down. That’s assuming they ever did.

Goldberg took a very unwoke perspective on the character during her chat with Ebert connected to the film’s release.

“One guy asked me about this movie and the black experience,”’ she said, “and I told him I thought ‘Agnes Of God’ was a great exploration of the white experience. Or ‘The Big Chill.’ You know, ‘The Big Chill’ was more my story than ‘The Color Purple.’ But this movie is so much a deeper movie, a movie about the awakening of the human spirit.”

The Purple Rose of Cairo

Woody Allen gave himself a break and delivered this sweet, soulful romance without stepping in front of the camera. Allen regular Mia Farrow plays a sad housewife named Cecilia who escapes her humdrum world at, where else, the movies. She sees one particular film so often the story’s romantic lead (Jeff Daniels) breaks the fourth wall to spend time with Cecilia.

Pee Wee’s Big Adventure

Burton, a visual maestro, connected to Reubens’ forever young sentiment. That combination gave Burton the first of many box office hits and proved difficult to replicate. Later Pee-Wee films like “Big Top Pee-Wee” and “Pee Wee’s Big Holiday” couldn’t corral what Reubens and Burton concocted the first time around.

“I’d only done two short films, and at that time, that was unheard of – to go from doing two short films that nobody saw to doing a feature film. So even I knew that this was very special and amazing. If he hadn’t been supportive, it wouldn’t have happened.”

Prizzi’s Honor

Turns out 1985 was a pretty solid year for black comedy. Jack Nicholson and Kathleen Turner teamed for John Huston’s bleak look at assassins in each other’s crosshairs.

The Academy showered eight Oscar nominations on the film, which earned co-star Angelica Huston a Best Supporting Actress honor.