Best Crime Movies of 1985

Clue finds six colorful dinner guests gathered at the mansion of their host, Mr. Boddy -- who turns up dead after his secret is exposed: He was blackmailing all of them. With the killer among them, the guests and Boddy's chatty butler must suss out the culprit before the body count rises.

A fearless Secret Service agent will stop at nothing to bring down the counterfeiter who killed his partner.

Four unwitting heroes cross paths on their journey to the sleepy town of Silverado. Little do they know the town where their family and friends reside has been taken over by a corrupt sheriff and a murderous posse. It's up to the sharp-shooting foursome to save the day, but first they have to break each other out of jail, and learn who their real friends are.

In New York, racist Capt. Stanley White becomes obsessed with destroying a Chinese-American drug ring run by Joey Tai, an up-and-coming young gangster as ambitious as he is ruthless. While pursuing an unauthorized investigation, White grows increasingly willing to violate police protocol, resorting to progressively violent measures -- even as his concerned wife, Connie, and his superiors beg him to consider the consequences of his actions.

When investigative reporter Irwin "Fletch" Fletcher goes undercover to write a piece on the drug trade at a local beach, he's approached by wealthy businessman Alan Stanwyk, who offers him $50,000 to murder him. With sarcastic wit and a knack for disguises, Fletch sets out to uncover Stanwyk's story.

Officer Carey Mahoney and his cohorts have finally graduated from the Police Academy and are about to hit the streets on their first assignment. Question is, are they ready to do battle with a band of graffiti-tagging terrorists? Time will tell, but don't sell short this cheerful band of doltish boys in blue.

The true story of a disillusioned military contractor employee and his drug pusher childhood friend who became walk-in spies for the Soviet Union.

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.

Ed Okin used to have a boring life. He used to have trouble getting to sleep. Then one night, he met Diana. Now, Ed's having trouble staying alive.

Roberta is a bored suburban housewife who is fascinated with a woman, Susan, she only knows about by reading messages to and from her in the personals section of the newspaper. This fascination reaches a peak when an ad with the headline "Desperately Seeking Susan" proposes a rendezvous. Roberta goes too, and in a series of events involving amnesia and mistaken identity, steps into Susan's life.

Architect/vigilante Paul Kersey arrives back in New York City and is forcibly recruited by a crooked police chief to fight street crime caused by a large gang terrorizing the neighborhoods.

The residents of a quiet English village begin to receive nasty, threatening letters. The wife of the local vicar calls in her friend Miss Marple to investigate.

A Chicago cop is caught in the middle of a gang war while his own comrades shun him because he wants to take an irresponsible cop down.

Holmes and Watson travel to Europe to escape Moriarty's vengeance.

Billy Wong is a New York City cop whose partner is gunned down during a robbery. Billy and his new partner, Danny Garoni, are working security at a fashion show when a wealthy man's daughter, Laura Shapiro, is kidnapped. The Federal authorities suspect that Laura's father is involved with Mr. Ko, a Hong Kong drug kingpin, so the NYC police commissioner sends the two cops to Hong Kong to investigate.

Two lads in Edinburgh embark on a non-violent spree of robberies. They dress up in clown masks and act as modern highwaymen, robbing coach loads of tourists in the highlands. In the process they become folk heroes to the locals. Their adventures make for a whimsical and gentle comedy, in the Bill Forsyth vein.

The fourth ("Calderone's Return: The Hit List") and fifth ("Calderone's Return: Calderone's Demise") episodes of Miami Vice's first season, later combined into a two-hour movie. Calderone, Crockett and Tubbs' old nemesis, hires a notorious Argentinian assassin to take out his largest competitors in Miami, and the Vice Squad soon learns that Crockett's name is last on a list of eight victims.

Fed up of his business partner, Ernest Trend hires the services of two exterminators. When things go drastically wrong and they murder the wrong man, the race is on to frame an innocent video surveillance man.

When Miss Marple arrives at palatial Stonygates, one thing is certain. Before there's time to lather a warm scone with marmalade and place a tea cozy, murder most foul is bound to occur. Helen Hayes returns as spinster sleuth Jane Marple and Leo McKern plays the crafty inspector who teams with her in this engaging, twisty case of country-house intrigue. Someone may be slowly poisoning the aging lady of the manor (the great Bette Davis in one of her last roles). Everyone but her dutiful husband (John Mills) has a motive. The snappish housekeeper? The pompous school kid? The gun-collecting American? The uneasy psychiatrist? The embittered daughter? It could be one of them. Some of them. None of them. People are dying - but not the elderly grand dame of Stonygates!

Two Miami Vice Detectives go to New York City to assist the DEA in hunting down a gang of Colombian drug dealers responsible for killing several undercover agents.

Ruth Ellis lives with her ten-year old son Andy next to a night club. One night she meets David Blakely, and they start a love affair. However, for David with his upper-class background, it is impossible to uphold the relationship. He breaks up with her, something which makes Ellis, obsessed by him, very upset.

A brother and his young sister come to a small town to find out a local gang terrorizes the population.

The lives of an ex-con, a coffee-shop owner, and a young couple looking to make it rich intersect in the hypnotic Rain City.

When his former secretary is accused of a murder, Perry Mason gives up a judgeship to defend her.

Actress Jane Wilkinson wants a divorce, but her husband, Lord Edgware, refuses. She convinces Hercule Poirot to use his famed tact and logic to make her case. Lord Edgware turns up murdered, a well-placed knife wound at the base of his neck. It will take the precise Poirot to sort out the lies from the alibis - and find the criminal before another victim dies.

Ellen Burstyn stars as Joan Walker, a mother whose college student son vanishes while traveling from Canada to Colorado. When police fail to investigate, Walker takes matters into her own hands. She and her ex-husband begin a search, but when their son's van is found in Maine brandishing stolen plates, they fear the worst. Now, it's up to a private detective to uncover the chilling truth in this absorbing drama based on a true story.

Katherine married Dr. Charles Raynor. She later discovers that Raynor is a sadist who torments her physically and mentally. She divorces him and take their child away. He then decides to kill her but when his plot is discovered he is charged with attempted murder and brought to trial.

After getting out of jail, car thief Ernest "Stick" Stickley witnesses the murder of his friend Rainy during a drug deal. To avoid getting killed by the same people, who work for mobster Chucky, Stick gets a job as a chauffeur for millionaire Barry Braham and lies low. As he gets used to his new routine, Stick woos Barry's financial consultant, Kyle McClaren, but must fight back when Chucky's men come after him.

A gripping thriller telling the true story of the hunt and capture of David Berkowitz, a.k.a. "Son of Sam" — the infamous serial killer who stalked New York in the 70s.

A young man, convicted of the murder of a clerk, who has been on death row for five years and now awaits his execution while his family desperately seek a reprieve.

An Aussie businessman is trying to find out why and by whom he was kidnapped and then later released with no explanation.

The tables turn for cynical police officer Richard Beck when he's viciously attacked by two homicidal crooks. Having never been empathetic toward the victims he's dealt with on a daily basis, Beck must now confront the tough system he was a part of. As he struggles to regain his status at work, he also must make sure those responsible for his attack are prosecuted.

A young director intent on making "the greatest color crime movie ever" can't seem to finish his script--he has a beginning and an end, but he can't quite figure out the middle. The daughter of his landlord, excited to have a real "movie person" living nearby, tries to help by putting him in touch with a man who wants to collaborate on a script--the strange "Dr. Jolly"

A riveting expose about the personalities of murderers and their motives. This 72 minute film covers the McDonalds' restaurant massacre, President Reagan's assassination attempt, serial murderer Henry Lee Lucas and others.

A small-town couple find themselves stranded in an unfamiliar, and unfriendly, big city. Weaving in and out of the proceedings are a bunch of murderous criminals with names like DOA, Ice and Slash. The couple are in for a night that they won't forget.

Rachel is a 9-year-old girl who is perfection itself - unless she's crossed or challenged. Several disturbing recent incidents have led Rachel's mother Christine to suspect that her child is a latent murderess. Upon discovering that she herself is the daughter of a convicted killer, Christine becomes convinced that sweet little Rachel is a "bad seed" - an inherent killer who feels no remorse because she doesn't know any better.

A detective investigating a series of murders discovers that they are similar to the murders that occur in the new script of a Hollywood screenwriter.

Once upon a time there were three ANGELS... They were young, they were beautiful, and when the occasion called for it, they were the most torrid sexual sleuths ever created! As our story opens, a U.S. Senator (Jamie Gillis) discovers his daughter is kidnapped. First, classy Carrie (Annette Haven) takes on the case (and the Senator) in a steamy interview where more than information unfolds. Soon amorous Allison (Ginger Lynn) gets the lusty lowdown from the Senator's hardened assistant (Eric Edwards) while Michelle (Kelly Nichols) sniffs out many a carnal due to unravel the case. Stopping at nothing, these glamorous gumshoes finally expose the kidnappers (and much, much more!) in this steamy tale featuring virtually every top star in adult films today!

In this erotic spy tale private eye Cody Abilene teams up with the Contessa Luciana and policewoman Beverly McAfee to infiltrate a mansion and discover who is sending computer secrets to the Russians.

A police officer suspects that a local husband and father who has recently undergone facial surgery because of injuries received in a car accident is in reality the same man who committed a quadruple murder several years before.

A Los Angeles taxi driver helps a distraught woman on the run from gangsters after they murder her husband and young son.

A married couple from Poland emigrates to the U.S.,. but things don't turn out as well as they had imaged. The husband's business fails, while his wife's career really takes off. The husband, unable to cope with the pressures of his failed business, his failing marriage and the adjustments necessary to live in a completely different society, begins to take out his frustrations on his wife.

A drug-dealing band of violent street thugs terrorize the tenants of a South Bronx apartment building.

Vietnam, 1969. War is Hell. For Marine Sergeant Jack Stryker, however, Hell is just the beginning. Trapped outside a Viet Cong village, Stryker takes two bullets to the leg. Sent home from the war, he discovers his ex-girlfriend has been kidnapped by a religious cult with a vicious Manson-like leader. Stryker teams up with some marine friends to form an assassination squad and annihilate the gang of crazed killers.

Mobsters and the IRA chase a stagestruck London cabby (Tim Curry) who has found a briefcase full of cash.

After witnessing her husband's brutal murder, Carla travels to her parents' home in a small mountain town to start over. When she's repeatedly harassed by redneck locals, Carla seeks help from the town sheriff but is met with indifference. This continues until Carla's finally attacked, raped, and her parents executed by the twisted townies. Carla, after escaping a mental hospital, resolves to get bloody revenge.

Teenage prostitute Scarlett and minor offender Tracy end up on the run together in the wake of a courtroom shoot-out.

After being arrested, a Texas man begins confessing to the brutal murder of over 200 women. He recounts his random selection of victims and his traveling companions, his friend and friend's sister. But the police can't be sure whether to believe him or not until he locates a body and shows them some polaroids. Based on the true story of Henry Lee Lucas.

Upon his return from Vietnam, an ex-soldier finds his neighborhood has deteriorated badly, and is being terrorized by a vicious street gang. He calls some of his GI buddies, and together they hatch a plan to get rid of the gang.