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Q. Is it actually possible that "Desperately Seeking Susan" was named best film of the year 1985 by the New York Times? That's what Wikipedia says in its entry on the film. Or is this just another case of Wikipedia demonstrating the power of consensus-driven reality?
Andy Ihnatko, Boston
A. The New York Times, as itself, does not name any film the best of the year. The critics do. Janet Maslin, who was a Times film critic at the time, writes me: "I don't know how it works now, with all three critics making lists. But we used to have a single list from the chief critic, with 10 films listed in alphabetical order. Except for the year (this really happened) when Vincent Canby got mixed up and listed only nine. We also had a brief, happy period of being able to make a 10 worst list. Then it was decided that that was too mean-spirited and un-Timesian. I was sorry to see that go."
Canby did include "Susan" on his list of the year's 10 best. In alphabetical order: "Desperately Seeking Susan," "Kiss of the Spider Woman,'' "Prizzi's Honor" "Purple Rose of Cairo," "Ran," "Secret Honor," "7 Up/28 Up," "Shoah" and "The Trip to Bountiful." That's only nine, and a later correction says the list should also have included "Young Sherlock Holmes."
