The Usual Choices
Alien (Ridley Scott)
Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola)
Kramer vs. Kramer (Robert Benton)
Life of Brian (Terry Jones)
Manhattan (Woody Allen)
But how about...
Wise Blood (John Huston)
Only discovered this gem about six months ago and, after two viewings, I am convinced that this is one of John Huston's very best movies. A collection of short stories cleverly woven into an ongoing narrative, its blend of drama, dry humour and spiritual commentary is skillfully delivered. Brad Dourif plays a preacher in his DIY anti-religious order ("The Church of Truth Without Christ") who wants to spread the good word, but other people (and their vices and preoccupations) keep getting in his way. The location, era and motivation (the preacher is a young war veteran) are all non-specific, adding the conventions of a parable to the mix.
...and what about...
The Black Stallion (Carroll Ballard)
As everybody points out, this film is really two films with the first being the best one. And I agree: boy shipwrecked on an island with a wild horse is a more engaging tale than boy winning a big race on the now-tamed horse. But I love the first film and like the second, so I guess it evens out to being overall enjoyable. The kid gives an appealing (and, unusually for a child actor, subdued) performance and the cinematography in both films is stunning... particularly if you see it on a big HD screen. And Mickey Rooney in a role which is a coda to his National Velvet persona is a special gift to us old-movie buffs. He is wonderful for the last time.
...not to mention...
Time After Time (Nicholas Meyer)
Irresistible "what-if" premise: approximate contemporaries H.G. Wells and Jack the Ripper were linked through friendship; Jack uses H.G.'s time machine prototype to make his escape into the future so Herbert gives chase. I love "clever" in films, and this certainly ticks that box. But, as much as I enjoy this movie, I just wish it was a bit better than what it actually is. Mary manages to rescue the otherwise dreary romantic subplot, the culture-clash scenes aren't as amusing as they should be, and Malcolm is not entirely right as the father of sci-fi. Still, it's an involving flight of fantasy, and the punchline ending is perfection.
...and one personal unmentionable...
Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola)
The Fantasyland of war movies, this is, without question, the most overblown, supremely self-conscious, desperately-seeking-renown piece of cinema ever made. While it was supposedly inspired by Conrad's "Heart of Darkness", it reminds me more of The Wizard of Oz: Martin is Dorothy, his companions are heartless, brainless and scared shitless and Marlon is the Wizard. Up the yellow river they go, increasingly leaving the real world behind, until all the gang finally arrives at Compound Oz, the ultimate in pretension and shamanism. Despite all the blathering about "the genius of evil", the only message in the film's entire 153 minutes (203 minutes in the Redux version) that rings true is one that all soldiers have known for centuries: There's no place like home.
"The horror. The horror." You said it, big boy.
My Top 10 Films of 1979
 |
| That dreadful moment in all men's lives when they realise that, yes, that was more than mere flatulence. |
#02 A Alien (Scott)
#04 A Tess (Polanski)
#05 A- Being There (Ashby)
#06 A- Life of Brian (Jones)
#07 A- Mad Max (Miller)
#08 A- Norma Rae (Ritt)
#09 A- Kramer vs. Kramer (Benton)
#10 A- Manhattan (Allen)
Overflow: More A-/B+ Films
#11 A- Breaking Away (Yates)
#12 B+ My Brilliant Career (Armstrong)
#13 B+ Time After Time (Meyer)
#14 B+ Escape from Alcatraz (Siegel)
#15 B+ All That Jazz (Fosse)
#16 B+ Quadrophenia (Roddam)
#17 B+ Butch and Sundance: The Early Days (Lester)
#18 B+ Saint Jack (Bogdanovich)
#19 B+ The Warriors (Hill)
#20 B+ The Onion Field (Becker)
#21 B+ Starting Over (Pakula)
Sorry, They Didn't Make It...
> B The China Syndrome [important cautionary tale, too-earnestly told by too-earnest people]
> B Murder by Decree [how is it possible to make a Sherlock Holmes Vs Jack the Ripper film uninteresting?]
> B Hardcore [a showcase for George, but the whole groovy 70's sleaze-meister thing is overdone and vaguely ridiculous]
> B Over the Edge [drugs & thieving & guns, lotsa guns & arson & destruction & murder...yeah, those pesky 14 year olds sure are misunderstood]
> B The In-Laws [convoluted comedy crime caper with almost enough laughs]
> B The Great Santini [aka The Robert Duvall Show]
> B Star Trek: The Motion Picture [big spaceship; small story]
> B The Wanderers [the stunning soundtrack outshines and subsequently diminishes the story]
> B Real Life [as a mockumentary about Reality TV it has its moments, but not enough]
> B- The Champ [even after all that bawling, the poor kid ends up with Faye Dunaway??]
> B- 10 [5]
> B- 1941 [this is where Steven shows that he is only human]
> B- The Jerk [he sure is]
> B- Agatha [only Timothy Dalton seems to know what he's doing]
> B- The Riddle of the Sands [an interesting WWI "What If" story...but not interesting enough]
> C The Passage [an unpleasant, sadistic mess from a good director on the way down]
> C Meteor [appropriately classified as a disaster movie]
> C Bear Island [a thriller with no thrills, despite featuring avalanche-causing Nazis]
> D Moonraker [Dumb. Very Dumb.]
> D Apocalypse Now [A Personal Unmentionable]
> E Caligula [an Ancient History spread for Penthouse magazine]
"Ah!..Sweet Mystery of Life...": 1979 Films I Apparently Still Need to See
Cuba (Lester); The Electric Horseman (Pollack); The Europeans (Ivory); Gal Young ‘Un (Nunez); Going in Style (Brest); Heartland (Pearce); The Lady in Red (Teague); Last Embrace (Demme); A Little Romance (Hill); Love at First Bite (Dragoti); Nighthawks (Peck; Hallam); North Dallas Forty (Kotcheff); On the Yard (Silver); Phantasm (Coscarelli); Quintet (Altman); The Return of the Secaucus Seven (Sayles); The Seduction of Joe Tynan (Alda); Thirst (Hardy); Voices (Markowitz); Winter Kills (Richert); Yanks (Schlesinger); Zulu Dawn (Hickox)
Best Performances of 1979
Melvyn Douglas in Being There
Robert Duvall in The Great Santini
Sally Field in Norma Rae
Justin Henry in Kramer vs. Kramer
Dustin Hoffman in Kramer vs. Kramer
Jack Lemmon in The China Syndrome
Peter Sellers in Being There
Meryl Streep in Kramer vs. Kramer
But how about...
James Mason In Murder By Decree
While the movie itself is no great shakes, James gives an acting tutorial to all involved. Watch him outclass the likes of Christopher Plummer (who seems to be mildly stoned throughout the movie...which, given Sherlock Holmes' recreational vice, may be deliberate), Anthony Quayle (Mr Shouty meets Grumpy) and Donald Sutherland (Ham Alert). But how does James do it? Try dissecting his technique and you'll come up short: he keeps his trademark melliferous voice and his tendency to look away when speaking but still manages to turn a weary old character (Dr Watson, no less) into someone fresh. He really was one of the greats.
...and what about...
Judy Davis in My Brilliant Career
"Feisty" is a peculiarly American word (it certainly has never caught on here in Australia, yet we all know what it means) which succinctly sums up Judy's persona in MBC. Portraying a modern, risk-taking girl in an old, staid world (late 19th Century rural Australia), Judy is a believable jumble of contradictions (doesn't want men, but does want love; wants independence on her own terms, but also craves recognition from others; wants independence but expects to be financially supported by others). Her quest to simply get her own way, and her refusal to be controlled, makes her an amusing and admirable heroine.
...not to mention...
George C. Scott in Hardcore
A blending of The Searchers and Taxi Driver, Hardcore is an ordeal to watch, and the groovy porno film-making characters (long hair, lovebeads, loud shirts, soup-straining facial hair) are a tediously cliched bunch. George is the middle-class father searching for his runaway daughter amongst all this sleaze, hoping to rescue and return her to his good Calvinist life. It is a tour de force of a performance, as he tracks her down, increasingly faced with a truth that he cannot fathom. Not a particularly ethical man (his shabby treatment of another lost girl who helps him on his quest proves this), George is a walking storm of familial obsession. Love or a need to dominate?
...and one personal unmentionable...
Jane Fonda in The China Syndrome
What happened to Jane Fonda? She started off by making inconsequential fluff (1960-1968), then unexpectedly gave two of the greatest performances in cinema (They Shoot Horses, Don't They? 1969 and Klute 1971), then went back to making more fluff. Yes, yes it was significant social-issue stuff, but she kept playing WASPy women who discover their true selves...like in The China Syndrome. It's as if she deliberately (and pompously) set herself up as a role model for middle-class women. I'm sure Jane meant well, but she comes across as anemic, highly flappable and (most wounding) wholly dependent upon men to guide her to the Truth. Not much better than a sci-fi sex kitten really.
My 10 Favourite Performances of 1979
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| "My dear, we simply MUST find you some breasts." |
#02 Kelly Reno in The Black Stallion
#03 Candice Bergen in Starting Over
#04 Jane Alexander in Kramer vs. Kramer
#05 Mickey Rooney in The Black Stallion
#06 Judy Davis in My Brilliant Career
#07 Mariel Hemingway in Manhattan
#08 George C. Scott in Hardcore
#09 Brad Dourif in Wise Blood
#10 Ben Gazzara in Saint Jack
Overflow: More List-Worthy Performances
#11 Paul Dooley & Barbara Barrie in Breaking Away
#12 Monty Python in Life of Brian
#13 Ron Leibman in Norma Rae
#14 Amy Wright in Wise Blood
#15 Sally Field in Norma Rae
#16 James Woods in The Onion Field
#17 James Mason in Murder by Decree
#18 Tom Berenger & William Katt in Butch and Sundance: The Early Days
#19 Mary Steenburgen in Time After Time
#20 Ricky Schroder in The Champ
#21 Ian Holm in Alien
Sorry, They Didn't Make It...
> Dustin Hoffman in Kramer vs Kramer [he doesn't seem to have a paternal bone in his body]
> Meryl Streep in Kramer vs Kramer [she deserted the kid fer chrissakes!]
> Melvyn Douglas in Being There [I think he received the accolades 'cos he was surprisingly still alive]
> Robert Duvall in The Great Santini [a little bit Mr Shouty; a little bit Ham Alert]
> Jack Lemmon in The China Syndrome [I just could never take to the guy as a dramatic actor]
> Woody Allen in Manhattan [er, people...the girl is still in High School...]
> Diane Keaton in Manhattan [the only time I've found her unappealing]
> Roy Scheider in All That Jazz [I doubt if this choreographer could even do the boxstep]
And so...onto the annual awards (with a nod of appreciation to Danny Peary)...
The Alternate Oscars for 1979 are:
FILM of the YEAR
GOLD: The Black Stallion (Carroll Ballard)
SILVER: Alien (Ridley Scott)
BRONZE: Wise Blood (John Huston)
LEAD ACTOR: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Peter Sellers (Being There)
SILVER: George C. Scott (Hardcore)
BRONZE: Brad Dourif (Wise Blood)
LEAD ACTRESS: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Judy Davis (My Brilliant Career)
SILVER: Sally Field (Norma Rae)
BRONZE: Mary Steenburgen (Time After Time)
SUPPORTING ACTOR: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Mickey Rooney (The Black Stallion)
SILVER: James Mason (Murder By Decree)
BRONZE: Ian Holm (Alien)
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Candice Bergen (Starting Over)
SILVER: Jane Alexander (Kramer vs. Kramer)
BRONZE: Mariel Hemingway (Manhattan)
ENSEMBLE or PARTNERSHIP: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Paul Dooley & Barbara Barrie (Breaking Away)
SILVER: Monty Python (Life of Brian)
BRONZE: Tom Berenger & William Katt (Butch and Sundance: The Early Days)
JUVENILE: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Kelly Reno (The Black Stallion)
SILVER: Ricky Schroder (The Champ)
BRONZE: Justin Henry (Kramer vs. Kramer)
The Alternate Razzies for 1979 are:
CRAP FILM of the YEAR
Caligula (Tinto Brass)
CRAP MALE PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
Marlon Brando (Apocalypse Now)
CRAP FEMALE PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
Faye Dunaway (The Champ)
