Best Movies of 1980The Usual Choices
Airplane! / Flying High (David & Jerry Zucker; Jim Abrahams)
Ordinary People (Robert Redford)
Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese)
The Shining (Stanley Kubrick)
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (Irvin Kershner)
But how about...
The Elephant Man (David Lynch)
This is the saddest monster movie ever made, because the real horrors are the human beings who surround, gawk at and exploit one of God's errors. The sheer beauty of the acting (both Anthony Hopkins as the doctor / friend and John Hurt as our title hero have scenes where a single tear drops, perfectly on cue, as they are overwhelmed by emotion) and the lushness of the B&W cinematography (grey has never looked so rich) take control, guiding us to move from repulsion to sympathy to affection. While I find a couple of scenes difficult to watch (I get overwhelmed too), this is one of the rare movie tragedies which I choose to regularly rewatch, purely because I revel in its human touch.
...and what about...
Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood)
Now here's something you don't see every day: a Clint Eastwood screwball comedy...and it's actually good (gasp). Mixing in elements from It Happened One Night (!), this kicks off with a hick-sy travelling Wild West show (trick riding & sharpshooting under canvas) which crosses paths with a soon-to-be-rich heiress...all the obligatory convoluted / coincidental plotting & gradual character reveals & I-hate-you-but-I-really-love-you carry-on occur, with true love doing the right thing. While the film is a little flabby (it could lose 20 minutes) and a couple of story threads flap about without being tied down, the thing I appreciate is that it's a genuinely warming comedy without even a drop of cynicism (even all the kid stuff is sweet rather than corny). Guns & the American Way still rule of course, but hey, it's a Clint movie.
...not to mention...
The Long Good Friday (John Mackenzie)
A very British gangster movie: it's a Limey take on The Sopranos but with friendships taking the place of family...still, nobody can be entirely trusted, can they? Lots of compulsory bloodshed (and one killing involving a broken bottle which made me wince) as the gangwar heats up...who could possibly want to do me in? crimelord Bob Hoskins asks...after all, I've given them 10 years of peaceful, profitable co-existence. A man more sinned against than sinning...well, not for long. With great support from Helen Mirren as his main squeeze, many many tough men spouting phrases such as "well out of order" and "some geezer down the pub", and a handful of striking scenes (my fave: all the rival bosses, still wearing their Armani suits, hanging by their heels in a coolroom), this is a classy gangster movie all scuffed up as only the Brits can do. And Bob's kiss-off speech to the Yanks is a classic.
...and one personal unmentionable...
Fatty Finn (Maurice Murphy)
Based on the 1930's Aussie comic strip of the same name, this is a fairly awful kids film, primarily due to the over-ripeness of the acting (the child actors are gratingly schoolplay-ish but the adult professionals should have known better...without exception, they stink). The colours are all dayglo pop which becomes nauseating after a while, the songs are rotten and the plot just seems to be a way to weave in some Keystone Kop slapstick and bum & nuddy jokes. However, I have managed to winkle out a redeeming feature: I am old enough to take some nostalgic pleasure from the appearance of crystal sets, smell-the-cheese punches, cursive & compositions, outside dunnies, lumpy morning porridge, lemon-squeezer Scout hats, backyard chooks, laundry mangles, shanghais (slingshots to all you non-Aussies) and going barefoot at school...but it's all nowhere near enough to make this film bearable.
My Top 10 Films of 1980
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| Dry Cleaning in Hell |
#02 A Breaker Morant (Beresford)
#03 A- Atlantic City (Malle)
#04 A- Bronco Billy (Eastwood)
#05 A- The Long Good Friday (Mackenzie)
#06 A- Melvin and Howard (Demme)
#07 A- Raging Bull (Scorsese)
#08 B+ Hopscotch (Neame)
#09 B+ The Dogs of War (Irvin)
#10 B+ The Big Red One (Fuller)
Overflow: More A-/B+ Films
#11 B+ Airplane! / Flying High (Abrahams; Zucker)
#12 B+ Dressed to Kill (De Palma)
#13 B+ Star Wars: Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (Kershner)
#14 B+ The Long Riders (Hill)
#15 B+ Ordinary People (Redford)
#16 B+ Coal Miner's Daughter (Apted)
#17 B+ The Stunt Man (Rush)
#18 B+ The Changeling (Medak)
Sorry, They Didn't Make It...
> B Foxes [a better-than-usual teen angst movie, but not quite better enough]
> B Resurrection [a really good woman heals stricken people through touch...isn't that sweet...and not much more?]
> B The Gods Must Be Crazy [a pleasant, lightweight culture-clash comedy with a couple of funny scenes]
> B Stardust Memories [this is where Woody exposes himself but it's not as interesting as you'd think]
> B Superman II [#1 was made by a good director who was also a fan; #2 was made by a good director]
> B- Gloria [a snail's pace urban fairytale about a tough gun moll who discovers her maternal side]
> B- The Blues Brothers [comedy is so-so; action is OTT; music has Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles]
> B- Carny [Life is a Carnival, with Gary on uppers, Robbie on downers, Elisha on acid and Jodie on the ball]
> B- Private Benjamin [in 2018, this is more Dumb Blonde Joke than Feminist Comedy]
> B- The Fog [for meteorological horror which actually shocks, better to watch The Mist (2007)]
> C Fame [graded lower due to the title song being so bloody awful]
> C The Shining [if only Stanley had been as picky about Jack's performance as he was with the cinematography]
> C The Watcher in the Woods [a Disney attempt at a horror movie for teens...any questions?]
> D Simon [absurdist comedy that is very absurd but only a little bit comedic]
> D The Blue Lagoon [suspect softcore which somehow snuck under the radar...I bet it wouldn't now]
> D Fatty Finn [A Personal Unmentionable]
> E The Earthling [how can such spectacular views be turned into such an unattractive film?]
"Ah!..Sweet Mystery of Life...": 1980 Films I Apparently Still Need to See
Alligator (Teague); American Gigolo (Schrader); Bad Timing (Roeg); The Black Marble (Becker); Brubaker (Rosenberg); The Club (Beresford); Cruising (Friedkin); The Falls (Greenaway); The First Deadly Sin (Hutton); Flash Gordon (Hodges); He Knows You’re Alone (Mastroianni); Heaven’s Gate (Cimino); The Hollywood Knights (Mutrux); The Idolmaker (Hackford); The Man with Bogart’s Face (Day); Motel Hell (Connor); The Ninth Configuration (Blatty); Out of the Blue (Hopper); Permanent Vacation (Jarmusch); Silent Scream (Harris); Sitting Ducks (Jaglom); A Small Circle of Friends (Cohen); Stir (Wallace); Tell Me a Riddle (Grant); Terror Train (Spottiswoode); Those Lips, Those Eyes (Pressman); Urban Cowboy (Bridges)
Best Performances of 1980
Ellen Burstyn in Resurrection
Robert De Niro in Raging Bull
John Hurt in The Elephant Man
Timothy Hutton in Ordinary People
Mary Tyler Moore in Ordinary People
Sissy Spacek in Coal Miner's Daughter
Mary Steenburgen in Melvin and Howard
But how about...
Peter O'Toole in The Stunt Man
A movie about real life & make-believe, this is also the story of a man whose Art decrees that he must be in absolute control: yes, a film director. I half expected to see Peter fully decked out with riding crop, monocle and megaphone, so perfect is his portrayal of a David Lean / Fritz Lang hybrid. Shouting orders & the most brutal of threats, twisting feelings to get the performance he wants, gushing manna or bile depending upon what is necessary, this is a man who is convinced that he has God's blood flowing through his veins. So easily overdone, Peter manages to keep on the edge of caricature without actually toppling over, consumed by the cinematic story he is telling. Before long, you do wonder if this egotistical commander really would risk life to get that majestic shot in the can before the sun goes down. Somebody else's life, that is.
...and what about...
Burt Lancaster in Atlantic City
Look into this man's eyes: all faded glory and flaking facade, a gangster who was never really big, but he was bigger than some. Old age is pulling him down, memories growing like weeds and appearance having to stand in for substance. The good old days improve the further he gets away from them. Burt is the man and he tells us a story through his eyes and the lines on his face. A moving portrayal by an actor who was, once upon a time, the most athletic / gymnastic of performers. His physical restraint works for the character here, and not just because he's a geriatric...the man has lost his self-confidence (his danger; his moves) and has allowed the fear of dying to overwhelm him. The movie is about how he gets his own respect back. A last grand hurrah for both the grey goodfella and the great actor.
...not to mention...
Jodie Foster in Foxes
At last...Jodie Foster plays a child who actually acts her age (in this case, around 16-17). And, even more impressively, she plays someone who is compassionate, unguardedly sensitive and smart without being too in-your-face street smart. This, along with her underrated supporting appearance in 1988's Stealing Home, is my favourite Jodie performance, primarily because she isn't bothered about acting so offputtingly tough. In Foxes (a pretty good 80's youth movie), Jodie is at her best when mixing and talking with others...she wants to get to know them and understand their behaviour, she wants to share experiences and, most of all, once she has made an emotional commitment to a person, she wants to be of help. The best and most dependable of friends, Jodie plays a child who you just know is going to grow into an impressive adult.
...and one personal unmentionable...
William Holden & Ricky Schroder (and Alwyn Kurtz) in The Earthling
A generally-miserable filmmaking experience (William was one movie away from an alcoholic & fatal fall, and the director Peter Collinson was battling, and soon to be beaten by, cancer), The Earthling is sadly awful. William is on his last legs and returns home to the NSW Blue Mountains to die...coming across 10YO Ricky who is lost and recently orphaned by a car-over-cliff crash. Bush Survival & Tough Love win out, of course, after a lot of swelling music and golden sunsets. Horrible dialogue is gushed all over the place (the scene between William and Alwyn is one of the most excruciating tos&fros I've ever had to squirm through...sub-soap) and the actors are clearly defeated by it. No one tries, everyone hams it up and even the constant parade of Aussie fauna seems to be embarrassed by what's going on. My advice: turn off the sound and hit the freeze-frame as soon as an actor walks out of shot...lovely scenery.
My 10 Favourite Performances of 1980
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| "Not many people know this, but my last name is Layheehoo." |
#02 Anthony Hopkins in The Elephant Man
#03 Jason Robards in Melvin and Howard
#04 Jodie Foster in Foxes
#05 Mary Tyler Moore in Ordinary People
#06 The ensemble cast of Breaker Morant
#07 Bob Hoskins in The Long Good Friday
#08 The ensemble cast of Airplane! / Flying High
#09 Sissy Spacek in Coal Miner's Daughter
#10 Peter O'Toole in The Stunt Man
Overflow: More List-Worthy Performances
#11 Walter Matthau in Hopscotch
#12 Mary Steenburgen in Melvin and Howard
#13 Joe Pesci in Raging Bull
#14 Christopher Walken in The Dogs of War
#15 Lee Marvin in The Big Red One
#16 John Hurt in The Elephant Man
#17 Robert De Niro in Raging Bull
#18 Hollis McLaren in Atlantic City
#19 Timothy Hutton in Ordinary People
#20 The Carradines & The Guests & The Keachs & The Quaids in The Long Riders
#21 Gena Rowlands in Gloria
#22 Helen Mirren in The Long Good Friday
Sorry, They Didn't Make It...
> Ellen Burstyn in Resurrection [I didn't believe she had a life before developing superpowers]
> Shelley Duvall in The Shining [a one-note performance and that one note is too shrill]
> Goldie Hawn in Private Benjamin [quickly...can you name any lead comedic role which she was great in?]
> Eileen Brennan in Private Benjamin [a barely-passable Warren-Oates-in-Stripes precursor]
And so...onto the annual awards (with a nod of appreciation to Danny Peary)...
The Alternate Oscars for 1980 are:
FILM of the YEAR
GOLD: The Elephant Man (David Lynch)
SILVER: Breaker Morant (Bruce Beresford)
BRONZE: Atlantic City (Louis Malle)
LEAD ACTOR: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Burt Lancaster (Atlantic City)
SILVER: Anthony Hopkins (The Elephant Man)
BRONZE: Bob Hoskins (The Long Good Friday)
LEAD ACTRESS: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Mary Tyler Moore (Ordinary People)
SILVER: Sissy Spacek (Coal Miner's Daughter)
BRONZE: Gena Rowlands (Gloria)
SUPPORTING ACTOR: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Jason Robards (Melvin and Howard)
SILVER: Peter O'Toole (The Stunt Man)
BRONZE: Joe Pesci (Raging Bull)
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Mary Steenburgen (Melvin and Howard)
SILVER: Hollis McLaren (Atlantic City)
BRONZE: Helen Mirren (The Long Good Friday)
ENSEMBLE or PARTNERSHIP: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Edward Woodward & Jack Thompson & Bryan Brown & Lewis Fitz-Gerald (Breaker Morant)
SILVER: The entire cast but especially Lloyd Bridges, Peter Graves, Leslie Nielsen & Robert Stack (Airplane! / Flying High)
BRONZE: David Carradine & Keith Carradine & Robert Carradine & Christopher Guest & Nicholas Guest & James Keach & Stacy Keach & Dennis Quaid & Randy Quaid (The Long Riders)
JUVENILE: PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
GOLD: Jodie Foster (Foxes)
SILVER: Jodie Foster (Carny)
BRONZE: Dexter Fletcher (The Elephant Man)
The Alternate Razzies for 1980 are:
CRAP FILM of the YEAR
The Earthling (Peter Collinson)
CRAP MALE PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
William Holden & Ricky Schroder & Alwyn Kurtz (The Earthling)
CRAP FEMALE PERFORMANCE of the YEAR
Brooke Shields (The Blue Lagoon)
