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A good) Bv David Baker Gamacock Flm Critic Once again it's time to drag out my old reviews and my book of ratings and come up with a list of the 10 best and 10 worst movies of the year. As far as movies go, 1979 was neither a remarkably goodyear, nor a remarkably bad year. Of the 148 movies I saw (I actually should have seen 150, but Hurricane and Wanda Nevada opened and closed during the week I spent in New York in June), 21 were considered for the best list, while 29 were considered for the worst. LiOOKing Dack, it was a good year for v comedy and romance, but good horror movies were hard to come by and good musicals were virtually non-existent. Mostly, it was a year for violent films about youth gangs (The Warriors, Boulevard Nights, The Wanderers, Sunnyside, Walk Proud and Boardwalk) and multi-million dollar special effects extravaganzas (Alien, Moonraker, Hurricane, Apocalypse Now, Meteor, Star Trek, 1941 and The Black Hole). So now, before we cast a hopeful eve toward what the new year has in store for us, let me present my lists of what went right and what went wrong in 1979: h*m I j^y|g^Mmi^Sw * V f/,'-:.:^i%^^^^Ky^^HBBKLL.* - .^^MKMBHrB H Douglas, Lemmon, Fonda in 'China' Left Hand 'i By Lehman Stiles ftnm?rnrk RoM VA/rl... S Ilir?? SI Straits TEN BEST ALBUMS OF 1979 Dire SI I. Breakfast in America.... Super- for the n tramp embrace to listen i For the first time in a long time, approacl the best-selling album of the year best new is also the best of the year. For Mark Kr continual, constantly surprising these alt invention and blissful ignorance of oDinion. the "normal" way of doing things, little bet Supertramp has always been of son Number One. Breakfast in brillianc America is their best-produced listen, album, which makes their sound all the more cohesive. If only A &M 4. Arme^ Records had pushed their other \ albums as much as they have this But if one! here is th physical 2. Slow Train Coming .. Bob Dylan the wor] about Rj a reiiei - an ena-oi-me-seventies of the aci reminder from a man who's been Forces s there that while faith isn't up Part ( everything, doubt, isn't anything, only loc What more meaftin?$ul message Costello could be hande<j| d6\vn to the midst of children of this decade than that "Y0^?5tta Serve 5. Rust N Somebody"? is more Crazy closed-minded ^^JnHstians, or / aisencnanted Witty-year-old All Hie hippies who won't listen to Dylan said a bo since be's found something instead true on of Bon^iuii^^iy.j^iearch? song(s) 4 mwhhih miia miiiii ijjjmim ? <i mmm iiw i n w - Best am r year for < w 4 The 10 Best 1. MANHATTAN. Woody Allen has taken the humor of Annie Hall and the austerity of Interiors and blended them together to form what undoubtedly will be remembered as the definitive movie of the 1970s. The performances of Allen, Michael Murphy, Anne Byrne and Meryl Streep grew surprisingly richer with each viewing of this story of intermingled love affairs, but it's Diane Keaton, as Allen's shrill but lovable bedmate, and Mariel Hemingway, as the 17year-old beauty whom Allen dumps because of her age, whom I remember most fondly. Gordon Willis' stunning black-and-white cinematography and George Gershwin's music added immensely to a movie which was as stylistically close to perfect as any Mim ever made. 2. STARTING OVER. Throughout the emotional highs and lows in Alan J. Pakula's outstanding comedy-drama, there was the delightfully natural performance of Burt Reynolds, who has to be the most criminally underrated actor working today. Reynolds made newly-divorced Phil Potter the year's most loving and most lovable character. Jill Clayburgh and Candice Bergan both deserve Oscars for what they accomplished with the film's major supporting roles. 3. KRAMER VS. KRAMER. Director Robert Benton has followed The Late Show with a funny, touching, and ultimately heartbreaking story about the great American institution of divorce. Dustin Hoffman turned in his best performance in more than a decade as a weekend father who must learn to take care of his sevenyear-old son seven days a week, when Mom walks out. Meryl Streep's beautifully modulated portrayal of the wife kept the i viewer's sympathy wavering from side to side for two hours. 4.NORMA RAE. Sally Field's performance in the title role was the most moving portrait of a working woman ever to reach the screen. She already has won Best Actress accolades from the New York Film Critics Association, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the National Board of Review and the Cannes Film Festival. Come April, there's no doubt she'll win the uscaras wen. 5. NORTH DALLAS FORTY. Biting, perceptive, and excruciatingly funny story * first and las raits/Communique . Dire the Blue/Into t enough to qualify I of the year; in fa< raits is the perfect answer Johnny Rotten alo lanv nf lie UlVlA fin't nilitn w?j v* v*u fT?iv can v vjuit^ New Wave but don't want to Led Zep all day. A fresh 6. Candy-O l, haunting lyrics and the guitarist in several eons - A sound this i lopfler - characterize both deserves special urns. Contrary to popular it's not quite as gc the second is actually a album, but the ter than the first, because everything going le stunningly subtle eluding an as-yet es easily missed on first of talent. Parts of the ensemble soi promising a brigl I Forces.... Elvis Costello group. you ARE into New Wave, 7. The Long Run . le only man in music today ly capable of taking over Ah, controver: Id. Forget what he said either love this al ly Charles ; that's all part it, depending on w t. Ingenious as it is, Armed of it. For those wli ounas like Elvis wrapping to their old counti Dne of his career. One can "Take It Easy" >k forward to the next Run is a disappoii album (which he is in the who realize the recording). guys have grown a startlingly hon ever Sleeps Neil Young & today's music w< Horse out and cynical almost, the albi i good things critics ever Eagles' best s ut Young turn out to be playing in years. Ruat Never Sleeps. The 'My My Hey Hey (Out of 8. Born Again ... d Worst :omedy r WKKj^^ZM- ; w^l . Ifcj * mm % a| _ ':T5' * 1 i lu Diane Keaton and Wood of Phil Elliot, an aging offensive end whose only concern in life is being able to play football for the North Dallas Bulls every Sunday afternnon. The film satirized everything from the players' dependencies on drugs to their post-game orgies, and director Ted Kotcheff made it all work beautifully. As Elliot, Nick Nolte scored an emotional touchdown in every scene. 6. BREAKING AWAY. The best ensemble acting of the year highlighted this tale about an Indiana youth's dream of becoming a champion bicycle racer. Peter Yates, whose previous credits include Bullitt and The Deep, directed with a fine eye for detail, and the script, by Steve Tesich, was most touching and realistic. A wonderfully mncinrr ant art a inmant that nnm . & VUUII?5 vnvvi toiiiiiiviit viiav upvii^u iivw doors in the depition of the American middle class. 7. MOONRAKER. Like the 10 007 movies that preceded it, Moonraker was the kind of movie that could get away with anything, and well deserved to. The gadgets were fantastic, the women were beautiful and Roger Moore was the picture of elegance as James Bond. Easily the best film of the summer and one of the best installments of the series. Bring on number 12! it entertainm he Black)" is for rock poet it, the line about nedoes it. ^j|| The Cars Ul-fired original jflL mention. Sure, ?d as their debut |Bk j Cars still have H :Jkfepii HL ; for them, inunreleased flood ' it shine through J* ind on Candy-O, MM&nfc it future for this ? s The Ragles JgggggP jj^ sy. Seems you ^on Ibum or you hate I stand nearly alone in lik 'hot von ovruwitoH nlkn>? *t .?.? j vn^vvvu aiuum, 3U tut uiuiusiuu ill Li] io looked forward a bit frightening. But Born 7-rock friends of more overlooked than disl days, The Long another satirical sideswipe ltment. For those hand that feeds Newmi maturity these music business. So wha into, the album is doesn't include another lest evocation of People"? Newman has >rld - sad, worn without public acclaim befc . Coincidentally, the message of this albun 1m includes the corruption this kind of accli ongwriting and cause. Ironic, in a way. 9. In Through the Out Door. . Randy Newman Zeppelin mow wfc* n?imiww<r?mmiifiii miwh?i innwi omance y Allen in 'Manhattan' 8. THE CHINA SYNDROME. Tense, wellwritten and well-acted story of a nearcatastrophe in a nuclear power plant. The screenplay, by Mike Gray, T.S. Cook and director James Bridges, explored the firghtening prospect of a nuclear meltdown to its most chilling possibilities, and the cast, headed by Jane Fonda, Jack Lemmon and Michael Douglas, was uniformly excellent. Q V A \!1T 6 Tho Infocf in r% 1 nmt linn . i x iqicoi in ci ivn^ line: VI great and near-great films directed by John Schlesinger presented us with three parallel romances - each between and American G.I. and an English woman - that grew and blossomed during the US occupation of Great Britain in the months prior to D-day in 1944. Richard Gere and newcomer Lisa Eichhorn, who represented the middle class, matched Vanessa Redgrave and William Devane, who represented the upper class, line for line in the most wonderfully romantic movie of the year. 10. 10. Blake Edwards' comedy about a man's magnificent obsession with women was hilarious from start to finish. As the hapless hero, Dudley Moore was sheer perfection, and as the object See Movies, page 19 tent awards 'tget 'The Knack' ing this If for nothing else, this album is le list is great for showing that Led Zep has Again, not become the worn-out dinosaur iked, is the New Wavers claim they are. i at the The music does not try to reach out in, the and grab you the way the old t if it Zeppelin did, but that is to its "Short credit in this case. gone >re, and 10. The Muppet Movie (Sound. 1- *u~ . i is uit; irack) Original Cast aim can I include this as a tribute to the movie that denies everything the ... Led Seventies stood for, the movie that