The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, January 14, 1980, Page Page 16, Image 16
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
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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
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. Ifcj *
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':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