1981--The Year in Review

Another great year. Again, the top 30 films listed here are absolutely essential viewing (and proof that the 1970s are still going on, really). My top choice, Warren Beatty's Reds, has been a favorite of mine since its release, so I cannot abandon its sweeping romanticism and its epic peer at world history (plus its remarkable blending of the documentary and narrative styles of filmmaking; I love, too, how fiercely Beatty fought to get this difficult, extremely political yet massively tender movie made--and by a major capitalistic film outfit!). But Wolfgang Petersen's Das Boot (which wouldn't hit US shores until 1983) comes REAL close to besting it with its crushing suspense and atmosphere, and its equally challenging worldview (which makes us actually root for the Nazis!). Then, Lumet’s Prince of the City, with its 200 speaking parts and its own oppressive tension, also hits big (it was a tight race between Treat Williams' lead and John Heard's snarling, eye-patched performance in Cutter's Way, but I had to go for the latter; still, I could not ignore Prince of the City's sweeping screenplay). World cinema was re-awakened with movies like Pixote, Coup de Torchon, Mephisto, Diva, Christiane F, Man of Iron, Beau Père, Montenegro and two from the extremely prolific Rainer Werner Fassbinder Lili Marleen and Lola. It's a landmark year for the burgeoning genres of fantasy, sci-fi and horror, with Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Road Warrior, An American Werewolf in London, Excalibur, Time Bandits, The Evil Dead, Escape from New York, Dragonslayer, Quest for Fire, Possession, Scanners, The Howling, Shock Treatment, Caveman, Strange Behavior, Outland, Looker, For Your Eyes Only, Clash of the Titans, Dead and Buried, Heavy Metal, and The Beyond (geez, this seems like Year Zero for the present obsession with these genres). Comedy, too, reaches deep importance with Modern Romance, Gregory’s Girl, Arthur, They All Laughed, S.O.B., Continental Divide, The Four Seasons, Polyester, Stripes, Neighbors, and, yes, even Mommie Dearest. But then there are so many dramatic films I love: Blow Out (my favorite De Palma), Pixote, Gallipoli, Ragtime, Smash Palace, Southern Comfort, Thief, Body Heat, Sharky's Machine, Raggedy Man, Chariots of Fire (the surprise winner of the Best Picture award, via the Academy), Whose Life Is It, Anyway?, Ticket to Heaven, and Ms. 45. I have to laud the best musical of the year, a highly unique vision from director and former choreographer Herbert Ross (and writer Dennis Potter) called Pennies From Heaven--one of the most daring movies of the decade. And, finally, and unbelievably (since it's an art that has been so important from the beginning of cinema, as I have detailed in past years), it's the first year the Academy gave an Oscar to makeup artists, and of course Rick Baker had to win the award for the primo of his many masterpiece efforts. Ahh, it's insane how much I adore the pictures from 1981. It seems like a really unique period for movie history--one that's still ringing strongly to the present. NOTE: These are MY choices for each category, and are only occasionally reflective of the selections made by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (aka The Oscars). When available, the nominee that actually won the Oscar will be highlighted in bold.

PICTURE: REDS (US, Warren Beatty)
(2nd: Das Boot (West Germany, Wolfgang Petersen)
followed by: Prince of the City (US, Sidney Lumet)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (US, Steven Spielberg)
Pennies from Heaven (US, Herbert Ross)
Cutter’s Way (US, Ivan Passer)
Modern Romance (US, Albert Brooks)
Gregory’s Girl (UK, Bill Forsyth)
Pixote (Brazil, Hector Babenco)
Gallipoli (Australia, Peter Weir)
My Dinner With André (US, Louis Malle)
Vernon, Florida (US, Erroll Morris)
Thief (US, Michael Mann)
The Road Warrior (Australia, George Miller)
An American Werewolf in London (US/UK, John Landis)
Excalibur (UK, John Boorman)
Smash Palace (New Zealand, Roger Donaldson)
Arthur (US, Steve Gordon)
Southern Comfort (US, Walter Hill)
Blow Out (US, Brian de Palma)
Coup de Torchon (France, Bertrand Tavernier)
Ragtime (US, Milos Forman)
Mephisto (Hungary, Istvan Szabo)
Time Bandits (UK, Terry Gilliam)
The Evil Dead (US, Sam Raimi)
Body Heat (US, Lawrence Kasdan)
Escape from New York (US, John Carpenter)
The Decline of Western Civilization (US, Penelope Spheeris)
Sharky's Machine (US, Burt Reynolds)
They All Laughed (US, Peter Bogdanovich)
Raggedy Man (US, Jack Fisk)
Chariots of Fire (UK, Hugh Hudson)
S.O.B. (US, Blake Edwards)
Christiane F (West Germany, Uli Edel)
Diva (France, Jean-Jacques Beineix)
On Golden Pond (US, Mark Rydell)
Dragonslayer (US, Matthew Robbins)
Man of Iron (Poland, Andrzej Wajda)
Whose Life Is It, Anyway? (US/Canada, John Badham)
The Four Seasons (US, Alan Alda)
Ticket to Heaven (Canada, Ralph L. Thomas)
American Pop (US, Ralph Bakshi)
Continental Divide (US, Michael Apted);
Ms. 45 (US, Abel Ferrara)
The Chosen (US, Jeremy Kagan)
Brooklyn Bridge (US, Ken Burns)
Quest for Fire (France/Canada/US, Jean-Jacques Annaud)
The Day After Trinity (US, Jon Else)
All Night Long (US, Jean-Claude Tramont)
Soldier Girls (US, Nick Broomfield and Joan Churchill)
Nighthawks (US, Bruce Malmuth)
Eye of the Needle (UK, Richard Marquand)
The Postman Always Rings Twice (US, Bob Rafelson)
Polyester (US, John Waters)
Lili Marleen (West Germany, Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
Possession (France/.West Germany, Andzedj Zulawski)
Scanners (Canada, David Cronenberg)
Stripes (US/Canada, Ivan Reitman)
Neighbors (US, John G. Avildsen)
Beau Père (France, Bertrand Blier)
The Howling (US, Joe Dante)
The French Lieutenant’s Woman (UK, Karel Reisz)
True Confessions (US, Ulu Grosbard)
Absence of Malice (US, Sydney Pollack)
Montenegro (Sweden/UK, Dusan Makavejev)
Shock Treatment (UK, Jim Sharman)
First Monday in October (US, Ronald Neame)
Taps (US, Harold Becker)
Lola (West Germany, Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
The Loveless (US, Kathryn Bigelow)
Caveman (US, Carl Gottlieb)
Circle of Two (Canada, Jules Dassin)
Mommie Dearest (US, Frank Perry)
The Fox and the Hound (US, Ted Berman and Richard Rich)
Strange Behavior (US, Michael Laughlin)
Road Games (Australia, Richard Franklin)
Outland (US, Peter Hyams)
Looker (US, Michael Crichton)
For Your Eyes Only (UK, John Glen)
Clash of the Titans (US/UK, Desmond Davis)
Dead and Buried (US, Gary Sherman)
Heavy Metal (Canada, Gerald Potterton)
History of the World, Part I (US, Mel Brooks)
Wolfen (US, Michael Wasleigh)
Porky's (Canada, Bob Clark)
Roar (US, Noel Marshall)
The Beyond (Italy, Lucio Fulci)
Evilspeak (US, Eric Weston))

ACTOR: John Heard, CUTTER'S WAY (2nd: Treat Williams, Prince of the City, followed by: Dudley Moore, Arthur; Albert Brooks, Modern Romance; Warren Beatty, Reds; Henry Fonda, On Golden Pond; Bruno Lawrence, Smash Palace; Nick Mancuso, Ticket to Heaven)



ACTRESS: Diane Keaton, REDS (2nd: Sissy Spacek, Raggedy Man, followed by: Kathleen Turner, Body Heat; Katherine Hepburn, On Golden Pond; Isabelle Huppert, Coup De Torchon; Meryl Streep, The French Lieutenant’s Woman; Kate Nelligan, Eye of the Needle)



SUPPORTING ACTOR: John Gielgud, ARTHUR (2nd: Christopher Walken, Pennies from Heaven, followed by: Jack Nicholson, Reds; Griffin Dunne, An American Werewolf in London; Howard E. Rollins Jr., Ragtime; Nicol Williamson, Excalibur; Robert Preston, S.O.B.; Eric Roberts, Raggedy Man) 


 
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Maureen Stapleton, REDS (2nd: Lisa Eichorn, Cutter’s Way, followed by: Jessica Harper, Pennies from Heaven; Elizabeth McGovern, Ragtime; Melinda Dillon, Absence of Malice; Kathryn Harrold, Modern Romance; Jane Fonda, On Golden Pond; Cathy Moriarty, Neighbors) 



DIRECTOR: Warren Beatty, REDS (2nd: Sidney Lumet, Prince of the City, followed by: Wolfgang Petersen, Das Boot; Steven Spielberg, Raiders of the Lost Ark; Albert Brooks, Modern Romance; Brian De Palma, Blow Out; Hector Babenco, Pixote; Bill Forsyth, Gregory's Girl)

NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE FILM: DAS BOOT (West Germany, Wolfgang Petersen) (2nd: Pixote (Brazil, Hector Babenco), followed by: Coup de Torchon (France, Bertrand Tavernier); Mephisto (Hungary, Istvan Szabo); Christiane F (West Germany, Uli Edel); Diva (France, Jean-Jacques Beineix); Man of Iron (Poland, Andrzej Wajda); Lili Marleen (West Germany, Rainer Werner Fassbinder); Beau Père (France, Bertrand Blier); Montenegro (Sweden/UK, Dusan Makavejev); Lola (West Germany, Rainer Werner Fassbinder))

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: VERNON, FLORIDA (US, Errol Morris) (2nd: The Decline of the Western Civilization (US, Penelope Spheeris), followed by: Brooklyn Bridge (US, Ken Burns); The Day After Trinity (US, Jon Else); Soldier Girls (UK/US, Nick Broomfield and Joan Churchill))



ANIMATED FEATURE: AMERICAN POP (US, Ralph Bakshi) (2nd: The Fox and the Hound (US, Ted Berman and Richard Rich), followed by: Heavy Metal (Canada, Gerald Potterton))

LIVE ACTION SHORT: TANGO (Poland, Zbigniew Rybczynski) (2nd: L'Avant Dernier (France, Luc Besson), followed by: The Bunker of the Last Gunshots (France, Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet); Pikoo's Diary (India, Satyajit Ray))



ANIMATED SHORT: CRAC (Canada, Frederic Back) (2nd: The Tender Tale of Cinderella Penguin (Canada, Janet Perlman). followed by: Projekt (Czechoslovakia, Jiri Barta); The Garden of Earthly Delights (US, Stan Brakhage); E (USSR, Bretislav Pojar))



ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Albert Brooks and Monica Johnson, MODERN ROMANCE (2nd: Steve Gordon, Arthur, followed by Lawrence Kasdan, Body Heat; Warren Beatty and Trevor Griffiths, Reds; Bill Forsyth, Gregory’s Girl; Andre Gregory and Wallace Shawn, My Dinner with Andre)



ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Jay Presson Allen and Sidney Lumet, PRINCE OF THE CITY (2nd: Jeffery Alan Fiskin, Cutter’s Way, followed by: Wolfgang Petersen, Das Boot; Dennis Potter, Pennies From Heaven; Michael Mann, Thief; Michael Weller, Ragtime)

CINEMATOGRAPHY: Vittorio Storaro, REDS (2nd: Alex Thomson, Excalibur, followed by: Jost Vacano, Das Boot; Vilmos Zsigmond, Blow Out; Gordon Willis, Pennies From Heaven; Douglas Slocombe, Raiders of the Lost Ark)

ART DIRECTION: RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, Das Boot, Pennies from Heaven, Reds, Excalibur, Ragtime

COSTUME DESIGN: EXCALIBUR, Pennies from Heaven, Reds, Ragtime, Chariots of Fire, The Road Warrior

EDITING: RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, Das Boot, Reds, Prince of the City, The Road Warrior, An American Werewolf in London 

SOUND: DAS BOOT, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Reds, The Road Warrior, Dragonslayer, Blow Out



ORIGINAL SCORE: John Williams, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (2nd: Vangelis, Chariots of Fire, followed by: Ry Cooder, Southern Comfort; Randy Newman, Ragtime; Dave Grusin, On Golden Pond; Colin Tully, Gregory's Girl)



ADAPTATION SCORE/SCORING OF A MUSICAL: Ralph Burns and Billy May, PENNIES FROM HEAVEN (2nd: Trevor Jones, Excalibur, followed by: Richard O'Brien, Shock Treatment)



ORIGINAL SONG: “Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do)” from ARTHUR (Music and lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager, Burt Bacharach, Christopher Cross and Peter Allen) (2nd: “In My Own Way” from Shock Treatment (Music and lyrics by Richard O‘Brien) followed by: “One More Hour” from Ragtime (Music and lyrics by Randy Newman); “For Your Eyes Only” from For Your Eyes Only (Music by Bill Conti, lyrics by Mick Leeson); “Dream Away” from Time Bandits (Music and lyrics by George Harrison); “Never Say Goodbye” from Continental Divide (Music by Michael Small, lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager); "Endless Love" from Endless Love (Music and lyrics by Lionel Richie); "Looker" from Looker (Music and lyrics by Barry DeVorzon and Mike Tower))

SPECIAL EFFECTS: RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, Dragonslayer, Clash of the Titans

MAKEUP: AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON, Quest for Fire (won in 1982), Heartbeeps, The Evil Dead, Mommie Dearest

1977--The Year in Review

So many wonders in 1977. It's amazing to think that Woody Allen could bloom right beside George Lucas, David Lynch, Steven Spielberg, and Mike Leigh--and yet all could co-exist alongside veterans like Robert Altman, Luis Bunuel, and John Cassavetes. Yet it happened, in a year that would change the course of film history. Though Lucas' film would take the majority of the awards, it was easy to conclude that Allen's stark and moving look at a lost love affair should come out on top, especially since it was led by dynamic lead performances from Allen and Diane Keaton, who possibly delivers the smartest, most lovable lead performance of the decade (and in a year in which she double-socked us with another challenging role in Looking for Mr. Goodbar). After this, neither Allen's moviemaking career or the movies in general would ever be the same. Of course, the same goes for the arrival of Star Wars, but enough has been said about that. David Lynch's debut results in easily the most notable picture outside of these two champions, but also Steven Spielberg's affirmation of his Jaws promise is nothing to be disregarded. A relative newcomer nabs the Best Actor award, and steers the culture with his dancing moves, while an old-timer, fit with a perfect role, snatches the Supporting Actor award (he actually won for The Sunshine Boys in 1975, but THIS is the part he should have been lauded for; as well, the Larry Gelbart script he was working from deserved praise, too). As for the short films, two design masters landed the Animation award (with a film that would influence many in the future), while the UK delivered a stark view of countryside dangers in the Live Action category. And, finally, in the Best Song race, the Brothers Gibb reign with five nominations and a much deserved win (in reality, the Bee Gees were not a part of the Academy's top five--a crime). NOTE: These are MY choices for each category, and are only occasionally reflective of the selections made by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (aka The Oscars). When available, the nominee that actually won the Oscar will be highlighted in bold. 

PICTURE: ANNIE HALL (US, Woody Allen)
(2nd: Eraserhead (US, David Lynch)
followed by: 3 Women (US, Robert Altman)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (US, Steven Spielberg)
Star Wars (US, George Lucas)
That Obscure Object of Desire (France/Spain, Luis Buñuel)
Opening Night (US, John Cassavetes)
Sorcerer (US, William Friedkin)
The Late Show (US, Robert Benton)
Abigail's Party (UK, Mike Leigh)
Oh, God! (US, Carl Reiner)
Padre Padrone (Italy, Paolo Taviani and Vittorio Taviani)
Pumping Iron (US, George Butler and Robert Fiore)
21 Up (UK, Michael Apted)
Peppermint Soda (France, Diane Kurys)
Citizen's Band (aka Handle With Care) (US, Jonathan Demme)
Slap Shot (US, George Roy Hill)
Saturday Night Fever (US, John Badham)
The Duellists (UK, Ridley Scott)
Between the Lines (US, Joan Micklin Silver)
Soldier of Orange (Belgium/Netherlands, Paul Verhoeven)
Roseland (UK/IS, James Ivory)
Man of Marble (Poland, Andrzej Wajda)
The Last Wave (Australia, Peter Weir)
Looking for Mr. Goodbar (US, Richard Brooks)
The American Friend (West Germany, Wim Wenders)
Providence (France/UK, Alain Resnais)
Semi-Tough (US, Michael Richie)
Cross of Iron (US, Sam Peckinpah)
Stroszek (West Germany, Werner Herzog)
Julia (US, Fred Zinnemann)
I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (US, Anthony Page)
Hitler: A Film from Germany (West Germany, Hans-Jürgen Syberberg)
The Man Who Loved Women (France, Francois Truffaut)
Martin (US, George A. Romero)
Rolling Thunder (US, John Flynn)
Desperate Living (US, John Waters)
The Spy Who Loved Me (UK, Lewis Gilbert)
New York, New York (US, Martin Scorsese)
Rabid (Canada, David Cronenberg)
House (Japan, Nobuhiko Obayashi)
Who are the DeBolts and Where Did They Get 19 Kids? (US, John Korty)
Kentucky Fried Movie (US, John Landis)
Short Eyes (US, Robert M. Young)
Equus (US/UK, Sidney Lumet)
Andy Warhol’s Bad (US, Paul Morrissey)
A Bridge Too Far (UK/US, Richard Attenbourough)
Twilight's Last Gleaming (US, Robert Aldrich)
One on One (US, Lamont Johnson)
The Goodbye Girl (US, Herbert Ross)
High Anxiety (US, Mel Brooks)
The Turning Point (US, Herbert Ross)
The Hills Have Eyes (US, Wes Craven)
First Love (US, Joan Darling)
Demon Seed (US, Donald Cammell)
Gizmo! (US, Howard Smith)
The Gauntlet (US, Clint Eastwood)
Smokey and the Bandit (US, Hal Needham)
Black Sunday (US, John Frankenheimer)
Greased Lightning (US, Michael Schultz)
Rollercoaster (US, James Goldstone)
The Rescuers (US, Wolfgang Reitherman, John Lounsbury, and Art Stevens)
Suspiria (Italy, Dario Argento)
Wizards (US, Ralph Bakshi)
Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (US, Sam Wanamaker)
Pete's Dragon (US, Don Chaffey)
Shock Waves (US, Ken Wiederhorn)
The Incredible Melting Man (US, William Sachs))



ACTOR: John Travolta, SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER (2nd: Woody Allen, Annie Hall, followed by: Richard Dreyfuss, Close Encounters of the Third Kind (won for The Goodbye Girl); Jack Nance, Eraserhead; Fernando Rey, That Obscure Object of Desire; John Gielgud, Providence; Art Carney, The Late Show; John Denver, Oh, God!) 

 

ACTRESS: Diane Keaton, ANNIE HALL (2nd: Allison Steadman, Abigail's Party, followed by: Shelley Duvall, 3 Women; Gena Rowlands, Opening Night; Sissy Spacek, 3 Women; Diane Keaton, Looking for Mr. Goodbar; Lily Tomlin, The Late Show; Jessica Harper, Suspiria) 

SUPPORTING ACTOR: George Burns, OH, GOD! (2nd: G.D. Spradlin, One on One, followed by: Tim Stern, Abigail's Party; Jason Robards, Julia; Francois Truffaut, Close Encounters of the Third Kind; Jackie Gleason, Smokey and the Bandit; Bob Balaban, Close Encounters of the Third Kind; Mikhail Baryshnikov, The Turning Point)   

SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Vanessa Redgrave, JULIA (2nd: Melinda Dillon, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, followed by: Janet Duvitski, Abigail's Party; Teri Garr, Oh, God!; Joan Blondell, Opening Night; Quinn Cummings, The Goodbye Girl; Tuesday Weld, Looking for Mr. Goodbar; Charlotte Stewart, Eraserhead) 



DIRECTOR: Woody Allen, ANNIE HALL (2nd: David Lynch, Eraserhead, followed by: Steven Spielberg, Close Encounters of the Third Kind; Robert Altman, 3 Women; Luis Bunuel, That Obscure Object of Desire; George Lucas, Star Wars; William Friedkin, Sorcerer; John Cassavetes, Opening Night)

NON-ENGLISH-LANGUAGE FILM: THAT OBSCURE OBJECT OF DESIRE (France/Spain, Luis Buñuel) (2nd: Hitler: A Film from Germany (West Germany, Hans-Jürgen Syberberg), followed by: Padre Padrone (Italy, Paolo Taviani, Vittorio Taviani); Peppermint Soda (France, Diane Kurys); Soldier of Orange (Belgium/Netherlands, Paul Verhoeven); Man of Marble (Poland, Andrzej Wajda); Stroszek (West Germany, Werner Herzog); House (Japan, Nobuhiko Obayashi))

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: PUMPING IRON (US, George Butler and Robert Fiore) (2nd: 21 Up (UK, Michael Apted), followed by: Who are the DeBolts and Where Did They Get 19 Kids? (US, John Korty); Gizmo! (US, Howard Smith))



ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman, ANNIE HALL (2nd: Steven Spielberg, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, followed by: Mike Leigh, Abigail's Party; Robert Benton, The Late Show; Nancy Dowd, Slap Shot)



ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Larry Gelbart, OH, GOD! (2nd: Luis Bunuel and Jean-Claude Carriere, That Obscure Object of Desire, followed by: Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, Padre Padrone; Richard Brooks, Looking for Mr. Goodbar; Norman Wexler, Saturday Night Fever)



LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM: APACHES (UK, John MacKenzie) (2nd: The Absent Minded Waiter (US, Carl Gottlieb), followed by: Notes on the Popular Arts (US, Saul Bass); Stigma (UK, Lawrence Gordon Clark); Dog’s Dialogue (France, Raoul Ruiz))



ANIMATED SHORT FILM: POWERS OF TEN (US, Charles Eames and Ray Eames) (2nd: A Doonebury Special (US, John Hubley, Faith Hubley, and Garry Trudeau), followed by: The Sand Castle (Canada, Co Hoedeman); The Bead Game (Canada, Ishu Patel); Jimmy the C (US, Jimmy Picker))



CINEMATOGRAPHY: Herbert Caldwell and Frederick Elmes, ERASERHEAD (2nd: Frank Tidy, The Duellists; followed by: Vilmos Zsigmond, John A. Alonzo, Steven Poster, Laszlo Kovacs, William Fraker, and Douglas Slocombe, Close Encounters of the Third Kind (award given to Zsigmond solely); Charles Rosher Jr., 3 Women; Dick Bush and John M. Stephens, Sorcerer) 

ART DIRECTION: STAR WARS, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Spy Who Loved Me, Eraserhead, The Duellists

COSTUME DESIGN: STAR WARS, Julia, The Duellists, New York New York, A Little Night Music



FILM EDITING: STAR WARS, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Sorcerer, Annie Hall, Slap Shot

SOUND: STAR WARS, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Eraserhead, Sorcerer, A Bridge Too Far





ORIGINAL SCORE: John Williams, STAR WARS and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (this is VERY MUCH NOT a tie: it is a joint award) (2nd: Edgar Froese and Christopher Franke, Sorcerer; Jack Elliott, Oh, God!; Marvin Hamlisch, The Spy Who Loved Me; Georges Delarue, Julia)

 

ADAPTED OR MUSICAL SCORE: Ralph Burns, NEW YORK, NEW YORK (2nd: Irwin Kostal, Pete’s Dragon, followed by: David Shire, Saturday Night Fever)



ORIGINAL SONG: “Stayin‘ Alive” from SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER (Music and lyrics by Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb and Maurice Gibb) (2nd: “New York, New York“ from New York, New York (Music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb), followed by: “How Deep Is Your Love” from Saturday Night Fever (Music and lyrics by Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb and Maurice Gibb); “Nobody Does It Better” from The Spy Who Loved Me (Music by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager); "Night Fever" from Saturday Night Fever (Music and lyrics by Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb and Maurice Gibb); “High Anxiety“ from High Anxiety (Music and lyrics by Mel Brooks); “East Bound and Down” from Smokey and the Bandit (Music and lyrics by Jerry Reed); "You Light Up My Life" from You Light Up My Life (Music and lyrics by Joe Brooks); "More Than a Woman" from Saturday Night Fever (Music and lyrics by Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb and Maurice Gibb); "If I Can't Have You" from Saturday Night Fever (Music and lyrics by Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb and Maurice Gibb); "The Goodbye Girl" from The Goodbye Girl (Music and lyrics by David Gates); "Candle on the Water" from Pete's Dragon (Music and lyrics by Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn); "My Fair Share" from One on One (Music by Charles Fox, lyrics by Paul Williams); "Someone's Waiting for You" from The Rescuers (Music by Sammy Fain, lyrics by Carol Collins and Ayn Robbins))

SPECIAL EFFECTS: STAR WARS, Close Encounters of the Third Kind



MAKEUP: STAR WARS, Eraserhead, The Duellists

My 20 Favorite Actresses

In taking Tony Dayoub of Cinema Viewfinder up on his invitation for me to join the 20 Favorite Actresses meme started by Nathaniel at Film Experience, I tried hard to balance my love of these ladies' acting ability equally with my adoration of their feminine wiles. I also attempted to make my list an appreciation of actresses from all different eras--from the 1920s to now. I think I've done quite well on both fronts. At any rate, here are my current favorites:

Emily Watson (key films: Breaking the Waves, Punch-Drunk Love, Synecdoche NY, Hillary and Jackie, Angela's Ashes, The Proposition, Gosford Park, The Boxer, War Horse. Cradle Will Rock, Corpse Bride, Anna Karinina, The Book Thief)

Meryl Streep (key films: Kramer Vs. Kramer, Sophie's Choice, Manhattan, A Cry in the Dark, The Devil Wears Prada, Silkwood, Julia, Adaptation, A Prairie Home Companion, Doubt, Ironweed, Defending Your Life, Mamma Mia, Julie and Julia, Out of Africa, One True Thing, The Bridges of Madison County, The Hours, Angels in America, Holocaust, The Deer Hunter, The Iron Lady, Hope Springs, August: Osage County, The Homesman, Into the Woods)

Grace Kelly (Key films: Rear Window, To Catch a Thief, High Society, High Noon, Dial M for Murder, Mogambo, The Country Girl, The Bridges at Toko-Ri)

Greta Garbo (Key films: Queen Christina, Ninochka, The Flesh and The Devil, Camille, Grand Hotel, The Painted Veil, Anna Christie, Anna Karinina, Mata Hari, Conquest)

Diane Keaton (Key films: Annie Hall, Reds, Manhattan, Play It Again Sam, The Godfather, Looking for Mr. Goodbar, Interiors, Love and Death, Sleeper, Lovers and Other Strangers, The Godfather Part II, Shoot the Moon, The Good Mother, Manhattan Murder Mystery, Something's Gotta Give, Marvin's Room, Crimes of the Heart, Sister Mary Explains It All)

Vivian Leigh (key films: Gone With The Wind, That Hamilton Woman, A Streetcar Named Desire, Ship of Fools, Waterloo Bridge, The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone, A Yank at Oxford, Anna Karinena, Fire Over England)

Audrey Hepburn (key films: Funny Face, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Two for the Road, Wait Until Dark, Roman Holiday, The Nun's Story, Sabrina, Love in the Afternoon, They All Laughed, Robin and Marian, Always, The Children's Hour, Charade, How to Steal a Million, My Fair Lady)

Jean Arthur (key films: The More The Merrier, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Shane, The Talk of the Town, The Devil and Miss Jones, Only Angels Have Wings, Easy Living, You Can't Take It With You, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, The Plainsman, History is Made at Night)

Kirsten Dunst (key films: Bring It On, Little Women, Interview With A Vampire, Spiderman, Crazy/Beautiful, Levity, Marie Antoinette, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Cat's Meow, Spiderman II, Dick, The Virgin Suicides, Wag the Dog, Melancholia, Bachelorette, Fargo (TV))

Zooey Deschanel (key films: All The Real Girls, (500) Days of Summer, The Good Girl, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Tin Man, Live Free or Die, Almost Famous, Mumford, Elf, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, New Girl (TV))

Myrna Loy (key films: the Thin Man series, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, The Best Years of Our Lives, The Thin Man, After The Thin Man, The Mask of Fu Manchu, The Great Ziegfeld, Manhattan Melodrama, Another Thin Man, The Rains Came, The End, The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer, Cheaper by the Dozen, Shadow of the Thin Man, Lonleyhearts, Midnight Lace)

Helen Mirren (key films: O Lucky Man, The Tempest, Excalibur, The Cook The Thief His Wife and Her Lover, Red, The Queen, The Mosquito Coast, Caligula, Gosford Park, The Madness of King George, Age of Consent, Cal, Prime Suspect, Elizabeth I, The Long Good Friday, Hitchcock, The Last Station, Phil Spector, The Hundred Foot Journey)

Ann-Margret (key films: Tommy, Bye Bye Birdie, Viva Las Vegas, The Swinger, Carnal Knowledge, The Cincinnati Kid, State Fair, The Villain, The Cheap Detective, Magic, Twice in a Lifetime, Kitten with a Whip, 52 Pick Up, Who Will Love My Children?, Pocketful of Miracles, The Train Robbers, Joseph Andrews, Grumpy Old Men, The Break-Up, Any Given Sunday)

Virginie Ledoyen (key films: A Single Girl, La Ceremonie, 8 Women, The Beach, Late August Early September, A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries)

Greta Gerwig (Key films: Hannah Takes The Stairs, Baghead, The House of the Devil, Nights and Weekends, Greenberg, Arthur, Lola Versus, Damsels in Distress, To Rome With Love, Frances Ha, The Humbling, Eden, Mistress America, Lady Bird (as writer/director))

Diane Lane (key films: A Little Romance, Six Pack, Unfaithful, The Outsiders, A Walk on the Moon, Streets of Fire, Touched by Love, Secretariat, Cinema Verite, Ladies and Gentlemen The Fabulous Stains, Rumblefish, The Cotton Club, Wild Bill, My Dog Skip, Virtuosity, Hollywoodland)

Marisa Tomei (key films: My Cousin Vinny, The Wrestler, Oscar, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, In The Bedroom, Untamed Heart, Factotum, Cyrus, Happy Accidents, The Slums of Beverly Hills, Crazy Stupid Love, The Ides of March, Love is Strange)

Chantal Goya (key film: Masculin/Feminin)

Catherine Deneuve (key films: Repulsion, Belle De Jour, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Indochine, 8 Women, Dancer in the Dark, The Young Girls of Roquefort, Hustle, The Last Metro, The Hunger, A Christmas Tale, East-West, Scene of the Crime, Persepolis, A Christmas Tale, On My Way)

Amy Adams (key films: Junebug, The Fighter, Catch Me If You Can, Enchanted, Doubt, Charlie Wilson's War, Sunshine Cleaners, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Psycho Beach Party, The Master, Her, American Hustle, Big Eyes. Arrival)

There are so many actresses I painfully had to leave out. So MY 20 RUNNERS-UP are Jill Clayburgh, Ingrid Bergman, Thelma Ritter, Julianne Moore, Liv Ullmann, Veronica Lake, Natalie Wood, Michelle Williams, Ruth Gordon, Barbara Stanwyck, Ginger Rogers, Charlotte Rampling, Scarlett Johansson, Naomi Watts, Elizabeth Taylor, Isabelle Huppert, Maria Falconetti, Lili Taylor, Sissy Spacek, and Jessica Harper.

Film #92: Reds

Still pretty charming even now, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis arrived on TV in 1959. This black- and-white sitcom revolved around Dwayne Hickman as the girl-crazy title character, smitten most obsessively with blonde high school heartthrob Thalia Menniger (Tuesday Weld). And, for six episodes in 1960, on came this handsome dude playing Milton Armitage, Dobie's alpha dog rival for Thalia's attentions. This kid, named Warren Beatty, showed little promise of his future idiosyncratic rise through Hollywood ranks. But he would himself become the film industry's top lothario -- a 1970s tabloid favorite. And he would one day surprise everyone by winning a deserved Academy Award for his direction of a contentious, touching, money-losing epic centered on an avowed American communist--one of only three U.S. citizens buried in the Kremlin. With his detailed probe into the life of John Reed (the author of Ten Days That Shook the World, a snug, blow-by-blow spin on the 1917 Russian revolution), Beatty left some agog, others infuriated and others even simply somehow unmoved. But, then, nothing--not even 1967's boundary-smashing Bonnie and Clyde, which Beatty produced while going mano-y-mano with Warner Brother Jack Warner himself (who was angrily perplexed about the film's success)--has ever gone really according to plan for Beatty's movies. But so what? Time has spoken and, viewed now, Beatty's cinematic biography of John Reed reveals itself as an ageless and unique opus.

I now recall my grandfather, who in December of 1981 was real active in the bootlegging of video and audio cassettes (I think anti-capitalist Reed would've liked this). Being an avid fan of history, my Papa nonchalantly handed me a videotape recently shot (quite well) by a theater projectionist. He knew I was a precocious 15-year-old movie lover, so he happily let me watch the tape (as well as a bootlegged copy of Pennies from Heaven, which he vehemently despised and I still think is genius). Now that I recall, I pretty sure Reds was the first movie I'd ever watched on VHS and, to boot, my grandfather had given me an expertly transferred, letterboxed version. Actually, this is how I learned what letterboxing was; Reds looked better than any movie I'd ever seen on TV and I knew and felt it was because the screen was finally theatrical-movie-shaped.

At any rate, upon giving me this ill-gotten bootleg, my grandfather sniffed haughtily and said he didn't think much of the Commie movie. But I wasn't surprised by that, because we often disagreed about films. I didn't know it then, but each generation largely fails to understand the tastes of all others. Our particular, mercifully small schizm lived in my view that Papa was early-20th- Century-born and that meant he would never really get 1970s Hollywood-Renaissance moviemaking. I, meanwhile, was thankfully growing up with 1970s movies; the only other great times to grow up with the movies were the 1920s and the 1950s (and we're still waiting for another renaissance that I fear may never come). True to form, when Reds finished, I marveled inside at how my father's father could be so intelligent, yet so unthinkingly dismissive o this passionate movie. I then knew this schizm of ours wouldn't be disappearing any time soon (it still hasn't, I reckon). Also, strangely, to this day, and -- who knows? -- maybe because of my memory of this important TV viewing is still so positive, I still haven't seen Reds unspool onto the big screen. I fervently wanna correct that.

Before I popped this VHS tape Papa gave me into the bulky top-loading machine that was state-of-the-art back then, I had become tremendously excited about Reds through my favorite publication, Variety. Outspoken anti-communist and one-time Democratic-leaning Screen Actors Union head Ronald Reagan had just been elected to the Oval Office, so 1981 was exactly the wrong time for Beatty to be hawking such a movie. For that reason, before its release, Reds was getting a lot of press in the trades. Beatty had been working on the film since 1978, when he garnered four Oscar nominations for Best Actor, Best Screenplay, Best Director (with Buck Henry) and Best Picture (he was the sole producer) for an fun, elegant remake of Heaven Can Wait (also a Beatty film ripe for re-evaluation). Remember, this was a feat that was only precedented by Orson Welles and Citizen Kane back in 1941! Plus Heaven Can Wait, unlike Welles' film, was one of the biggest box-office hits of the year. So everyone in love with the medium of movies was on the razor's edge, wanting to know all about Beatty's $35 million (now $130 million) filmic obsession. Movie watchers were almost to a man preparing for Reds to be a leaden boondoggle; in pre-release hype and upon-release acclaim, it was the Titanic of its day, but finally and immeasurably sooooooo much greater than Cameron's blockbuster, even though it took in about 1/100th of Titanic's box office cash.

I expected one thing when I took in the picture's first images. But I got something so much more. Reds begins not with a glittery image of Beatty or one of his fellow stars, but with starkly-photographed documentary footage of elderly people desperately trying to dredge up their memories of Jack Reed. At 15, I had never before seen old people look so handsome on film. And the creaking, ancient tones of their voices were so superlatively captured--my God, the feeling of first seeing Reds now once again surges through me. These seniors were, according to the final credits, The Witnesses. I now want to pay tribute to them by discovering who each of them were, to the best of my ability (thanks to the good people over at Wikipedia). Among them:

* Roger Nash Baldwin (founder of the ACLU)
* Andrew Dasburg (painter and former lover of Louise Bryant)
* Will Durant (Philosopher, historian, and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer of the 11-volume The Story of Civilization)
* Hamilton Fish III (the grandson of Ulysses S. Grant's Secretary of State and, in 1981, one of America's oldest-living Congressmen; he's the one that humorously speculates as to whether Reed was a Communist)
* Adele Gutman Nathan
* Blanche Hays Fagen (these are the two ladies filmed together who are so, SO amusing in their comments)
* Dorothy Frooks (Author, publisher, military figure and actress)
* Hugo Gellert (Illustrator and satirist)
* George Jessel (Legendary actor, singer, songwriter, radio star, movie producer, and "Toastmaster of the United States")
* Henry Miller (Writer of Tropic of Cancer, Tropic of Capricorn, The World of Sex, Nexus, Plexus, and Sexus; the one-time lover of Anais Nin, he's the one that says, of course, "You know, I think there was just as much fucking going on then as there is now, only then, there was a little bit of heart to it.")
* Scott Nearing (Conservationist, peace activist, educator and writer)
* Adela Rogers St. Johns (Journalist, novelist, and screenwriter)
* Dora Russell (Feminist and progressive campaigner; second wife of Bertrand Russell) and Rebecca West (Feminist and writer) (they appear together in the film)
* George Seldes (Investigative journalist and media critic)
* Jessica Smith (Editor and activist)
* Arne Swabeck (American Communist leader)
All, and more, appear as themselves, eyes shining brightly as Beatty, behind the camera, implores them to remember anything, anything at all about John Reed and his lover Louise Bryant (their bare recollections at the beginning feel like a long-dormant engine being revved for the first time in an age). In the 25th anniversary DVD commentary (one of the best commentaries ever recorded), Beatty says that he filmed hundreds of hours of interviews with these historical figures, starting in 1979; some of them were long dead by the time his epic finally hit the theaters.

The Witnesses act as a buoyant Greek chorus for this gargantuan story that follows John Reed from his rabble-rousing as a 1913 Greenwich Village journalist to the beginnings of his love affair with ambitious Oregonian journalist Louise Bryant (Diane Keaton), whom he met upon visiting his mother in Portland in 1916. It's Reed's relationship with the insecure Bryant that's at the center of Reds, and the boundless sensitivity with which it treats this clearly passionate love affair is what makes the movie the enduring epic that it is.

Bryant, smitten with Reed, follows him to New York, where they quickly become an item among the Village intelligentsia. But, as portrayed in the movie, Bryant feels overcome by Reed's progress in this arena. The fact that she's inexperienced and barely been able to make an NY dent with her writing becomes a big bone of contention between the two, and the subject of a few monsterously raucous scenes where they literally spar about their relationship, their ambitions, and their politics, always at the same time. Reds impresses with these scenes that gallantly balance heady subject matters while driving home the enormous emotion with which these two artist/journalists were grappling (Reed once proclaims "Louise, I love you," to which she replies "No, you love yourself! Me, you FUCK!")

In New York, Bryant begins a cuttingly combative relationship with Emma Goldman (Maureen Stapleton). This stern, commanding actress delivers an astounding performance as Goldman, the avowed feminist and at one time Communist sympathizer who holds a low opinion of Bryant's intellectual abilities. Goldman, ironically against her truest personal beliefs, demeaningly and unfairly sees Louise as another of Reed's air-headed "girls," denying her the chance to excel that Goldman's long been fighting for all women to obtain. But Reed, deeply in love, sees so much more in Louise (which makes him more of a feminist than Goldman!!). Always in search of new horizons, she and Jack abandon New York and take up with a band of beach-combing artisans in Providencetown, MA. There, Bryant begins a friendship with Reed's best buddy, playwright Eugene O'Neill (Jack Nicholson). As Reed is off beginning his political "career" most of the time, much to Louise's disconcert ("Taxi's waiting, Jack..."), she turns cavalierly to the adorous alcoholic O'Neill for romantic comfort. This dynamic provides Reds with some of its most electric moments--Nicholson's few scenes with Keaton are tremendously involving (Nicholson was nominated for a Supporting Actor Oscar for his few minutes here). When Reed returns to Massachusetts, lonely and in need of his lover (who needs him, too), O'Neill is devastated, and his emotions overspill in vivid fashion. ("If you were mine, I wouldn't share you with anybody or anything," he says. "It'd be just you and me. We'd be the center of it all. I know it would feel a lot more like love than being left alone with your work.")

It's here that the marriage of Reed and Bryant takes over in Beatty's screenplay with Trevor Griffiths. Their retreat into upstate New York leads to a swell domestic life. But Reed cannot abandon his political hopes; his need to affect the world with more than his writing commands his passion, so much so that he has to abandon romance and agree to being the Communist Party's American representative on the Russian Comentern, just as the country's break from the Czar is taking hold. What he finds overseas--and what he is disappointed by, both with and without Bryant as companion / collaborator--forms the largest portion of this uncanny 3hr16min film.

After I joyfully finished with Reds that first time, I was in a cloud-touching daze, the sort of which always seizes me after seeing a monumental movie. Beatty's work instantly represented the sort of history lesson my teachers never even touched on in class, and I was immediately suspicious that much more alluring events were going on in the world than I was being let in on. It was here, I think, that I garnered my lifelong interest in REAL history--not that crap to us shoveled out of tired textbooks, but the kind of history that sparkled with humanity, love, sex, longing, and death. Since seeing Reds, I have been a voracious consumer of historical fact, which I am convinced goes in directions that no fiction can replecate (I very, VERY rarely read fiction; I get what fiction I take in from movies).

Reds, nominated in 1981 for a then Ben-Hur-tying record of 12 Academy Awards (which only Lord of The Rings: The Return of the King and Titanic have matched)--pops with mammoth factual figures. Besides the obvious, there's V.I. Lenin, Leon Trotsky, Woodrow Wilson, early Libertarian and editor of The Masses Max Eastman (Edward Herrmann), hard-hearted Bolshevik #2 man Grigory Zinoviev (played by Being There author Jerzy Kozinski, whose scene lecturing Reed while consuming a scurvy-fighting lemon and onion sticks surely in my memory), and Industrial Workers of the World founder Bill Haywood, played briefly by Dolph Sweet. Then we have Gene Hackman as one of Reed's magazine buddies, Paul Sorvino (apoplectic as a rival communist representative), the rarely-seen George Plimpton as a slimy New York editor, William Daniels as another harried communist activist, and cameos by M. Emmett Walsh, Kathryn Grody, Cheers stool-warmer John Ratzenberger, and Max Wright (better known as the dad on Alf). There are a lot of familiar faces in Reds.

Wow, there's so much I love about this movie. How Keaton, being called out on her reconciliation with Beatty, nervously pours Nicholson's O'Neill another scotch, spilling it on the floor ("Your abilities as a bartender seem to have gone downhill," O'Neill sneers). How Stapleton--1981's Oscar-winner for Best Supporting Actress--quickly reconsiders her opinion on the commitment of Keaton's Bryant upon seeing her in Russia, as Bryant lovingly comes to Jack Reed's aid (there's an on-screen embrace between Stapleton and Keaton that's unexpectedly touching). How the tipsy, red-faced Gene Hackman appears out of nowhere to give Reed hell for abandoning journalism. How George Plimpton flusters about while trying to get Keaton in the sack. How Beatty's Reed and Stapleton's Goldman have a firey debate in Russia on the worth of Communism as it's being perverted by the maniacal Lenin.

And this: I was not aware of this until I heard Beatty's rare DVD commentary, but Reds was filmed in London (and many more British locales), California, New York, Massachusetts, Finland, Sweden, and Russia; I find this spectacular (just imagine the nightmare it must have been editing this movie--I wager the original cut was six freaking hours long). I find it funny when Keaton--who, given her character's transformation, really delivers the film's most fetching performance--defiantly responds to FBI agents barging into her Croton-on-Hudson home (veteran character actor R.G. Armstrong gruffly states he's looking for "agitators," to which Keaton replies "Well, why don't you look around and see how agitated you get?"). I cherish the gentle, unobtrusive background music by Broadway legend Stephen Sondheim (his only movie score) and jazz legend Dave Grusin (On Golden Pond, My Bodyguard, The Milagro Beanfield War). And I will never, ever EVER forget how the film's final ten minutes first easily wrestled tears of romance, joy and sadness from my eyes.

And, perhaps most of all, I adore Vittorio Storaro's varied, incomparable photography--the gentle pastels of the Providencetown scenes; the harshly-lit Communist Party debates; the reds, yellows and tans of Greenwich Village; the blinding snow whites of the Finland sequences (which led to some critics unjustifyably comparing Reds to David Lean's fine-but-still-inferior romantic/historical epic Doctor Zhivago); the expansive Lean-like vistas following Reed's escape from a demolished Communist train; and especially the colorful, black-backdropped footage of The Witnesses (that's the first thing that I think of when I think of Reds, and the inclusion of this invaluable documentary footage is what provides it an edge as one of the cinema's finest products). Storaro possesses the starriest career one can hope for, acting as lighting master for Italians Dario Argento (The Bird With The Crystal Plumage, The Spider's Stretegem), Bernardo Bertolucci (1900, Last Tango in Paris, The Last Emperor, The Sheltering Sky) and Francis Coppola (Apocalypse Now--for which he also won an Oscar in 1979--and the misunderstood One From The Heart). But his first movie for Beatty--this non-Italian, for whom he also photographed the blazing colors of Dick Tracy--eclipses his stellar former works. With Reds, you get to see EVERYTHING that Storaro can do. And it is an unrivaled gallery of achievement.

I've made my case (and I could continue on and on). Even if you don't like Warren Beatty (as a lot of movie lovers say they do not, which I can understand), Reds accomplishes what few historical films do-- even the undisputedly essential but sometimes confusing and intentionally distant Lawrence of Arabia. Beatty and company take you around the world, to another time, putting you there, in the mix, while clearly explaining serpentine political notions through the prism of complex human emotions. Reds entertains with a parade of Hollywood big-shots, but not so much so you fault it. And it takes a fresh bent on history, writing large a little-known historical side-story--one that unfolded very much as portrayed (another historical film rarity). I think--I know--Reds is a masterpiece. I realize that M-word gets bandied about a lot, but here it truly applies. Even while watching it as a voracious 15-year-old, I was sure Reds deserved that prized moniker. If you haven't seen it, you really don't know what majestic things movies can do for your soul.