.year s.pesi. ti
; Dy TOM MOO HE
D'VE complained so much in print and in
conversations about the movies this past year
that people often have said after I've loudly
voiced my opinions, "Well, he just doesn't like the
movies'
Not so! Despite numerous inane and poorly
made flicks, 1980 was a good year for the movies.
You might have had to hunt hard amongest the sea
of Fames, Ordinary Peoples, and American Gigolos
to find a decent, intelligent movie but thank
goodness there were quite a few fine films that
made it into release. ,
Before you find out what my favorite films of the
year were I'd like to make a couple of
qualifications. The list contains films that I saw
during the last year so you'll find films that were
released in some larger markets during late 1979
but didn't find there way into North Carolina until
early 19&0. And thanks to a trek I made to film
Mecca New York City over Christmas break
you'll find some titles that haven't made it to the
Southland yet.
As I find it silly that most critics in this somewhat
absurd ritual limit themselves to only 10 films on
their best of lists, my list consists of 16 films that I
felt were clearly outstanding.
So now without further rambling here are my
favorite films released in the last year, listed in
random order.
1. Dest Doy. Ira Wohl's stunning non-fiction film
about the age-old story of a child who leave's his
home and parents for the outside world. In this
case the boy was Wohl's 52-yearrold retarded
cousin Philly whose elderly parents enter him into a
school for retarded adults, where he learns to be
more self-reliant, and slowly prepares to leave
behind his family to live in a home for retarded
adults. A film both funny and sad, free of sappy
sentimentality that bogs down Hollywood attempts
at such subjects. i
2. The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith. This epic
Australian film about a half-caste whose frustrated
attempt to make it in a white man's world causes
him to go on a killing spree has an ambivilance and
anger rare in a movie dealing with such subject.
This makes it a demanding, but nonetheless, great
movie.
3. Ka;;en:usha fThe Shadow Warrior). Akira
Kurasowa's triumphant return to cinema is about
16th century feudal Japan. A warrior dies and is
replaced by a vagabond lookalike who keeps the
tribe in power. Filmed in a rousing style; Kurosawa
has one of the best visual senses in the history of
film. Kagemusha is scheduled to come to the
Carolina in Durham sometime this winter.
4. Rasing Dull. Martin Scorcese and Robert De
Niro team up once again for this adaptation of the
life of middleweight champion Jake La Motta.
Creat acting and great cinema style make this film
about La Motta a powerhouse. This movie should
clean-up at the Oscars (for whatever that's worth)
and is scheduled for release here next month.
5"The Dlack Stallion. In a fit of reviewer's
hyperbole I called Carroll Ballard's feature debut
the best first film wedding of sound and image
since CitizenKane. Well, it isn't quite that great but
it is a hell ot a good movie, able to transport us all
back to childhood.
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6. Deing Therei. A film whose reputation as
classic is already insured. The role of Chauncey
Gardner is one of the few parts that really taxed the
talents of the late Peter Sellers. His acting in this
Film is perhaps the best lead performance in any
American film since Brando's role in The
Godfather.
7. Dressed To Kill. I used to hate Brian De Palma
with firey passion, but this past year I've become a
zealous convert. He has remarkable cinema style
and a vicious wit. And no he's not a rip-off of
Hitchcock. He might use the same plot devices but
De Palma' s outrageous sense of humor and avant
garde techniques separate, him from the master...
Dressed To Kill is arguably a copy of Psycho but if s
a rip-off with enough style and flare to stand on its
own. ' ; . "
C. Home Movies. De Palma made this satire of
self-help movements with a class of students he
taught at Sarah Lawrence College. It contains none
of the rough violence that De Palma has become
noted for, just silly humor. It stars Kirk Douglas,
Vincent Gardenia. Nancy Allen and Keith Gordon
are cast in roles that are sort of predessors of the
ones they play in Dressed To Kill. One of the
theatres in this area would be smart to pick up
Home Movies and play it for a week or so. .
9. Every Man For Himself. Jean-Luc Godard's
visual poem about how work affects our lives. A
complex and funny film scheduled to arrive at the
Carolina in Durham sometime soon.
'10. Wise Blood. John Huston is still making great
films in his ,70's His adaptation of Flannery
O'Connor's novel about a redneck who, dismayed
with Christianity, founds his own Church The
Church of Christ Without Christ has more
bellyjaughs in it than any other film I saw last year.
11. Mon Oncle D'Arnericanique. A comedy by
Alain Resnais. The director of Hiroshima Mon
Amour turns to behaviorism for laughs and he gets
them. This film also is scheduled for the Carolina in
Durham sometime soon.
12. The Tin Drum. A well-acted, well-filmed
adaptation by Volker Schlondorff of Gunter Grass'
. novel about a German boy who appalled at the
Nazi world around him decides not to grow
anymore when he is four years old.
13. Stardust Memories. Woody Allen's latest film
met with derision from critics and the public. I'm
afraid his acid-laced satire was too much on the
ball for its own good. This brutually funny and non
compromising look at celebrityhood and its
worshippers will become more widely accepted in
time. .
14. The Big Red One. The cult director of B
movies, Samuel Fuller, returned to the screen after
a lengthy absence with this magnificent B movie
epic about the First Infantry Division during World
War II. Crude and often simplistic it still works as a
film and is awe-inspiring.
15. Simon. Marshall Brickman, co-scripter of
Annie Hall and Manhattan, made his directoral
debut with this Preston Sturges-like comedy about
a professor who along with the public is duped by a
bunch of meddlesome scientists into thinking he's
an alien. This sophisticated comedy starring Alan
Arkin and Madeline Kahn was given a crummy ad
campaign and never found the audience it
deserved.
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16. Coal Miner's Daughter. A sometimes corny
bio-pic about the rags-to-riches, American Dream
saga of country singer Loretta Lynn. Sissy Spacek as
Lynn and Tommy Lee Jones as her husband
Mooney were simply magnificent in their roles,
their acting overcame the script
There were other films that offered minor
pleasures such as The Empire Strikes Back with its
incredible special effects, Caddyshack with
hilarious performances by Rodney Dangerfield and
Bill Murray, The Shining with its magnificant
cinematography. The Biues Brothers with the
incredible Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles bits.
Seems Like Old Times with nice performances by
Chevy Chase, Goldie Hawn and Charles Grodin,
Marlon Brando in The Formula, Dolly Parton in
Nine To Five and the cinematography and John
Hurt in The Elephant Man. But these films were so
lacking in other areas that they weren't entirely
satisfying. ' fwJ
Tom Moore is arts editor for The Daily Tar Heel.
At the Movies
1
Seems Like Old Times is Neil Simon's attempt to
make a screwball comedy in the mode of Howard
Hawks Bringing Up Baby and Frank Caora's It
H Happened One Night Though it isn't nearly as
1 I good as movies it tries to emulate, the plot and
lJf okes are to tifed and things seem too forced, the
. 1 antics of Chevy Chase. Coldie Hawn and Charles
w j Crodin make this film more fun than any of the
I "" -nnsui,a movies, now playing at the Plaza, f
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Dolly Parton, Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda. Parton
comes off best because her part has the- most
verve; the roles or Fonda and Tomlin are If
conceived more to make statements about the
treatment of women in the work force than thev If
are to entertain. Which points to the basic flaw of
the film, it mostly concentrates on making trivial
observations about how women are abused in
their jobs and this makes things pretty dull. But f '
when it turns to absurdist humor, the movie works f !
marveously. Now playing at the Carolina. -J
Popeve looks and feels too much like the sreai S
t.C. begars Thimble Theatre, the comic strip on
which the movie is based, for it to work. Attempts
at cartoonish surrealism are too disconcerting
when real people play the parts. And this
combined with the distancing of Robert Altman's
direction and the rather awful songs by Harry
Nilsson, it's surprising that Popeye is actually a
pretty entertaining movie. The acting by Shelly
Duvali. Robin Williams and Ray Walston and
Wesley Allen Hurt as Swee' Pea overcome the
many odds and make things click. Ram Triple
I The Chant of funny Blacksmith, an Australian '
.aim aooui an emonierea aoongine wno uirns ioj
murder because of the frustrations of living in a 1 1
white man's world, treats its subject matter with L
intelligent ambivalence. This epic tragedy, based
on actual events that occurred in the early
century, refuses to trivialize its story by turning to
sappy sentimentality. This makes this
extraordinary violent epic directed by Fred
Schepisi a very demanding film for audiences and
I its also what makes the movie great Now playing
' at the Carolina in downtown Durham.
i Tom Moore is the arts editor for The Daily Tar "
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