It's The End, The End Of The Seventies

Jesse's at it again, with the top ten movies from 1979. I thought it was a great year, so I'm glad to see Jesse agrees. Now let's see if we agree on the particulars.

We both like Kramer vs. Kramer (even though it won the Best Picture Oscar) but it doesn't make his list.

What does?

1. Being There
2. Manhattan
3. Life of Brian
4. Apocalypse Now
5. Wise Blood
6. The Third Generation
7. Winter Kills
8. Escape from Alcatraz
9. Murder by Decree
10. All That Jazz

A pretty good list. Being There is such a thin conceit, it barely works in a short novel, so it's amazing that Hal Ashby, with a mesmerizing performance from Peter Sellers, is able to make it so much of it on screen.

I'm of two minds on Manhattan. It represents to me the newly born "serious" Woody Allen. It's definitely a letdown after Annie Hall (I choose to ignore Interiors). It's also a letdown after Love And Death, and Bananas. On the other hand, this is as good as the "new" Woody is gonna be, which is still pretty good. (A vague comparison could be made with Night At The Opera--this is as good as the MGM Marx Brothers are gonna be. Or The Great Dictator. This is as good as the talking Chaplin will be.)

Life Of Brian, that's certainly gotta make it. Apocalypse Now, sure--even if the third act can't live up to the set-up. And in All That Jazz, Bob Fosse somehow pulls off a dark, solipsistic, semi-autobiographical quasi-musical. It's showtime!

Wise Blood, Winter Kills and Murder By Decree I like, though maybe not as much as Jesse. Never saw The Third Generation. Escape From Alcatraz is my favorite Clint Eastwood film from this era (which, admittedly, isn't saying much).

His honorable mentions:

11. The Great Santini
12. The Tin Drum
13. Alien
14. Bye Bye Brazil
15. The Marriage of Maria Braun
16. The Brood
17. Scum
18. Going in Style
19. A Perfect Couple
20. The Muppet Movie

I'd probably put Santini and Tin Drum in my top ten. I think Alien is just a bad slasher film in outer space. Bye Bye Brazil I like, and Maria Braun is one of Fassbinder's best (of those I've seen). I'm not a huge fan of Cronenberg, and the sort of film The Brood represents. Never seen Scum. Going In Style is unrecognized, but a decent, rare small film from Martin Brest. A Perfect Couple is minor Altman, but pretty good. The Muppet Movie is fun.

Here are three other films from that year that would probably have made my top ten:

Breaking Away, The In-Laws and Rock 'n' Roll High School. And let's throw in Hair while we're at it.

Here are some other movies from 1979 that I like, to varying degrees:

The Electric Horseman, Meatballs, Over the Edge, The Onion Field, Quadrophenia, Soldier of Orange and The Warriors.

Here are some films that I wouldn't say are good, but at least had something of value in them:

Americathon, …And Justice for All, 10 (What's this: "10, 9, 8, 7..."--Bo Derek growing older), 1941 (not funny, but the money's on the screen), Buck Rogers In The 25th Century, Hardcore, Hot Stuff, The Jerk, Love At First Bite, Mr. Mikes Mondo Video, The Rose and Time After Time.

And here are films that many at the time considered to be of significant quality:

The Black Stallion, Caligula (not really), The China Syndrome, Gal Young 'Un, Heartland, Mad Max, Meetings with Remarkable Men, Moscow Does Not Believe In Tears, Norma Rae, Starting Over, Tess and Woyzeck.