Taking It All In
Encyclopedia
Taking It All In is the seventh collection of movie reviews by the critic Pauline Kael
and contains the 150 film reviews she wrote for The New Yorker
between June 9, 1980, and June 13, 1983. She writes in the Author's Note at the beginning of the collection that, "it was a shock to discover how many good ones there were", as well as observing that only a very few of the movies she liked were box-office successes - E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
, Tootsie
, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
. She laments that, "in the '80s, films that aren't immediate box-office successes are instantly branded as losers, flops, bombs. Some of the movies that meant the most to me were in this doomed group - The Stunt Man
, Pennies from Heaven
, Blow Out
, The Devil's Playground, Melvin and Howard
, Shoot the Moon
, Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean".
The collection starts up after a gap of a year, part of which Kael spent in Los Angeles and what she learned during those months is summed up in the piece Why Are Movies So Bad? This essay, (in which she takes on the Hollywood money men whose love of swift and easy financial returns she believed led to the too many truly bad films on show at the time), is also included in the collection. ( "Why Are Movies So Bad? Or The Numbers").
The book is out-of-print in the United States, but is still published by Marion Boyars Publishers
in the United Kingdom.
Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael was an American film critic who wrote for The New Yorker magazine from 1968 to 1991. Earlier in her career, her work appeared in City Lights, McCall's and The New Republic....
and contains the 150 film reviews she wrote for The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
between June 9, 1980, and June 13, 1983. She writes in the Author's Note at the beginning of the collection that, "it was a shock to discover how many good ones there were", as well as observing that only a very few of the movies she liked were box-office successes - E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is a 1982 American science fiction film co-produced and directed by Steven Spielberg, written by Melissa Mathison and starring Henry Thomas, Dee Wallace, Robert MacNaughton, Drew Barrymore, and Peter Coyote...
, Tootsie
Tootsie
Tootsie is a 1982 American comedy film that tells the story of a talented but volatile actor whose reputation for being difficult forces him to go to extreme lengths to land a job. The movie stars Dustin Hoffman and Jessica Lange, with a supporting cast that includes Teri Garr, Dabney Coleman,...
, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is a 1982 American science fiction film released by Paramount Pictures. The film is the second feature based on the Star Trek science fiction franchise. The plot features James T...
. She laments that, "in the '80s, films that aren't immediate box-office successes are instantly branded as losers, flops, bombs. Some of the movies that meant the most to me were in this doomed group - The Stunt Man
The Stunt Man
The Stunt Man is a 1980 American film directed by Richard Rush, starring Peter O'Toole, Steve Railsback, and Barbara Hershey. The movie was adapted by Lawrence B. Marcus and Rush from the novel by Paul Brodeur...
, Pennies from Heaven
Pennies from Heaven (1981 film)
Pennies from Heaven is a 1981 musical film. The film was based on a 1978 BBC television drama. In 1981, Dennis Potter adapted his own screenplay for a film of the same name for American audiences, with its setting changed to Depression era Chicago. Potter was nominated for the 1981 Academy Award...
, Blow Out
Blow Out
Blow Out is a 1981 thriller film, written and directed by Brian De Palma. The film stars John Travolta as Jack Terry, a movie sound effects technician from Philadelphia who, while recording sounds for a low-budget slasher film, serendipitously captures audio evidence of an assassination involving a...
, The Devil's Playground, Melvin and Howard
Melvin and Howard
Melvin and Howard is a 1980 American comedy-drama film directed by Jonathan Demme. The screenplay by Bo Goldman was inspired by real-life Utah service station owner Melvin Dummar, who was listed as the beneficiary of USD$156 million in a will allegedly handwritten by Howard Hughes that was...
, Shoot the Moon
Shoot the Moon
Shoot the Moon is the title of the fourth album by singer-songwriter Judie Tzuke, released in April 1982. It was Tzuke's first album for Chrysalis Records, after leaving Elton John's label Rocket Records...
, Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean".
The collection starts up after a gap of a year, part of which Kael spent in Los Angeles and what she learned during those months is summed up in the piece Why Are Movies So Bad? This essay, (in which she takes on the Hollywood money men whose love of swift and easy financial returns she believed led to the too many truly bad films on show at the time), is also included in the collection. ( "Why Are Movies So Bad? Or The Numbers").
The book is out-of-print in the United States, but is still published by Marion Boyars Publishers
Marion Boyars Publishers
Marion Boyars Publishers is an independent publishing company located in Great Britain, publishing books that focus on the humanities and social sciences.-External links:*...
in the United Kingdom.
Movies reviewed
- The ShiningThe Shining (film)The Shining is a 1980 psychological horror film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, co-written with novelist Diane Johnson, and starring Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, and Danny Lloyd. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King. A writer, Jack Torrance, takes a job as an...
- "Again and again, the movie leads us to expect something - almost promises it - and then disappoints us." - BrubakerBrubakerBrubaker is an American 1980 film about a prison in distress and the Warden Henry Brubaker who attempts to reform the system....
- "You're held by this movie, even when you're arguing with it, because there's power in the subject and in many of the performances.." - The Blues BrothersThe Blues Brothers (film)The Blues Brothers is a 1980 musical comedy film directed by John Landis and starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd as "Joliet" Jake and Elwood Blues, characters developed from a musical sketch on the NBC variety series Saturday Night Live. It features musical numbers by R&B and soul singers James...
- "Getting Aretha FranklinAretha FranklinAretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Although known for her soul recordings and referred to as The Queen of Soul, Franklin is also adept at jazz, blues, R&B, gospel music, and rock. Rolling Stone magazine ranked her atop its list of The Greatest Singers of All...
into The Blues Brothers was the smartest thing the director, John LandisJohn LandisJohn David Landis is an American film director, screenwriter, actor, and producer. He is known for his comedies, his horror films, and his music videos with singer Michael Jackson.-Early life and career:...
, did; letting her get away after that one number - (she sings 'Think') - was the dumbest." - The Blue LagoonThe Blue Lagoon (1980 film)The Blue Lagoon is a 1980 American romance and adventure film directed by Randal Kleiser. The screenplay by Douglas Day Stewart was based on the novel The Blue Lagoon by Henry De Vere Stacpoole. The film stars Brooke Shields and Christopher Atkins...
- "Watching them, (Brooke ShieldsBrooke ShieldsBrooke Christa Shields is an American actress and model. Some of her better-known movies include Pretty Baby and The Blue Lagoon, as well as TV shows such as Suddenly Susan, That '70s Show and Lipstick Jungle....
and Christopher AtkinsChristopher AtkinsChristopher Atkins is an American actor, who became famous with his costarring debut role in the 1980 film The Blue Lagoon.-Early life:...
), is about as exciting as looking into a fishbowl waiting for guppiesGuppyThe guppy , also known as the millionfish, is one of the most popular freshwater aquarium fish species in the world. It is a small member of the Poeciliidae family [females long, males long] and like all other members of the family, is live-bearing....
to mate." - Urban CowboyUrban CowboyReleased as a 2× vinyl record album, re-released on CD in 1995.Side A:#Hello Texas – Jimmy Buffett #All Night Long – Joe Walsh #Times Like These – Dan Fogelberg #Nine Tonight – Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band...
- "Much of the time Bud (John TravoltaJohn TravoltaJohn Joseph Travolta is an American actor, dancer and singer. Travolta first became known in the 1970s, after appearing on the television series Welcome Back, Kotter and starring in the box office successes Saturday Night Fever and Grease...
), is slackjawed and uncouth; then he has a speech explaining that he isn't dumb - and I think we're meant to take him at his word - because he has 'feelings'. Of course we think he's dumb: James BridgesJames BridgesJames Bridges was an American screenwriter and film director.Bridges was born in Paris, Arkansas. He got his start as a writer for Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and one of his episodes, "An Unlocked Window", earned him a 1966 Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best Episode in a TV...
and Aaron LathamAaron LathamAaron Latham is a journalist who wrote the article that inspired the movie Urban Cowboy and co-wrote its script with director James Bridges. He also co-wrote the book for the short-lived 2003 Broadway musical version....
have written him dumb. Worse, they've written him weak." - Dressed to Kill - "Brian De PalmaBrian De PalmaBrian Russell De Palma is an American film director and writer. In a career spanning over 40 years, he is probably best known for his suspense and crime thriller films, including such box office successes as the horror film Carrie, Dressed to Kill, Scarface, The Untouchables, and Mission:...
knows where to put the camera and how to make every move count, and his timing is so great that when he wants you to feel something he gets you every time. It's hardly possible to find a point at which you could tear yourself away from this picture." "What makes Dressed to Kill funny is that it's permeated with the distilled essence of impure thoughts." - Honeysuckle RoseHoneysuckle Rose (film)Honeysuckle Rose is a 1980 romantic drama film directed by Jerry Schatzberg and starring Willie Nelson, Dyan Cannon and Amy Irving.-Plot:...
- "The music and the imagery move together. Jerry SchatzbergJerry SchatzbergJerry Schatzberg is a photographer and film director.-Career:Schatzberg was born to a Jewish family of furriers and grew up in the Bronx. He photographed for magazines such as Vogue, Esquire and McCalls. He made his debut as a feature film director with 1970's Puzzle of a Downfall Child starring...
, who used to be a photographer, makes the people - all of them - look beautiful, in a special, transparent way. This isn't a picture with extras dressed up in somebody's idea of what TexasTexasTexas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
peasants wear. You feel that you're seeing regional Americans as they are, without awkwardness on their part. The color is realistic, yet so joyful it's almost hallucinatory." - Willie & PhilWillie & PhilWillie & Phil is a 1980 film directed by Paul Mazursky and starring Margot Kidder and Michael Ontkean.-Plot:The film is set in the 1970s and amidst the counterculture chic of the '70s...
- "This movie is a little monument to screwed-up notions of what women are." - Airplane!Airplane!Airplane! is a 1980 American satirical comedy film directed and written by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker and released by Paramount Pictures...
- "The three writer-directors keep the gags coming pop pop pop..." - The Great SantiniThe Great SantiniThe Great Santini is a 1979 film which tells the story of a Marine officer whose success as a military aviator contrasts with his shortcomings as a husband and father. The film explores the high price of heroism and self-sacrifice...
- "warmed over and plodding" - Close Encounters of the Third KindClose Encounters of the Third KindClose Encounters of the Third Kind is a 1977 science fiction film written and directed by Steven Spielberg. The film stars Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Melinda Dillon, Teri Garr, Bob Balaban, and Cary Guffey...
, the Special Edition - "I wish that Steven SpielbergSteven SpielbergSteven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
had trusted his first instincts and left Close Encounters of the Third Kind as it was..the slightly different outtakes that Spielberg has substituted for the shots you remember keep jarring you." - The Chant of Jimmie BlacksmithThe Chant of Jimmie BlacksmithThe Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith is a 1972 Booker Prize-nominated novel by Thomas Keneally, and a 1978 Australian film of the same name directed by Fred Schepisi. The novel is based on the life of bushranger Jimmy Governor....
- "The movie is about the cultural chasm that divides the natives and the European-spawned whites..The smooth high-strung tone is set right at the start, and I don't think there's an inexpressive frame of film in the entire movie." - The Getting of WisdomThe Getting of Wisdom (film)The Getting of Wisdom is a 1977 Australian film based on a novel by the same name by Henry Handel Richardson and directed by Bruce Beresford. Set in 1890s Victoria, Laura enters an exclusive Melbourne ladies' college...
- "Having been through so many men's coming-of-age literary autobiographies on film, do we have to plow through the same tediousness with women? We always know the end: they go off to write the book." - The Stunt ManThe Stunt ManThe Stunt Man is a 1980 American film directed by Richard Rush, starring Peter O'Toole, Steve Railsback, and Barbara Hershey. The movie was adapted by Lawrence B. Marcus and Rush from the novel by Paul Brodeur...
- "Peter O'ToolePeter O'ToolePeter Seamus Lorcan O'Toole is an Irish actor of stage and screen. O'Toole achieved stardom in 1962 playing T. E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia, and then went on to become a highly-honoured film and stage actor. He has been nominated for eight Academy Awards, and holds the record for most...
's Eli Cross may be as definitive a caricature of a visionary movie director as John BarrymoreJohn BarrymoreJohn Sidney Blyth , better known as John Barrymore, was an acclaimed American actor. He first gained fame as a handsome stage actor in light comedy, then high drama and culminating in groundbreaking portrayals in Shakespearean plays Hamlet and Richard III...
's Oscar Jaffe in Twentieth CenturyTwentieth Century (film)Twentieth Century is a 1934 American screwball comedy film. Much of the film is set on the 20th Century Limited train as it travels from Chicago to New York. The film was directed by Howard Hawks, stars John Barrymore and Carole Lombard, and features Walter Connolly, Roscoe Karns and Edgar Kennedy...
was of theatrical genius." - Those Lips, Those EyesThose Lips, Those EyesThose Lips, Those Eyes is a 1980 romantic comedy film directed by Michael Pressman, starring Frank Langella, Glynnis O'Connor, and Tom Hulce.-Plot:...
- " This picture wears its love of theatre like a shroud...it is every bit as tacky and enervated as the productions that are being staged." - Melvin and HowardMelvin and HowardMelvin and Howard is a 1980 American comedy-drama film directed by Jonathan Demme. The screenplay by Bo Goldman was inspired by real-life Utah service station owner Melvin Dummar, who was listed as the beneficiary of USD$156 million in a will allegedly handwritten by Howard Hughes that was...
- " An almost flawless act of sympathetic imagination. I doubt if Jason RobardsJason RobardsJason Nelson Robards, Jr. was an American actor on stage, and in film and television, and a winner of the Tony Award , two Academy Awards and the Emmy Award...
has ever been greater than he is here. Jonathan DemmeJonathan DemmeRobert Jonathan Demme is an American filmmaker, producer and screenwriter. Best known for directing The Silence of the Lambs, which won him the Academy Award for Best Director, he has also directed the acclaimed movies Philadelphia, Rachel Getting Married, the Talking Heads concert movie Stop...
shows perhaps a finer understanding of lower-middle-class life than any other American director." - Ordinary PeopleOrdinary PeopleOrdinary People is a 1980 American drama film that marked the directorial debut of Robert Redford. It stars Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Judd Hirsch and Timothy Hutton....
- " an academic exercise in catharsis; it's earnest, it means to improve people, and it lasts a lifetime." - The Elephant ManThe Elephant Man (film)The Elephant Man is a 1980 American drama film based on the true story of Joseph Merrick , a severely deformed man in 19th century London...
- "John HurtJohn HurtJohn Vincent Hurt, CBE is an English actor, known for his leading roles as John Merrick in The Elephant Man, Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four, Mr. Braddock in The Hit, Stephen Ward in Scandal, Quentin Crisp in The Naked Civil Servant and An Englishman in New York...
, using his twisted lips and his eyes, but mostly his voice and his posture and movements, makes of MerrickJoseph MerrickJoseph Carey Merrick , sometimes incorrectly referred to as John Merrick, was an English man with severe deformities who was exhibited as a human curiosity named the Elephant Man. He became well known in London society after he went to live at the London Hospital...
an astonishingly sweet-souled gentleman of his era." - Stardust MemoriesStardust MemoriesStardust Memories is a 1980 film written and directed by Woody Allen, who considers this to be one of his best films in addition to The Purple Rose of Cairo and Match Point. The film is shot in black-and-white, particularly reminiscent of Federico Fellini's 8½ , which it parodies...
- "In a Newsweek cover story in 1978, Woody Allen was quoted: 'When you do comedy you're not sitting at the grown-ups' table, you're sitting at the children's table.'.... Comedy doesn't belong at the children's table, but whining does." - Private BenjaminPrivate BenjaminPrivate Benjamin is a 1980 American comedy film starring Goldie Hawn. The film was one of the biggest box office hits of 1980, and also spawned a short-lived television series. The film is ranked 82 on the American Film Institute's "100 Funniest Movies" poll, and 59 on Bravo's "100 Funniest...
- "Goldie HawnGoldie HawnGoldie Jeanne Hawn is an American actress, film director, producer, and occasional singer. Hawn is known for her roles in Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, Private Benjamin, Foul Play, Overboard, Bird on a Wire, Death Becomes Her, The First Wives Club, and Cactus Flower, for which she won the 1969...
demonstrates what an accomplished comedienne she is - she carries Private Benjamin on her back." - Divine Madness!Divine Madness!Divine Madness is a 1980 concert film directed by Michael Ritchie, and featuring Bette Midler during her 1979 concert at Pasadena's Civic Auditorium...
- "Bette MidlerBette MidlerBette Midler is an American singer, actress, and comedian, also known by her informal stage name, The Divine Miss M. She became famous as a cabaret and concert headliner, and went on to star in successful and acclaimed films such as The Rose, Ruthless People, Beaches, and For The Boys...
- like a Betty HuttonBetty HuttonBetty Hutton was an American stage, film, and television actress, comedienne and singer.-Early life:Hutton was born Elizabeth June Thornburg, daughter of a railroad foreman, Percy E. Thornburg and his wife, the former Mabel Lum . While she was very young, her father abandoned the family for...
with brains." - Used CarsUsed CarsUsed Cars is a 1980 comedy satire film. It stars Kurt Russell, Jack Warden , Deborah Harmon, and Gerrit Graham.Kurt Russell portrays a devious car salesman working for affable but monumentally unsuccessful used car dealer Luke Fuchs . Luke's principal rival, located directly across the street, is...
- " has a wonderful, energetic heartlessness. Its premise is that honesty doesn't exist. Everybody in the movie is funny - even Toby, Luke's dog. Used Cars is a classic screwballScrewball ComedyScrewball Comedy is an album by the Japanese band Soul Flower Union. The album found the band going into a simpler, harder-rocking direction, after several heavily world-music influenced albums.-Track listing:...
fantasy - a shaggy celebration of American ingenuity." - Every Man for HimselfSauve qui peut (la vie)__notoc__Sauve qui peut , which was released as Slow Motion in the UK, and as Every Man for Himself in the U.S., is a film directed, co-written and co-produced by Jean-Luc Godard, which premiered at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival. The film stars Jacques Dutronc, Isabelle Huppert, and Nathalie Baye,...
- "Godard's political extremism has been replaced by a broader extremism - total contempt shaded by masochism. This film says that we don't care about him, nobody cares about anybody, and he has given up on us." - Raging Bull - "Scorsese loves the visual effects and the powerful melodramatic moments of movies such as Body and SoulBody and Soul (1947 film)Body and Soul is a 1947 film noir which tells the story of a boxer who becomes involved with crooked promoters. It stars John Garfield, Lilli Palmer, Hazel Brooks, Anne Revere and William Conrad....
, The Set-UpThe Set-Up (1949 film)For 2011 Set Up see hereThe Set-Up is an American film noir boxing drama directed by Robert Wise and featuring Robert Ryan and Audrey Totter. The screenplay was adapted by Art Cohn from a 1928 poem written by Joseph Moncure March. The film is about the boxing underworld.-Plot:Stoker Thompson ...
, and Golden BoyGolden Boy (film)Golden Boy is a 1939 black-and-white Columbia Pictures drama film based on the Clifford Odets play of the same name. It features William Holden in the role that made him a star: a promising violinist who wants to be a boxer. Barbara Stanwyck plays his love interest. The supporting cast included Lee J...
. He makes this movie out of remembered high points, leaping from one to another." - Heaven's GateHeaven's Gate (film)Heaven's Gate is a 1980 American epic Western film based on the Johnson County War, a dispute between land barons and European immigrants in Wyoming in the 1890s...
- " a numbing shambles." - The IdolmakerThe IdolmakerThe Idolmaker is a 1980 American musical drama starring Ray Sharkey, Peter Gallagher, Paul Land, Tovah Feldshuh and Joe Pantoliano.The film is based on the life of rock promoter and manager Bob Marcucci, who discovered and promoted several rock 'n' roll stars including Frankie Avalon and Fabian....
- "Taylor HackfordTaylor HackfordTaylor Edwin Hackford is an American film director, and the current president of the Directors Guild of America.-Early life:Hackford was born in Santa Barbara, California, the son of Mary , a waitress, and Joseph Hackford...
doesn't work up an indignant head of steam about unscrupulous promoters who exploit teen-agers' sexual fantasies - he sees the comedy in it." - ResurrectionResurrection (1980 film)Resurrection is a 1980 film which tells the story of a woman who survives the car accident which kills her husband, but discovers that she has the power to heal other people...
- "The director, Daniel PetrieDaniel PetrieDaniel Mannix Petrie was a Canadian television and movie director.Petrie was born in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada, the son of Mary Anne and William Mark Petrie, a soft-drink manufacturer. He moved to the United States in 1945...
, does some very polished, fluid work, but you're always aware of the planning and calculation. Mysticism doesn't come easy to him." - PopeyePopeye (film)Popeye is a 1980 live-action film adaptation directed by Robert Altman and adapted from E. C. Segar's Thimble Theatre aka Popeye comic strip.Marketed with the tagline, "The sailor man with the spinach can!", the film is a musical...
- "The picture seems overcomplicated, cluttered, and the familiar Popeye phrases and situations barely emerge. Shelley DuvallShelley DuvallShelley Alexis Duvall is an American film and television actress best known for her roles in The Shining, Popeye, Thieves Like Us and 3 Women....
's an original who has her own limpid way of doing things..takes the funny-page drawing of Olive OylOlive OylOlive Oyl is a cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar in 1919 for his comic strip Thimble Theatre. The strip was later renamed Popeye after the sailor character that became the most popular member of the cast; however Olive Oyl was a main character for 10 years before Popeye's 1929...
and breathes her own spirit into it. Duvall may be the closest thing we've ever come to a female Buster KeatonBuster KeatonJoseph Frank "Buster" Keaton was an American comic actor, filmmaker, producer and writer. He was best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face".Keaton was recognized as the...
." - Flash GordonFlash Gordon (film)Flash Gordon is a 1980 British/American science fiction film, based on the comic strip of the same name created by Alex Raymond. The film was directed by Mike Hodges and produced and presented by Dino De Laurentiis. It stars Sam J. Jones, Melody Anderson, Topol, Max von Sydow, Timothy Dalton, Brian...
- " a piece of comic-strip bravura...the shots are like the comic-strip frames enlarged by LichtensteinRoy LichtensteinRoy Lichtenstein was a prominent American pop artist. During the 1960s his paintings were exhibited at the Leo Castelli Gallery in New York City and along with Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, James Rosenquist and others he became a leading figure in the new art movement...
, with the addition of crude, bright skyscapes. The whole movie is painterly." - Altered StatesAltered StatesAltered States is a 1980 American science fiction-horror film adaptation of a novel by the same name by playwright and screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky. It was the only novel that Chayefsky ever wrote, as well as his final film. Both the novel and the film are based on John C...
- "it's a bellicose head horror movie, probably the most aggressively silly picture since The Exorcist. Ken RussellKen RussellHenry Kenneth Alfred "Ken" Russell was an English film director, known for his pioneering work in television and film and for his flamboyant and controversial style. He attracted criticism as being obsessed with sexuality and the church...
doesn't seem to have the ability to create believable representations of human behaviour; The attraction of the film is in its psychedelic sound-and-light shows.." - The CompetitionThe Competition (film)The Competition is a 1980 American drama film starring Richard Dreyfuss and Amy Irving, directed by Joel Oliansky.-Plot:Paul Dietrich is an extremely gifted but disillusioned classical pianist, running out of time to prove himself...
- "as the silver-haired maestro of the symphony orchestra that performs with the finalists, Sam WanamakerSam WanamakerSamuel Wanamaker was an American film director and actor and is credited as the person most responsible for the modern recreation of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London...
tucks the picture in his vest pocket and struts away with it. Wanamaker shows up Amy IrvingAmy IrvingAmy Davis Irving is an American actress, known for her roles in the films Crossing Delancey, The Fury, Carrie, and Yentl as well as acclaimed roles on Broadway and Off-Broadway. She has been nominated for an Academy Award, two Golden Globes, and has won an Obie award...
and Richard Dreyfus by not tearing himself apart in anguish over whether we'll like him." - TessTess (film)Tess is a 1980 romance film directed by Roman Polanski, an adaptation of Thomas Hardy's 1891 novel Tess of the d'Urbervilles. It tells the story of a strong-willed, young peasant girl who finds out she has title connections by way of her old aristocratic surname and who is raped by her wealthy...
- " This Tess isn't a protagonist; she is merely a hapless,frail creature, buffeted by circumstances. The picture is tame, it's artistic - a series of leisurely Barbizon SchoolBarbizon schoolThe Barbizon school of painters were part of a movement towards realism in art, which arose in the context of the dominant Romantic Movement of the time. The Barbizon school was active roughly from 1830 through 1870...
landscapes. Roman PolanskiRoman PolanskiRoman Polanski is a French-Polish film director, producer, writer and actor. Having made films in Poland, Britain, France and the USA, he is considered one of the few "truly international filmmakers."...
's Tess is Thomas HardyThomas HardyThomas Hardy, OM was an English novelist and poet. While his works typically belong to the Naturalism movement, several poems display elements of the previous Romantic and Enlightenment periods of literature, such as his fascination with the supernatural.While he regarded himself primarily as a...
's Tess of the D'UrbervillesTess of the d'UrbervillesTess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented, also known as Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman, Tess of the d'Urbervilles or just Tess, is a novel by Thomas Hardy, first published in 1891. It initially appeared in a censored and serialised version, published by the British...
under sedation." - KagemushaKagemushais a 1980 film by Akira Kurosawa. The title is a term used for an impersonator. It is set in the Warring States era of Japanese history and tells the story of a lower-class criminal who is taught to impersonate a dying warlord in order to dissuade opposing lords from attacking the newly vulnerable...
- "The film doesn't seem contemplative - just uninvolving and spiritless." - Napoléon - "Abel GanceAbel GanceAbel Gance was a French film director and producer, writer and actor. He is best known for three major silent films: J'accuse , La Roue , and the monumental Napoléon .-Early life:...
has a nineteenth century theatrical sensibility, but he's also obsessed with the most avant-garde film techniques, and he uses these advanced methods to overpower you emotionally. You applaud, you cheer, because the exhilaration of his technique freshens the stale, trashy ideas, gives them a grand lunacy." - Fort Apache, The BronxFort Apache, The BronxFort Apache, The Bronx is a 1981 crime drama film made by Producers Circle, Time-Life Television Productions Inc., and distributed by Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation. It was directed by Daniel Petrie and produced by Martin Richards, Thomas Fiorello, with David Susskind as executive producer...
- "Paul NewmanPaul NewmanPaul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, professional racing driver and auto racing enthusiast...
throws himself into the role of Murphy, a veteran of eighteen years on the New York police force..There's no star self-protectiveness, no holding back; He has fun with who he is in a scene; he dances, he shuffles. Theres a beautiful hamminess about his work: he's scratching an itch and getting a huge kick out of it." "the movie is an attempt to show urban crisis in extremis" - All Night LongAll Night Long (1981 film)All Night Long is a 1981 comedy film starring Barbra Streisand, Gene Hackman, Diane Ladd, Dennis Quaid, Kevin Dobson, and William Daniels, written by W. D...
- "is an idiosyncratic, fairy-tale comedy about people giving up the phony obligations they have accumulated and trying to find a way to do what they enjoy " " The director Jean-Claude Tramont, is a sophisticated jokester. There may be a suggestion of LubitschErnst LubitschErnst Lubitsch was a German-born film director. His urbane comedies of manners gave him the reputation of being Hollywood's most elegant and sophisticated director; as his prestige grew, his films were promoted as having "the Lubitsch touch."In 1947 he received an Honorary Academy Award for his...
and of Max OphulsMax OphülsMaximillian Oppenheimer — known as Max Ophüls — was an influential German-born film director who worked in Germany , France , the United States , and France again...
in his approach,and there is more than a suggestion of TatiJacques TatiJacques Tati was a French filmmaker, working as a comedic actor, writer and director. In a poll conducted by Entertainment Weekly of the Greatest Movie Directors Tati was voted the 46th greatest of all time...
"; - "Gene HackmanGene HackmanEugene Allen "Gene" Hackman is an American actor and novelist.Nominated for five Academy Awards, winning two, Hackman has also won three Golden Globes and two BAFTAs in a career that spanned five decades. He first came to fame in 1967 with his performance as Buck Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde...
gives one of his most likable performances." - CaddieCaddie (film)Caddie is an Australian film, directed by Donald Crombie, released in 1976, and belonging to the Australian film renaissance which occurred during that decade....
- "The lovely toothy Helen MorseHelen MorseHelen Morse is an Australian actress who has appeared in films, on television, and on stage.-Biography:Morse was born in Harrow on the Hill, Middlesex, England. She was the oldest of four children; her parents were a doctor and nurse...
is the heroine of the 1976 Australian movie Caddie, which has just opened here..The picture often has the charm of photographs of the past, but that's all it has. It doesn't dramatize..Jack ThompsonJack Thompson (actor)Jack Thompson, AM is an Australian actor and one of the major figures of Australian cinema. He was educated at University of Queensland, before embarking on his acting career. In 2002, he was made an honorary member of the Australian Cinematographers Society...
's brash, flippant [bookie] Ted, gives the film a burst of energy." - The Incredible Shrinking WomanThe Incredible Shrinking WomanThe Incredible Shrinking Woman is a 1981 science fiction/comedy film, starring Lily Tomlin, Charles Grodin, Ned Beatty, John Glover and Elizabeth Wilson, and directed by Joel Schumacher. The film was written by Tomlin's longtime life partner and frequent collaborator, Jane Wagner. The original...
- "a light, satirical fantasy starring Lily TomlinLily TomlinMary Jean "Lily" Tomlin is an American actress, comedienne, writer, and producer. Tomlin has been a major force in American comedy since the late 1960's when she began a career as a stand up comedian and became a featured performer on television's Laugh-in...
..Even after Pat (Tomlin) starts to shrink, she tries to see the bright side of things. She goes on valiantly shopping and cooking, even when she has to climb up to the sink...Its an amiable sloppy film." - Nine to FiveNine to Five9 to 5 is a 1980 American comedy film starring Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton, and Dabney Coleman. The film concerns three working women living out their fantasy of getting even with, and their successful overthrow of, the company's autocratic, "sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical...
- "this piece of strong-arm whimsy..is a leering, doddering movie.." - La Cage aux Folles IILa Cage aux Folles IILa Cage aux Folles II is a French-Italian film released in 1980. It is a sequel to 1979's La Cage aux Folles. It is directed by Édouard Molinaro and stars Michel Serrault as Albin, , the female impersonator star of a gay night-club revue, and Ugo Tognazzi as Renato, his mate of over twenty...
- "as Albin, the female impersonator star of a gay night-club revue, Michel SerraultMichel SerraultMichel Serrault was a celebrated French actor who appeared in over 150 films.-Biography :...
doesn't make the mistake of acting like a woman - he acts Albin like a transvestite's idea of a woman - he is obsessed with how he looks, and is terified of aging - that is, of no longer being loved. He's a heavyset middle-aged man trying to be a sex goddess in chiffon." - The Dogs of WarThe Dogs of War (film)The Dogs of War is a 1980 war film based upon the novel The Dogs of War by Frederick Forsyth, directed by John Irvin. It stars Christopher Walken and Tom Berenger as part of a small, international unit of mercenary soldiers privately hired to depose President Kimba of a fictional "Republic of...
- "Without anything being made explicit, the film indicates that it's more than money that impels these mercenaries to fight..This is the first feature by John IrvinJohn IrvinJohn Irvin is an English film director. Born in Newcastle upon Tyne, he began his career by directing a number of documentaries and television works, including the BBC adaptation of John le Carré's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy...
[and he] has studied a master; some of the most feral images are almost direct quotations from Sam PeckinpahSam PeckinpahDavid Samuel "Sam" Peckinpah was an American filmmaker and screenwriter who achieved prominence following the release of the Western epic The Wild Bunch...
's The Wild BunchThe Wild BunchThe Wild Bunch is a 1969 American Western film directed by Sam Peckinpah about an aging outlaw gang on the Texas-Mexico border, trying to exist in the changing "modern" world of 1913...
." - Eyewitness - "Just about no one is believable in this movie. Peter YatesPeter YatesPeter James Yates was an English director and producer. He was born in Aldershot, Hampshire.The son of an army officer, he attended Charterhouse School as a boy, graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and worked for some years as an actor, director and stage manager...
and the writer Steve TesichSteve TesichStojan Steve Tesich was a Serbian-American screenwriter, playwright and novelist. He won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1979 for the movie Breaking Away.-Career:...
have put an eighties woman into a claptrap forties-movie situation. Eyewitness is moderately enjoyable to watch, but when you think about it, it gets weirder and worse." - Atlantic City - "Burt LancasterBurt LancasterBurton Stephen "Burt" Lancaster was an American film actor noted for his athletic physique and distinctive smile...
plays Lou, an old-timer who tries to keep up appearances; when Lancaster was working with ViscontiLuchino ViscontiLuchino Visconti di Modrone, Count of Lonate Pozzolo was an Italian theatre, opera and cinema director, as well as a screenwriter. He is best known for his films The Leopard and Death in Venice .-Life:...
or BertolucciBernardo BertolucciBernardo Bertolucci is an Italian film director and screenwriter, whose films include The Conformist, Last Tango in Paris, 1900, The Last Emperor and The Dreamers...
he wasn't afraid to be bloody and bowed. And that's how he is here, but more so, because this time he isn't playing a strong man brought down by age and social changes: he's a man who was never anything much ..Louis MalleLouis MalleLouis Malle was a French film director, screenwriter, and producer. He worked in both French cinema and Hollywood. His films include Ascenseur pour l'échafaud , Atlantic City , and Au revoir, les enfants .- Early years in France :Malle was born into a wealthy industrialist family in Thumeries,...
has entered into the writer John GuareJohn GuareJohn Guare is an American playwright. He is best known as the author of The House of Blue Leaves, Six Degrees of Separation, and Landscape of the Body...
's way of seeing, and depth of feeling - [which is] what Lancaster, in the finest performance he has ever given..brings to the film." - The Postman Always Rings TwiceThe Postman Always Rings Twice (1981 film)The Postman Always Rings Twice is a 1981 film adaptation of the 1934 novel by the same name by James M. Cain. The film was produced by Lorimar and originally released theatrically in North America by Paramount Pictures. This version, based on a screenplay by David Mamet and directed by Bob...
- "overcontrolled..the period detail makes it look studied and accurate, when what's wanted is impulsiveness and haste..Jessica LangeJessica LangeJessica Phyllis Lange is an American actress who has worked in film, theatre and television. The recipient of several awards, including two Academy Awards, four Golden Globes and one Emmy, Lange is regarded as one of the première female actors of her generation.Lange was discovered by producer...
stands and walks with her rump out proudly, and it dominates the movie." - ExcaliburExcalibur (film)Excalibur is a 1981 dramatic fantasy film directed, produced and co-written by John Boorman that retells the legend of King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table. Adapted from the 15th century Arthurian romance, Le Morte d'Arthur by Thomas Malory, Excalibur features the music of Richard Wagner...
- "I would never have imagined that I could enjoy a retelling of the Arthurian legends which was soaked in Jung and scored to themes from Carl OrffCarl OrffCarl Orff was a 20th-century German composer, best known for his cantata Carmina Burana . In addition to his career as a composer, Orff developed an influential method of music education for children.-Early life:...
's Carmina BuranaCarmina BuranaCarmina Burana , Latin for "Songs from Beuern" , is the name given to a manuscript of 254 poems and dramatic texts mostly from the 11th or 12th century, although some are from the 13th century. The pieces were written principally in Medieval Latin; a few in Middle High German, and some with traces...
and WagnerRichard WagnerWilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
, but John BoormanJohn BoormanJohn Boorman is a British filmmaker who is a long time resident of Ireland and is best known for his feature films such as Point Blank, Deliverance, Zardoz, Excalibur, The Emerald Forest, Hope and Glory, The General and The Tailor of Panama.-Early life:Boorman was born in Shepperton, Surrey,...
's Excalibur has its own kind of crazy integrity." - ThiefThief (film)Thief is a 1981 neo-noir film written and directed by Michael Mann and based on the novel The Home Invaders by "Frank Hohimer"...
- "Thief is all highfalutin hype..There's so much of the rainy-night-in-the-neon-city school of cinematography that the picture is close to being a parody of film noirFilm noirFilm noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
....This is the first theatrical feature by the writer-director Michael Mann." - The HowlingThe Howling (film)The Howling is a 1981 werewolf-themed horror film directed by Joe Dante. Based on the novel of the same name by Gary Brandner, the screenplay is written by John Sayles and Terence H. Winkless...
- "The Howling doesn't take itself seriously, it's consciously trashy. The picture isn't afraid of being silly - which is its chief charm." - CavemanCaveman (film)Caveman is a 1981 American slapstick comedy film written and directed by Carl Gottlieb and starring Ringo Starr, Dennis Quaid, Shelley Long and Barbara Bach.-Plot:...
- "Carl GottliebCarl GottliebCarl Gottlieb is an American screenwriter, actor, comedian and executive. He is probably best known for co-writing the screenplay for Jaws, as well as directing the 1981 low-budget cult film Caveman.-Early life:...
shows a veteran entertainer's gift for pacing... an original, consistently enjoyable comedy. If you've been searching for a comedy you can enjoy along with your children, this is the one." - KnightridersKnightridersKnightriders is a 1981 film written and directed by George A. Romero. It was filmed entirely on location in Pennsylvania, especially in Fawn Township and Natrona...
- "the picture has a core of very crude, easy social satire, and an even cruder social message...there's no film craft, no kinetic drama in the hurtling bodies; its just an exhibition of stunt work..[It] isn't offensive; it's simpleminded, though, and inept." - Dawn of the Dead - "just a gross-out"
- This is ElvisThis Is ElvisThis Is Elvis is a 1981 documentary film directed by Andrew Solt and Malcolm Leo, based on the life of Elvis Presley. It combined archival footage with reenactments, and narration by pop singer Ral Donner. It was screened out of competition at the 1981 Cannes Film Festival...
- "We witness the transformation of a young whirlwind performer into a bloated druggie with dead eyes...This Is Elvis is hair-raising because of what Elvis turns into: joyless stardom gives him the look of a mutant." - Heartworn HighwaysHeartworn HighwaysHeartworn Highways is documentary film by James Szalapski whose vision captured some of the founders of the Outlaw Country movement in Texas and Tennessee in the last weeks of 1975 and the first weeks of 1976...
- "an informal documentary about performers such as Guy ClarkGuy ClarkGuy Clark is an American Texas Country artist. In his career, he has released more than twenty albums, primarily on major labels. He has also written singles for other artists, including Ricky Skaggs, Steve Wariner and Rodney Crowell....
, David Allan CoeDavid Allan CoeDavid Allan Coe is an American outlaw country music singer who achieved popularity in the 1970s and 1980s. He has written and performed over 280 original songs throughout his career...
, Townes Van ZandtTownes Van ZandtJohn Townes Van Zandt , best known as Townes Van Zandt, was an American Texas Country-folk music singer-songwriter, performer, and poet...
, and Steve YoungSteve YoungSteve Young is an American football quarterback.Steve Young may also refer to:*Steve Young , country music singer, songwriter and guitarist*Steve Young , industrial rock music songwriter and guitarist...
- part of the seventies outlawOutlaw countryOutlaw country is a subgenre of country music, most popular during the late 1960s and the 1970s , sometimes referred to as the outlaw movement or simply outlaw music...
generation of country music - there are wonderful things in it, such as an image of car lights serpentining on a highway under a full moon.." - Raiders of the Lost ArkRaiders of the Lost ArkRaiders of the Lost Ark is a 1981 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg, produced by George Lucas, and starring Harrison Ford. It is the first film in the Indiana Jones franchise...
- " an encyclopedia of high spots from the old serials, run through at top speed and edited like a great trailer - for flash...It gets your heart thumping. But there's no exhilaration in this dumb, motor excitement." - Cattle Annie and Little BritchesCattle Annie and Little Britches (film)Cattle Annie and Little Britches is an American film based on the lives of two adolescent girls in the late 19th century who became infatuated with the Western outlaw heroes they had read about in Ned Buntline's stories and left their homes to join them...
- "based on the lives of two adolescent girls in the late 19th century who became infatuated with the Western outlaw heroes they had read about in Ned BuntlineNed BuntlineNed Buntline , was a pseudonym of Edward Zane Carroll Judson , an American publisher, journalist, writer and publicist best known for his dime novels and the Colt Buntline Special he is alleged to have commissioned from Colt's Manufacturing Company.-Naval and military experience:Edward Judson was...
's stories and left their homes to join them. There is everything here to make a classic comedy-Western except a script to give the potentially rich material shape and a dramatic centre." "Burt LancasterBurt LancasterBurton Stephen "Burt" Lancaster was an American film actor noted for his athletic physique and distinctive smile...
looks happy in this movie and still looks tough: it's an unbeatable combination." - History of the World, Part 1 - "an all-out assault on taste and taboo, and it made me laugh a lot."
- OutlandOutland (film)Outland is a 1981 British science fiction thriller film written and directed by Peter Hyams.Set on Jupiter's moon Io, it has been described as a space Western, and bears thematic resemblances to High Noon....
- " is set in a morally grimy future..[it] recalls another hermetic sci-fi film - the somewhat more spirited Alien...it has a comparable grinding unpleasantness." - DragonslayerDragonslayerDragonslayer is a 1981 fantasy movie set in a fictional medieval kingdom, following a young wizard who experiences danger and opposition as he attempts to defeat a dragon....
- " draws us into the mysterious world that it creates. It's a night bloom...Ralph RichardsonRalph RichardsonSir Ralph David Richardson was an English actor, one of a group of theatrical knights of the mid-20th century who, though more closely associated with the stage, also appeared in several classic films....
's Ulrich is like a batty,drunken old Shakespearean actor; his Latin spells have a poignant lilt..Alex NorthAlex NorthAlex North was an American composer who wrote the first jazz-based film score and one of the first modernist scores written in Hollywood ....
's score is a beauty..." - Superman IISuperman IISuperman II is the 1980 sequel to the 1978 superhero film Superman and stars Gene Hackman, Christopher Reeve, Terence Stamp, Ned Beatty, Sarah Douglas, Margot Kidder, and Jack O'Halloran. It was the only Superman film to be filmed by two directors...
- "Christopher ReeveChristopher ReeveChristopher D'Olier Reeve was an American actor, film director, producer, screenwriter, author and activist...
..brings emotional depth to Superman..It's largely his love for Lois LaneLois LaneLois Lane is a fictional character, the primary love interest of Superman in the comic books of DC Comics. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, she first appeared in Action Comics #1 ....
and his sense of responsibility toward her (and the whole country) which give this film its jokey yet touching romanticism." - StripesStripes (film)Stripes is a 1981 American comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman, starring Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, Warren Oates, P. J. Soles, and John Candy. It also featured several actors in their first significant film roles, including John Larroquette, Sean Young, John Diehl, and Judge Reinhold. It was one...
- "The picture is not an aesthetic object; its just a flimsy, thrown-together service comedy..But it has a lot of snappy lines, Ivan ReitmanIvan ReitmanIvan Reitman, OC is a Canadian film producer and director. He is known for the comedies he has directed and produced, especially in the 1980s and 1990s.He is the owner of The Montecito Picture Company, founded in 2000.-Early life:...
keeps things hopping.." - Blow OutBlow OutBlow Out is a 1981 thriller film, written and directed by Brian De Palma. The film stars John Travolta as Jack Terry, a movie sound effects technician from Philadelphia who, while recording sounds for a low-budget slasher film, serendipitously captures audio evidence of an assassination involving a...
- "De PalmaBrian De PalmaBrian Russell De Palma is an American film director and writer. In a career spanning over 40 years, he is probably best known for his suspense and crime thriller films, including such box office successes as the horror film Carrie, Dressed to Kill, Scarface, The Untouchables, and Mission:...
has sprung to the place..where genre is transcended and what we're moved by is an artist's vision. And TravoltaJohn TravoltaJohn Joseph Travolta is an American actor, dancer and singer. Travolta first became known in the 1970s, after appearing on the television series Welcome Back, Kotter and starring in the box office successes Saturday Night Fever and Grease...
makes his own leap - right back to the top where he belongs...Travolta and Nancy AllenNancy Allen (actress)Nancy Anne Allen is a Golden Globe nominated American actress and cancer activist.Allen began an acting and modelling career as a child, and from the mid-1970s appeared in small film roles, most notably the anchor of Robert Zemeckis's ensemble comedy I Wanna Hold Your Hand...
are radiant performers..Nancy Allen gives the film its soul; Travolta gives it gravity and weight and passion...It's a great movie." - Arthur - "is about a drunken millionaire playboy; it harks back to the screwball comedies of the thirties, but its attitudes are vaguely contemporary...Considering that Arthur..is a very thin comic construct, Dudley MooreDudley MooreDudley Stuart John Moore, CBE was an English actor, comedian, composer and musician.Moore first came to prominence as one of the four writer-performers in the ground-breaking comedy revue Beyond the Fringe in the early 1960s, and then became famous as half of the highly popular television...
does an amazing amount with the role. Arthur has a mad sparkle in his eyes and there's always something bubbling inside him.." - Zorro, the Gay BladeZorro, The Gay BladeZorro, The Gay Blade is a 1981 feature film. This comedy features George Hamilton in a Golden Globe-nominated dual role as both Don Diego de la Vega and his gay twin brother Bunny Wigglesworth, née Ramon De La Vega.-Synopsis:...
- "a joyously silly farce" - Mommie DearestMommie DearestMommie Dearest is a memoir and exposé written by Christina Crawford, the adopted daughter of actress Joan Crawford. The book, which depicts Christina's childhood and her relationship with her mother, was published in 1978.-Christina Crawford's claims:...
- "Faye DunawayFaye DunawayFaye Dunaway is an American actress.Dunaway won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Network after receiving previous nominations for the critically acclaimed films Bonnie and Clyde and Chinatown...
gives a startling, ferocious performance. She becomes as grim and harsh as the actual Joan CrawfordJoan CrawfordJoan Crawford , born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre....
was .." - The French Lieutenant's WomanThe French Lieutenant's Woman (film)The French Lieutenant's Woman is a 1981 film directed by Karel Reisz and adapted by playwright Harold Pinter. It is based on the novel of the same title by John Fowles...
- "For the movie version of John FowlesJohn FowlesJohn Robert Fowles was an English novelist and essayist. In 2008, The Times newspaper named Fowles among their list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".-Birth and family:...
' The French Lieutenant's Woman to set our imaginations buzzing, the one essential is that the distraught heroine, Sarah Woodruff, who keeps a vigil on the stone jetty of an English seacoast village in 1867 and, motionless, looks out to the gray sea, must be alluringly mysterious...We never really get into the movie, because, as Sarah, Meryl StreepMeryl StreepMary Louise "Meryl" Streep is an American actress who has worked in theatre, television and film.Streep made her professional stage debut in 1971's The Playboy of Seville, before her screen debut in the television movie The Deadliest Season in 1977. In that same year, she made her film debut with...
gives an immaculate, technically accomplished performance, but she isn't mysterious." - So FineSo Fine (film)So Fine is a 1981 comedy film written and directed by Andrew Bergman. The original music score was composed by Ennio Morricone.-Plot summary:Bobby Fine is an intellectual English professor who leaves his job when his father Jack appeals to him for help...
- "Andrew BergmanAndrew BergmanAndrew Bergman is an American screenwriter, film director, and novelist. New York magazine in 1985 dubbed him "The Unknown King of Comedy".He graduated from Binghamton University and earned a Ph.D...
, and his cinematographer James A. Contner seem to have only one thought: to get a reaction from us... This picture works too hard at being funny..." - True ConfessionsTrue Confessions (film)True Confessions is a 1981 film directed by Ulu Grosbard, loosely based on the Black Dahlia murder case of 1947. The film stars Robert De Niro and Robert Duvall, was produced by Chartoff-Winkler Productions and is adapted from the novel of the same name by John Gregory Dunne.-Plot summary:In the...
- "the idea is to take the lovable Irish brothers of thirties films - James CagneyJames CagneyJames Francis Cagney, Jr. was an American actor, first on stage, then in film, where he had his greatest impact. Although he won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of performances, he is best remembered for playing "tough guys." In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him eighth...
and Pat O'BrienPat O'Brien (actor)Pat O’Brien was an American film actor with more than one hundred screen credits.-Early life:O’Brien was born William Joseph Patrick O’Brien to an Irish-American Catholic family in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He served as an altar boy at Gesu Church while growing up near 13th and Clybourn streets...
are the protytypes - and turn them inside out..The movie is in a stupor; you have to put up a struggle to get anything out of it." - Chariots of FireChariots of FireChariots of Fire is a 1981 British film. It tells the fact-based story of two athletes in the 1924 Olympics: Eric Liddell, a devout Scottish Christian who runs for the glory of God, and Harold Abrahams, an English Jew who runs to overcome prejudice....
-" The effects calculated to make your spirits soar are the same effects that send you soaring down to the supermarket to buy a six-pack of Miller or Schlitz or LöwenbräuLöwenbräuLöwenbräu is a German brewery in Munich, Bavaria, Germany that produces a traditional Munich-style beer. It is currently owned by the American-Brazilian-Belgian company Anheuser-Busch InBev. Like other premium German beers, it is brewed according to the German "Reinheitsgebot" dating back to 1516...
. The film is full to bursting with the impersonal, manufactured go-to-the-mountains poetry that sells products. It's retrograde moviemaking, presented with fake bravura." - Rich and FamousRich and Famous (1981 film)Rich and Famous is a 1981 American drama film directed by George Cukor. The screenplay by Gerald Ayres is based on the 1941 play Old Acquaintance by John Van Druten, which was filmed with Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins in 1943 under its original title. Both film versions are now owned by Turner...
- "Jacqueline BissetJacqueline BissetJacqueline Bisset is an English actress. She has been nominated for four Golden Globe Awards and an Emmy Award. She is known for her roles in the films Bullitt , Airport , The Deep , Class , and the TV series Nip/Tuck in 2006...
and Candice BergenCandice BergenCandice Patricia Bergen is an American actress and former fashion model.She is known for starring in two TV series, as the title character on the situation comedy Murphy Brown , for which she won five Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards; and as Shirley Schmidt on the comedy-drama Boston Legal...
can't dip into themselves and bring out characters; they're simply art objects rattling off lines, and they rattle incessantly in this remake of the 1943 film Old AcquaintanceOld AcquaintanceOld Acquaintance is a 1943 film drama made by Warner Bros. It was directed by Vincent Sherman and produced by Henry Blanke with Jack L. Warner as executive producer from a screenplay by John Van Druten, Lenore Coffee and Edmund Goulding based on Van Druten's play.The film starred Bette Davis and...
, which starred Bette DavisBette DavisRuth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
and Miriam HopkinsMiriam HopkinsEllen Miriam Hopkins was an American actress known for her versatility in a wide variety of roles.Hopkins was born in Savannah, Georgia, and raised in Bainbridge, a town in the state's southwest near the Alabama border...
." - PixotePixotePixote: a Lei do Mais Fraco , is a Brazilian drama film directed by Hector Babenco. The screenplay was written by Babenco and Jorge Durán, based on the book A infância dos mortos by José Louzeiro....
- "As the director, Hector BabencoHector BabencoHéctor Eduardo Babenco is an Argentine-born Brazilian film director, screenwriter, producer and actor.He has worked in several countries including Argentina, Brazil and the United States....
, sees it, there's something essential missing in Pixote; no one has ever made him feel that his life had any value...Babenco is wildly ambitious, in the manner of gifted young artists:... After I saw Pixote, I had an opportunity to speak with Babenco, and since the street kids in the movie are all boys, I asked, "What of the girls?" His answer was "Their lives are ten thousand times as bad." - LookerLookerLooker is a 1981 science fiction film written and directed by Michael Crichton. It starred Albert Finney, Susan Dey, and James Coburn. Former NFL linebacker Tim Rossovich was featured as the villain's main henchman....
- "Albert FinneyAlbert FinneyAlbert Finney is an English actor. He achieved prominence in films in the early 1960s, and has maintained a successful career in theatre, film and television....
gives what looks to be the laziest performance by a star ever recorded on film. Boredom seems to have seeped into his muscles and cells; he's sinking under the weight of it...Thinking about this movie could give you frostbite of the brain." - Continental DivideContinental Divide (film)Continental Divide is a 1981 American romantic comedy. It was directed by Michael Apted from an original screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan and produced by Steven Spielberg and stars John Belushi and Blair Brown; the latter was nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance.An attempt was made during...
- "..there's a single plot thread,.. with almost no subsidiary characters..There's no subtext, either - just nothingness, with this tidy, old-fashioned structure laid on top of it." - Body HeatBody HeatBody Heat is a 1981 American neo-noir film written and directed by Lawrence Kasdan. It stars William Hurt, Kathleen Turner, Richard Crenna, Ted Danson, J.A. Preston, and Mickey Rourke. The film is inspired by Double Indemnity....
- "William HurtWilliam HurtWilliam McGill Hurt is an American stage and film actor. He received his acting training at the Juilliard School, and began acting on stage in the 1970s. Hurt made his film debut as a troubled scientist in the science-fiction feature Altered States , for which he received a Golden Globe nomination...
..gives his least entertaining screen performance yet. I never thought that I'd compare anyone unfavourably with Fred MacMurrayFred MacMurrayFrederick Martin "Fred" MacMurray was an American actor who appeared in more than 100 movies and a successful television series during a career that spanned nearly a half-century, from 1930 to the 1970s....
, but MacMurray in Double Indemnity made a better chump." - Southern ComfortSouthern Comfort (film)Southern Comfort is an American action/thriller film directed by Walter Hill, working from a script by Hill, longtime collaborator David Giler, and Michael Kane. It featured Keith Carradine, Powers Boothe, Alan Autry, Les Lannom, Peter Coyote, T. K...
- " a survival-game movie - a variation on The Most Dangerous GameThe Most Dangerous Game"The Most Dangerous Game", also published as "The Hounds of Zaroff", is a short story by Richard Connell. It was published in Collier's Weekly on January 19, 1924....
and Deliverance in which almost defenceless men who manage to lose their compass in the water, along with their map and their radio, become the prey of hunters. Walter Hill uses the LouisianaLouisianaLouisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
bayouBayouA bayou is an American term for a body of water typically found in flat, low-lying areas, and can refer either to an extremely slow-moving stream or river , or to a marshy lake or wetland. The name "bayou" can also refer to creeks that see level changes due to tides and hold brackish water which...
country locale for its paranoia inducing strangeness (its like a landscape dreamed up by Max ErnstMax ErnstMax Ernst was a German painter, sculptor, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was one of the primary pioneers of the Dada movement and Surrealism.-Early life:...
)...As an action director, Walter Hill has a dazzling competence." - Ticket to HeavenTicket to HeavenTicket to Heaven is a 1981 Canadian film about the recruiting of a man into a group portrayed to be a cult, and his life in the group until forcibly extracted by his family and friends. The film was directed by Ralph L. Thomas...
- "could have used a better script and more taut direction, but a good subject does a lot for a movie - you don't feel humiliated by it." - RagtimeRagtime (film)Ragtime is a 1981 American film based on the historical novel Ragtime by E. L. Doctorow. The action takes place in and around New York City, New Rochelle, and Atlantic City in the first decade of the 1900s, and includes fictionalized references to actual people and events of the time. The film was...
- "Returning to the screen after a twenty year retirement, James CagneyJames CagneyJames Francis Cagney, Jr. was an American actor, first on stage, then in film, where he had his greatest impact. Although he won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of performances, he is best remembered for playing "tough guys." In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him eighth...
, who was born in 1899, has the faint, satisfied smile of an old tiger, and it's a pleasure to look at him." "There is probably no American novel that would be more difficult for a European director to adapt to the screen than this one, which depends on the kind of background that we soak up unconsciously over the years..the Czech Milos FormanMiloš FormanJan Tomáš Forman , better known as Miloš Forman , is a Czech-American director, screenwriter, professor, and an emigrant from Czechoslovakia. Two of his films, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Amadeus, are among the most celebrated in the history of film, both gaining him the Academy Award for...
,...simply doesn't have the storehouse of associations to make a Ragtime. (Could anyone besides AltmanRobert AltmanRobert Bernard Altman was an American film director and screenwriter known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.His films MASH , McCabe and...
get the humor across..)" - The Devil's Playground - "I don't really see how this movie could be much better. Schepisi is a great filmmaker, with his own softly rhythmed style...this isn't an anti-Catholic movie. Far from it. Schepisi loves these tormented comedians. But he looks at them with humorous pagan eyes."
- On Golden PondOn Golden Pond (1981 film)On Golden Pond is a 1981 American drama film directed by Mark Rydell. The screenplay by Ernest Thompson was adapted from his 1979 play of the same title. Henry Fonda won the Academy Award in what was his final film role. Co-star Katharine Hepburn also received an Oscar, as did Thompson for his...
- "is the kind of uplifting experience that traffics heavily in rather basic symbols: the gold light on the pond stands for the sunset of life; ..Do you dig it? Do you have the stomach for it? .. This isn't material for actors, no matter what their age. It's material for milking tears from an audience...This twaddle is a pacifier - it's a regression to the movies with cute and wise old codgers." - Pennies from HeavenPennies from Heaven (1981 film)Pennies from Heaven is a 1981 musical film. The film was based on a 1978 BBC television drama. In 1981, Dennis Potter adapted his own screenplay for a film of the same name for American audiences, with its setting changed to Depression era Chicago. Potter was nominated for the 1981 Academy Award...
- "is the most emotional movie musical I've ever seen. It's a stylized mythology of the Depression which uses the popular songs of the period as expressions of people's deepest longings - for sex, for romance, for money, for a high good time....there was never a second when I wasn't fascinated by what was happening on the screen." - Reds - "When Warren BeattyWarren BeattyWarren Beatty born March 30, 1937) is an American actor, producer, screenwriter and director. He has received a total of fourteen Academy Award nominations, winning one for Best Director in 1982. He has also won four Golden Globe Awards including the Cecil B. DeMille Award.-Early life and...
(as John Reed), and Diane KeatonDiane KeatonDiane Keaton is an American film actress, director, producer, and screenwriter. Keaton began her career on stage, and made her screen debut in 1970...
(as Louise BryantLouise BryantLouise Bryant was an American journalist and writer. She was best known for her Marxist and anarchist beliefs and her essays on radical political and feminist themes. Bryant published articles in several radical left journals during her life, including Alexander Berkman's The Blast...
), drop a bit of political information, their voices go dead, as if they didn't expect anyone to be listening. Beatty could be reciting from a manual, and Keaton might be dubbed - the words don't seem related to anything going on in her head." - Four FriendsFour Friends (film)Four Friends is a 1981 American drama film directed by Arthur Penn. The semi-autobiographical screenplay by Steve Tesich follows the path of the title characters from high school to college during the often turbulent 1960s and beyond.-Plot synopsis:...
- "The script is a semi-autobiographical account by Steve TesichSteve TesichStojan Steve Tesich was a Serbian-American screenwriter, playwright and novelist. He won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1979 for the movie Breaking Away.-Career:...
of the arrival in [America] of a YugoslaviaYugoslaviaYugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
n working-class boy, Danilo,...The story of Danilo's growing to manhood in the America he loves is - although Tesich would probably disagree - deeply conservative...Four Friends views the American sixties as a sturdy burgherBourgeoisieIn sociology and political science, bourgeoisie describes a range of groups across history. In the Western world, between the late 18th century and the present day, the bourgeoisie is a social class "characterized by their ownership of capital and their related culture." A member of the...
from central Europe might: these kids don't appreciate their freedom; they have a lot of growing up to do." - My Dinner with AndréMy Dinner with AndreMy Dinner with Andre is a 1981 film starring Andre Gregory and Wallace Shawn, written by Gregory and Shawn, and directed by Louis Malle.-Plot:...
- "a bizarre and surprisingly entertaining satirical comedy " - Absence of MaliceAbsence of MaliceAbsence of Malice is a 1981 American drama film starring Paul Newman, Sally Field, and Bob Balaban, directed by Sydney Pollack.-Plot:Miami liquor wholesaler Michael Gallagher is the son of a deceased criminal who awakes one day to find himself a front-page story in the local newspaper, indicating...
- " Paul NewmanPaul NewmanPaul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, professional racing driver and auto racing enthusiast...
..seems to have transcended age. ..there's nothing stale or brackish about [his] acting these days - it's bilge-free." - Shoot the MoonShoot the MoonShoot the Moon is the title of the fourth album by singer-songwriter Judie Tzuke, released in April 1982. It was Tzuke's first album for Chrysalis Records, after leaving Elton John's label Rocket Records...
- "there isn't a scene in Alan ParkerAlan ParkerSir Alan William Parker, CBE is an English film director, producer, writer and actor. He has been active in both the British cinema and American cinema and was a founding member of the Directors Guild of Great Britain.-Life and career:...
's new film, that I think rings false....This movie isn't just about marriage; it's about the family that is created, and how that whole family reacts to the knotted, disintegrating relationship of the parents...Alan Parker directs the actors superbly." - One from the HeartOne from the HeartOne from the Heart is a 1982 musical film directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The characters themselves do not actually sing but the powerful score dominates the movie. It is set entirely in Las Vegas, on the Las Vegas Strip and the desert surrounding the city...
- " this story being negligible, what we're asked to respond to is CoppolaFrancis Ford CoppolaFrancis Ford Coppola is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is widely acclaimed as one of Hollywood's most innovative and influential film directors...
's confectionery artistry... The people in this movie are charming but not interesting...It's like South PacificSouth Pacific (musical)South Pacific is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and book by Hammerstein and Joshua Logan. The story draws from James A. Michener's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1947 book Tales of the South Pacific, weaving together characters and elements from several of its...
without the music." - The Border - "Jack NicholsonJack NicholsonJohn Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times, and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the...
...gives a modulated, controlled performance." "Tony RichardsonTony RichardsonCecil Antonio "Tony" Richardson was an English theatre and film director and producer.-Early life:Richardson was born in Shipley, Yorkshire in 1928, the son of Elsie Evans and Clarence Albert Richardson, a chemist...
..has developed a considerable body of skills, and this may be the most unobtrusively intelligent directing he has ever done for the screen. It's a solid, impressive movie." - Personal Best - "a very smart and super-subtle movie, in which the authenticity of the details draws us in...This film celebrates women's bodies without turning them into objects; it turns them into bodies. There's an undercurrent of flabbergasted awe. Everything in the movie is physically charged."
- Quest for FireQuest for Fire (film)Quest for Fire is a 1981 film adaptation of the 1911 Belgian novel by J.-H. Rosny aîné . Directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud and adapted by Gérard Brach, the film stars Everett McGill, Ron Perlman, Nameer El-Kadi, and Rae Dawn Chong. It won the Academy Award for Makeup. Michael D...
- "Only one pleasant thing happens to the three Ulam (Everett McGillEverett McGillEverett McGill is an American actor, best known for mostly playing villains in films like Licence to Kill, Silver Bullet, Dune, Yanks and Under Siege 2: Dark Territory.-Life and career:...
, Ron PerlmanRon PerlmanRonald N. "Ron" Perlman is an American television, film and voice over actor. He is known for having played Vincent in the TV series Beauty and the Beast , a Deathstroke figure known as Slade in the animated series Teen Titans, Clarence "Clay" Morrow in Sons of Anarchy, the comic book character...
and Nameer El-Kadi), on their travels: they encounter Ika (Rae Dawn ChongRae Dawn ChongRae Dawn Chong is a Canadian-American actress.-Life and career:Chong was born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, the daughter of Maxine Sneed and Tommy Chong. She and her sister Robbi were raised by her grandmother, Tommy Chong's mother. Chong's father is of Chinese and Scottish-Irish ancestry and her...
), of the highly developed mud-people tribe, the Ivaka...who wears nothing but body paint." - MissingMissing (film)Missing is a 1982 American drama film directed by Costa Gavras, and starring Jack Lemmon, Sissy Spacek, Melanie Mayron, John Shea, Charles Cioffi and Janice Rule...
- "The Battle of ChileThe Battle of ChileThe Battle of Chile is a documentary film in 3 parts, directed by the Chilean Patricio Guzman: The Insurrection of the Bourgeoisie , The Coup d'état , Popular Power . It is a chronicle of the political tension in Chile in 1973 and of the violent counter revolution against the democratically elected...
, which interpreted Salvador AllendeSalvador AllendeSalvador Allende Gossens was a Chilean physician and politician who is generally considered the first democratically elected Marxist to become president of a country in Latin America....
's overthrow in much the same way, is far more manipulative, yet I think it's a great film. MissingMissing (film)Missing is a 1982 American drama film directed by Costa Gavras, and starring Jack Lemmon, Sissy Spacek, Melanie Mayron, John Shea, Charles Cioffi and Janice Rule...
isn't; it isn't even good." "Missing which was set in Mexico, has texture: it has the anxious, ominous atmosphere of a city under martial law..The visual details have something tangible about them; the plot points don't." - Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man - "a movie about a father-son relationship and about the terrible generational split that has developed in Italy ...But none of the scenes go anywhere. Bernardo BertolucciBernardo BertolucciBernardo Bertolucci is an Italian film director and screenwriter, whose films include The Conformist, Last Tango in Paris, 1900, The Last Emperor and The Dreamers...
's vision is grayed out here and mediocre at heart." - Three BrothersThree Brothers (film)Three Brothers is a 1981 Italian film based on a work by Andrei Platonov. It was directed by Francesco Rosi and stars Philippe Noiret, Vittorio Mezzogiorno, Michele Placido and Charles Vanel....
- "Francesco RosiFrancesco RosiFrancesco Rosi is an Italian film director. He is the father of actress Carolina Rosi.-Biography:After studying Law, but hoping to study film, Rosi entered the industry as an assistant to Luchino Visconti on La Terra trema...
respects the perplexities of the three sons of an ageing farmer, and he's fair to their differing points of view...Rosi, whose earlier work was about the enigmas of power and corruption, has, as he has aged (he was born in 1922), become more interested in the powerless. ..Three Brothers is not as fine a work as Christ Stopped at EboliChrist Stopped at Eboli (film)Christ Stopped at Eboli is a 1979 film adaptation of the book of the same name by Carlo Levi. It was directed by Francesco Rosi and stars Gian Maria Volonté as Carlo Levi, with Paolo Bonacelli, Alain Cuny, Léa Massari, and Irene Papas....
...but is wonderful enough." - DinerDiner (film)Diner is a 1982 comedy-drama film written and directed by Barry Levinson. Levinson's screen directing debut, Diner is the first in his "Baltimore films", which also include the subsequent Tin Men, Avalon and Liberty Heights.-Plot:...
- "is a wonderful movie. Set in BaltimoreBaltimoreBaltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
, around Christmas of 1959, it's like a comic American version of I VitelloniI VitelloniI vitelloni is an Italian comedy drama film directed by Federico Fellini. Recognized as a pivotal work in the director's artistic evolution, the film has distinct autobiographical elements that mirror important societal changes in 1950s Italy....
. " - Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset StripRichard Pryor: Live on the Sunset StripLive on the Sunset Strip is a comedy album by Richard Pryor. Recorded in 1982, the film was the most financially lucrative of the comedian's concert films...
- "a master of lyrical obscenity..Pryor is the only great poet satirist among our comics. His lyricism seems to come out of his thin-skinned nature; he's so empathic he's all wired up...When he becomes something or someone, it isn't an imitation; he incarnates the object's soul and guts." - DeathtrapDeathtrap (film)Deathtrap is a 1982 thriller film based on Ira Levin's play of the same name.The cast includes Michael Caine, Christopher Reeve, Dyan Cannon, Irene Worth and Henry Jones...
- "what this comes down to is a very broad, obvious movie that looks like an ugly play and appears to be a vile vision of life." - DivaDiva (film)Diva is a 1981 film directed by Jean-Jacques Beineix, adapted from a novel of the same name by Daniel Odier . It is one of the first French films to let go of the realist, harsh mood of 1970s French cinema and return to a colourful, melodic style, called cinema du look...
- "dashes along with a pell-mell gracefulness..It's a glittering toy of a movie...BeineixJean-Jacques Beineix-Biography:In 1964, Jean-Jacques Beineix started his career as Jean Becker's assistant director on the famous French TV series, Les saintes chéries until the end of 1967. Then, in 1970 he worked for Claude Berri and in 1971 for Claude Zidi. In 1977, he directed his first short movie Le Chien de M....
presents people who charm us because they arrange their reality to suit their whims. They're unself-conscious about being self-conscious." - Victor/VictoriaVictor/VictoriaVictor Victoria is a 1982 musical comedy film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer that involves transvestism and sexual identity as central themes. It stars Julie Andrews, James Garner, Robert Preston, Lesley Ann Warren, Alex Karras, and John Rhys-Davies. The film was produced by Tony Adams, directed...
- "Julie AndrewsJulie AndrewsDame Julia Elizabeth Andrews, DBE is an English film and stage actress, singer, and author. She is the recipient of Golden Globe, Emmy, Grammy, BAFTA, People's Choice Award, Theatre World Award, Screen Actors Guild and Academy Award honors...
is too infuriatingly sane and remote to be at the center of a farce." - Cat PeopleCat People (1982 film)Cat People is a 1982 American erotic horror film directed by Paul Schrader and starring Nastassja Kinski, Malcolm McDowell and John Heard. The film co-stars Annette O'Toole, Ruby Dee, Ed Begley, Jr. and John Larroquette. Jerry Bruckheimer served as executive producer...
- "The dialogue that the actors are given to speak is dead. Eventually, Nastassia, who's in love with the zookeeper, pleads with him - "Kill me. You must free me." He says, "I can't", and you want to yell, "Oh, go ahead and kill her."" - MephistoMephisto (1981 film)Mephisto is the title of a 1981 film adaptation of Klaus Mann's novel of the same name, directed by István Szabó, and starring Klaus Maria Brandauer as Hendrik Höfgen...
- "an indictment of a morally bankrupt actor - Klaus Maria BrandauerKlaus Maria BrandauerKlaus Maria Brandauer is an Austrian actor, film director, and professor at the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna.-Personal life:...
, who has gleaming cat eyes and a seductive, impish smile, seems a startlingly right choice for the part.." - Smash PalaceSmash PalaceSmash Palace is a New Zealand feature film, released in 1981. It was directed by Roger Donaldson and starred Bruno Lawrence, Anna Jemison, Greer Robson and Keith Aberdein. The film has an R16 rating.-Critical review:...
- "is an amazingly accomplished movie...Roger DonaldsonRoger DonaldsonRoger Donaldson is an Australian-born New Zealand film producer, director and writer who has made numerous successful movies. He was a co-founder of the New Zealand Film Commission.-Life and career:...
has the kind of neo-neo-realist technique that a viewer is unconscious of...It's a remarkable piece of work..." - AnnieAnnie (film)Annie is a 1982 American musical film directed by John Huston and choreographed by Arlene Phillips. The film is an adaption of the 1977 stage musical of the same name, which in turn was based on the 1924 Little Orphan Annie comic strip by Harold Gray. The movie features music by Charles Strouse,...
- "Carol BurnettCarol BurnettCarol Creighton Burnett is an American actress, comedian, singer, dancer and writer. Burnett started her career in New York. After becoming a hit on Broadway, she made her television debut...
is at her most exuberantly macabre..As Miss Hannigan [the head of the New York City orphanage where Annie lives till the age of ten]..There's dementia in her when she's wriggling at men seductively. Pie-eyed, in ruffles and gathers and a long red necklace that beats a tattoo on her belly, she's both hag and trollop - a fit mate for W.C.Fields' Egbert Sousé up there in pickled heaven." " All the little orphans seem to have been trained by Ethel MermanEthel MermanEthel Merman was an American actress and singer. Known primarily for her powerful voice and roles in musical theatre, she has been called "the undisputed First Lady of the musical comedy stage." Among the many standards introduced by Merman in Broadway musicals are "I Got Rhythm", "Everything's...
; they belt in unison." - Rocky IIIRocky IIIRocky III is a 1982 American film that is the third installment in the Rocky film series. It is written and directed by and stars Sylvester Stallone as the title character, with Carl Weathers as former boxing rival Apollo Creed, Burgess Meredith as Rocky's trainer Mickey, and Talia Shire as Rocky's...
- " packaged hysteria " - E.T. the Extra-TerrestrialE.T. the Extra-TerrestrialE.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is a 1982 American science fiction film co-produced and directed by Steven Spielberg, written by Melissa Mathison and starring Henry Thomas, Dee Wallace, Robert MacNaughton, Drew Barrymore, and Peter Coyote...
- "E.T. The Extrra-Terrestrial envelops you..It's a dream of a movie - a bliss-out. This sci-fi fantasy has a healthy share of slapstick comedy, yet it's as pure as Carroll BallardCarroll Ballard-Biography:Carroll Ballard started out making documentaries for the U.S. Information Agency, Beyond This Winter's Wheat and Harvest ; the latter was nominated for an Academy Award...
's The Black StallionThe Black StallionThe Black Stallion, known as "the Black" or "Shêtân", is the title character from author Walter Farley's bestselling series about the stallion and his young owner, Alec Ramsay...
. " - Poltergeist - "turns into a showcase for fancy opticals "
- The Escape ArtistThe Escape ArtistThe Escape Artist is a 1982 film starring Griffin O'Neal and Raúl Juliá. It was based on a book by David Wagoner, and was the directorial debut of Caleb Deschanel.-Plot:...
- "Griffin O'NealGriffin O'Neal-Early life:O'Neal was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of actor Ryan O'Neal and the late actress Joanna Cook Moore . He has one sister, Tatum, and two half brothers, Patrick and Redmond. His grandfather was novelist/screenwriter Charles "Blackie" O'Neal.-Films:Griffin O'Neal appeared in...
is a geat-looking gamin daredevil...[but the film] is so misshapen that it's only intermittently affecting." - Star Trek II:The Wrath of Khan - "invites you to have some wonderful callow, dumb fun. ShatnerWilliam ShatnerWilliam Alan Shatner is a Canadian actor, musician, recording artist, and author. He gained worldwide fame and became a cultural icon for his portrayal of James T...
has probably never given as polished a performance ...Ricardo MontalbánRicardo MontalbánRicardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán y Merino, KSG was a Mexican radio, television, theatre and film actor. He had a career spanning six decades and many notable roles...
may be the most romantic smoothie of all sci-fi villains. Khan's penchant for quoting MelvilleHerman MelvilleHerman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. He is best known for his novel Moby-Dick and the posthumous novella Billy Budd....
, and MiltonJohn MiltonJohn Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell...
doesn't hurt...Very quickly, you discover that even if you weren't a Trekkie you've been fond of this crew. Even if you hardly ever saw them, they took up lodging in your head; they put down roots there." - Blade RunnerBlade RunnerBlade Runner is a 1982 American science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, and Sean Young. The screenplay, written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, is loosely based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K...
- "a suspenseless thriller" - A Midsummer Night's Sex ComedyA Midsummer Night's Sex ComedyA Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy is a 1982 film written, directed by and starring Woody Allen.The plot is loosely based on Ingmar Bergman's Smiles of a Summer Night. This was the first of 13 movies that Allen would make starring Mia Farrow...
- "Julie HagertyJulie HagertyJulie Hagerty is an American actress and former model.-Early life:Hagerty was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, the daughter of Harriet Yuellig, a model and singer, and Jerry Hagerty, a musician. Her brother Michael Hagerty was also an actor. Her parents later divorced. Hagerty attended Indian Hill High...
has a beautiful naïve deadpan and a way with lines ...she's the best thing in the movie." - Author! Author!Author! Author! (film)Author! Author! is a 1982 film directed by Arthur Hiller, written by Israel Horovitz and is loosely autobiographical. It stars Al Pacino, Dyan Cannon and Tuesday Weld....
- "The script, by Israel HorovitzIsrael HorovitzIsrael Horovitz is an American playwright and screenwriter.-Theatre career:An American dramatist, Horovitz has written more than 70 produced plays, many of which have been translated and performed in more than 30 languages worldwide . The 70/70 Horovitz Project was created by NYC Barefoot Theatre...
, has..some of the worst ideas and the most doddering, bonehead situations to be seen on the big screen in years...It's an indefensibly bad movie, but I didn't mind seeing it. There's something fascinatingly berserk in Horovitz's mixture of good and bad writing." - BarbarosaBarbarosaBarbarosa is a 1982 motion picture starring Willie Nelson and Gary Busey, about a young cowboy on the run from the law who hooks up with a famous bandito and learns about life from him...
- "The vistas are overwhelming - the landscapes have a near-hallucinatory, unspoiled dignity...Although this film is very different from Schepisi's Australian movies, it's similar in its feeling for landscape and its affection for the characters' individual, screwy ways of reasoning, and it shows the fullness of his approach to moviemaking....this is the most spirited and satisfying new Western I've seen in several years..." - The Best Little Whorehouse in TexasThe Best Little Whorehouse in TexasThe Best Little Whorehouse in Texas is a musical with a book by Texas author Larry L. King and Peter Masterson and music and lyrics by Carol Hall...
- "dimples, wigs, bazooms, and all, Dolly PartonDolly PartonDolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...
is phenomenally likable in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas ..the picture piles on the coy AmericanaAmericanaAmericana refers to artifacts, or a collection of artifacts, related to the history, geography, folklore and cultural heritage of the United States. Many kinds of material fall within the definition of Americana: paintings, prints and drawings; license plates or entire vehicles, household objects,...
." - The World According to GarpThe World According to GarpThe World According to Garp is John Irving's fourth novel. Published in 1978, the book was a bestseller for several years.A movie adaptation of the novel starring Robin Williams was released in 1982, with a screenplay written by Steve Tesich....
- "a castration fantasy...John LithgowJohn LithgowJohn Arthur Lithgow is an American actor, musician, and author. Presently, he is involved with a wide range of media projects, including stage, television, film, and radio...
..has more life in him/her than anybody else in the movie...he's like a bulkier Joyce GrenfellJoyce GrenfellJoyce Irene Grenfell, OBE was an English actress, comedienne, diseuse and singer-songwriter.-Early life:...
, but with a faraway look in his eyes.. it's a poison-pen letter to Mother and the feminist movement." - An Officer and a GentlemanAn Officer and a GentlemanA Officer and a Gentleman is a 1982 American drama film that tells the story of a U.S. Navy aviation officer candidate who comes into conflict with the Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant who trains him. It was written by Douglas Day Stewart and directed by Taylor Hackford...
- "a slick, high-pressured, and well-acted variant of the picture that was made fairly regularly in the thirties and forties: the selfish or arrogant fellow with a chip on his shoulder who joins some branch of the military, learns the meaning of comradeship, and comes out purged - straight and tall, a better human being, one of the team...(the minor characters have tragedies so that the major characters can learn lessons..)" - The Road Warrior - "The Road Warrior is intense, and it's all of a piece. The Australian director George Miller grabs you by the throat - or lower - and doesn't let you go until it's over...Set in a post-apocalyptic Wasteland....[it's] sappy sentimental, and, for all its huffing and puffing, it doesn't blow any houses down; it has no resonance of any kind."
- TempestTempest (1982 film)Tempest is an American comedy-drama film directed by Paul Mazursky. It is a very loose adaptation of the William Shakespeare play, The Tempest....
- "Susan SarandonSusan SarandonSusan Sarandon is an American actress. She has worked in films and television since 1969, and won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in the 1995 film Dead Man Walking. She had also been nominated for the award for four films before that and has received other recognition for her...
and a young actress new to films, Molly RingwaldMolly RingwaldMolly Kathleen Ringwald is an American actress, singer and dancer. Having appeared in the John Hughes movies Sixteen Candles , The Breakfast Club , and Pretty in Pink , Ringwald has been frequently named the greatest teen star of all time...
, sport beautiful short haircuts in Paul MazurskyPaul MazurskyPaul Mazursky is an American film director, screenwriter and actor.-Personal life:He was born Irwin Mazursky in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Jean , a piano player for dance classes, and David Mazursky, a laborer. Mazursky was born to a Jewish family; his grandfather was an immigrant from...
's Tempest. At one point, they also stand in the surf of a Greek island and sing Why Do Fools Fall in LoveWhy Do Fools Fall in Love (song)"Why Do Fools Fall in Love" is a song that was originally a hit for early New York City-based rock and roll group Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers in 1956. It reached No. 1 on the R&B chart, No. 6 on Billboards Pop Singles chart, and number one on the UK Singles Chart...
like carefree vaudevillians, and they're completely charming. Those are the two best reasons for seeing the film." - Night ShiftNight Shift (film)Night Shift is a 1982 comedy film, one of Ron Howard's earliest directorial efforts. It stars Howard's Happy Days co-star Henry Winkler along with Michael Keaton, in his first starring role, and Shelley Long, who later in the year would star as Diane Chambers in the popular sitcom Cheers. Also...
- "the film picks up at the end, and there are a lot of attractive performers - especially the one-time Second CityThe Second CityThe Second City is a improvisational comedy enterprise which originated in Chicago's Old Town neighborhood.The Second City Theatre opened on December 16, 1959 and has since expanded its presence to several other cities, including Toronto and Los Angeles...
comedienne Shelley LongShelley LongShelley Lee Long is an American actress best known for her role as Diane Chambers on the sitcom Cheers, for which she won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress and two Golden Globe Awards for Best Actress...
." - My Favorite YearMy Favorite YearMy Favorite Year is a 1982 American comedy film directed by Richard Benjamin which tells the story of a young comedy writer. It stars Peter O'Toole, Mark Linn-Baker, Jessica Harper, Joseph Bologna, Lou Jacobi, Bill Macy, Lainie Kazan, Selma Diamond, Cameron Mitchell, and Gloria Stuart. O'Toole was...
- "..the first film directed by Richard BenjaminRichard BenjaminRichard Benjamin is an American actor and film director. He has starred in a number of productions, including Goodbye, Columbus , based on the novella by Philip Roth, and Westworld .-Life and career:...
..the film has a bubbling spirit, and I was carried along by the acting and by Benjamin's near-libidinous reverence for his smartass characters...As the guest from Hollywood - O'ToolePeter O'ToolePeter Seamus Lorcan O'Toole is an Irish actor of stage and screen. O'Toole achieved stardom in 1962 playing T. E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia, and then went on to become a highly-honoured film and stage actor. He has been nominated for eight Academy Awards, and holds the record for most...
is simply astounding." - TexTex (film)Tex is a 1982 American drama film released by Buena Vista Distribution Company and directed by Tim Hunter based on the novel of the same name by S. E. Hinton. Tex is about the life of two brothers after their mother dies, and their father walks out on them...
- "what DillonMatt DillonMatthew Raymond "Matt" Dillon is an American actor and film director. He began acting in the late 1970s, gaining fame as a teenage idol during the 1980s.- Early life :...
does in Tex may not be the result of studying technique, but it works better on camera than most trained acting does.....[Dillon] has a gift for expressing confused and submerged shifts of feeling..there are little life lessons all the way through - this is an old-fashioned kids' movie.." - Le Beau MariageLe Beau MariageLe Beau Mariage is a 1982 French film directed by Éric Rohmer, starring Béatrice Romand, André Dussollier, Féodor Atkine. It is one of Rohmer's "comedies and proverbs" .-Synopsis:...
- "Éric RohmerÉric RohmerÉric Rohmer was a French film director, film critic, journalist, novelist, screenwriter and teacher. A figure in the post-war New Wave cinema, he was a former editor of Cahiers du cinéma....
's Le Beau Mariage ended just when I started to get interested, and when I hoped we might find out something about the heroine (Béatrice RomandBéatrice RomandBéatrice Romand is a French actress best known for her work with director Éric Rohmer in such films as Claire's Knee, Chloe in the Afternoon, A Good Marriage, Le Rayon vert and Autumn Tale....
)..Serio-comic triviality has become Rohmer's speciality." - FitzcarraldoFitzcarraldoFitzcarraldo is a 1982 film written and directed by Werner Herzog and starring Klaus Kinski as the title character. It portrays would-be rubber baron Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald, an Irishman known as Fitzcarraldo in Peru, who has to pull a steamship over a steep hill in order to access a rich rubber...
- "a leaden variation on Aguirre, the Wrath of GodAguirre, the Wrath of GodAguirre, the Wrath of God is a 1972 West German adventure film written and directed by Werner Herzog. Klaus Kinski stars in the title role. The soundtrack was composed and performed by German progressive/Krautrock band Popol Vuh...
. It's Aguirre without the inspired images or great subject...KinskiKlaus KinskiKlaus Kinski, born Klaus Günter Karl Nakszynski , was a German actor. He appeared in more than 130 films, and is perhaps best-remembered as a leading role actor in Werner Herzog films: Aguirre, the Wrath of God , Nosferatu the Vampyre , Woyzeck , Fitzcarraldo and Cobra Verde .-Early...
's Fitzcarraldo isn't a man with a dizzy dream - he's a bored, fed-up actor eyeballing the camera." - Burden of DreamsBurden of DreamsBurden of Dreams is a feature-length documentary and making-of directed by Les Blank, shot during and about the chaotic production of Werner Herzog's 1982 film Fitzcarraldo, filmed in the jungles of South America....
- "At one glorious point in his (Werner HerzogWerner HerzogWerner Herzog Stipetić , known as Werner Herzog, is a German film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and opera director.He is often considered as one of the greatest figures of the New German Cinema, along with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Margarethe von Trotta, Volker Schlöndorff, Werner...
's) monologues to the camera, this humble fellow tells us that his dreams are the same as ours - that "The only distinction between me and you is that I can articulate them." This puts him in a class with the movie queen in Singin' in the RainSingin' in the RainSingin' in the Rain is a 1952 American comedy musical film starring Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor and Debbie Reynolds and directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, with Kelly also providing the choreography...
who dimpled prettily as she said, "If we bring a little joy into your humdrum lives, it makes us feel as though our hard work ain't been in vain for nothin'." - Fast Times at Ridgemont HighFast Times at Ridgemont HighFast Times at Ridgemont High is a 1982 American coming-of-age teen comedy film written by Cameron Crowe and adapted from his 1981 book of the same name...
- "I was surprised at how not-bad it is..it's certainly likable..If the film has a theme, it's sexual embarrassment. Sex fouls the kids up..Sean PennSean PennSean Justin Penn is an American actor, screenwriter and film director, also known for his political and social activism...
in the role of the surfer-doper, Jeff Spicoli - becomes the film's star.." - Sweet Hours (Dulces horas)Sweet Hours (Dulces horas)Sweet Hours is a Spanish film, written and directed by Carlos Saura and released in 1982. The title comes from words in the soundtrack song Recordar sung by the soprano Imperia Argentina.-Plot:...
- "Carlos SauraCarlos SauraCarlos Saura Atarés is a Spanish film director and photographer.-Early life:Born into a family of artists , he developed his artistic sense in childhood as a photography enthusiast.He obtained his directing diploma in Madrid in 1957 at the Institute of Cinema Research and Studies...
has a feeling for dark, autumnal elegance, and a dexterous technique that he puts at the service of tired ideas... from time to time the images have an erotic tingle. In a Saura film, something more directly sexual is often impending; it hovers in the atmosphere." - Jinxed!Jinxed!Jinxed! is a 1982 comedy-drama film starring Bette Midler, Rip Torn and Ken Wahl. Directed by Don Siegel, the veteran filmmaker would suffer a heart attack during the troubled production...
- "MidlerBette MidlerBette Midler is an American singer, actress, and comedian, also known by her informal stage name, The Divine Miss M. She became famous as a cabaret and concert headliner, and went on to star in successful and acclaimed films such as The Rose, Ruthless People, Beaches, and For The Boys...
has some lines that are real swifties and she turns even moderately amusing ones into zingers, but the situations don't go anywhere..Don SiegelDon SiegelDonald Siegel was an influential American film director and producer. His name variously appeared in the credits of his films as both Don Siegel and Donald Siegel.-Early life:...
..was never the right director for a musical-comedy star." - Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean - "..the characters are warped by their illusions, but AltmanRobert AltmanRobert Bernard Altman was an American film director and screenwriter known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.His films MASH , McCabe and...
has a poetic intuition of the way illusions wrap around people's lives, and his technique - all the artifice he brings to the staging - becomes one with the themes of illusion and deception." - Leap Into the VoidA Leap in the DarkA Leap in the Dark is a 1980 Italian film written and directed by Marco Bellocchio. It stars Michel Piccoli and Anouk Aimée, who won the Best Actor and Best Actress prizes respectively at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival. It also won the David di Donatello for Best Director.- Plot :Judge Mauro...
- "The movie is about family entanglements and the functions of madness....[It] is a film about people who are out of control made by a director (Marco Bellocchio) who's in as close to total control as a moviemaker is ever likely to be. I'm not sure if it should be considered a great movie, but there's greatness in it." - By DesignBy DesignBy Design is a Canadian film directed by Claude Jutra and was released in 1982. It stars Sara Botsford and Patty Duke Astin.-Synopsis:Angie , and Helen , are in love and they live and work together - they design women's clothes and run their own fashion business in Vancouver. Helen wants to be a...
- "the director Claude JutraClaude JutraClaude Jutra was a Canadian actor, film director and writer. The Prix Jutra are named in his honor because of his importance in Quebec cinema history. He was born and raised in Montreal, Quebec....
..has a light, understated approach to farce. His sensibility suggests a mingling of TatiJacques TatiJacques Tati was a French filmmaker, working as a comedic actor, writer and director. In a poll conducted by Entertainment Weekly of the Greatest Movie Directors Tati was voted the 46th greatest of all time...
and TruffautFrançois TruffautFrançois Roland Truffaut was an influential film critic and filmmaker and one of the founders of the French New Wave. In a film career lasting over a quarter of a century, he remains an icon of the French film industry. He was also a screenwriter, producer, and actor working on over twenty-five...
...most of the time the picture has a freshness that's very surprising, given the subject: a couple who want a child." - Eating RaoulEating RaoulEating Raoul is a 1982 black comedy about a married couple living in Hollywood who resort to killing swingers for their money. It was directed by Paul Bartel and written by Bartel and Richard Blackburn...
- "is thin-textured - it's like watching a stretched-out, slowed-down episode of Mary Hartman, Mary HartmanMary Hartman, Mary HartmanMary Hartman, Mary Hartman is an American soap opera parody that aired in daily syndication from January 1976 to May 1977. The series was produced by Norman Lear, directed by Joan Darling and starred Louise Lasser...
..Watching it, I felt as if I were experiencing sensory deeprivation." - Heartaches - "As the brazen, pushy Rita of Heartaches, KidderMargot KidderMargaret Ruth "Margot" Kidder is a Canadian-born American actress. She is perhaps best known for playing Lois Lane in the four Superman movies opposite Christopher Reeve, a role that brought her to widespread recognition....
has the depth that was missing from her other roles; this is the first full performance I've ever seen her give, and she's something to behold...Heartaches..has some of the appeal of the Hollywood romantic comedies of the thirties in which a couple of working girls meet up and help each other out." - Still of the Night - "is reticent and soft where it should be tough. The writer-director, Robert BentonRobert BentonRobert Douglas Benton is an American screenwriter and film director.Benton was born in Waxahachie, Texas, the son of Dorothy and Ellery Douglass Benton, a telephone company employee. He attended the University of Texas and Columbia University. Benton has won numerous awards for both writing and...
, is unquestionably inelligent, but he doesn't seem to have the twisted savvy that's needed for the job at hand." - TootsieTootsieTootsie is a 1982 American comedy film that tells the story of a talented but volatile actor whose reputation for being difficult forces him to go to extreme lengths to land a job. The movie stars Dustin Hoffman and Jessica Lange, with a supporting cast that includes Teri Garr, Dabney Coleman,...
- "has what the best screwballScrewball ComedyScrewball Comedy is an album by the Japanese band Soul Flower Union. The album found the band going into a simpler, harder-rocking direction, after several heavily world-music influenced albums.-Track listing:...
comedies had:a Can-you-top-this? quality...In its final form, Tootsie is based on Dustin HoffmanDustin HoffmanDustin Lee Hoffman is an American actor with a career in film, television, and theatre since 1960. He has been known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and vulnerable characters....
, the perfectionist; he's both the hero and the target of this satirical farce about actors..." - GandhiGandhi (film)Gandhi is a 1982 biographical film based on the life of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who led the nonviolent resistance movement against British colonial rule in India during the first half of the 20th century. The film was directed by Richard Attenborough and stars Ben Kingsley as Gandhi. They both...
- "Leaving the theatre where I saw Gandhi, I felt the way the British must have when they left India: exhausted and relieved...the film feels as if it were directed by a committee. The movies that Satyajit RaySatyajit RaySatyajit Ray was an Indian Bengali filmmaker. He is regarded as one of the greatest auteurs of 20th century cinema. Ray was born in the city of Kolkata into a Bengali family prominent in the world of arts and literature...
has made and the ones that Louis MalleLouis MalleLouis Malle was a French film director, screenwriter, and producer. He worked in both French cinema and Hollywood. His films include Ascenseur pour l'échafaud , Atlantic City , and Au revoir, les enfants .- Early years in France :Malle was born into a wealthy industrialist family in Thumeries,...
shot in India in the late sixties - the feature length documentary Calcutta and the seven-part series Phantom India - have the spirituality that this officially approved, laundered Gandhi doesn't have." - Sophie's ChoiceSophie's Choice (film)Sophie's Choice is a 1982 American romantic drama film that tells the story of a Polish immigrant, Sophie, and her tempestuous lover who share a boarding house with a young writer in Brooklyn. The film stars Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, and Peter MacNicol. Alan J...
- "an infuriatingly bad movie.." - 48 Hrs.48 Hrs.48 Hrs. is a 1982 American action comedy film directed by Walter Hill, starring Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy as a cop and convict, respectively, who team up to catch a cop-killer. The title refers to the amount of time they have to solve the crime. This was Eddie Murphy's film debut , and Joel...
- "is excitingly paced; it hooks you at the start and never lets up. But I didn't enjoy it." - The VerdictThe VerdictThe Verdict is a 1982 courtroom drama film which tells the story of a down-on-his-luck alcoholic lawyer who pushes a medical malpractice case in order to improve his own situation, but discovers along the way that he is doing the right thing. Since the lawsuit involves a woman in a persistent...
- "..the movie is so impressed by its own high seriousness that it has a hushed atmosphere. It strives for gloom...Paul NewmanPaul NewmanPaul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, professional racing driver and auto racing enthusiast...
..gives a fine performance...but..it's a bowed-down, sorrowful-sot performance - a tired old show-business view of a good man. " - Coup de TorchonCoup de TorchonCoup de Torchon is a 1981 French film adaptation of Jim Thompson's 1964 novel Pop. 1280, directed by Bertrand Tavernier. The film follows the novel relatively faithfully, but changes its setting from a West Texas boom town to a small town in French West Africa.-Plot:Lucien Cordier is an...
- "The longer the movie goes on, the worse it gets. First, it's a farce, then it's a Dirty HarryDirty HarryDirty Harry is a 1971 American crime thriller produced and directed by Don Siegel, the first in the Dirty Harry series. Clint Eastwood plays the title role, in his first outing as San Francisco Police Department Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan....
for liberals, and then it moves into Christ mythology, and it's so torpid that Isabelle HuppertIsabelle HuppertIsabelle Anne Madeleine Huppert is a French actress who has appeared in over 90 film and television productions since 1971. She has had 14 films in official competition at the Cannes Film Festival, and won the Best Actress Award twice, for Violette Nozière and La pianiste . She is also the most...
's flitting about looks like energy." - Best FriendsBest Friends (film)Best Friends is a 1982 feature film starring Burt Reynolds and Goldie Hawn. It is loosely based on the true story of the relationship between its writers, Barry Levinson and Valerie Curtin. The film is a drama as well as a romantic comedy.-Plot:...
- "The script probably reads fine, but it plays all wrong..The dialogue is too neatly worked out..Nothing in this picture really feels right; you sense the discomfort of honest effort going awry." - The Night of the Shooting StarsThe Night of the Shooting StarsThe Night of the Shooting Stars is a 1982 Italian fantasy war drama film directed by Paolo Taviani and Vittorio Taviani. It was entered into the 1982 Cannes Film Festival where it won the Jury Special Grand Prix....
- "is so good it's thrilling. This new film by Vittorio and Paolo Taviani encompasses a vision of the world. Comedy, tragedy, vaudeville, melodrama - they're all here, and inseparable." - The Year of Living DangerouslyThe Year of Living DangerouslyThe Year of Living Dangerously is a 1982 Peter Weir film adapted from the novel The Year of Living Dangerously by the author Christopher Koch. The story is about a love affair set in Indonesia during the overthrow of President Sukarno...
- "Scene by scene, I was fascinated by Living Dangerously; I was held by it and had a very good time, though I didn't believe any of it." - The King of ComedyThe King of Comedy (1983 film)The King of Comedy is a 1983 American dark comedy film starring Robert De Niro and Jerry Lewis, and directed by Martin Scorsese. The subject of the movie is celebrity stalking...
- "The plot is small-scale - material for a sketch, dragged out... De NiroRobert De NiroRobert De Niro, Jr. is an American actor, director and producer. His first major film roles were in Bang the Drum Slowly and Mean Streets, both in 1973...
's performance - from the Nobody's Home school of acting...inspires no empathy." - LovesickLovesickLovesick is a 1983 romantic comedy film. It was written and directed by Marshall Brickman. It stars Dudley Moore and Elizabeth McGovern and features Alec Guinness as the ghost of Sigmund Freud.-Plot:...
- "As he did in his first film as writer-director, the 1980 Simon, Marshall BrickmanMarshall BrickmanMarshall Brickman is a screenwriter, best known for his collaborations with Woody Allen. He is also known for playing the banjo with Eric Weissberg in the 1960s, and for a series of comical parodies published in The New Yorker.-Biography:After attending the University of Wisconsin–Madison, he...
parodies the craziness of the highly educated and compulsively self-aware....[Brickman] puts too much of a burden on Dudley MooreDudley MooreDudley Stuart John Moore, CBE was an English actor, comedian, composer and musician.Moore first came to prominence as one of the four writer-performers in the ground-breaking comedy revue Beyond the Fringe in the early 1960s, and then became famous as half of the highly popular television...
, who is always in danger as a performer, because he's so eager to oblige. Moore is too engaging here right from the start. The hero should be a Freudian pedant so the girl can humanize him." - Local HeroLocal HeroLocal Hero is a 1983 Scottish comedy-drama film starring Peter Riegert and Burt Lancaster. It was directed by Bill Forsyth and produced by David Puttnam....
- "ForsythBill ForsythBill Forsyth is a Scottish film director and writer, noted for his commitment to national film-making.Forsyth first came to attention with a low-budget film, That Sinking Feeling, made with youth theatre actors and featuring a cameo appearance by the Edinburgh gallery owner Richard Demarco...
...he's an entertainer-filmmaker who gives free play to his own sense of the ridiculous and his own sense of beauty..[his] understatement..creates a delicately charged atmosphere." - Tales of Ordinary MadnessTales of Ordinary MadnessTales of Ordinary Madness is a 1981 film by Italian director Marco Ferreri. It was shot in English in the USA, featuring Ben Gazzara and Ornella Muti in the leading roles...
- "Every once in a while, the highly accomplished Ben Gazzarra gets a film role that he's itching to play and a director who's in love with that marvellous oily, enigmatic face of his...Ornella MutiOrnella MutiOrnella Muti is an Italian actress. She was born in Rome as Francesca Romana Rivelli, to a Neapolitan father and Russian mother. Her maternal grandparents immigrated from Leningrad , Russia, to Estonia...
's Cass is..mysteriously, uncannily beautiful.." - La Nuit de Varennes - "it's almost the essence of the Old Wave..For two and a half hours, these people look knowingly at each other and talk literately....Ettore Scola is an accomplished, sometimes remarkable director, but he has got himself into an arch and soggy genre."
- Say Amen, Somebody - "features Thomas A. DorseyThomas A. DorseyThomas Andrew Dorsey was known as "the father of black gospel music" and was at one time so closely associated with the field that songs written in the new style were sometimes known as "dorseys." Earlier in his life he was a leading blues pianist known as Georgia Tom.As formulated by Dorsey,...
, (he composed Take My Hand, Precious LordTake My Hand, Precious Lord"Take My Hand, Precious Lord" is a gospel song, lyrics by Rev. Thomas A. Dorsey , melody by George Nelson Allen .-History:...
), - George T. Nierenberg, the young filmmaker, is a very sensitive and talented documentarian, and this is a lovely piece of work, but he's too genteel for his subject." - Bad BoysBad Boys (1983 film)Bad Boys is a 1983 American crime drama film primarily set in a juvenile detention center, starring Sean Penn, Esai Morales, and Ally Sheedy in her film debut. The film is directed by Rick Rosenthal. The original music score was composed by Bill Conti....
- "it's fairly proficiently made, in a brutal, realistic, neo-Warners style - the suspense is of a very primitive kind: you know early that things are going to get worse, and you have a fascinated dread of what's coming. But even when episodes are powerful, they're banal." - The Flight of the Eagle - "an account of S. A. Andrée's Arctic balloon expedition of 1897S. A. Andrée's Arctic balloon expedition of 1897S. A. Andrée's Arctic balloon expedition of 1897 was an ill-fated effort to reach the North Pole in which all three expedition members perished. S. A. Andrée , the first Swedish balloonist, proposed a voyage by hydrogen balloon from Svalbard to either Russia or Canada, which was to pass,...
undertaken by the Swedish engineer S.A. AndréeSalomon August AndréeSalomon August Andrée , during his lifetime most often known as S. A. Andrée, was a Swedish engineer, physicist, aeronaut and polar explorer who died while leading an attempt to reach the Geographic North Pole by hydrogen balloon...
and two colleagues...Jan Troell brings these characters from another time so close that by the end they're like possibilities inside us... And the big, black balloon, which represents so much folly and hope..." - Tender MerciesTender MerciesTender Mercies is a 1983 American drama film directed by Bruce Beresford. The screenplay by Horton Foote focuses on Mac Sledge, a recovering alcoholic country music singer who seeks to turn his life around through his relationship with a young widow and her son in rural Texas...
- "I kept waiting for Tender Mercies to get started - to get into something. I was still waiting when it was over and I was back out on the street...[It is] proof that a movie doesn't have to be long to be ponderous." - Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the JediStar Wars Episode VI: Return of the JediStar Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi is a 1983 American epic space opera film directed by Richard Marquand and written by George Lucas and Lawrence Kasdan. It is the third film released in the Star Wars saga, and the sixth in terms of the series' internal chronology...
- "an impersonal and rather junky piece of moviemaking..The scriptwriters (Lawrence KasdanLawrence KasdanLawrence Edward "Larry" Kasdan is an American film producer, director and screenwriter.-Life and career:Kasdan was born in Miami, Florida, the son of Sylvia Sarah , an employment counselor, and Clarence Norman Kasdan, who managed retail electronics stores.His Brother is the writer/producer Mark...
and George LucasGeorge LucasGeorge Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...
), remove the trilogy's moral underpinnings when they tell us that you can become a Jedi knight, with the Force to do good, by heredity." - Blue ThunderBlue ThunderBlue Thunder is a 1983 feature film that features a high-tech helicopter of the same name. The movie was directed by John Badham and stars Roy Scheider...
- "all stunt work and atmosphere..the city has a psychedelic, futuristic quality like GodardJean-Luc GodardJean-Luc Godard is a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter and film critic. He is often identified with the 1960s French film movement, French Nouvelle Vague, or "New Wave"....
's Alphaville.. The picture is The French ConnectionThe French Connection (film)This article is about the 1971 film. For the British fashion label, see French Connection .The French Connection is a 1971 American crime film directed by William Friedkin. The film was adapted and fictionalized by Ernest Tidyman from the non-fiction book by Robin Moore...
without Gene HackmanGene HackmanEugene Allen "Gene" Hackman is an American actor and novelist.Nominated for five Academy Awards, winning two, Hackman has also won three Golden Globes and two BAFTAs in a career that spanned five decades. He first came to fame in 1967 with his performance as Buck Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde...
and without dope. It's all technique - suspense in a void." - Fanny and AlexanderFanny and AlexanderFanny and Alexander is a 1982 Swedish fantasy drama film written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. It was originally conceived as a four-part TV movie and cut in that version, spanning 312 minutes. A 188-minute version was created later for cinematic release, although this version was in fact the...
- "a festive and full-bodied dream play..If it calls any film besides BergmanIngmar BergmanErnst Ingmar Bergman was a Swedish director, writer and producer for film, stage and television. Described by Woody Allen as "probably the greatest film artist, all things considered, since the invention of the motion picture camera", he is recognized as one of the most accomplished and...
's own earlier ones to mind, it's probably Children of ParadiseChildren of ParadiseLes Enfants du Paradis, released as Children of Paradise in North America, is a 1945 French film by French director Marcel Carné, made during the German occupation of France during World War II...
- that other epic about life in the theatre. I don't think Fanny and Alexander achieves comparable romantic highs, but it's a cornucopiaCornucopiaThe cornucopia or horn of plenty is a symbol of abundance and nourishment, commonly a large horn-shaped container overflowing with produce, flowers, nuts, other edibles, or wealth in some form...
of a movie, with marvellous things in it." - WarGamesWarGamesWarGames is a 1983 American Cold War suspense/science-fiction film written by Lawrence Lasker and Walter F. Parkes and directed by John Badham. The film stars Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy....
- " The first part is a sly, affectionate comedy....there are solemnities to come... There's no way for the halves of this picture to come together, because the first half is about how wonderful kids are and the second half is about how stupid and corrupt adults are. It's as if nobody had ever told the moviemakers where adults come from."
Editions
- Henry Holt & Co., 1984, hardbound (ISBN 0030693624)
- Marion Boyars, 1986, paperback (ISBN 0714528412)