In 1980,
The Canadian Caper rescued six US diplomats from Tehran;
The Winter Olympics were held in Lake Placid;
Pierre Trudeau returned to power in Canada;
Terry Fox began his Marathon of Hope run across Canada;
Iron Maiden and the Dead Kennedys debuted;
Mount St. Helen’s erupted;
Pac-Man was released in Japan;
CNN premiered;
Ronald Reagan was elected President of the US;
The Philadelphia Phillies won their first World Series;
Christina Aguilera, Kim Kardashian, Ronaldinho, Ryan Gosling, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Channing Tatum, Macaulay Culkin, Nick Cannon, Jake Gyllenhaal, T.I., Randy Orton, Kristen Bell, Gucci Mane, Jenna Dewan, Zachary Levi, Gisele Bündchen, Rebel Wilson, The Miz, Minka Kelly, Jessica Simpson, Ashanti, Chris Pine, Zooey Deschanel, Pauly D, Theo Von, Christina Ricci, Kareena Kapoor, Michelle Williams Wilmer Valderrama, Olivia Munn, Charlie Hunnam, Vanessa Carlton were born;
While Cyril Mann, John Lennon, Colonel Sanders, Otto Frank, Steve McQueen, Alfred Hitchcock, John Bonham, Ian Curtis, Peter Sellers, Jesse Owens, Bon Scott, Josip Tito, Kay Medford, Milburn Stone, Mae West, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Tex Avery, Mohammad Rez Shah, Jean-Paul Sarte, Jay Silverheels, Jimmy Durante, Lewis Milestone, David Janssen, and Hans Asperger died.
The following is a list of my ten favorite movies released in 1980:
10) Atlantic CIty
Small time gangster Lou (Burt Lancaster) is reinvigorated when Dave, the shady ex-husband of Lou’s neighbor Sally (Susan Sarandon) recruits him to help sell cocaine.
Unbeknownst to Lou, Dave stole the cocaine from local mobsters who track him down and kill him.
Left to his own devices, Lou sells the contraband to impress Sally.
Now in the mob’s crosshairs themselves, the doomed romantic partners avoid disaster, split the money, and part amicably. Lou now sees the tale end of his life with new, appreciate eyes, while Sally is liberated to create a life for herself.
The movie perfectly parallels the real life stations of its leads. Burt Lancaster was a Hollywood giant who was transitioning to older, character driven performances, with far fewer leading performances left. Sarandon was at the beginning of her career soon to embark on a powerful run which cemented her among Hollywood royalty of her era.
Louis Malle (husband of Candice Bergen) always makes thoughtful, interesting films which avoid cliches and predictable storytelling devices. I love his work. Some will find it a little ponderous and navel-gazing, but in a way I find comforting and soothing, like he’s searching and feeling his way into something, grappling with the universality of what it means to be human.
After their eldest son Buck dies in a boating accident and their younger son Conrad attempts suicide because of lingering guilt, the Jarret family is falling apart.
Donald Sutherland is wonderful as patriarch Calvin who valiantly tries to be a supportive father to his remaining son.
Timothy Hutton won an Oscar for his devastating portrayal of Conrad.
Judd Hirsch changed his career trajectory from the affable everyman in Taxi to dependable character actor with range as Conrad’s therapist Tyrone Berger.
But the revelation of the movie is Mary Tyler Moore as matriarch Beth. She’s heartbreaking as the stoic mother who’s favorite son was lost and does not know how to be the mother her surviving son desperately needs. Moore rose to fame as the sidekick wife in The Dick Van Dyke Show, transformed herself into leading lady in The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and transforms herself once again as the bitchy Beth. What a remarkable (underrated) career.
Oscar winning director Robert Redford masterfully handled a sensitive and touching subject. He observes the way each member of the family internalizes their tragedy without judging them (even Beth). He doesn’t prevent us from judging, but the film is remarkably even handed, incredibly threading the needle and elevating what could have been a “TV Movie of the week” fair into a poignant study of grief.
In retrospect, there’s no one better suited to helm a biopic of Joseph Merrick than David Lynch. Lynch’s career was always about finding the beautiful in the ugly outcast; there’s no bigger misfit than original “circus freak” Joseph Merrick
John Hurt was incredible. Anthony Hopkins was wonderful as the sympathetic doctor Treves.
Mel Brooks made a rare foray into dramatic work as an uncredited executive producer. Amazing to think Brooks was semi-responsible for launching Lynch into the mainstream.
What a wonderful exploration of the underbelly of the Victorian era.
Tempered by the mainstream sensibilities of Brooks, this is one of Lynch’s most accessible films; like Eraserhead lite.
Desperate for connection after her new husband dies, Judith Benjamin joins the army. After a rough start, she graduates from basic training and slowly gains the self-confidence to live life on her own terms.
Elaine Brennan was perfection as the tough as nails trainer Doreen Lewis and Hawn showed a depth far beyond her previous ditzy blonde persona perfected on Laugh-In.
Craig T. Nelson, Albert Brooks, Sam Wanamaker, and Harry Dean Stanton ably round out the impressive cast.
It’s a fun, surprising movie with more heart than you’d expect.
6) Popeye
This may be the most unhinged, frenetic performance of Robin Williams committed to film, and there’s absolutely never been a better casting decision than Shelley Duvall as Olive Oyl. It’s not hard to believe Altman (who clearly loved Duvall) decided to film this just to give her a showcase. Paul L. Smith reeked of Bluto. Paul Dooley is a perfect Wimpy.
Rumors abound about massive drug use during the film’s production and it definitely feels like a drug induced fever dream. The fact they built a real set on Malta which still exists forty years later tickles me. What an homage to 80s excess! This movie perfectly captures the chaotic possibility of comic strips.
What a year Duvall had. When I was kid, between this and Faerie Tale Theatre, she was the definition of movie star and one of the first actresses I was aware of.
5) Superman II
During a trip to Niagara, Lois deduces Clark is Superman. The fated pair declare their love and to “uncomplicate” their lives, Clark has his powers removed at the Fortress of Solitude.
Unfortunately, his decision couldn’t have come at a worse time. General Zod (Terrence Stamp) and his lackeys, Non and Ursa, are inadvertently released from the Phantom Zone and arrive on earth to take their revenge on Superman for his father’s role in their banishment.
Lex Luthor, of course, sees this as an opportunity.
You can tell this was filmed concurrently with the first movie and it’s hard to judge on its own, but, in my opinion, it builds on the first in all the right ways.
Terrence Stamp is the perfect Zod and is in the running as one of the best super hero villains. There’s a reason “Kneel Before Zod” continues to resonate in popular culture.
The twist is perfection, Supes outsmarts Zod and Lex in one move and the inversion of the kneeling scene is great.
The film’s tortuous production and the Richard Lester / Donner controversy only adds to its mystique.
I’m unsure if the tension helped sharpen the film and resulted in its awesomeness or if the awesomeness transcended the troubled production.
Hackman, Reeves, Stamp, Beatty, Kidder are all on top of their game. Another seminal influence on my cinematic tastes.
It’s a cookie cutter musical biopic, cut from the same cloth as The Buddy Holly Story, and later films I Walk the Line and Ray.
However, the central performances of Sissy Spacek as Loretta Lynn and Tommy Lee Jones as her husband / manager Doolittle Lynn elevate the material.
It is refreshing to see a musical biopic not focused on a sordid, drug-induced party lifestyle and to see a strong marriage as foundational to success.
D’Angelo is good as the taken too soon Patsy Cline and the cameos by real country music players are an added bonus.
Crazy to realize Lynn lived another forty years after the movie chronicling her life won Spacek an Oscar.
Michael Apted is a fascinating director, whose clear legacy is the seminal Up series, but in between installments, he directed this, the Dawn Treader movie, a Bond movie, Gorillas in the Mist, and the forgetful Continental Divide, for a fairly diverse and eclectic filmography.
It’s meandering and labyrinth, but this fourteen episode miniseries about Germany in the interwar years is a rewarding experience.
A little like a German version of David Lynch, the “plot” as it were is window dressing.
The action of Franz Biberkopf and the surrounding characters is a long exercise in mood and tone.
It’s a fascinating glimpse into Germany between the wars, the attitude that created the foundation for Hitler and fascism to take root.
Franz is a despicable, borderline sociopathic character without the inverted attention and sympathy garnering tricks of the modern anti-hero. We never really invest in him. He’s a conduit, and Rainer Fassbinder keeps him at arms length.
There’s a line in Hamilton where they ask the titular character, “why do you write like you’re running out of time?” This could easily be applied to Fassbinder. He was a shooting star, an ascendant light whose unrelenting passion for his work engulfed him. He made movies like his life depended on it. In addition to this long miniseries, he made forty feature films in less than twenty years.
“Luke I am Your Father.”
Yoda.
“I Love You….. I Know”
Frozen carbonite.
Lando’s betrayal.
The opening scene on Thoth.
Bobba Fet.
There’s so much iconic stuff from my childhood in this film.
It’s dark and a little depressing, but so satisfying.
Star Wars was fun, but this was when shit got real, and the movie is foundational to understanding nerd culture of the last fifty years.
It’s not lost on anyone that the best Star Wars movie was the first not directed by creator George Lucas. It’s the most adult, most grounded of the series.
Writer Jack Torrance takes a job as a winter caretaker at the Overlook Hotel which was built on a Native American burial ground. Haunted by the numerous evil spirits which populate the hotel, Jack slowly loses his mind and unsuccessfully attempts to kill his wife, Wendy and young son, Danny.
Contrary to what Mr. King expressed in the afterword to his sequel, Doctor Sleep, this is far superior to the original novel.
Many of the scenes from this harrowing descent into madness have become iconic, but none more than this:
Much has been written about the dense symbolism and imagery of Stanley Kubrik’s masterpiece, and there’s even a documentary dedicated to the numerous conspiracy theories surrounding the film.