1980 Line-ups + 1981 Recommendations.

I recently overhauled my 1981 lineups, so this one will be fun for you. These are all films that receive at least one nomination from me.

Gallipoli
Das Boot
Chariots of Fire
Cutter’s Way
Escape from New York
The Long Good Friday
Mad Max 2
Mephisto
Outland
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Reds
Southern Comfort
Thief
Time Bandits
Possession
Body Heat
Quartet
Christiane F. - We Children from Bahnhof Zoo
Lola
Lili Marleen
Arthur
An American Werewolf in London
Blow Out
Absence of Malice
Man of Iron
Ragtime
True Confessions
Coup du Torchon
Adieu Galaxy Express 999
American Pop
The Fox and the Hound
Heavy Metal
Brooklyn Bridge
El Salvador: Another Vietnam
Genocide
The Killing of America
The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter
Soldier Girls
Stations of the Elevated
This Is Elvis
Vernon, Florida
Dragonslayer
Excalibur
Quest for Fire
Scanners
The Howling
Clash of the Titans

stephen

Thanks so much for the list! Quite a lot of documentaries I hadn't had in my list, and I've been meaning to check out more as I'm severely lacking in that category. I have Vernon, Florida as '82, but it's an essential for me there (as is just about every Errol Morris film). Care to elaborate on three I'm on the fence on currently (Body Heat, Mephisto, and Excalibur)?

Also forgot to list that I watched Gallipoli a couple of days ago before it expired from Prime and I really enjoyed it! Peter Weir is quickly becoming one of my favorites.

By the way, you're probably the best to answer this, but what's the best version of Das Boot to watch? Looking into them, it seemed like the Director's Cut was the most concise without losing anything, but thought I'd get your opinion.

The Director's Cut is what I'd recommend for Das Boot.

Mephisto is one of my favorite Foreign Language Film winners, and I would absolutely recommend it as one of the best films of this year. Excalibur is fun but nothing too great outside of its techs (at least to me), and Body Heat is a very fine noir with some excellent before-they-hit-it-big performances.

I hope Gallipoli scores big in '81.

I haven't read the book, but I'm not a fan of The Shining. I found the film uninteresting and pointless and the whole thing felt extremely silly on top of that. It's definitely Kubrick's worst film for me.

1981 has some really good films, but, overall, it's probably one the weakest years of the decade for me. Here's my top 10:

1. Man Of Iron
2. My Dinner With Andre
3. Son Of The White Mare
4. The Tyrant's Heart, Or Boccaccio In Hungary
5. Gallipoli
6. Three Brothers
7. Ms. 45
8. Christiane F.
9. Possession
10. Body Heat

My Dinner With Andre is probably my favourite film from Louis Malle, but it does get some getting used to, especially the first 40 minutes or so may seem a bit strange, but everything wraps up extremely well until the end and for a film that is this simplistic in it's structure and concept there's a lot of stuff to unpack and contemplate on.

Also, Man Of Marble and Man Of Iron are my two favourite films from Wajda and essential works of political cinema and definitely well worth a watch for any cinefile.

While it's not a movie that I expect everyone to like, I also feel like due to its reputation and everything else that happened, not enough people bothers to check it out but it's a worth-watching, beautiful film. Not without flaws but good enough. I agree on your point on Cimino, who was a total weirdo even though I love "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot" and "The Deer Hunter". Also have a soft spot for "Year of the Dragon", mostly because of a very charismatic Mickey Rourke performance. I'd recommend to check out the documentary "Final Cut: The Making and Unmaking of Heaven's Gate" (available on Youtube). Some of the actors like Bridges and Kristofferson discuss the filming. Narrated by Willem Dafoe who supposed to make his feature film debut there (he's still in the film if you look close enough) but got fired; all because during the filming, some extra told him a joke and he laughed out loud. Cimino was annoyed by his laugh, and said "Willem! step out" and that was it.

I think it's better to watch "Diva" without knowing too much about it, as the film keeps surprising you with its dream-like atmosphere. It's a wonderfully aesthetic experience, just beautiful to look at thanks to brilliant use of colors and lighting. The whole story is like a great puzzle which works as an action film, straightforward crime film, romance film, a lot of music, and who knows what else. "The Woman Next Door" is another great but unfortunately, less appreciated film from Truffaut. Very Hitchockian in tone, deals with romantic obsession, in a multi-layered, somewhat tragic story with interesting characters and terrific Depardieu performance. 

I've definitely always heard My Dinner with Andre has so many themes to unpack beyond its simplistic nature and that's almost what entices me the most about it. Very excited to watch it.

That's high praise for Wajda, so I'll be absolutely sure to check them out at some point (I mean, I'm such a completist, I'll hopefully get around to everything humanly possible, but those in particular).

thomasjerome

I can definitely see that. Not to mention, the average movie-goer probably doesn't even bother with a film over 2 and a half hours, let alone 3 and a half so that's a big factor there. But add to that the reputation it has and it's almost a done deal. I'm glad I caught it though as I almost skipped it, but my curiosity got the better of me.

I read that bit of trivia about Dafoe too, and it's funny because I actually did notice his brief scene in the film and thought "damn, who isn't in this film??" lol. I'm certainly very curious to watch that documentary though, I love learning about disastrous productions. No idea why. Morbid curiosity I suppose.

The best way to get me even more hyped about a movie is to tell me not to learn too much about it and go in as blind as possible, so you've got my curiosity piqued right there for Diva. Will try to make room for it (and also see if I can find it anyway, I think it was on Criterion Channel but not sure). And of course the other way to get me hyped about a movie is to compare to Hitchcock, so you definitely made narrowing down my list even more difficult! But thank you nonetheless, they both sound really interesting.

took me two viewing to fall in love with The Shining. It really is a wild film and there's so much nonexpositional subtext to latch onto. You can read a lot into the characters simply by the uncanny way Nicholson and Duvall play them. Especially Duvall, whose passive earnestness paints a really disturbing portrait of a battered wife and mother.

Can't wait to see what you think of My Dinner with Andre! One of my personal favs

Yeah, Kagemusha is definitely a later period Kurosawa that might rub some people the wrong way, but hey you can't love everything, otherwise life would be boring. As for 1981, I'd recommend...

Prince of The City - Sidney Lumet's masterful tale of corruption and deceit within the world of cops is probably none so more relevant then today, especially with the heavy focus on police officers out of control. Treat Williams in the lead role gives a terrific performance, in a role that should have made him a star, but the movie was too uncommercial to ever really succeed at the box office , not that it takes away from the films power.

Southern Comfort - Walter Hill's Southern film set in the Bayou about a bunch of post-Vietnam Vets trying to make it out alive definitely recalls Deliverance, but the movie manages to succeed on its own terms, creating a terrific tale out of intrigue and violence. Worth at least one viewing.

Excalibur - Love it! High fantasy as it's absolute best. It may be slow for some, but I absolutely bought this chaotic anarchic take on the King Arthur mythos from psychedelic god John Boorman. Only issue for me is that the lead actor playing King Arthur, Nigel Terry is not all that strong in the lead role. He's fine don't get me wrong, but we need somebody with maybe a bit presence to play a leader, otherwise I can't complain.

Outland - It's way more than just High Noon in space, it's actually a really engaging murder mystery. Sean Connery is at an all-time movie star high in the lead role, and Frances Sternhagen is terrific in a great supporting role as well.

The Howling - For some this movie's tone might turn them off, but for me it works wonders. Of the three Werewolf related movies, it's probably my favorite (although I quite like the other two), mostly cause it has a wicked sense of humor, and those practical effects are mighty impressive given the limited budget that Dante and co were working on. Also, the script by John Sayles is an absolute winner.

Ragtime - Milos Forman's adaptation of E.L. Doctorow's critically acclaimed hard to adapt novel is indulgent, unfocused, and super flawed in many ways, but it's also a terrific period piece set against the background of race class in New York. James Cagney who came out of retirement is great in the lead role, but it's really Howard E. Rollins in an Oscar nominated performance, who really shines best as a struggling black piano player. Worth a look.

Cutter's Way - Jeff Bridges and John Heard are great together in this murder mystery noir-ish type affair, that borders on sleaze at points, but is mostly a terrific character study of two friends at large. Honestly out of all my picks, this might just be my favorite. It's a great flick.

The Great Muppet Caper - I've heard complaints that this movie feels like it sidelines Kermit the Frog and friends too much in favor of human shenanigans, and while I understand those complaints, I just love murder mystery type films in general, that I just couldn't dislike this one. Not too much it's very funny, The Muppets are at their absolute family friendly cynical best here, and Miss Piggy has some great moments to shine of course.

Melvin and Howard - Nice little quiet almost strike it rich type story based off the life of a small-town simpleton who unexpectedly ran across Howard Hughes fortune. Despite the title Hughes is not as much of a presence in the movie as you might, but Jason Robards is great in the role, and Mary Steenburgen's Oscar winning performance is an absolute delight as well. These days it feels like a bit of an unsung gem.

Death Hunt - Charles Bronson and Lee Marvin are great together, and the primary reason to see this movie set in the wilderness about trackers. Honestly, I'm surprised that more people don't talk about it these days. It's actually a really engaging movie from start to finish, and it has a killer-ass atmosphere.

Pennies From Heaven - Incredibly dour in many ways, and probably a little bit inferior to the original BBC production but also it's a beautifully shot movie featuring some incredible music numbers, and Steve Martin makes for a surprisingly engaging dramatic actor.

Wolfen - It was sold as a Werewolf-ish movie, but it's actually a lot different than that. It's more of a spiritual horror detective story with a lot of horror elements. It has a not so famous troubled production (the director Michael Wadleigh wanted the film to be vastly different from the final cut we got), but a good cast and a mostly engaging story made it work for me, even if Albert Finney's American accent is predictably poor.

Oh yeah, as All the President's Men is probably in my top 25 of all-time I certainly don't imagine Absence to stack up, but I do like political/journalistic thrillers generally so I'm happy its at least that as I wasn't sure if it would just be a straightforward drama like And Justice for All which I was not a fan of lol. But I do love that it serves as an anti-thesis on proper journalism. Also my bad on Ragtime. I always somehow equated it with Stephen Sondheim or something so I assumed it was a musical. Still curious about it, but might hold off on it this time. Thanks!