Year of the Month: 1980?
Monday, September 2, 2013 at 2:12PM 
1980. The year which brought you Sissy Spacek's Oscar winning roleThe Film Experience likes to keep one foot in the past and one in the now at all times... so as to be well-rounded like. People who never watch anything beyond the now or their own personal nostalgia hits, even if they profess to love movies or the Oscars, they're not really movie lovers just pop culture consumers. (Not that there's anything wrong with that! It's just not what we do here at TFE.)
For September I thought we'd do things a tiny bit differently and because I am easily distracted and scattered we'll probably have three running themes this month to augment the contemporary cinema coverage. We'll infrequently be checking out old Robert Redford classics as All is Lost approaches (we've already started with Butch Cassidy and The Natural), we'll be looking at high school / college movies in this Back to School Month and, finally, since y'all enjoyed the return of the smackdown, we'll be revisiting some key films from the 1980s as lead up to the Supporting Actress Smackdown "1980" Edition on September 30th.
But imma let you choose which films (choose 3!) we revisit or see for the first time via this poll!
I know I know. I overplan. But humor me by pretending that we'll have time for at least 3 of these!
Reader Comments (35)
Do Tess. Such an underrated film.
I know! I voted for Tess, too!
I wish The Shining wasn't included... It's gonna run away with it, but there aren't many movies I've read more about already than it. (Although TFE to find a new angle and everything.)
Mike -- yeah, i probs shouldn't have included the shining just from overblogging about it (not here reallythough i often do link up) but maybe because i haven't really written about it i included it.
Nine to Five should totally be included in this poll!
Ordinary People please. One of my favorite movies. Mary Tyler Moore deserved the Oscar, I think. Such a good film pychologycly speaking. There aren't movies like that anymore.
Totally time to re-investigate Ordinary People. I hardly think it's as bad as people say it is. It just happened to beat a really great film and gets scorned because of it.
Also, there's a lot actressexual love in that film with one of televisions greatest funny ladies going serious (MTM) and Lady Cora in a small but crucial part.
Let me campaign here for The Stunt Man, Coal Miner's Daughter and Stardust Memories: an Oscar-nominated, classic, forgotten Peter O'Toole performance (in a film co-starring Barbara Hershey and "what/ever happened to" Steve Railsbeck); Oscar-winning Sissy as Loretta, with Beverly D'Angelo as Patsy (plus hot Tommy Lee Jones); Charlotte Rampling, Jessica Harper, Marie-Christine Barrault and Amy Wright in Woody Allen's last film of the pre-Mia era (aka the golden age).
cinema two -- i left out nine to five and xanadu because i feel like i['m always talking about them. and i left out the five supporting actress movies because we WILl be talking about them
Kinda torn as The Shining is my favorite of these films -- but is way over-discussed.
Went with Stunt Man, Coal Miner's Daughter, Only When I Laugh, and Gloria. I remember thinking Coal Miner's Daughter was quietly subversive, but i haven't seen it in ages, so I don't really know.
voted for "ordinary people". I have a soft spot for those familiy dramas that get unfairly maligned for 'stealing' oscars from more 'important' films (see also "kramer vs kramer").
I voted for Stardust Memories (because Woody is my favourite director), The Stunt Man (because I think Richard Rush should have won the Directing Oscar that year) and Tess (because it's so beautiful and so English-seeming, despite being shot in France).
Marsha Mason: I can't believe I have to tell you this, but Only When I Laugh isn't till 1981! :)
Gloria please! There's nothing so invigorating as watching a badass Gena Rowlands stand in the middle of a grimy NY street circa 1980 and mow down mobsters!
Hope Stardust Memories makes it too, I've had it in my queue for a couple months this will give me the impetus to watch it. My other vote went to Ordinary People-grim but fascinating movie.
1980: Good year! Because that's the year I was born LOL. But is 1981 a better movie year?
Ordinary People will surely provide another chance of Oscar category placement discussion, but the "Timothy Hutton is Supporting Actor" aside, it's still just an average melodramatic movie, still puzzle how it triumphed over Raging Bull or Tess.
GLORIA!!!!!
Such an under-discussed film, although that's probably due to the lackluster 90s remake with Sharon Stone. But the original is so, so great!
I voted for Coal Miner's Daughter, Gloria and Ordinary People, but I would really love a post dedicated to The Blue Lagoon and its awesomeness.
Mike in Can: you got me!!!
The Elephant Man is brilliant...John Hurt was stunning...he made The Elephant Man beautiful! I have not seen De Niro in Raging Bull, but I would imagine Hurt was the runner-up that year.
Coal Miner's Daughter- Everybody talks about Sissy but oh. my. lord. Beverly D'Angelo as Patsy Cline. Also one of the first major Tommy Lee Jones roles and Levon Helm as Loretta's father.
Ordinary People- Considered the go-to pick for 'Best Picture winners are irrelevant' because it defeated Raging Bull. Except I do know people who like it and defend it. I just find Mary Tyler Moore's role untapped from the script that does not know what it wants to be cinematically.
Stardust Memories- Even after Interiors, nobody was ready for Woody doing another movie that played homage to one of his favorite directors. Too easily dismissed and worth revisiting. Not his best work but I think what Woody 'takes' from Fellini is crucial to investigate.
I did vote for The Shining but I resist because I don't want it to lead to an inevitable Room 237 discussion. God, I hate that 'documentary'.
Ordinary People, Stardust Memories and Elephant Man. D'Angelo should be an honorary in the supporting smackdown.
I would love to see Blue Lagoon if only to find a picture of Brooke walking in a trench so as not to tower over Chris Atkins wearing his loin cloth.
"Dew, quit yer growling. You sound like an ol' berrr."
--This was requisite viewing in my house when I was a boy growing up in Kentucky.
CMG, you're so right-- Beverly D'Angelo as Patsy Cline. So lovely. Wonder what she's doing now...
I voted for the 3 films that are currently at the top of the chart, but I would really like to recommend Ellen Burstyn's Resurrection. Her Oscar-nominated performace is absolutely stunning. Eva LeGalliene (also nominated) is deeply moving and I cried my eyes out at the end.
Marcos -- i left off the supporting actress nominated films as we will for sure be covering those as part of the smackdown.
Such a shame the poll won't let me give three votes to 'Gloria'...
1980 is my absolute favourite year for film and there are several not on this list worth discussing, including "Fame" and "Airplane" and hell, even "The Blues Brothers". I loved "Raging Bull" as much as that is possible for such a grim character study. "Ordinary People" remains my favourite film of all time to this day only because it reached me in a very private place (I was 16 that year). "The Blue Lagoon" reached me in another private place that I desperately kept hidden for another fifteen years and I was obsessed with the film. In fact, I still remember seeing it for the first time on November 5, 1980, and then November 7 and...the next summer I was following the same print from small town drive-in to small-drive in, often with my six year old sister in tow. I was head over heels for Christopher Atkins in those days. He was everything a junior gay from a small Canadian prairie town could dream of. I've certainly seen all of the films on this list and some are more worthy than others, of course. "Stardust Memories" is incredibly self-indulgent and Woody's least because its aspirations are so misguided. "Popeye" was pretty weak, I thought. "Coal Miner's Daughter" was exceptional, but I still wanted MTM to win the Oscar. "Tess" is another all time favourite (I remember seeing "Tess", "Ordinary People" and "Raging Bull" all in the same day for the first time at three different theatres in Saskatoon). Anyway, thanks for choosing this great year to discuss, I'm enjoying the comments and looking forward to more!
No love for The Empire Strikes Back?
I voted for The Elephant Man, Coal Miner's Daughter, and The Stunt Man, but The Shining and Ordinary People would be great choices too.
Fame, 9 to 5, and Airplane! should be included as well! The Fog, Dressed to Kill, and even Cannibal Holocaust would be interesting to talk about.
Gloria, of course!
I would love to know Nats thoughts on lead actress.
Can I vote for "Tess" three times, please?
I voted for Tess, The Elephant Man and Stardust Memories.... But why are not on the list two of the best films of that year: Raging Bull, and The Empre Strikes Back?
CCA --- any film nominated for SUPPORTING ACTRESS was not included because the nature of the smackdown forces them to be discussed so they're already covered :). As for EMPIRE i was trying to go with some less expected choices. (which is maybe why is should have left off the shining)
I miss that you didn't include my fave film of 1980, "Airplane!", neither "Raging Bull", but glad you DID include both "The Shining" and "Brubaker".
"Airplane!" is not just a silly comedy, it's a damn almost perfect masterpiece, in my honest - and admittedly crazy - opinion.
I understand, Nathaniel....
TESS, please!!! So so so unervalued.
So no one wants to discuss losing your virginity to either Matt Dillon or Armand Assante? (Assante for me, please!) Plus a very very young Miranda?
I would have picked Little DArlings, Ordinary People, and oh why not? The Blue Lagoon.