Vintage '81
Friday, May 1, 2020 at 2:00PM You may have noticed that we've started a little 1981 nostalgia with articles about Pennies from Heaven and . That 'party like it's 1981' feeling will ramp up this week. To give the year some overall context before the Supporting Actress Smackdown fun next weekend (which will conclude this particular mini retrospective), let's talk about that year in time...
The year's two biggest blockbusters competed for Best Picture
Great Big Box Office Hits:
Raiders of the Lost Ark was the year's true behemoth, grossing twice as much as its nearest rival On Golden Pond. The Best Picture winner Chariots of Fire was a sleeper hit and that year's James Bond picture For Your Eyes Only was also hugely popular (though that's no surprise with 007). But otherwise audiences were mostly drawn to comedies in 1981: Arthur (with Dudley Moore), Stripes (with Bill Murray) The Four Seasons (with Carol Burnett) and Cannonball Run (with Burt Reynolds) were all the rage.
Oscar favourites / theories and other cultural touchstones of 1981 after the jump...
Oscar's Best Picture Nominees:
The year's critical sensation epic Reds (12 noms / 3 wins), populist smash On Golden Pond (10 noms / 3 wins) and biggest sleeper hit Chariots of Fire (7 noms / 4 wins) battled it out for Best Picture with all of them winning major statues. Atlantic City (5 noms) and Raiders of the Lost Ark (9 noms / 4 craft wins) were just happy to complete the Best Picture Nominations mix.
WHAT IF?
What would have been been nominated for Best Picture if Oscar had then the rules they have now, with the nominee list depth determined by the size of each film's voting block? In 1981 the top five were very clear (Picture and Director were a 5/5 match and acting nominations were restricted to the lowest amount of films ever in Oscar's history) so we believe that there wouldn't have been more than 6 or 7 nominees for Best Picture with all that concentrated love centering on just a handful of films. We'd wager a guess that the very popular Arthur (4 noms / 2 wins) was definitely in with an outside chance that the legal drama Absence of Malice (3 noms) would have been the seventh and last additional contender.
Other Possibilities: Some might argue for Ragtime (8 noms) or The French Lieutenant's Woman (5 noms) but we think Arthur and Malice were far ahead of both of those despite lower nomination counts. If you have different theories let us know in the comments. The only other films with multiple nominations for 1981? Pennies From Heaven (3), Only When I Laugh (3) and Dragonslayer (2).
Films That Endured (in some way) That Were Neither Oscar Nominees Nor Blockbusters:
Brian De Palma's Blow Out, John Carpenter's Escape from New York, Peter Weir's Gallipoli, Louis Malles' My Dinner with Andre, Kathleen Turner's legendary debut in Body Heat, and two infamous Razzie winners, the Joan Crawford biopic Mommie Dearest and Bo Derek's take on Tarzan the Ape Man.
Notable films listed as 1981 at IMDb that didn't actually open in US theaters until 1982 or even 1983:
The Evil Dead, Porky's, Mad Max: Road Warrior, international hit Das Boot , and Possession with Isabelle Adjani. (We bring this up because IMDb confuses a lot of people on which year films belong to, pop-culturally speaking)
Nathaniel's Top Ten of 1981
- Raiders of the Lost Ark
- Body Heat
- Reds
- Atlantic City
- On Golden Pond
- Excalibur
And I'm leaving the other 4 spots open as I revisit films but as a kid I was really into Dragonslayer.
Magazine Covers for Context...
(You can click to enlarge)
As you can see typical covergirls (and boys) were John & Yoko, The Reagans, Meryl Streep, Diana Ross, Steve Jobs, Prince Charles and Princess Diana, Meryl Streep, Henry Fonda, and um... cocaine?
Mix Tape (Select Hits of '81):
"Physical" became the biggest hit of Olivia Newton-John already massive career spending 10 weeks at #1 (the song was initially offered to Tina Turner - can you imagine?). Other popular singles that year included "Tainted Love," Soft Cell, "Bette Davis Eyes," Kim Carnes (which would go on to win Record & Song of the Year at the Grammys), "Endless Love," Diana Ross & Lionel Richie, "Jessie's Girl," Rick Springfield, "Celebration," Kool & The Gang, "Queen of Hearts," Juice Newton, "Rapture," Blondie, "Stand and Deliver," Adam Ant, and "The Winner Takes it All," ABBA. Sheena Easton was a superstar out of the gate with the theme song from 1981's Bond movie and a #1 single with "Morning Train (Nine to Five)". She'd go on to win Best New Artist at the Grammys the following February beating The Go-Gos, Adam Ant, James Ingram, and Luther Vandross.
More Music:
Some debut albums of classic bands that dropped that year include "Beauty and the Beat" by The Go-Gos, "Speak and Spell" from Depeche Mode, and "In the Garden" by the Eurythmics. Stevie Nicks and Phil Collins both took a time out from their mega successful bands, Fleetwood Mac and Genesis respectively, to go solo with "Bella Donna" and "Face Value" to huge success.
Oh and MTV launched on August 1st, 1981 totally changing the pop landscape. "Video Killed the Radio Star" was indeed prophetic since the most photogenic singers suddenly had a much easier time becoming sensations and the less gorgeous vocalists the reverse.
Dynasty premiered in January 1981 to strong ratings but it didn't become a top 5 sensation until Season 2
TV:
Dynasty and Hill Street Blues both debuted, incredibly, as "mid-season replacements" (only readers of a certain age will understand the implications of that) and would go on to become hugely popular shows with the latter immediately winning the Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series in its freshman outing. Other newbie shows that year were Entertainment Tonight (still on), Gimme a Break, The Fall Guy, Simon & Simon, Falcon Crest, Nickelodeon's flagship show You Can't Do That on Television, and Saturday morning mainstay The Smurfs. Famous shows that aired their series finale in 1981 were Charlie's Angels (5 seasons), Eight is Enough (5 seasons), The Waltons (9 seasons), and The Muppet Show (5 season).
One of the things that today's "golden age of television" audiences probably have trouble understanding about TV "back in the day" in 1981 with only 3 network channels (and cable was just getting going) is that audiences for popular shows were huge... it was not a world of a million different niches. Dallas was the #1 show in America in 1981 with an audience of 28.4 million. By comparison the #1 scripted network drama currently is This Is Us with an audience of around 8 or 9 million (enormous by contemporary standards but it wouldn't even land you in the top 40 shows in 1981).
Literature:
Jumanji was all the rage with children's books (and later spawned a film franchise). Best-selling novels included Cujo by Stephen King, The Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving, and Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith which all quickly become movies.
In comic books "Days of Future Past," one of the most popular storylines in all of superhero fiction, begins in X-Men and the very popular character "Elektra" debuts in the pages of Daredevil. Both storylines will show up in movies and television shows more than 30 years later.
Tim Curry and Sir Ian McKellen originated "Amadeus" on Broadway. They were both replaced for the feature film adaptation three years later.
Stage:
The Pulitzer Prize for drama went to Beth Henley's Crimes of the Heart (which would become a movie five years later. Amadeus won Best Play and Best Actor at the Tonys and would repeat those same triumphs at the Oscars 3 years later... albeit with a different leading man; Ian McKellen (not yet a film star) was dumped for F Murray Abraham as Salieri for the film version. Tim Curry (who was already a film star) was also nominated for the Tony as the titular character, but would lose to his co-star which is also what happened to Tom Hulce in the film version at the Oscars. (We've no idea why Tim Curry didn't do the film version)
Best Musical went to the tap dance heavy 42nd Street. Future movie star Kevin Kline and former movie star Lauren Bacall took home Tonys that year as well for Pirates of Penzance and Woman of the Year respectively. Meanwhile over in London's West End, Cats began its historic run with a Broadway transfer the following year. Cats didn't vacate London and NYC stages for another twenty years-ish.
Showtunes to Go:
At the end of 1981 Dreamgirls opened on Broadway. And since "I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" is overplayed, here's another great song from the musical as performed on Glee for no particular reason. And for a palette cleanser if you hate being reminded of the Glee era, here's Bernadette Peters doing "Not a Day Goes By" from Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along which also opened on Broadway at the tail end of 1981. ICYMI Richard Linklater is making a movie of Merrily We Roll Along now. And he'll be making it for years and years to come.
Reader Comments (27)
Atlantic City is one of the best films nominated ever. In my Alternate Oscarverse it goes 5 for 5. Now also in my Oscarverse Henry Fonda would have already won in 1940 and Burt Lancaster would have never won, but the real world is another matter (alas) and I'm glad Henry Fonda won his award in the otherwise godawful On Golden Pond. I just remember the Johnny Carson's joke at the beginning of the ceremonies that went something along the lines of how the accountants were really good at keeping a secret - they were responsible for the publicity campaign for Atlantic City! Wouldn't it have been great if it had won all the major awards?
Favorite song of the year: Slowhand by the Pointer Sisters
Favorite albums: Go-Go's Beauty and the Beat, Prince Controversy, Neil Young Re ac tor, Joy Division Still, Iggy Pop Party
Oh yeah, and most underrated film of the year: Albert Brooks' Modern Romance with a terrific performance by Kathryn Harrold. It's his best film!
I promise this is my last post on this thread:
And what about Pixote, the film of the year, if not the decade? Even more powerful than City of God.
What is happening in Stevie Nicks' Rolling Stone cover? She looks like she's allergic to the bird and is about to sneeze.
I was a baby in '81, so I don't remember the music of the year in real time. But my older brother loved The Cars, so Shake It Up is what comes to my mind first when I think of music from 1981.
And 81's Bond is arguably Roger Moore's best. Love me some evil Olympic biathletes.
Bella Donna often gets a lot of plays on my Spotify.
I think The French Lieutenant's Woman would have been #6 or #7 actually, due to its writing and editing nominations.
I think AOM TFLW and maybe Ragtime,I am in love with Lange in 81's TPART,Sissy in Raggedy Man,Marsha in OWIL but all their films were overlooked apart from acting.
I can never work out if Dunaway is bad,OTT or just doing camp.Whatever it is I and a lot of others are still into it
I don´t get what supossed means that: "...which year films belong to, pop-culturally speaking". Most of the titles are just exactly what you mention before, that the films was released in the US years later because are productions of another countries.
The IMDb page just mention the year wich film was released in any country, there are some mexican movies that was released first in an international festival and one (or more) years later arrives in national comercial theaters, but that is for terms of distribution.
I don´t think that exists an international "pop-cultural" way to determine the year a film belongs to because the releases of any country are very different, if my memory isn´t bad I remember to watched Temporada de Patos (Duck Season) be mentioned in the film bitch awards of 2006 when the film was released in 2004 in México, first in a local film festival and time before in comercial theatres that same year and was a movie hit (along with Matando Cabos).
But focusing in 1981 I have to mention The Fox and the Hound, one of my favorite Disney films and the saddest i´ve seen.
Cesar -- but that's not always the case. There are a LOT of movies lsted as the year before they were released anywhere. If they had a single screening the year before. It's very irritating.
and i meant pop culture in the US. Not intending to imply that if they had a real release in their home country the year before that they weren't part of that year. But even then th IMDb dates are often misleading. For example: THE EVIL DEAD had a special premiere at the Redford Theater (my favourite theater as a kid in Detroit) in 1981 to drum up interest. And then it played at some fetsivals in 1982 and it wasn't until 1983 that it actually had a real theatrical release ANYWHERE starting in the UK and then moving to the US. So the date of 1981 is very misleading.
I can't wait to revisit some of these movies before the Smackdown. Though, I must admit I'm dreading Reds' notoriously long duration. I just watched Preminger's Exodus the other day and don't feel ready for another 3 hour plus historical epic. At least, Beatty's movie is better than that 1960 behemoth of utter tedium.
César Gaytán -- For what it's worth I also tend to believe people's fuss about the IMDB dates is a bit overblown if not confusing. I think they're fine and to categorize a film based on the date of their first public screening is a solid methodology.
There aren't a lot of Portuguese films that come to mind regarding these issues, but it happens with a lot of European films that arrive in Portugal before the US. For instance, I find it hard to remember Certified Copy is a 2011 film for Americans when it premiered in Cannes in 2010 and was distributed in most European markets that same year. Hell, I think by the time it arrived in US theaters I already had the film on DVD.
I always follow original IMDb release dates. It’s too complicated and long to check every single movie’s release date when I’m making lists or writing articles. Plus a lot of them don’t even say when my country finally got to see the movie and I’m not gonna use the US theatrical release date just cause.
Thanks, this was a fun read! In 1981 I was rooting for Raiders of the Lost Ark for best picture and remember seeing On Golden Pond with my family. Can you imagine a movie like that ranking number two at the box office these days? Only if Katharine Hepburn was battling Thanos.
The year of my birth! Also fun fact I mentioned in the other thread:
1981 has the all-time fewest films represented among the 20 acting nominees -- just 9 different movies. 2007 had the most, with 18 films represented among the acting nominees (Michael Clayton had 3 acting nods, all the rest were the sole acting nods for their films).
"Physical" became the biggest hit of Olivia Newton-John already massive career spending 10 weeks at #1 (the song was initially offered to Tina Turner - can you imagine?).
Actually, I can. I don't know if it would work as well -- the song and video would lose most of their camp value -- but I can totally hear Tina Turner singing the chorus to "Physical" in my head.
I'm with you on Arthur being a likely 6th, but I figure Ragtime is right behind and gets in. Along with Absence of Malice if there's an 8th.
Ragtime is controversial and feels very much like a Cold Mountain buzzed project that people didn't fall in love with, but the nominations point to some support. And those projects that start out early and miss (Cold Mountain, Dreamgirls, People vs. Larry Flint) would've likely still landed in the extended lineup.
Highest count for a film without a nod with expanded lineups is 6, it's weird picturing a movie with 8 (2 acting and writing) not making it so I'll say those 7 would've been it.
I'm drooling all over the covers, can't help it. I love the internet but I miss staring at magazine and record covers.
I think it's crazy wonderful that On Golden Pond was such a hit.
Thank God for The Turner Arrival.
@NATHANIEL
Probably I missunerztood the "pop-culture" matter with something global but I totally understand how irritating could be. I'm working in an archive of mexican films and the search of release year is a mess.
At one moment i was based in the Ariel awards considering that the movies nominated was released one year before, but most times it happened what you mention: a film was released for a limited audience (generally press) and the comercial distribution of the film was one year later.
In fact, a lot of films that are nominated just can be watch for the audience months after the awards ceremony and for that reason the award is very unpopular here: How can you be happy for the win of a movie that you haven´t seen?
Personally I prefer to use the information of IMDb for a question of time but I think would it be more "objective" to use the year that appears in the ending credits of the film.
I was 13 that year, and wondered how lucky that Doug McKeon kid was for working with the stars of "9 to 5" and some old famous people. And how that could have been me!
"Raiders" was the most exciting movie since "Empire Strikes Back" the year before, and Rock and Roll was tops, with songs from Journey, Styx, REO Speedwagon, Bruce Springsteen.
And all of us suburban white kids learned to rap with Blondie and "Rapture".
Good times. Good times.
Those Best New Artist Grammy nominees were no joke that year. Would have love to see The Go-Go’s take the award though.
Alex D: Dreamgirls is...dicey. No screenplay nomination (BORAT got in over it in Adapted Screenplay), no director nomination, no editing nomination, and three of those eight nominations were in Song. I'd guess 2006 WOULD probably have six or seven nominees in the expanded field system, but Dreamgirls probably wouldn't be one. Sixth would be United 93 (Director and Editing), and the Seventh would be Pan's Labyrinth (three tech WINS, Screenplay, Ebert Support). Would it make 8 or 9? Possible, but, unlikely as it sounds, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that, in 2006, we'd have something close to a Selma situation and guess that 8 and 9 would actually be Children of Men and The Prestige.
Everyone: I'm mostly saying that last bit (that it wouldn't make it, even if there were 8 or 9 nominees) because Dreamgirls as a Best Picture nominee? OOF. Beyonce and Jamie Foxx are AWFUL there, and they're THE LEADS, basically.
Back to 1981: My first year in college and saw most of these at that time. Loved Raiders, On Golden Pond and Chariots of Fire. Ragtime was well-reviewed and definite Oscar bait but it wasn't a big hit. If I remember correctly, Atlantic City was an early in the year release so it was nice that Oscar remembered. Also a year when best picture and best director nominees matched. This was a time when the Oscar's and NCAA basketball finals were on the same night. I never understood that thinking.
The year Lena Horne returned with a classy vengeance. I will never forget experiencing her one woman show on Broadway, which won her a well-deserved Grammy (beating pop chart darlings Olivia and Sheena) and a special Tony. Her testimonies about old racist Hollywood were eye opening and she was still in fine vocal form. A true survivor and legend. Where's her bio pic or limited series?
And while the white kids at my high school embraced the very embarrassing Rapture, my friends and I were spinning the real deal on the rap tip: Teena Marie's Square Biz.
The Blind Side and Selma had just another nomination besides best picture, so my bet for the sixth and seventh spots are Pennies on Heaven and Prince of the City.
You forgot The Great Muppet Caper.
"Physical" has been on my mind lately since Dua Lipa's "Physical" had clear reverence for it.
Amadeus originated in London with Paul Schofield and Simon Callow. The latter pops up somewhere in the film.
Excalibur is the obvious choice for revisionist history Best Picture….and it should have won double digit Oscars….for everything.