1979's Best Movies: 40 Years Later

Related:

1969's Best Movies: 50 Years Later

The runners-up:

MAD MAX (George Miller, 1979, Australia, 88m, Col) #1071
NOSFERATU THE VAMPYRE (Werner Herzog, 1979, West Germany-France, 107m, Col) #1111
QUADROPHENIA (Franc Roddam, 1979, UK, 115m, Col) #1275
KRAMER VS. KRAMER (Robert Benton, 1979, USA, 104m, Col) #1313
CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST (Ruggero Deodato, 1979, Colombia-Italy, 98m, Col) #1345
THE BROOD (David Cronenberg, 1979, Canada, 92m, Col) #1359
BREAKING AWAY (Peter Yates, 1979, USA, 100m, Col) #1464
LUNA (Bernardo Bertolucci, 1979, USA, 144m, Col) #1485
RAINING IN THE MOUNTAIN (King Hu, 1979, Taiwan-Hong Kong, 120m, Col) #1587
THE BATTLE OF CHILE: PART 3 (Patricio Guzmán, 1979, Chile-Cuba-Venezuela, 80m, Col-BW) #1634
MY BRILLIANT CAREER (Gillian Armstrong, 1979, Australia, 101m, Col) #1638
SCUM (Alan Clarke, 1979, UK, 98m, Col) #1728
THE WARRIORS (Walter Hill, 1979, USA, 90m, Col) #1745
SIBERIADE (Andrei Konchalovsky, 1979, USSR, 275m, Col) #1865
CAMERA BUFF (Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1979, Poland, 112m, Col) #1920
HAIR (Milos Forman, 1979, USA, 121m, Col) #1922
ORCHESTRA REHEARSAL (Federico Fellini, 1979, Italy, 72m, Col) #1974

unfamiliar w/ Straub-Huillet and the other two furrin entries you'd expect

Would likely go with Stalker, followed by Maria Braun (or The Third Generation), Tin Drum, Imamura. My top US choices might be, in order, Breaking Away, Manhattan, and Saint Jack.

Will need to think about this for a while before voting.

Don't know which I love the best, but Being There is the one I've loved the longest, so I'll go for that.

Hm didn't realize Cannibal Holocaust was so well-regarded.

Tough choice, I suppose it's Maria Braun for me. Caught a screening of Being There recently and it holds up pretty well.

Apocalypse Now is half-great, Manhattan's better with the sound off. I liked reading Geoff Dyer's book on Stalker--made me want to see a film I've tried five times to get--which will win going away. I'd say Maria Braun, but I don't really trust a 40-year-old memory. I like four films from the also-rans (Quadrophenia, The Brood, Kramer vs. Kramer, and Breaking Away) more than what's on the main list.

I didn't realize Cannibal Holocaust was so well-regarded. (Must be cut-and-paste into all posts on this thread.)

There are many American films from this year I prefer to ATJ and AN, including The In-Laws.

xp Manhattan is the best looking film. Apocalypse Now, Mad Max, and Scum all relentlessly brutal in their own ways. Life Of Brian certainly the best of the Python films. All That Jazz captures the end of the 70s like nothing else.

Quickly scanned a list, and my two favourite English-language films that year are The China Syndrome and Rock 'n' Roll High School; I should see Wise Blood again.

The Tin Drum, like the novel, was sodden as hell the last time I watched it.

On this list I may go for Vengeance is Mine or Maria Braun

I'd put Albert Brooks' Real Life in this company

Ha glad I found a safe space in which I dissing Apocalypse Now is not passible of excommunication.

Vengeance is Mine for me.

Ha glad I found a safe space in which I dissing Apocalypse Now is not passible of excommunication.

Vengeance is Mine for me.

Well sorry for that

I mean, if someone admitting they like Kramer vs. Kramer isn't enough to get someone excommunicated, nothing will.

(Preview of coming attractions: TSPDT's 1989 list is about half as long as their 1999 list.)

Kramer is so much better than the tedious Ordinary People.

Something I noticed while looking over the 1,001-2000 list (which I wasn't aware of till this thread): The Wire is listed at #1,950. Nothing for The Sopranos or Mad Men (or any other TV show, I assume).

what the heck is Arrebato it looks completely incredible - anyone seen it?

I have! It's absolutely deranged - amazing sound design, would thoroughly recommend

All That Jazz, Maria Braun, The Tin Drum and Vengeance is Mine are my embarrassing blindspots here. Stalker as well, but if I'm being honest I will probably watch Rock 'n' Roll High School again before I ever watch it once.

Manhattan's better with the sound off.

I get your intent to praise Gordon Willis here, but I think Allen's script can match anything else but Annie Hall for laughs, at least to this point. ("I never had the wrong kind," "like an Arab she spoke," "my parents believe in God: I'm from Philadelphia", etc) There are at least 10-12 golden one-liners or dialogue exchanges, even if the romanticized teenage girl makes you queasy or worse.

The B&W photography freezes those exchanges: straight man, one-liner, over and over. It doesn't move. And Isaac has no antagonists worthy of him after Keaton lets down her guard (and she's good).

yes, it's true, Woody gets to be the Man of Virtue

still, his motives aren't quite pure...

(gestures at skeleton) When I thin out, I want to be...well thought of!

Willis's cinematography is truly great, and Allen deserves some of the credit there--he envisioned the film--but I mean more than that (and neither is it that I'm fixated on the Mariel Hemingway character and responding to the current reevaluation of all sorts of things--I soured on the film 30 years ago, after loving it when it came out). I just find Allen's character so obnoxious and so self-righteous (and if he's supposed to be, that doesn't help). I hate the way he rails against pretension in others, as if his love of Bergman and Van Gogh and whatever is somehow purer and more authentic. When he starts lecturing Keaton and Murphy, he's unbearable. I much prefer Annie Hall, also Hannah and Her Sisters.

agreed

'You think you're God!' 'I gotta model myself after somebody!'

The only two movies I saw in a movie theater that year were The Warriors and The Life of Brian. Because The Warriors is not a voting option, the correct answer is obviously The Life of Brian.

Morbius or anyone else who was there at the time can speak to this, but I'm guessing that three years removed from Taxi Driver and drop-dead, Manhattan--the opening especially, and the scene where Allen and Keaton gaze at the Queensboro Bridge--was central, along with Studio 54 and SNL and "I Love York," to rescuing the city in the public imagination.

also Annie Hall is maybe the biggest cornerstone of that

Voted Being There with Stalker a close 2nd. Coincidentally enough the rep cinema in my town is doing a 1979-themed series over the next week. Their picks: Mad Max, The Jerk, Moonraker, and 10. Thinking of going to see 10, simply because it’s the only one I’ve never seen. Is it any good?

10 always seemed like an awful concept for a film to me. Don't actually know if it was any good though because i never saw it.

I haven't seen Manhattan in a long time, but remember thinking that although it was more pretentious than Annie Hall it was pretty much its equal

inclined to vote for Apocalypse Now

"I Love York"

Wildly popular campaign centered around Toronto's York Region.

I remember "10" being pretty good. Bo Derek doesn't have any dialogue til the last 20 minutes are so, Dudley Moore carries it well, and Brian Dennehy and Robert Webber have pretty good supporting roles.

Prefer That Sinking Feeling though.

I love Manhattan, but don't think I can watch another Woody Allen film again, and really didn't want to have to vote for it. Glad Stalker is on the list too.

btw the conceit of Manhattan is that Mariel Hemingway is both the most innocent and most mature character.

When I was here, I wanted to be there; when I was there, all I could think of was getting back into the jungle.

an amazing scene

xp Mariel Hemingway's character was the one I loved most in Manhattan

the entire last act of ApocNow sucks, always has

I don't know how to rewatch The Marriage of Maria Braun, it's not available on any service I know. I haven't seen it in a long time

Also haven't seen The Tin Drum in forever, but it's available on netflix dvd, I'm Interested to see it again

Arrebato, From the Clouds to the Resistance, Tale of Tales, Vengeance Is Mine - not sure how to watch these either

of the 1001-2000 films...Mad Max, Nosferatu, Quadrophenia, Kramer vs. Kramer, Breaking Away, My Brilliant Career, and Hair are all ones that I loved, but I haven’t seen most of the rest

I don't know how to rewatch The Marriage of Maria Braun, it's not available on any service I know. I haven't seen it in a long time

Also haven't seen The Tin Drum in forever, but it's available on netflix dvd, I'm Interested to see it again

― Dan S,

It's on Kanopy.

I assigned it to students for later this semester.

Stalker is a pretty accessible movie! No reason to be intimidated by it.

I love Stalker, I know it's considered to be one of his best. I also just saw Ivan's Childhood, what an amazing film! It's right up there with Andrei Rublev, The Mirror, The Sacrifice for me as one of my favorite Tarkovsky films.

I couldn't find The Marriage of Maria Braun on Kanopy. I guess they have different subscriptions depending on the library

God, Life of Brian sucks.

Not a huge fan of Being There either tbh.

no and yes, respectively

God, Life of Brian sucks.

I'm sure God has seen it and formed His own omniscient opinion.

I couldn't find The Marriage of Maria Braun on Kanopy. I guess they have different subscriptions depending on the library

a film he played the lead in, otherwise not his

I can confirm that The Marriage of Maria Braun is on Kanopy (it still better be in the next three weeks: my students gotta watch it).

James Redd was shocked and stunned to learn that the Kanopy access of his two public library systems was narrower than that of his internet acquaintance’s university.

James Redd's internet acquaintance is himself shocked that the library system has no hard copies; it's usually his most readily available film.

Hm. Doesn’t look like the NYPL has a physical copy anymore either, at least not a circulating one.

a film he played the lead in, otherwise not his

The Criterion Maria Braun has been OOP for something like 3-5 years now.

I assume the whole of Monty Python is unamusing to Eric, cuz they're not the fucking Golden Girls.

gonna annoy morbs by being incapable of choosing between all that jazz and alien

It would be between Life of Brian, Apocalypse Now, and Alien for me. I’d probably have to rewatch them all to decide. Manhattan was too icky and I found Being There boring and unfunny. Maria Braun was ok.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

i went with stalker although my memories of it are a bit......foggy

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

disgusting

I saw your description before the results and expected All That Jazz to top the list, you grump. Stalker is #2, and it isn't even as scary as Being There.

I assume the whole of Monty Python is unamusing to Eric, cuz they're not the fucking Golden Girls.

Wrong again, Maude!