Category Archives: 1979

Tess
Directed by Roman Polanski
Written by Gerard Brach, Roman Polanski and John Brownjohn from a novel by Thomas Hardy
1979/UK/France
IMDb page
First viewing/Amazon Prime rental

Mrs. Durbeyfield: We all have to take the ups with the downs, Tess.

The story takes place during the Victorian Period in Hardy’s fictional Wessex County. Tess Durbyfield i(Nastassja Kinski) is the eldest child of many in the household of John and Joan Durbyfield. The house is living in severe poverty, largely due to John’s drinking. One day, a vicar tells John that his family is actually related to the aristocratic d’Urberville family. Mrs. d’Urberville lives not far away and John sends Tess to try to get some money. John has lost his horse and needs it to make the little he does earn.

Alec d’Uberville (Leigh Lawson) greets her and is instantly attracted. He tells her, though, that her family could not be related to his since his family bought their title. His family is very wealthy in any event having made their money through trade. He gets Tess a job in the poultry yard.

Alex pursues Tess for a long time. Finally he manages to get her to kiss him and that kiss turns into a rape. Tess departs for home and soon discovers she is pregnant.

Her baby dies within months and she leaves her home to wander. Finally she gets a job in a dairy farm, where she meets Angel Clare. The two fall in love. Is Angel what Tess is looking for?

I love Victorian literature but I have never been able to get enthusiastic about Thomas Hardy. His novels are slow and downbeat. That’s part of the problem of this movie which is also slow and downbeat if not depressing. The two men are very flawed and Tess mostly mopes around being a victim. But I am perhaps biased. There is no arguing with the stunning beauty of Kinski (only 17 years old) and the magnificent cinematography and production values.

The Black Stallion
Directed by Carroll Ballard
Written by Melissa Mattheson, Jean Rosenberg, and William D. Witliff from a novel by Walter Farley
1979/US
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime rental

Snoe: Hey, what happened to you?
Alec Ramsey: Everything.
Snoe: Everything? That’s a whole lot. It can’t be everything.

A beautifully mounted film about a boy and his horse that should appeal to all ages.

Young Alec Ramsey (Kelly Reno, 11) and his father are traveling by ship from Africa to Liverpool. Alec becomes fascinated by an untamed and fierce black Arabian stallion who is being ill-treated by some Arabs. Shortly after this, the ship sinks. Alec survives by holding onto the mane of the stallion as it swims to the shore of a desert island.

For 23 dialogue-free minutes, we see how Alec survives and watch him tame the black stallion, who is grateful after Alec frees him from some ropes.

Some fishermen pass by the island and rescue Alec. He refuses to leave without his horse and the fishermen oblige. Alec takes the Black home where it is not well-satisfied with a suburban backyard.

Eventually, the Black makes his way into the hands of an aging racehorse trainer (Mickey Rooney). So begins Alec’s dream of training the Black to be a racehorse. With Terry Garr as Alec’s mother and Clarence Muse as a philisophical horse and cart owner.

This movie is absolutely gorgeous in every way and one of the most baffling omissions in Oscar history was the failure of cinematographer Caleb Deschanel to earn an Oscar nomination. The other amazing features are the talent of Cass-Olé the horse and Kelly Reno who did most of the riding himself. The movie has a kind of pleasing fairy tale quality that I really enjoyed.

Studio executives delayed the release of this film for two years.  They said “What is this? An art film for children?”.  The film won a Special Achievement Oscar for Sound Editing. Mickey Rooney got a well-deserved nomination for Best Supporting Actor. The film was also nominated for film editing. I would have given it nods for the cinematography and for Carmine Coppola’s evocative score.

The China Syndrome
Directed by James Bridges
Written by Mike Gray, T.S. Cook, and James Bridges
1979/US
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime rental

Barney: Jack, it just might be a feedwater leak.
Jack Godell: Which valve?
Barney: [Shakes head] Can’t really tell.

Kimberly Wells (Jane Fonda) does fluff pieces for the local TV news. She was hired solely based on her looks. Richard Adams (Michael Douglas) is her favorite cameraman. He is a major hothead.

One day, Kimberly and Richard are at a nuclear power plant doing a fluff piece for a series on energy. While there they witness engineers scramble to contain an accident that threatens a shut down or melt down of the plant. Richard films it all.

The news station refuses to use the footage and prefers that Kimberly stick with her human interest stories. But she is way smarter and more ambitious than that. That night she meets Jack Godell (Jack Lemmon), as been an operator for years. He is a loyal company man.

However, things continue to malfunction at the plant and Godell begins to believe that the plant should be shut down. This puts his life in grave danger. Kimberly continues to put together her story.

I saw this film on original release shortly after the premier. Within a week, there were a series of accidents at the nuclear plant at Three Mile Island, PA which resulted in a partial melt-down. This made the movie unforgettable to me and also made the film a blockbuster.

It’s a pretty good thriller with lots of 70’s tropes like women’s liberation, evil greedy corporations and sticking it to the man.

The film was nominated for Oscars in the categories of Best Actor (Lemmon), Best Actress (Fonda), Best Original Screenplay, and Best Art Direction -Set Decoration.

Escape from Alcatraz
Directed by Don Segal
Written by Richard Tuggle from a book by J. Campbell Bruce
1979/US
IMDb page
First viewing/Amazon Prime (free to Members)

English: Sometimes I think that’s all this place is. One… long… count. The prisoners count the hours, the bulls count the prisoners and the king bulls count the counts.

For some reason, prison escape movies are usually compelling. This is no exception.

It is 1960. Frank Morris (Clint Eastwood) has been transferred to the federal penitentiary at Alcatraz after several unsuccessful escape attempts. As the “fresh fish”, he is subjected to harassment designed to established who is top dog. In addition, he and the other men must cope with a sadistic warden who is determined to make each prisoner’s time as hard as possible. He gleefully keeps reminding them that there is no escape.

The second part of the film is devoted to the planning for and execution of a potential break-out organized by Frank and a few of the other prisoners. Danny Glover made his screen debut as a prisoner in this film.

Though I can think of several escape movies that I like better, this one was perfectly serviceable and kept me engaged.

Time After Time
Directed by Nicholas Meyer
Written by Nicholas Meyer; story by Karl Alexander and Steve Hayes
1979/US
IMDb page
First viewing/Amazon rental

H.G. Wells: Every age is the same. It’s only love that makes any of them bearable

This fun thriller is a little bit science fiction, a little bit action, and a little bit romance. Also, one of the best movie portraits of my favorite City, San Francisco, a year before I lived there.

It is 1893 London. H.G. Wells (Malcom McDowell) demonstrates his time machine to his guests. The police burst into the house in search of Jack the Ripper. Unbeknownst to anyone, he is their friend John Leslie Stevenson (David Warner) and he has left evidence in his medical bag. Jack boards the time machine and takes off for 1979.

Because he does not have the “no return” key, the machine returns to 1893 and Wells boards it in pursuit of the Ripper. He finds himself in 1979 San Francisco. There is a lot to get used to and this new world is surely not the Utopia Wells dreamed of. Wells does fit in well with the 1979 fashion vibe in his Victorian clothes.

One of the first things he needs to do is change money. He goes to a bank with his gold guineas and attempts the exchange with manager Amy Robbins (Mary Steenburgen). She immediately tries to pick him up.

The same night the two become a couple. Jack, who has continued his serial killings in the City, will not rest until he extracts the “no return” key from Wells. The rest of the movie consists of the cat and mouse adventures as the two men pursue each other. This puts Amy’s life in grave peril.

This is a very solid popcorn movie which I really enjoyed. It was so much fun seeing all the San Francisco locations. You always see the bay and the hills in movies but rarely so many of the City’s other sights.

Trailer

The Missing Title Tune – OMG I love this song

1979 was one of those great years for movies as can be seen by the sheer number of films of that year showing up on the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die list.

We lost a number of great directors that year including Jean Renoir, Nicholas Ray, George Seaton, Dorothy Arzner, and Ernest B. Schoedsak.  Other notables who died in 1979 were  Nino Rota, Mary Pickford, Jim Hutton, John Wayne, Jean Seberg, Dmitri Tiompkin, Merle Oberon, Ann Dvorak, and Joan Blondell.

Rosanna Arquette, Ted Danson, Matt Dillon, Danny Glover, Mickey Rourke, and Patrick Swayze made their film debuts.

Just some incidents in a tumultuous year.  Iran became an Islamic Republic upon the arrival of the exiled Ayatollah Khomeini and the ouster of the Shah.  63 U.S. Embassy employees were held hostage by “students” for 444 days starting November 4.  The crisis in Iran sparked an international oil crisis which saw gasoline prices soaring.  The first Black government took office in Rhodesia, whose name was changed to Zimbabwe.  The Sandinista National Liberation Front took power in Nicaragua.  Islamic extremists took pilgrims hostage during the Haj in Mecca – 250 people were killed.  A series of accidents at the nuclear power plant at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania caused a partial melt-down.

The Billboard top single of the year was “My Sharona” by The Knack.  “The Stories of John Cheever” won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature.  “Buried Child” by Sam Shepard won for Drama.  The Ayatollah Khomeini was Time magazine’s Man of the Year.

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Here’s the list of films I will pick from for 1979 viewing.