Category Archives: 1981

Body Heat
Written and Directed by Lawrence Kasdan
1981/USA
The Ladd Company through Warner Bros.
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/YouTube rental
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

Ned: Maybe you shouldn’t dress like that.
Matty: This is a blouse and a skirt. I don’t know what you’re talking about.
Ned: You shouldn’t wear that body.

I reviewed this for the Blog Club almost eleven years ago.  I could not resist giving it a rewatch.  You can see my original review here.  I stand by every word.  Excellent Neo-noir that stands up well to multiple viewings.

I love this movie!

Missing theme song?

Gallilopoli
Directed by Peter Weir
Written by Peter Weir and David Williamson from a novel by Ernest Raymond
1981/Australia
IMDb page
First viewing/YouTube rental
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Di

Major Barton: [to the soldiers] All right men… we’re going. But I want you to remember who you are. You are the 10th Light Horse! Men from Western Australia. Don’t forget it. Good luck.

Good film about a landmark battle in Australian history.

The story takes place in 1915 and begins in West Australia.  Archy Hamilton (Mark Lee) can sprint like a leopard and win a race barefoot against a man on horseback.  He is relentlessly cheerful and idealistic.  Frank Dunne (Mel Gibson) is also a talented runner.  In other regards he is nothing like Archy.  Frank is a cynic who is generally motivated to do anything he thinks will make him look important.

The men’s athletic endeavors coincide with a recruitment campaign for soldiers to serve in Australia’s contribution on behalf of the British Empire in WWI.  This seems far more important than running to Archy, who succeeds in joining up by lying about his age. Dunne sees no reason to risk his skin until he learns that a uniform makes quite the impression on the ladies.

All dreams of glory are crushed when the men are ordered to land on the shores of Gallipoli.

This is a solid war movie and very watchable.  I had been looking forward to seeing it for years.  It did not quite live up to my expectations, perhaps because I am not a huge fan of Mel Gibson.  But he’s not bad in this.  He looks so much younger here than in the Mad Max films.

I’d love to get the opinions of Australians on the film and its historical accuracy.

Chariots of Fire
Directed by Hugh Hudson
Written by Colin Weiland
1981/UK
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/YouTube rental
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Di

Harold M. Abrahams: If I can’t win, I won’t run!
Sybil Gordon: If you don’t run, you can’t win.

This film is more than its iconic Vangelis score.

The film is set in the period leading up to the 1924 Paris Olympic Games.  Harold Abrahams (Ben Cross) is the son of a wealth Jewish financier and can run like the wind.  He is part of a strong track team at Cambridge University.  He is acutely aware of his outsider status and runs to prove something to his comrades and himself.  He also fits in by being a star in Gilbert and Sullivan productions at his school.  He eventually meets and falls in love with actress Sybil Gordon (Alice Krige).

Eric Liddell (Ian Charleson) could not be more different from Abrahams.  He is a devout Christian who aims to become a missionary to China.  But he also runs like the wind and believes he was given his talent for the glory of his God.

Both men are training for the Olympics.  Abrahams is so intent on becoming a champion that he hires professional trainer Sam Mussabini.  Both men head off to the games where drama awaits.

I clearly remember first seeing this on a plane.  The experience was memorable because the plane landed before it was finished!  I did eventually see the film and enjoyed it.  The rewatch did not disappoint.  This is a handsomely produced look at sportsmanship back at a time when gentlemen pursued glory on the field.  Very entertaining.

Chariots of Fire won Academy Awards in the categories of Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Costume Design, and Best Original Score.  It was nominated in the categories of Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (Holm) and Best Film Editing.

Diva
Directed by Jean-Jacques Beineix
Written by Jean-Jacques Beineix and Jean Van Hamme from a novel by “Delacorta” (Daniel Odier)
1981/France
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/YouTube rental
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

A triumph of style over substance.

The setting is a very hip and artsy contemporary Paris.  A young postman/messenger idolizes opera soprano Cynthia Hawkins (Wilhelnmenia Wiggins Fernandez).  Hawkins has long refused to record her performances. So the postman records a performance surreptitiously.  Afterwards, he goes back stage, meets her, and steals her dress.  He returns to his stupendously cool Paris loft.

A little later he meets a super-cool Vietnamese teenager and strikes up a relationship with her even though she shares the even more stupendous loft of a philosopher? writer? brooding hipster?.  A prostitute tosses another tape into the postman’s moped saddlebag.  This tape is relentlessly pursued by French hit men and their employer.  The tape of the singer is relentlessly pursued by West Indian? Taiwanese? pirates.

Obviously, I found the plot hard to follow.  But this is an example of the “cinema du look” movement and the production is the thing here.  The film certainly delivers in terms of its beautiful art direction, cinematography and score.  So it is an enjoyable watch though not one that I would seek out again particularly.

An American Werewolf in London
Directed by John Landis
Written by John Landis
1981/US
IMDd page
Repeat viewing/YouTube rental
One of 1001 Movies You Must Die

David: I will not be threatened by a walking meat loaf!

Comedy and horror are an uneasy mix.  This works better than it has any right to.

David Kessler (David Naughton) and Jack Goodman (Griffin Dunne) are American college students and best friends who are spending their summer vacation in Europe.  Currently they are backpacking through the English moors.  It is a desolate area and they get out of the cold by entering an isolated pub called The Slaughtered Lamb.  They do not receive a warm welcome from rhe curiously standoffish patrons and barkeeper.  Nor do they get answers about the pentagram on the wall.

It is a moonlit night.  The boys hit the trail again in the rain and promptly get lost.  They then start hearing a howling that makes them very nervous.  This presages a violent attack that leaves Jack dead and David wounded.  The next time he is seen, David is awakening from a coma in a London hospital.  Things go downhill from there.  The only bright spot in David’s life is pretty nurse Alex Price (Jenny Agutter).
I last saw this on original release and was not wowed.  This time around I liked it much much more.  The makeup and effects are out of this world and the comedy melds nicely with some real horror.  But my favorite part is the soundtrack, which contains many songs about the moon.  Recommended.

Rick Baker won the Academy Award for Best Makeup, the first time this award was given.