The very last of the Oscar entries is about the 1980s. A decade when the arrival of video tapes and rental stores meant that you could see a lot more films. For me going to university and then access to transport meant more chances to see first run movies too.
I am pretty disappointed with the 80s Oscar films. 1980’s Ordinary People is dull as hell and seeing Donald Sutherland then shows that age has actually improved his looks. I never liked Raging Bull, so of the nominees Tess is the best, but you can live without any of these films.
In 1981 I am surprised that Raiders of the Lost Ark was nominated – despite the heavyweight duo behind the film and its almost perfect modern recreation of the 1940 movies serials, it is a lightweight story by Oscar standards. Totally at the other end of the spectrum is the nomination of Warren Beatty’s Reds, worthy and interesting, but not exactly an easy watch about communism in the USA.
The deserved winner is the British film about the 1924 Olympics, particularly the story of the Christian evangelist Eric Liddell and the Jewish outsider at Cambridge Harold Abrahams. It is everything the British do best in films – period drama, class and privilege, though the iconic music is from Greek genius Vangelis.
1982 continues the populist nominations, with ET, a film I really hate (see https://wordpress.com/post/fivemilesout.home.blog/1126 for why). Dustin Hoffman’s cross-dressing comedy Tootsie is a much better film but also seems lightweight (this was incredibly popular with public school boys at university, I could not possibly comment on why).
The other three firms are serious. The Verdict stars Paul Newman as an alcoholic lawyer suing a Catholic hospital for malpractice. Missing is an incredibly powerful film set around the time of the 1973 coup in Chile when an American sponsored right-wing dictator came to power. Sissy Spacek and Jack Lemmon star as wife and father-in-law looking for their lost husband/ son with the latter having to come to terms with the USA’s culpability.
These two were beaten by Gandhi, the epic story of one of the great figures of the first half of the 20th century. From his experiences in Africa to his non-violent protests in India that contributed to independence. A deserved winner but Missing is a must watch film too.
I am not sure how Terms of Endearment won in 1983- maybe a reward for Shirley MacLaine? It is a mostly weak field. The Dresser and Tender Mercies are okay, but The Right Stuff seems to be just a Reagan America piece of self-aggrandizement.
Undoubtedly The Big Chill should have won. It is one of the best films of the decade. It is about a group of Baby Boomers reuniting 15 years after they left university, catching up on the triumphs and tragedies of their lives after one of them commits suicide. Not one for people who like action.
1984 is a year no one understands how the winner emerged – how the hell did Amadeus win? It is not even a good film, let alone of Oscar quality – now considered one of the worst missteps in the Academy’s history. That it beat the beautiful Passage to India or the heartrending The Killing Fields about the Khmer Rouge rule of Cambodia is even more shocking (in some ways the Blue Peter appeal for Cambodia when the country was liberated marked the end of my childhood as it was so shocking – Blue Peter was a children’s magazine program in the UK)..
In 1985 Out of Africa wins – great period drama plus Meryl Streep. It beat Witness (which I am surprised was nominated as it is not much more than a generic thriller) and Kiss of the Spiderwoman which I found dull. Prizzi’s Honour is John Huston’s last film, good but not one of his best.
The Color Purple should have won for so many reasons – definitely the most important film of the year, if not the decade.
1986 and another underwhelming year. Platoon won – but there have been a lot of better Vietnam films in the 80s. There is Hannah and her Sisters, probably Woody Allen’s best film but that does not say a lot. A Room With the View continues the 80s obsession with Ismail Merchant period films, but that is the best of the year.
1987 is better and the epic The Last Emperor wins, it is a good film and interesting to watch but a great film? I think not. Moonstruck is fun and Cher is a revelation, whilst Fatal Attraction is a defining film (though its sexual politics look awful now).
The best is Broadcast News, a film that is as relevant now on the dumbing down of the media as it was when it was released.
I like Rain Man – a touching film about how his autistic brother gets Tom Cruise to connect to his humanity again but the winner? The Academy likes touching stories about people with problems. Working Girl is Melanie Griffiths’ best film but the sexual politics look horrible now.
Mississippi Burning, about the deaths of Civil Rights activists in the South is the best film by a mile and everyone should watch it. By today’s standards it does look a bit like white saviours, focusing a film about Southern racism on Caucasian characters, but it is powerful.
The decade closes out with Driving Miss Daisy wining – interesting that a race film would be focusing on an old white woman wins, rather than Mississippi Burning. There is another disability nominee with My Left Foot and Robin Williams’ in a major serious role with Dead Poets Society.
This is one of the better Vietnam films and it is Tom Cruise again (throughout the decade the differently abled issues are portrayed by the able bodied, apart from Children of a Lesser God). A searing inditement of what happened to Vietnam vets I defy anyone to walk away unaffected.
The Breakfast Club may not have been nominated for an Oscar, but its theme tune is possibly the most famous film theme ever. I like it because it shows how a disparate group can bond in a short time. Simple Minds were from Glasgow, part of the post New Wave scene like Big Country (https://wordpress.com/post/fivemilesout.home.blog/746 ). After limited success in the UK they broke the USA and their sound become quite bombastic. Their album New Gold Dream is a classic of the era.
Don’t You Forget About Me
Playlist:
- Love Song
- Theme For Great Cities
- The American
- Someone Somewhere in Summertime
- New Gold Dream (81-82-83-84)
- Glittering Prize
- Waterfront
- Speed Your Love To Me
- Up on the Catwalk
- East at Easter
- (Don’t You) Forget About Me
- C Moon Cry Like a Baby
- All the Things She Said
- Ghostdancing
- Sanctify Yourself
- Belfast Child
- Mandela Day
Five Miles Out 