1979's Oscar Nominees

I'm voting for the snuff film.

Breaking Away

Kramer is up there with The French Connection in being a movie that feels largely dated and uninspired by today's standards, through no particular fault of its own. It's just been played out in so many different configurations since then that it's hard to care much.

Voted Apocalypse Now. Go ahead and sue me. A huge, sprawling mess, but what an awesome mess. Seeing it on a big screen was a revelation.

french connection is still amazing

All That Jazz

I love Apocalypse Now but its kinda a mess

all that jazz is nearly as crazy as apocalypse now. i think you could swap those two movies' titles without damaging either one. i voted apocalypse but i like jazz a lot. and breaking away does its smalltown thing very nicely.

All That Jazz is a bit more coherent in that its got a good framing device that kinda keeps it all in line. great editing, beautiful choreography

I was shocked by how effective Roy Scheider was – he deserved the Oscar nod – but the dance routines are perfunctorily directed.

Voted Breaking Away, with Norma Rae my second choice.

the dance routines are perfunctorily directed

And perfectly edited.

all that jazz is nearly as crazy as apocalypse now. i think you could swap those two movies' titles without damaging either one.

That's really sharp, tipsy! And dead OTM. But where I absolutely despised All That Jazz, I can tolerate the male melodrama in Apocalypse Now mainly because it gets sucked up into the spectacular design (although I think the title of Mad magazine's parody ultimately got it right - A Crock of Shit Now).

I do need to revisit All That Jazz and try to approach it outside of my extreme disgust with 1970s musicals if possible. But even if I do come around to it, nothing will make me like the music which is as clueless as the Bacharach/David horrors in Lost Horizon. Could there have been a more wince-inducingly obvious song for the extended, excruciating death finale than "Bye Bye Love?" And George Benson??? Are we supposed to settle for George fucking Benson because the dancing is so ace/the vision so pungent or, ugh, revisionist? Had Fosse really not heard of, oh I don't know, Chic by 1979? Too bad August Darnell wasn't making movies.

So A Crock of Shit Now it is. The rest are forgettable at best.

The opening sequence is the best, and thanks to "On Broadway."

'70s musicals are hysterical for mostly the wrong reasons, but ...

Too bad August Darnell wasn't making movies.

OTM.

Are we supposed to settle for George fucking Benson because the dancing is so ace/the vision so pungent or, ugh, revisionist? Had Fosse really not heard of, oh I don't know, Chic by 1979?

I have no idea what this means

I mean I know who Chic are but uh what do they have to do with anything? And what's "revisionist"/getting "revised"?

Should I fan the flames by suggesting I'll take All That Jazz over any Astaire/Rogers pics? (Though maybe not Busby.)

mad used the word "shit"?

xxpost

You must be a George Benson fan (like Soto???). (and, UH, what's with all the "uh"'s lately??? are you really that offended or put-off by what I've written?)

Also, you're not aware of the status of the film as a revisionist musical, if not THE revisionist musical?

s1ocki, they used @#$%^& for "shit."

re: George Benson, I mean, what does GEORGE BENSON have to do with anything?

george benson rules!

so it could have been a crock of fuck now

its a fairly autobiographical musical, what's revisionist about it? I am happy to enjoy films while being oblivious to their "reputation". George Benson works fine in the scene, what do you have against him?

A thirties film audience never imagined Fred Astaire emerging from an oxygen tank.

personally I don't give a shit about Astaire/Rogers - apart from Fosse my favorite musical is Singin in the Rain

A-caca-lypse Now

Mad, I'm available!

i'm liking the idea of an Apocalypse Now/All That Jazz mash-up. George Benson instead of the Doors playing while the jungle explodes? That would be awesome.

more like all that JIZZ

really enjoyed apocalypse now and all that jazz, but i lived for four years in bloomington, indiana so breaking away wins.

jackie earle haley is my favorite thing in that movie.

so it could have been a crock of fuck now

How did I know you'd say something like this? How DID I know? oh s1ocki. oh, oh s1ocki...

Shakey, I'm honestly not trying to be rude here but there's tons of material out there on how All That Jazz is a revisionist musical/what a revisionist musical is/how useful a concept it may or may not be. I'd just be repeating some very wiki-level stuff here.

Re: Benson, it'd take too long to explain. Something about desperately wanting a film where characters spontaneously burst into Chic/August Darnell/disco/punk/Neil Young/non-George Benson songs.

Start the jeep
I know a sniper's spot
Where the bodies are cold
but the napalm's hot
It's just some noisy mud
Where there's some nightly blood
And a-POC-a-LYPSE!

film being something other than what you want it to be /= a bad film

I haven't read anything about All That Jazz fwiw (perhaps this is obvious)

""All That Jazz" revisionist" Google search not really being helpful

film being something other than what you want it to be /= a bad film

It does in my book, sweet cheeks (and yours too if you really thought about it more).

I don't think so... wanting King of Comedy to be more like Taxi Driver doesn't make KoC a bad movie, for ex. Expectations should take into account the actual movie and what the filmmakers are trying to do (and yes I know "intent" is a thorny problem but still)

kthx

It was A Crock o' *blip* Now Kevin!

(Bought "Mad" monthly from 1977-82)

(but yeah, you could easily discern the outline of the word "shit")

All That Jazz. Saw it in the theater as a 13-year-old and wow.

but i lived for four years in bloomington, indiana so breaking away wins.

I lived there for six years and still haven't seen the movie (shame).

Thread took flight. Yay.

I'm up next, by the way, so no more polls from you for a couple of weeks.

I gave it a day and a half.

I saw all these films in '79, btw.

and I'd vote Manhattan.

I saw all the nominees last year in 2008 and I'd vote WALL-E. So what?

just sayin' pal, chill

I am chill. I also think the first two nominees alphabetical here are kinda way better/nuttier than Manhattan.

But since we're in la la land with our ideal ballots, here's what my 1979 nominees would've been in a perfect world:

All That Jazz
Apocalypse Now
The Brood
The Marriage of Maria Braun
The Warriors

ah, "nuttier" ... we draw closer to drawing the parameters of your aesthetic!

Not exactly a radical disclosure on my part.

save for nutty screwball.

My ideal ballot would look like this:

Dawn of the Dead
The Driller Killer
1941
Real Life
Symphony for a Sinner

Admirably nutty.

Also, didn't realize Dawn was a '79 movie in the states, so that would take Apocalypse Now's spot on my list.

IMDb says 1978 but then it also says the release date was 1979 (and on my b-day no less!).

Thank you for bringing back that Mad title. Crock and Breaking Away tied in my heart, but come on, Crock. Norma Rae as iconic for what it is. The other two meant a lot to my 10-year-old self, but in retrospect just remind me of how much better the '70s were for nudity.

Fun to read those other polls. Pretty much agree except: Grapes of Wrath (never got Philly Story), Jaws (come ON), Beauty and the Beast (among crap), Good Will Hunting (among crap), and Brokeback (not to reopen that argument).

iMdb dates are often meaningless unless you're a global festivalgoer.

Easier than trying to decide on release years of movies that are never actually released in my town.

I mean, Godard's Made in USA is a 2010 release in Minneapolis.

so you have your #1 already!

From now on, I'm going to preface every year-end list I don't make with the caveat that "if the movies that still haven't seen release in the Twin Cities were taken into consideration, my #1 would be more like #1,832."

But that's the problem with festival- and premier-based release dates, is critics are always reviewing and comparing movies nobody's seen. I mean, Minneapolis isn't Guam. Couldn't imdb and the Academy and critics just treat select openings as the previews they are, with national release marking the year of a film?

no, bcz all that counts for them is year-end promo/awards' effect on the gross.

sorry, that's what the studios value -- Academy and critics, well, they enjoy being where it matters.

iMdb is just doing its job re first screening, I suppose. After all, some films I see here in NY are *never* "released" commercially.

my alternative 1979 nominees:

Alien
Hair
Over the Edge
Rock 'n' Roll High School
Time After Time

All lists are promotional, Morbs, so I guess I don't care what movie goes into what year. If anything, enough lists might make the difference between getting a movie getting distribution and a movie languishing in torrent limbo.

From now on, I'm going to preface every year-end list I don't make with the caveat that "if the movies that still haven't seen release in the Twin Cities were taken into consideration, my #1 would be more like #1,832."

― really senile old crap shit (Eric H.), Wednesday, December 2, 2009 9:39 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i kinda do this, i only put movies that opened here in the year on my list.

That's a good idea.

i do put other stuff in "honourable mentions" though.

Well, that part doesn't make intuitive sense. They're separate, not necessarily inferior.

yeah, that's true. i do indicate that that's WHY the movies aren't in the main list though.

kool

Bump.

bump for G2 quick crossword tie-ins this week

Crikey, '79 was a very good year! If I were a nominee list composer:

Apocalypse Now
The Muppet Movie
Rock N' Roll High School
Dawn Of The Dead
Being There

Now that would've been a helluva best picture list.

Spending a day in the theater watching that rundown would put me right over the moon.

Hell, just realized I own all of those (minus Apocalypse, but including other '79 faves Manhattan and The Jerk). I should organize a viewing party.

Pre-bump bump.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

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

hippies.

Hippies who enjoy the smell of freedom!

and napalm

1941?!

You're my hero, KJB!

missed this thread. the fact that a number of people are willing to seriously consider (and even support!) the idea that all that jazz might be a better movie than apocalypse now has totally made my day. errr, night. fucking love that movie.

i like it too... i had no idea there were other people that took it even semi-seriously.

Supporting Actress Smackdown, on Nathaniel's blog, hosts its first podcast on 1979's crop. The nominees are pretty good except for Candice Bergen, although I had to remind myself (as usual) that Jane Alexander exists.

Nominees:

Jane Alexander - Kramer vs Kramer
Barbara Bailey - Breaking Away
Candice Bergen - Starting Over
Mariel Hemingway - Manhattan
Meryl Streep - Kramer vs. Kramer

http://thefilmexperience.net/tfe-podcast/2015/6/7/smackdown-companion-1979-1.html

Kramer vs Kramer vs Kramer vs Kramer

Barbara WHO?

Christ, wasting a podcast on this shit

Barbara Barrie.

still alive at 84 btw

so are you

Testament permanently burned the existence of Jane Alexander into my memory.

But since we're in la la land with our ideal ballots, here's what my 1979 nominees would've been in a perfect world:

All That Jazz
Apocalypse Now
The Brood
The Marriage of Maria Braun
The Warriors

― really senile old crap shit (Eric H.), Tuesday, December 1, 2009 9:24 PM (5 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

My ideal ballot would look like this:

Dawn of the Dead
The Driller Killer
1941
Real Life
Symphony for a Sinner

― Kevin John Bozelka, Tuesday, December 1, 2009 9:50 PM (5 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

If you're feeling sinister, check out these lists of the top box office attractions 1979-1980. I don't get sentimental, but the fact that Apocalypse Now (!) could sit atop for six weeks, Manhattan for three, and KvK for eight non-consecutive weeks is to conclude that, yeah, studios and expectations have changed. Also: movies returned to #1 after weeks in another spot or would debut low and rise to #1.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_1979_box_office_number-one_films_in_the_United_States

and holy fuck Anne Bancroft's writer-director debut Fatso hit #1!

Coal Miner's Daughter the next year for nine weeks!

Endless summer movie season now tho.

why would grownup minds endure the typical theatrical movie experience now?

watched kramer v kramer for the 1st time today, fairly solid & so simple/sparse really, to a possibly detrimental degree. yes is def also naturally dated..