Oscar's Big Mistake

No, that is not the title of the new film starring Oscar the Grouch from Sesame Street. Instead I am using my newsletter to unload about my personal disdain for the 1980 Academy Award for Best Picture. The 1980 award goes to the "Best Picture" released in 1979. '79 was a fabulous year for American cinema. Over a dozen great films came out that year. And none of them won the Oscar! Below is a list of just some of the films that came out in 1979. The list is of films that did not win Best Picture. The winner is listed at the very bottom of this newsletter. Along the way you may find some great films that you might have missed!

To begin, there are 5 films that came out in 1979 starting with the letter ‘A’ that are better than the winner:

Alien

Alien produced, perhaps, the most intense fear I’ve ever experienced at the movies. Ridley Scott, the director, and Sigourney Weaver, as Ripley, were at the very top of the profession. Weaver is the first woman to star in a big-budget action movie. Also, Scott’s decidsion to forgo a music soundtrack made it even more ominous.

All That Jazz

Bob Fosse’s semi-autobiographical film. Great performances by Roy Scheider, Ann Reinking and Leland Palmer. Add the early work of Jessica Lange and Fosse’s choreography and personal honesty and you get cinema magic!

Apocalypse Now

Francis Ford Coppola’s master epic that ended the 1970s with him winning Director of the Decade. Raw, unyielding, powerful and dark telling of Martin Sheen’s voyage into ‘Heart of Darkness’. Plus Marlon Brando, Dennis Hopper, Laurence Fishburne, Robert Duvall and Scott Glenn join the stellar cast.

Amityville Horror

“For God’s sake, get out”. The perfect tagline to the original film that has spawned almost a dozen sequels and a hundred ripoffs. James Brolin and Margot Kidder are wonderful as the ‘Lutz’ parents who move into a horrible house. Again, scary and superb.

A Little Romance

Touching and endearing film about young love. Towards the end of his career Laurence Olivier guides a young couple to help cement their burgeoning love. Diane Lane portrays one of the teens.

There are also, at least, a dozen films that came out in 79 that are more loved and watched today than the eventual Oscar recipient. Here is a small list of other great, and more deserving, movies:

Norma Rae Sally Field wins an Oscar for her portayal of the labor organizer.

Breaking Away Beautiful coming of age story set against bike racing.

The China Syndrome Jack Lemmon and Jane Fonda battle the nuclear power industry. After 3 Mile Island this film shocked the nation!

Manhattan Woody Allen’s homage to the city he loves.

La Cage Aux Folles Hilarious French romp later remade as ‘The Birdcage’.

Being There Peter Sellers entertains the world while being very subdued.

1979 was also a great year for “cult” films. That year saw the start of the ‘Mad Max’ series, ‘Life of Brian’ from Monty Python, ‘Quadrophenia’ from the rock opera by The Who and Steve Martin’s ‘The Jerk’ fill theaters with happy patrons.

However, none of these would take home that golden statuette.

The Oscar for Best Picture of 1979 goes to: