USCCB - (Film and Broadcasting) - Ten Best List for the Year 1980

Ten Best List for the Year 1980

Angi Vera -- A marvelously subtle and complex Hungarian production set in 1948, the early days of the Communist regime, a tragic and confused era full of idealism and opportunism. Veronica Papp gives a flawless performance in the title role as a young woman with a talent for survival who is sent by the Party to a political training center where she has an affair that cou1d threaten her future. Director Pal Gabor shows that human nature has a way of infiltrating the most resistant of ideologies. Adult situations and politically complex themes. A-III-adults (Not rated by the Motion Picture Association of America) 1980
Breaker Morant -- During the Boer War, three officers of an Australian unit (led by title character Edward Woodward) are courtmartialed for shooting prisoners. Despite uniformly fine performances and well-staged action scenes, Australian director Bruce Beresford's fact-based courtroom drama never quite comes to grips with the issues raised about the irregular nature of combat against guerrilla forces as well as the defence of following orders. Complex theme and battlefield violence. A-III-adults (PG)
1980
The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith -- Powerful and disturbing Australian movie set at the turn of the century tells the story of a half-white, mission-educated aborigine (Tommy Lewis) who breaks under the strain of constant exploitation and goes on a mad rampage of revenge. Adapted by director Fred Schepisi from a novel by Thomas Keneally, the picture is a searing indictment of injustice and a grim warning of the consequences it can provoke. Though the theme has much contemporary relevance, its depiction of graphic violence and sordid environment may be too strong for some adults. A-IV-adults with reservations (Not rated by the Motion Picture Association of America) 1980
Eboli -- The political exile of Italian anti-Fascist writer and artist Carlo Levi is the subject of director Francesco Rosi's warmly human dramatization. Though it does convey some of the complexities of Levi's social, political and artistic concerns, it is more interested in the man and his place in the context of the times. Serious subject matter and complex background might be confusing for young viewers. A-III-adults (PG) 1980
The Great Santini -- Solid portrait of a gung-ho but aging Marine fighter pilot (Robert Duvall) who, having no war to fight in 1962, brings his own war home to cause conflict with his wife (Blythe Danner), and especially his teenage son (Michael O'Keefe). Though flawed with some heavy melodrama and a contrived resolution, director John Lewis Carlino's story of family life has much heart, strong values, warm humor and three marvellous performances to more than compensate. Some rough language and the intensity of emotional family conflict. A-II-adults and adolescents (PG) 1980
Kagemusha -- Grand period spectacle set in 16th-century Japan when a thief (Tatsuya Nakadai) is trained to impersonate a dead warlord whose clan is fighting for its survival against a powerful rival. Director Akira Kurosawa's austere but powerful treatment of the historical material is filled with fierce martial pageantry, stirring action and poignant ironies as the story of a clan's downfall unfolds. Subtitles. Tragic theme and violent battle sequences. A-II-adults and adolescents (PG) 1980
My Brilliant Career -- Bright Australian dramatization of a autobiographical novel about a young farm girl (Judy Davis in a dazzling performance) raised in poverty but determined to make a life of her own as a writer at the turn of the century. Gillian Armstrong directs a work that besides being very funny, very human, very touching and always entertaining, is a tribute to the human spirit and the artistic imagination. Exhilarating family fare. A-I-general patronage (G) 1980
Ordinary People -- Donald Sutherland and Mary Tyler Moore give fine performances as confused and troubled parents trying to cope with the psychological aftershocks that result when the older of two sons dies in a boating accident and the surviving son (Timothy Hutton) attempts suicide. Directed by Robert Redford, the movie hints that the characters' complacent and wholly materialistic environment may have contributed to the family's instability, but these aspects remain underdeveloped. The problems are very real but the movie is strangely cool and distanced from them. Due to the heaviness of the theme and some instances of rough language, it is for mature viewers. A-III-adults (R) 1980
Tess -- British screen version of the Thomas Hardy novel about a young Wessex woman (Natassia Kinski) whose life is irrevocably changed when her father discovers that the family are the impoverished descendants of a noble line. Directed by Roman Polanski, it is an always beautiful, at time powerful, drama whose somber theme of a woman doomed by class and circumstance is not for younger viewers. A-II-adults and adolescents (R) 1980
Wise Blood -- Screen version of Flannery O'Connor's novel about a God-haunted young man (Brad Dourif) who on his way to Taulkinham, Tenn., to preach a new religion, meets such bizarre characters as a failed preacher pretending he is blind (Harry Dean Stanton), his mildly depraved daughter (Amy Wright) and a jovial evangelist (Ned Beatty). Director John Huston has made a powerful and provocative movie whose spiritual implications are as compelling as its artistic excellence. The incidental violence and moral complexity are more appropriate for adult viewers. A-III-adults (PG) 1980