It was the year O Canada become the official national anthem. The year that Goodfella Henry Hill was arrested for drug possession. The year that Margaret Thatcher insisted "The lady’s not for turning". The year was 1980.
CNN officially launched. Pac-Man conquered the planet. And the whole world tuned in to see who shot J.R. Ewing (it was Kristen). Also, John Lennon was actually shot, and killed, in New York. Joining him in the Great Hereafter was movie star Steve McQueen, comedian Peter Sellers, director Alfred Hitchcock and animator Tex Avery. New to the land of the living, meanwhile, were jolly Jake Gyllenhaal and Chuck’s Zachary Levi. Also, many unforgettable movies were born.
Back when we still adored George Lucas, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back revealed all sorts of shocking, soapy stuff about Luke Skywalker and his dysfunctional family. While on Mongo, Flash Gordon saved the day in a kitsch comicbook adventure with a knowing sense of humour and an irrepressible glam rock soundtrack.
Scoring a touchdown in the Land of Odd, meanwhile, Bill Murray was at his perverse best in Where the Buffalo Roam, a movie based on the twisted legend of gonzo journo Hunter S. Thompson that came almost two decades ahead of Johnny Depp’s better known but less enjoyable effort.
The ultimate quick-fire movie spoof with a million gags, all of which hit their intended targets, Airplane! set a standard for zany, joke-a-second comedy that no film since has even come close to. Rather more cerebral was Woody Allen’s Stardust Memories, a beguiling dramedy in which a filmmaker (Allen) reflects on his life and various loves while attending a retrospective of his work. Though it appears autobiographical, Woody assures us it’s just a movie. Whether or not you choose to believe him, though, is entirely up to you.
Though King considered Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of The Shining "…an interesting failure," most people consider it something more. Influenced by an evil spiritual presence, the caretaker (Jack Nicholson) of an isolated, vacant hotel tries to hack his family to bits. Eerily atmospheric with nightmarish visuals and a touch of madness, it really is a remarkable, beautiful and astonishingly well-played piece of work.
A gleeful celebration of stalking and slashing horny young teenagers, Friday the 13th was the first of a series of blood-soaked b-movies that served to showcase the talents of the sickest make-up men in the movie business. Finally, on the horror front, Zombie Flesh Eaters was by far the nastiest of George Romero’s early copycats, an Italian gore-fest that deserves special mention for its sheer unpleasantness, offering such memorable visual treats as punctured eyeballs and numerous decapitations. At one stage, a zombie shuffling along the ocean floor even attacks a shark!
A couple of cracking crime flicks to finish, starting with a long-forgotten Robert Redford prison drama, Brubaker, in which Bob, as the idealistic new warden of a corrupt prison, goes undercover as an inmate to expose the bad guys. It’s gripping, powerful stuff that’s well worth rediscovering. Finally, let’s hear it for The Long Good Friday, a great British gangster movie, one of the best we’ve ever produced, with Bob Hoskins struggling to survive the most stressful day of his life. Like a sawn-off shotgun, it’ll blow you away. "You don't crucify people! Not on Good Friday!"
Guest blogger: Marshall Julius
