Depression: The Woman Who Lives At Night - 1980 - Turkey

Depression: The Woman Who Lives At Night - 1980 - 5/10 
AKA - Gece Yasayan Kadin

 
Artist and his model.
After painting, panting.  Almost forty minutes of hardcore.
Then, domesticity.  Hey!  Our model is an invalid, in a wheelchair.
Her family fusses over her.  At night, however, sure enough, back to the studio.
The man grows possessive, and the female - whoa, what a temper.
Mystery angle is so-so, while the porn dominates.
Owing to economic woes, Turkey permitted adult films from the late 1970’s until a coup in 1980.
Most erotica was banned or destroyed, this is a rare survivor.
https://grokipedia.com/page/depression_the_woman_who_lives_at_night

Bolero - 1980 - USA

Bolero - 1980 - 3/10

 
Witless erotic comedy of recent school graduate setting forth to lose her virginity.
She is blonde and attractive, thus, the challenge seems insurmountable.
Wait, there is a bullfighter in Spain, and a lust struck sheik.
Will ecstasy flow in raptures?
The comedy 10 made Bo Derek a sensation, this film killed that right quick.
The heroine prances around mostly naked, common sense on par with cold potato soup.
George Kennedy, why, oh why are you in this?

Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? - 1980 - UK

Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? - 1980 - 6/10

 
Out golfing, Bobby and his doctor partner come across (or strike) a hiker.
His dying words were those above.  A puzzle.
Bobby is mildly curious, his female friend, Lady Francis, more so.
Breezy whodunit has multiple suspects that the main players disagree on.
“Well, he’s certainly innocent.” – “He most certainly is not!”
There is a sinister health sanitarium, and a lot of morphine.
Probably too long at 3 hours, but easy to portion.  Christie fans ought to seek it out.
Francesca Annis and Tommy Warwick would later pair up as Tommy & Tuppence.

Lathe Of Heaven, The - 1980 - USA

The Lathe Of Heaven - 1980 - 7/10

 
Akin to the “The Monkey’s Paw”.  In a future time, highly overpopulated, George suffers dreams.
Only his dreams alter reality.
His psychiatrist, Dr. Haber, something between a meddler and a martinet, exploits this.
Remake society, build a better world.
Except there are always flaws in improvements.
Heady, intellectual SciFi (SpecFi, actually) has minimal budget but far-reaching concepts.
Some locations were the same as those in Logan’s Run.

A Week’s Vacation - 1980 - France

A Week’s Vacation - 1980 - 7/10
AKA - Une Semaine de Vacances

 
Her class is unruly, her partner wants a child, her parents are struggling, her brother is an idler.
Age 31, schoolteacher Laurence needs a break, which her doctor prescribes.
A week off.  Do something, do nothing, recharge, reflect.
Which Laurence does, takes a week off and takes stock of her life, her situation.
Along with her, we encounter others, most are isolated, perhaps lonely.
The undercurrent of social pressures and personal aspirations quietly roil about.
An image of a neighbor, whom Laurence spies upon yet never meets, is haunting.

Alligator - 1980 - USA

Alligator - 1980 - 6/10

 
Kids, there’s a reason why you don’t buy baby gators in Florida.
They grow fast, and sooner or later you’ll just flush ’em down the toilet.
Where, in the sewers, they eat rats, fish, garbage, or lab animal carcases, juicy with growth chemicals.
Here, humans disappear and a jinxed detective is assigned the case.
Hokey creature feature is more fun than expected.
Most memorable is Henry Silva as an arrogant “sportsman” (animal killer).
Comparisons with Jaws?  No.

The Music Of Erich Zann - 1980 - USA

The Music Of Erich Zann - 1980 - 6/10

 
One of the earlier HPL adaptations, this evokes rather than shows or tells.
A student, Charles Dexter Ward, takes rooms below a mute violinist.
The music haunts him, and he tries to befriend the elderly musician.
And yet a gulf separates them, for one has committed blasphemy.
Effective short gives a nice sense of the other-worldliness of the tale.

Stuart Schiff (“Whispers”) had recommended this decades ago.

Rappaccini's Daughter - 1980 - USA

Rappaccini's Daughter - 1980 - 6/10

 
Melancholy adaptation of Hawthorne’s tale of a scientist, his unknowing subject, and the observer.
The garden where daughter Beatrice spends her nights are lushly overgrown.
Their fragrance, an intoxicating aroma masking a sinister craft.
The scientist / botanist researches down an evil path.
Acting is stiff, stagebound (bad actors or bad directing?).
Dialogue is preachy and melodramatic, lacking the detached restraint of the story.

Pixote -1980 - Brazil

Pixote -1980 - 7/10
AKA - Pixote: a Lei do Mais Fraco

 
Uneducated, unwashed, uneducated.  The abandoned, disposed children of Rio de Janeiro.
Ten year old Pixote is already a petty criminal, message runner for gangs, glue sniffer.
A hellish stint in prison reinforces violent tendencies, erodes humanity.
An unflinching look at the underbelly, the disease that is incarceration, and corrupt law.
Pixote is sympathetic, in many ways funny, even here and there, an innocent.
Until he’s not.
Beautifully ugly film, wrenching at times, otherwise prescient of what is coming.

The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle - 1980 - UK

The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle - 1980 - 6/10

 
Part documentary (questionable), part spoof.
Private-eye Steve Jones investigates the Sex Pistols. While Malcolm McLaren asserts claims to being the group’s mastermind.
Incoherent, mad and more than a little fraudulent.
Nevertheless, several performances are electrifying; for years this was the only way to see Sid’s “My Way”.
Vicious, one of Life’s saddest and greatest disasters is irresistible.
The slipshod ineptitude of this film is stupefying … and endearingly repellent.
Leonard Cohen said it best.  “Everybody is the mad hero of his own drama.”

Pride And Prejudice - 1980 - UK

Pride And Prejudice - 1980 - 8/10

 
This gem is often overlooked, eclipsed in popularity by the 2005 film and the superlative 1995 series.
Airing just before the 1980’s asserted its own identity, this 70ish production boasts great costumes and exteriors.
Most of the drama occurs in drawing rooms, libraries, dens, where the flat 1970’s look suffers.
The casting, however, is the strength of this, and it is impeccable.
Moray Watson and Priscilla Morgan as Mr and Mrs Bennett are marvelous, polar opposites.
Both Mary Bennett and Charlotte Lucas receive more due here than in any other version.
The leads, Elizabeth Garvie and David Rintoul, possess an electric chemistry.
Garvie makes a keen, witty, observant Eliza, barely keeping herself in check.
Rintoul’s Darcy is austere, aloof, ever alert.  Watching them fence is thrilling.
Excellent companion / contrast to the 1995, and perhaps the closest in spirit to Austen’s novel.

Stir Crazy - 1980 - USA

Stir Crazy - 1980 - 6/10

 
Two classic bunglers, after being fired – again, decide California is the place to be.
Sure is.  In no time flat, they are framed for a bank heist and sent to the slammer for 100+ years.
Inside, they make friends with other convicts (what a great place to make friends).
Then somehow get involved in the annual rodeo competition.
Plot moves quickly, distracting one from how absurd the narrative is.
And believe me, this is one silly movie.
For all that, Pryor and Wilder make an irresistible team, and top comedy makes up two/thirds of the film.

Popeye - 1980 - USA

Popeye - 1980 - 6/10

 
Popeye the sailor arrives at a tiny port, takes a shine to Olive Oyl, promised by her parents to Bluto.
Plot is as paper thin as the two dimensional sets, and the songs are forgettable.
Yes, songs, this is a musical.  A poor one.
OK, I like the sets.  I like the whole “look” of this.
Robin Williams is an inspired Popeye, mumbling incessantly, usually unintelligibly.
Shelley Duvall as Olive is priceless.
Amusing misfire for most, though a disaster for director Altman, who would be in cinema purgatory for a decade.

The Mirror Crack’d - 1980 - UK

The Mirror Crack’d - 1980 - 6/10

 
Glossy Hollywood production of Christie’s yarn.
A large film crew arrives in St. Mary Mead, including glamour queen Marina and director /  husband Jason (Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson).
Rivalries are aplenty, along with death threats, then a poisoning.
Constables are stymied, but fortunately one has a local aunt, Jane Marple.
Angela Lansbury excellent as Miss Marple, if more crusty than scattered.
Kim Novak delicious as the voluptuous schemer.
Otherwise, this has an old-fashioned feel to it, the old guard crafting what feels like 1950’s cinema.
Wet afternoon film for those who can go along with the unhurried pace.

Loulou - 1980 - France

Loulou - 1980 - 6/10

 
Purely for sex.
Isabel Huppert dumps stolid, if abusive, husband for layabout, petty criminal stud, Gérard Depardieu.
At this time, GD had not turned into Jabba the Hutt, so naysayers don’t get started.
Little narrative “plot” in typical arthouse fare.  Wife abandons morally restrictive society for freedom in the alleys.
She does have her own money, however, and never worries about rent, utilities, groceries.
Nor sexual diseases, though Loulou is pre-AIDS.
Story never goes anywhere.  Instead characters act as stand-ins for class and expectation.
No, not a lot of fun.
Viewer note - Depardieu is Loulou (for Louis), and one of his male friends is Lulu.

Caught On A Train - 1980 - UK

Caught On A Train - 1980 - 7/10

 
Publishing agent climbs the battered Orient Express, and finds misunderstandings and gamesmanship.
Initially, all is fine.  Fellow passengers, even an attractive American girl he tries to impress.
Then the imperious, elderly woman storms into the cabin.
Superbly acted test of wills will thrill live theatre buffs.
People who have ridden some older trains will recognize the discomfiture and disorientation.
Especially European border crossing checks, which sadly, one only finds in Eastern Europe now.

Humanoids From The Deep - 1980 - USA

Humanoids From The Deep - 1980 - 5/10
AKA - Monster // Midnight Love Thing (ha, sorry)

 
Creature feature that revels in excess, gore, nudity and general tastelessness.
Modest fishing town hosts annual salmon festival, and gets excited about brand spanking new canning factory!
Alcohol fuels male tempers into fights and more fights.  Females mostly stay frisky.
Then, without warning, from the churning Pacific depths, a mutation surfaces.
It kills menfolk, it eats dogs and children, and women -- it slips the willie in them.
While clearly a budget affair, the pace seldom plods and there is a pile of death and depravity for the drive-in crowd.

This ripoff of Alien was not trashy enough for Roger Corman, so when the original director balked at reshooting gratuitous bouncing knockers and multiple rapes, Corman fired her and hired another.

The Aviator's Wife - 1980 - France

The Aviator's Wife - 1980 - 6/10
AKA - La Femme de l'aviateur

 
François, a young postal employee catches an old flame departing his girlfriend's apartment.
The girlfriend denies everything.  Actually, she believes François is a creep.
Her opinion is confirmed when her swain he begins to stalk the other man.
During the course of an afternoon, he shares time with a high school student and they converse about women, choice, relationships, trust.
You know, the usual.   At least of you are a character in a French drama.
François is five years older than the young student, five years younger than his girlfriend.
With that in mind, one sees youthful optimism, growing awareness, cynicism.
No one is downright unpleasant, though tics, obsessions and overall flightiness could drain your patience.

The Children - 1980

The Children - 1980 - 5/10

 
A leak at a nuclear plant goes ignored, enters the water table, and then – the children are affected!
Those the children come into contact with burn alive.
Also the children seem to have baked brains.
Grade-D horror outing has a good sense of place.  Rural Massachusetts.
Photography is decent, though acting worsens as the film proceeds.
Bad as this is, it is an entertaining watch.

Hex - 1980 - Hong Kong

Hex - 1980 - 6/10
AKA - Xie // 邪

 
There’s a body missing.  Probably out in the village pond.
The two women ought to know, since they pushed it in there.
Bodies are troublesome, though, they often won’t stay put.
Wait, back up.
Chun marries into a rich household, but the gilded days dwindle.
Angry, bitter, he drinks, complains, beats servants and his wife.
The early plot resembles Diabolique, but after that, buckle up!
The house interior is gorgeous, and the film is jam packed with jump scares.
One can only imagine Hong Kong and Kowloon cinema theaters roaring at this one.
Eerie, creepy thriller is wild, and a guilty pleasure.