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The Idolmaker was released November 14th 1980
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What is it that makes a work timeless? Can an artist set out to create a timeless work or must it organically linger in the minds of those who experience it and share that experience with others for years and decades. Francois Truffaut’s “The Last Metro” is undoubtedly a timeless work; one that will linger for me and has taken up space in the minds of many for three decades now.
”The Last Metro” stars legendary ingénue Catherine Deneuve as Marion Steiner a famous film actress now operating the Theater Montmartre in Paris following the disappearance of her husband Lucas (Heinz Bennett). It is 1942 and being Jewish while Nazis occupy half the country and members of the Vichy Government conspire with them has made life dangerous for even a man as loved and respected as Lucas Steiner.
Lucas is supposedly on the run, headed for Spain or South America or maybe Hollywood. We will find out however that he is still in the theater and still very much in love with his wife. Meanwhile, Marion is running the theater and preparing to unveil a brand new production under the direction of Jean Loup-Cottins (Jean Poiret), a noble but not all that interesting director who will unknowingly be receiving Lucas’s notes.
Joining the theaters regular players is an up and coming young actor named Bernard Granger (Gerard Depardieu) who we meet one day as he fails miserably attempting to pick up a woman he meets on the street. The woman, Arlette (Andrea Ferreol), also happens to be the wardrobe designer for the Monmartre and she has a very good reason for declining Bernard’s advances.
Between meeting women on the street and now starring in the Monmartre’s new play, Bernard also happens to be a member of the French Resistance, working in secret to get the Nazis out of Paris by any means necessary. Marion Steiner is unaware of the danger Bernard brings to the theater, especially with Lucas hiding in the basement.
Marion works hard to avoid politics but when one of Paris’s most influential theater critics Monsieur Daxiat also happens to be one of the top Nazi conspirators in France, he brings politics to the fore and forces Marion into some very difficult and dangerous choices.
Reading my plot description I can see that I have described “The Last Metro” as something of a hot-house of plot. However, what is so amazing about Truffaut’s work in “The Last Metro” is the complete lack of danger he brings to this material. Instead, Truffaut brings an effortless charm, sensitivity, care and nonchalance to even the most distressing and surprising plot revelations.
In “The Last Metro” the Nazis are a mounting threat but never the arch, over the top villains of most World War 2 films. Truffaut makes the simple choice to allow the audience to fill in the danger; who doesn’t know how evil the Nazis were? Truffaut recognized that there was no need to underline the point.
We will learn that though Marion loves her husband she will inevitably fall for Bernard because that is what happens in a movie such as this. These two people are called upon to love each other on the stage and that love must eventually spread off the stage. It’s part of a conventional narrative that this conflict must exist, what sets this conflict apart in “The Last Metro” is Truffaut’s casual acceptance and passive presentation of Bernard and Marion’s destined love affair.
Conflict is maybe too harsh a word to describe the effortless evolution of Marion’s love for her husband to her love for Bernard. Making the transition charming and easy to swallow is the ingenious way Truffaut and actor Heinz Bennett conspire to make the audience feel good about Lucas being cuckolded. For Lucas, like Truffaut, art is evolution and the evolution of his production of this play calls for Marion to love Bernard regardless of her commitment to him.
There are other revelations in “The Last Metro” that also rise and fall like a gentle tide washing ashore. Watch the elegant ways in which Truffaut weaves the story of a pair of homosexual characters. As with his approach to the Nazis, Truffaut allows the audience to fill in the blanks about the difficulties these two characters face in both the time the film is set and, of course, under the thumb of the Nazis.
The Last Metro is remarkably sensitive and smart, gentle and dramatic. “The Last Metro” is simply a perfect movie, one so graceful and elegant that it could only come from an extraordinarily gifted creator like Francois Truffaut. In a too short life, he passed away at just 52 years old in 1984; Truffaut created a cinematic legacy like few others.
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It’s time to honor the Oscars as they should have happened back in March of 1981. Nothing against Mr. Redford and his exceptional family drama, “Ordinary People” but the Oscars handed out that year simply were not correct. 30 years later, another Oscar weekend is upon us and it’s time to right the wrongs of the Oscars 30 years hence.
The nominees for Best Director are
Martin Scorsese Raging Bull
Robert Redford Ordinary People
Irvin Kershner Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back
Woody Allen Stardust Memories
and
Bruce Beresford Breaker Morant
And the Oscar goes to
Martin Scorsese Raging Bull
The nominees for Best Supporting Actress are
Carrie Fisher Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back
Shelley Duvall The Shining
Cathy Moriarty Raging Bull
Charlotte Rampling Stardust Memories and
Julie Hagerty Airplane
And the Oscar goes to…
Cathy Moriarty Raging Bull
The nominees for Best Actor in a Supporting Role are
Timothy Hutton Ordinary People
Judd Hirsch Ordinary People
Leslie Nielsen Airplane
Chevy Chase Caddyshack
Joe Pesci Raging Bull
And the Oscar goes to…
Leslie Nielsen Airplane
The nominees for Best Actress are
Sissy Spacek Coal Miner’s Daughter
Mary Tyler Moore Ordinary People
Jodie Foster Foxes
Goldie Hawn Private Benjamin
and
Gena Rowlands Gloria
and the Oscar goes to…
Sissy Spacek Coal Miner’s Daughter
The nominees for Best Actor are
Robert De Niro Raging Bull
Harrison Ford Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back
Woody Allen Stardust Memories
Donald Sutherland Ordinary People
and
Edward Woodward Breaker Morant
And the Oscar goes to…
Robert De Niro Raging Bull
The nominees for Best Picture are
Raging Bull
Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back
Breaker Morant
Ordinary People
Airplane
Stardust Memories
The Blues Brothers
The Shining
Caddyshack
The Elephant Man
And the Oscar goes to…
Raging Bull
Scanners was released January 14th 1981
Scanners on IMDB
Scanners WIKI
Actress Jennifer O’Neill is still active as an actress and anti-abortion activist. Visit her website
http://astore.amazon.com/seankernfreew-20?_encoding=UTF8&node=3
Vincent Canby’s 1981 review of Scanners for the New York Times
Roger Ebert’s 2 star review of Scanners at RogerEbert.com
Courtesy of Google a review of Scanners from 1981 in the Miami News
Weighing the critics reactions to Scanners, a story from 1981 in the Lakeland Ledger
Scanners was a hit in 1981 and it had investors celebrating. From the Leader-Post
Richard Corliss’s appreciative review of Scanners from 1981 in Time Magazine
Rumor has it that a Scanners remake is in the works.
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The 39 Steps was released May 2nd 1980
Star Robert Powell also appeared in the 1980 movie Harlequin
Robert Powell went on to star in the series Hannay based on the character he played in The 39 Steps
The TV version
When Time Ran Out was released March 28th 1980
Director William Goldstone’s follow up to the bizarre disaster flick Rollercoaster
Final screenplay in the career of writer Carl Foreman
Writer Sterling Silliphant was also well trained in the disaster flick having penned the screenplay for The Towering Inferno
One of 5 adaptations of books by author and well known conspiracy theorist Gordon Thomas
In 1979 Thomas’s Voyage of the Damned was adapted for the screen and was nominated for 5 academy awards
When Time Ran Out was also nominated for an Oscar, for Best Costume Design
Actor Paul Newman followed up When Time Ran Out with the awards nominated flicks Fort Apache Bronx and Absence of Malice
Jaqueline Bissett followed up When Time Ran Out by becoming one of the highest paid actresses in Hollywood, making over a million dollars for the movie Inchon
One of the final films in the career of legendary actor William Holden
William Holden also appeared in the 1980 movie The Earthling
Actor Edward Albert also appeared alongside star Jaqueline Bisset in the 1978 movie The Greek Tycoon
Check out more about When Time Ran Out at OldOldFilms.com
Ernest Borgnine also appeared in the 1980 movie Super Fuzz
The second corroboration between star Paul Newman and legendary disaster movie producer Irwin Allen
This was Allen’s final theatrical feature
When Time Ran Out on IMDB
When Time Ran Out WIKI
When Time Ran Out is the movie that Paul Newman admitted to Larry King that he was not proud of, referring to it only as “That Volcano movie”
When Time Ran Out available on VHS from Amazon.com
When Time Ran Out on DVD from Amazon.com
AgonyBooth.com review of When Time Ran Out
Cool still photos and a full review of When Time Ran Out from CoolCinemaTrash.com
The Home Video trailer for When Time Ran Out
A Volcanic eruption from When Time Ran Out
Used Cars was released July 11th 1980
Director Robert Zemeckis has worked with star Kurt Russell twice, in Used Cars and in Forrest Gump where Russell provided the voice of Elvis Presley
Co-write Bob Gale has worked almost exclusively with Robert Zemeckis
Star Kurt Russell followed up Used Cars with his breakout film role in Escape from New York
Star Jack Warden made Used Cars while starring on television in an adaptation of The Bad News Bears in the role made famous by Walter Matthau
Actor Frank McRae also worked with Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale on the 1979 movie 1941 which they wrote
SCTV actor Joe Flaherty also appeared in the 1980 movie Nothing Personal
Actor David Lander is another actor who appeared in 1941 and then worked with Zemeckis and Gale again in Used Cars
Lander also appeared in the 1980 movie Wholly Moses
Michael McKean also appeared in 1941
McKean and Michael L. Lander were partners on TV in the Happy Days spinoff Laverne and Shirley
Actor Michael Talbott also appeared in the 1980 movies Foolin’ Around and Any Which Way You Can
Director Betty Thomas has a cameo in Used Cars
Used Cars is the only R rated movie in the career of writer director Robert Zemeckis
Used Cars was shot in a remarkably short 28 days
Two of the famed cars from the musical Grease were used as props in Used Cars
Roger Ebert’s 1980 review of Used Cars from RogerEbert.com
Used Cars on IMDB
Used Cars WIKI
Used Cars on DVD from Amazon.com
A scene from Used Cars
Another scene from Used Cars
The famed Nuns scene from Used Cars
A classic TV commercial for Used Cars
The full length theatrical trailer for Used Cars
A complete look at Used Cars from ThisDistractedGlobe.com
A review of Used Cars from DVDMG.com
Vincent Canby’s 1980 review of Used Cars in the New York Times
March 19, 2011
the1980movieproject
