Best Pictures from the Early 1980s
Five Films Which Won Best Picture from 1980 to 1984
Some of these five Oscar winning movies were not necessarily audience choices for best picture, but the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences loved them.
Three of these Oscar winning films are based on the lives of real life individuals while the other two are kept from soap opera status by well-told stories combined with fine acting and directing.
1980 Best Picture: Ordinary People
Excellent acting and direction are the strong points in this film about a father, mother, and son whose “perfect” suburban family veneer disintegrates when they are unable to come to terms with the accidental death of an older son.
Timothy Hutton, age 20, became the youngest male actor to win an Oscar for his outstanding portrayal as the guilt-ridden son who feels responsible for his brother’s drowning. America’s television sweetheart of the ‘60s and ‘70s, Mary Tyler Moore, is equally good as the pretentious mother whose repressed resentment toward her son is sensed by him. Donald Sutherland plays the father who is caught between the two.
Robert Redford, in his directorial debut, won the best director Oscar.
1981 Best Picture: Chariots of Fire
This British film was a surprise winner, beating out Raiders of the Lost Ark, Reds, Atlantic City, and On Golden Pond. Set before and during the 1924 Paris Olympics, it is based on the true story of two athletes, Eric Liddell and Harold Abrahams – one a devout Christian Scotsman, the other a non-religious English Jew. A mixture of sports, religion, and patriotism, the movie also takes jabs at the then prevailing British class system.
For the right audience, this is an absorbing and unusual drama; others may find it disappointing. The musical score by Greek composer Vangelis Papathanassiou is among the finest in movie history.
1982 Best Picture: Gandhi
A British-Indian film, Gandhi is an epic three hour biopic recreating the life of Mohandas Gandhi, the Indian lawyer whose revolutionaryteaching of Satyagraha, or passive resistance, led to his country’s independence in 1947. Although the movie has been praised for some of its sometimes historical inaccurate scenes, its real strength lies in the performance of its then relatively unknown lead actor, Ben Kingsley.
Kingsley, who has Indian ancestry, masterfully plays Gandhi. Without resorting to long dialogues or masterful speeches, the actor, through his gestures, eyes, and mannerisms, is able to recreate the private and humble founder of modern India. For this, Kingsley was given a much deserved Oscar for best actor.
The movie won six additional Oscars, including actor/director Richard Attenborough’s for best direction.
1983 Best Picture: Terms of Endearment
This film follows the relationship over several years between a neurotic, widow (Shirley MacLaine) and her extroverted daughter (Debra Winger) and their relationships with the men in their lives. The strength of the movie lies in its seamless transition from high comedy to seriousness to bittersweet tragedy. Based on the novel by Larry McMurtry, the movie was both a box office and Oscar smash.
Terms of Endearment was nominated for ten Oscars and won five. In addition to best picture, MacLaine won as best actress; Jack Nicholson, as best supporting actor, for his role as MacLaine’s boozing, skirt-chasing, ex-astronaut neighbor and James Brooks as best director and for adapted screenplay.
1984 Best Picture: Amadeus
This film fictionally recreates a ten year period in which composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was harassed by his talented, but obsessively jealous, rival, Antonio Salieri. Unlike, the gloomy stage play on which it was based, director Milos Forman creates a story which contains a great deal of laughter amid the drama and ultimate tragedy. And, in so doing, shows a Mozart who does not fit the persona usually associated with great composers.
Forman won his second Oscar as best director for this film and F. Murray Abraham won best actor for his role of Salieri. Tom Hulce (Mozart), who may be best known for Animal House, was also nominated in the same category.
These Oscar winning best pictures may not suit all viewers’ tastes, but still represent fine filmmaking. Best pictures from the rest of the 1980s can be found here.
