Best of 1977

1. The Ascent                                                                               Larisa Shepitko
2. That Obscure Object of Desire                                               Luis Buñuel
3. Stroszek                                                                                    Werner Herzog
4. Three Women                                                                           Robert Altman
5. Annie Hall                                                                                 Woody Allen
6. Hausu                                                                                        Nobuhiko Obayashi
7. The American Friend                                                               Wim Wenders
8. The Duellists                                                                             Ridley Scott
9. Desperate Living                                                                      John Waters
10. Handle with Care                                                                      Jonathan Demme

         Honorable Mention

      

         Eraserhead -- Lynch,  

         Films I Enjoyed  

         Semi-Tough, Slap Shot

        The Man Who Loved Women, Telefon,

         Eaten Alive, Suspiria, 

         Soldier of Orange, Sleeping Dogs,

         Exorcist 2: The Heretic, Ceddo,

         Looking for Mr. Goodbar, Effi Briest,

         The Late Show, Rabid, 

         Sorcerer, New York, New York,
         Saturday Night Fever, High Anxiety, Cross of Iron,
         Peppermint Soda, Rolling Thunder, 
         Star Wars, Fun with Dick and Jane, 

         Roseland, The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover,

         The Hills Have Eyes, The Gauntlet,
         Demon Seed, Black Sunday,

          

         Below the Mendoza Line 

         Another Man, Another Chance, Julia, 

         The Spy Who Loved Me, Twilight's Last Gleaming,
         A Special Day, Close Encounters..., Smokey and the Bandit,
         Rollercoaster, A Bridge Too Far, 

         Orca, The Deep,
         The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Goodbye Girl,

         Welcome to LA, 

         MacArthur, Audrey Rose,
         Good Against Evil, Oh God!

                                          

Cluny Brown

Jennifer Jones

Ernst Lubitsch's Cluny Brown, from 1946, is a fitting capstone to the career of one of cinema's greatest directors. The plot is utter tosh, merely an excuse for free spirits Charles Boyer and Jennifer Jones to shake the dust off English aristocrats. Boyer's performance was only bettered by his one in History is Made at Night. Here he is again the essence of continental charm and raffish romance. Jones shines in her only comic role outside of Beat the Devil. She portrays a ditzy plumber with aplomb. It is a pity her comic talent was sacrificed to David O. Selznick's ambition. A host of British character actors all contribute to the merriment with Richard Haydn a particular standout as a stuffy pharmacist.

Lubitsch's touch is so seamless as to be invisible to the casual viewer. A brief example will suffice here. Jones converses with Boyer before her date with the pharmacist. Lubitsch highlights her romantic excitement by using a tracking shot, a rarity for him, of Jones running to her tryst. Once inside the pharmacy, two graceful pans alert the viewer that Jones' romantic plans will eventually lead to a dead end. The economy and grace of Lubitsch's camera is classical cinema at its zenith.

Black Sea

Jude Law fondles his gold in Black Sea

Kevin Macdonald's Black Sea is a routine, yet fairly engrossing genre picture. Jude Law plays a submarine captain who leads a motley crew of British and Russian mercenaries trying to pilfer gold from a sunken Nazi U-boat. This is a predictable portrait of disparate men under stress, but the film boasts logical and economic construction and fine performances. The theme of class resentments seems tacked on, but the conflicts between the crew are solidly enacted by Law, Karl Davies, David Threlfall and the dependable Ben Mendelsohn. Overall, a somewhat anonymous, yet solid B picture with a surprising ending.