Its 1979.

I watched 4 fantastic films yesterday and I realised that they were all released in 1979:

Being There
Alien
All That Jazz
Apocalypse Now

4 fantastic movies from 4 fantastic directors Ashby, Fosse, Coppola and Scott. I knew all the films backwards apart from All That Jazz. I have wanted to watch All That Jazz since I saw a clip on Martin Scorseses Journey Through American Movies. Its a fantastic and unique musical, It grounds people bursting into song and dance in reality (apart from the amazing hospital hallucination scene) and most music on the soundtrack comes from a source that an actor has interacted with. Roy Scheider is great as Joe Gideon a very thinly veiled Bob Fosse. Its a musical for adults. Very dark.
Anyway it got me thinking about 1979, the dawning of a new era. On a personal note the year of my birth. There was magic in the air that year, a last hurrah of the hollywood excess of the 70s. Here are my top 12 films from 1979 not all of them are regarded as classics but they are all certainly one offs :

Alien 

All That Jazz

Apocalypse Now

Being There

The Black Hole

Life Of Brian 

Mad Max

Manhattan

Quadrophenia

Time After Time

Warriors

Zombie Flesh Eaters

What a year...
...1980 was great also.

Please buy the Alien and Apocalypse Now Blu-ray box sets, They will make your life better.