10. NORTH DALLAS FORTY
33 LISTS | 2 TOP SPOTS Ted Kotcheff | 119 mins | Comedy/Drama/Sport Nick Nolte | Charles Durning | Mac Davis
“Nick Nolte gives a Pro Bowl male performance of the year as a fading football star with great hands and an independent mind. His performance is aligned to a portrayal of the pro-football milieu that is funny, brutal, highly opinionated and as close to the bottom-line truth of the sports world as Hollywood has ever gotten.” – Tom Dowling, The Washington Star
9. ALL THAT JAZZ
42 LISTS | 1 TOP SPOT Bob Fosse | 123 mins | Drama/Music/Musical Roy Scheider | Jessica Lange | Leland Palmer
“Bob Fosse has created the first interesting and hard-edged musical since “Cabaret.” The choreographer based the movie on his own stormy life, including his heart surgery. “All That Jazz” is a big, splashy movie that crackles with energy, and is filled with provocative dance numbers. The cinematography is gorgeous, Roy Scheider’s performance electric, and the editing and juxtaposition of scenes daring. Many people object to the movie because of its self-indulgence and black humor. But Fosse’s self-portrait is fascinating to look at, and never dull. This is an offbeat film that tried for a home run, and, in my opinion, made it.” – John Stark, San Francisco Examiner & Chronicle
8. BEING THERE
50 LISTS | 3 TOP SPOTS Hal Ashby | 130 mins | Comedy/Drama Peter Sellers | Shirley MacLaine | Melvyn Douglas
“Hal Ashby’ brought Jerzy Kosinski’s black, funny satirical novel to the screen with almost supernatural dedication and Peter Sellers provided an acting lesson in how comedy should be performed for maximum effect: by playing it straight. As Chauncey, a retarded gardener rescued from the streets of Washington, D.C., by a dying millionaire (Melvyn Douglas) and his childishly trusting but sexually frustrated wife (Shirley MacLaine), Sellers’ stoic blankness, misinterpreted as wisdom by everyone from the press to the President of the U.S., became a metaphor for a nation of illiterates who can’t read, write or think, but learn all they know from watching television. Kosiniski’s pen, dipped in vitriol, extends its razor’s edge to slice through a number of sacred targets: TV, politics, critical perception and, ultimately, the human condition itself. A brilliant film.” – Rex Reed, New York Daily News
7. THE BLACK STALLION
51 LISTS | 3 TOP SPOTS Carroll Ballard | 118 mins | Adventure/Family/Sport Kelly Reno | Mickey Rooney | Teri Garr
“A stunning adventure story of friendship between a young boy (Kelly Reno( and a wild Arabian stallion when they are shipwrecked on a desert island. This is a movie of such majesty and visual elegance that its sparse dialog almost seems an intrusion. Here is a tale that transcends age and time and becomes an art film in the best sense of the word, not only for adults but for young people too.” – Donna Chernin, Cleveland Plain Dealer
6. NORMA RAE
56 LISTS | 2 TOP SPOTS Martin Ritt | 114 mins | Drama Sally Field | Beau Bridges | Ron Leibman
“’Norma Rae’ focused on a superlative performance by Sally Field of a Deep South mill worker caught up (reluctantly at first, then passionately) in the struggle to form a union at the mill. But it was more that a film of performance: Martin Ritt’s exploration of the place and the time (now) and the conflict of past and present had the texture, the dreams and the wry humor of a kind of documentary painting, and in the end it was triumphant but not facilely sentimental.” – Charles Champlin, Los Angeles Times
5. THE CHINA SYNDROME
70 LISTS | 5 TOP SPOTS James Bridges | 122 mins | Drama/Thriller Jane Fonda | Jack Lemmon | Michael Douglas
“This two-hour cliffhanger, directed by James Bridges and starring Jane Fonda, Jack Lemon, and Michael Douglas, offers no cheap thrills, no special effects, no sex, and very little violence to rivet the audience – only a well-told tale about a TV reporter investigating a near-disaster at a Southern California nuclear power plant. Its overly melodramatic ending aside, the film’s biggest weakness was that it was too prophetic for comfort. The nuclear crisis at Three Mile Island occurred less than a month after the film’s release.” – Jim Wright, Bergen Record
4. APOCALYPSE NOW
90 LISTS | 17 TOP SPOTS Francis Ford Coppola | 147 mins | Drama/Mystery/War Martin Sheen | Marlon Brando | Robert Duvall
“A staggering image of war emerges from Francis Ford Coppola’s flawed but thrilling treatment of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, floating on a hallucinatory narrative created by journalist Michael Herr. The setting is Vietnam and the mood is appalling – we watch people who think they understand what they are doing (fighting for the country) becomes ensnared in a set of circumstances that have nothing to do with moral choices, civilized behavior or conventional hope. I can’t remember an American film that dared suggest so forcefully that we’ve been deluding ourselves about something as basic as the nature of civilization. Unfortunately, Coppola let the film fall apart in the final scenes, when it needed to explode – the problems there are in direct proportion to the idiocies of Marlon Brando’s performance as the enigmatic Kurtz. Robert Duvall is brilliant as a mad cavalry commander, though, and much of Martin Sheen’s grimly recessive performance as the narrator is great. The helicopter attack sequence overwhelms, captured in the magical camerawork of Vittorio Storaro.” – David Foil, Baton Rouge State-Times
3. BREAKING AWAY
102 LISTS | 16 TOP SPOTS Peter Yates | 101 mins | Comedy/Drama/Romance Dennis Christopher | Dennis Quaid | Daniel Stern
“It’s fitting, I think, that this almost classically American movie-of-achievement should have been written by Yugoslav-born playwright Steve Tesich and directed by Peter Yates, who is English. All of us here are from someplace else. The setting of “Breaking Away” is Booth Tarkington’s Indiana as it looks today, which is not much different from yesterday. The tree—lined residential streets, the drug stores and public buildings haven’t changed much, nor have the dreams of the teenagers and the class system under which they operate. This is the best comedy about middle-American life you’re likely to see in a long time. Paul Dooley and Barbara Barrie are superb as members of the “older” generation, while Dennis Quaid, Daniel Stern and Jackie Earle Haley play the teenagers to perfection.” – Vincent Canby, New York Times
2. MANHATTAN
103 LISTS | 7 TOP SPOTS Woody Allen | 96 mins | Comedy/Drama/Romance Woody Allen | Diane Keaton | Mariel Hemingway
“The emotional and architectural diversity and decay of New York City was Woody Allen’s backdrop for the love affairs of Isaac Davis, a TV comedy writer who couldn’t decide whether to love a real girl or insecure cultural groupie. Gordon Willis’s superb black and white photography combined with music by Gershwin made the film as beautiful as it was memorable and moved Allen up a notch in the upper echelon of contemporary filmmakers.” – Joyce J. Persico, Trenton Evening Times
1. KRAMER VS. KRAMER
108 LISTS | 20 TOP SPOTS Robert Benton | 105 mins | Drama Dustin Hoffman | Meryl Streep | Jane Alexander
“It’s possible 10 years hence we may look back at Kramer Vs. Kramer and wonder if it was really the top film of 1979. But movies are made for the present and not for future generations. Kramer Vs. Kramer touches on many aspects of 1970s existence, commenting with quiet force on the personal price the Me Decade has paid for its affluence. Dustin Hoffman has never been better (which is saying a great deal) and Meryl Streep’s opening scene and courtroom testimony are unforgettable.” – Philip Wuntch, Dallas News
Full List:
| R | Film | L | #1 | AR | L% | #1% | TCL | TCL1 | TCL% | TCL1% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kramer vs. Kramer | 108 | 20 | 3.24 | 81% | 22% | 33 | 7 | 79% | 20% |
| 2 | Manhattan | 103 | 7 | 3.89 | 77% | 8% | 30 | 2 | 71% | 6% |
| 3 | Breaking Away | 102 | 16 | 3.14 | 77% | 18% | 27 | 3 | 64% | 9% |
| 4 | Apocalypse Now | 90 | 17 | 4.05 | 68% | 19% | 24 | 5 | 57% | 14% |
| 5 | The China Syndrome | 70 | 5 | 5.05 | 53% | 6% | 17 | 2 | 40% | 6% |
| 6 | Norma Rae | 56 | 2 | 5.61 | 42% | 2% | 19 | 0 | 45% | 0% |
| 7 | The Black Stallion | 51 | 3 | 5.48 | 36% | 3% | 16 | 2 | 38% | 6% |
| 8 | Being There | 50 | 3 | 5.17 | 36% | 3% | 17 | 1 | 40% | 3% |
| 9 | All That Jazz | 42 | 1 | 5.57 | 30% | 1% | 15 | 0 | 36% | 0% |
| 10 | North Dallas Forty | 33 | 2 | 5.07 | 25% | 2% | 9 | 0 | 21% | 0% |
| 11 | Alien | 32 | 0 | 5.83 | 24% | 0% | 8 | 0 | 19% | 0% |
| 12 | The Tree of Wooden Clogs | 31 | 6 | 6.13 | 23% | 7% | 13 | 4 | 31% | 11% |
| 13 | The Marriage of Maria Braun | 31 | 2 | 6.71 | 23% | 2% | 15 | 2 | 36% | 6% |
| 14 | Hair | 30 | 1 | 5.75 | 23% | 1% | 16 | 1 | 38% | 3% |
| 15 | La Cage Aux Folles | 30 | 0 | 5.77 | 23% | 0% | 8 | 0 | 19% | 0% |
| 16 | 10 | 30 | 3 | 6.67 | 22% | 3% | 8 | 2 | 19% | 6% |
| 17 | The Onion Field | 28 | 0 | 4.36 | 21% | 0% | 13 | 0 | 31% | 0% |
| 18 | A Little Romance | 24 | 0 | 7.45 | 18% | 0% | 7 | 0 | 17% | 0% |
| 19 | Starting Over | 21 | 0 | 7.00 | 16% | 0% | 5 | 0 | 12% | 0% |
| 19 | Escape From Alcatraz | 21 | 0 | 6.82 | 16% | 0% | 7 | 0 | 17% | 0% |
| 21 | The Muppet Movie | 19 | 0 | 7.40 | 14% | 0% | 2 | 0 | 5% | 0% |
| 22 | The Seduction of Joe Tynan | 19 | 0 | 6.43 | 14% | 0% | 2 | 0 | 5% | 0% |
| 23 | Time After Time | 18 | 0 | 6.75 | 13% | 0% | 3 | 0 | 7% | 0% |
| 24 | The Electric Horseman | 17 | 0 | 7.30 | 13% | 0% | 6 | 0 | 14% | 0% |
| 25 | Yanks | 13 | 1 | 6.83 | 10% | 1% | 4 | 1 | 10% | 3% |
| 26 | Going in Style | 13 | 0 | 7.50 | 10% | 0% | 4 | 0 | 10% | 0% |
| 27 | The Rose | 13 | 0 | 8.00 | 10% | 0% | 1 | 0 | 2% | 0% |
| 28 | The In-Laws | 10 | 0 | 6.00 | 8% | 0% | 3 | 0 | 7% | 0% |
| 28 | Rocky II | 10 | 0 | 6.60 | 8% | 0% | 3 | 0 | 7% | 0% |
| 30 | And Justice For All | 10 | 0 | 4.80 | 7% | 0% | 0 | 0 | 0% | 0% |
| 31 | Picnic at Hanging Rock | 10 | 0 | 6.00 | 7% | 0% | 6 | 0 | 14% | 0% |
Lists Included 133 | Top Critics’ Lists Included 42
R Rank
L Total number of lists where the film was selected as one of the top 10 films of the year
AR Average position on ranked top 10 lists
#1 Total number of lists where the film was selected as the best film of the year
L% Percentage of total lists where the film was selected as one of the top 10 films of the year
#1% Percentage of mentions where the film was selected as the best film of the year
TCL Number of times that the film was selected as one of the top 10 films of the year on top critics’ lists
TCL1 Number of times that the film was selected as the best film of the year on top critics’ lists
TCL% Percentage of times that the film was selected as one of the top 10 films of the year on top critics’ lists
TCL1% Percentage of lists where the film was selected as the best film of the year on top critics’ lists