Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • 183

-riJy ML I 1 JUS 0 Left, Dustin Hoffman portrays an ex-con In "Straight above: Brooke Shields (left) and Susan Sarandon play mother-and-daughter prostitutes in "Pretty Baby." Movies 78 Film clips and the year's Top 10 in review Sam Shepard (right) and Bob Wilson in a scene from "Days of Heaven. By Gene Siskel Movie critic IN 1978 MOVIEGOERS sent a loud and clear message to the moviemakers: Make it simple, make it fun. Escapist films were king, as the movie industry had its best year at the box office since World War II. "Grease," a mindless songfest, became the best-selling musical ever. "Animal House," a campus comedy that drew laughs when its hero hit himself in the head with a beer can, was the year's second-biggest smash.

"Jaws 2" and "Heaven Can Wait," a sequel and a remake, also scored heavily in the money game. And it looks as if the year's fifth monster hit will be that ultimate, lighthearted fantasy, "Superman." The year wasn't totally nonsensical, though, as Hollywood for the first time created big-budget films about the Viet Nam War. Look for "Coming Home," with Jane Fonda and Jon Voight, to win most of the major Academy Awards in April. "The Deer Hunter," with Robert DeNiro 'and also about the Viet Nam experience, was the year's most honored film by critics in New York and Los Angeles. It will open in Chicago Feb.

16. And Francis Coppola's long-awaited "Apocalypse Now," also about Viet Nam, was scheduled to open in 1978, but is now being readied for August release. The rejuvenation-of the women's film, which began in. 1977, continued in 1978. We didn't get many new films solely about women, but more films had strong female characters.

Artistically, it was a very bad year as a number of major filmmakers created dismal failures: Robert Altman butchered "A Wedding," Una Wertmuller had nothing to say in "Night Full of Rain," and Ingmar Bergman said too much in "The Serpent's Egg." Movie-and-music impressario Robert Stigwood, who appeared to be so brilliant in the first half of the. year with the profits from "Saturday Night Fever" and "Grease," fell flat on his face in the second half of '78 with two of. the year's biggest dogs, "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and "Moment by Moment." John Travolta was clearly the star of the year, although "Moment by Moment" proved that he, too, was human. There were three important anniversaries during the year: 75 years of American moviemaking, 50 years of Mickey Mouse, and 10 years of the G-PG-R-X rating system.

Hollywood's ability to hype a film with advertising, gossip, toys, and books went unchecked as the media swallowed movie-oriented feature stories in record numbers. Many major newspapers, including The Chicago Tribune, paid money to print the first chapter of "Jaws 2" just before the movie opened. On the local scene the Chicago Film Festival employment bureau. We expect the movie to be about how he reforms himself. It never happens.

Hoffman's character is addicted to crime, and we see him get a couple of criminal "fixes" through heart-pounding robberies of a jewelry store and a bank. Written by an ex offender, "Straight Time" reveals how the deck is stacked against the ex-con, even if he wants to reform himself. The film also gives us a look at society's hidden people. Don't you ever wonder where people go when they get out of jail? Directed by Ulu Grosbard, "Straight Time" also offers two superior supporting performances by Harry Dean Stanton and Gary Busey, also as ex-cons. Theresa Russell is very appealing as Hoffman's girlfriend.

As she says during their stormy affair, "I've never been through anything like this." A Warner Bros, release. 2. "Pretty The year began with news stories about child prostitution in Los Angeles and in Chicago. Thus, "Pretty Baby" couldn't have been more timely. It's a brilliant recreation of bordello life in the famed Storyville section of New Orleans at the turn of the century.

The story follows a photographer who finds rare beauty in the women of Storyville. Eventually he becomes attracted to a child prostitute (13-year-old Brooke Shields). "Pretty Baby" gives us a choice: We can leer at a child's body, or we can look at the so-called "solid citizens" of New Orleans who are supplying her with the money to keep working. We also can look at Shields in the movie looking at the adult world. Says director Louis Malle: "It's a very important moment when a child sees corruption and evil for the first time.

In that moment, the child has a very pure, very clear perception of the world." Malle treats his film's controversial subject dispassionately, and the results are both and troubling. A Paramount release. 3. "Days of Certainly the year's most beautiful film, a staggering spectacle and tragic love story played out in the wheat fields of 1916. A young farm laborer conspires with his wife to steal the inheritance of the farm's owner.

If the story seemed slight, it was only because the most important character in the film was Nature itself. The point of view of the film was sympathetic to frail people trapped in a majestic but uncaring world. Director Terrence Malick certifies himself as a master with just this one film. A Paramount release. 4.

"Blue The appeal here is mtsrt same as in "Straight Time" an open-eyed loot at the working clans world. "Blue Collar" tells of three Detroit assembly line workers looking money and for excitement. They consp steal part of their union's money, but instead wind up with mcriminating information about Continued on page 11 Section 6 Page 3 continued to exhibit more bad films than good filmSv.We still don't have a commercial theater regularly shows old movies. The city's violent-film ordinance won its first test in court when two rough R-rated pictures were restricted to "adults only" in Chicago. The longest-running hit of the year was the Biograph Theater's weekend, midnight presentation of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," which still was selling out in its 45th week at year's end.

The Film Center at the Art Institute remained the single best source of quality film, with its poor cousin, Facets Multimedia, getting stronger very month. The worst films of the year? I can name Wild Geese," "The Medusa Touch," "Rabbit Test," "Message From Space," "FM," "Up in "Uncle Joe Shannon," "Moment by Moment," "Oliver's Story," "The Big Sleep," "Grey Lady Down," "If Ever I See You Again," "A Wedding," "Madame Rosa," "Damien: Omen II," "The Fury," "Convoy," "The Swarm," "Eyes of Laura Mars," "Dogs," "Piranha," "Somebody Killed Her Husband," "The Boys From Brazil," "Coin' South," and "The Lord of the Rings." Bcsl'rhale performances: Yaphct Kotto and Harvey Keltel in "Blue Collar," Jon Voight in "Coming Home," Dustin Hoffman and Harry Dean Stanton in "Straight Time," Anthony Quinn In "The Greek Tycoon," Alain Delon in "Mr. Klein," John Travolta in "Grease," Gary Busey in "The Buddy Holly Story" and in "Straight Time," John Belushi in "Animal House," Michael Moriarty in "Who'll Stop the Dennis Hopper in "Tracks," E. Gi Mar shall in "Interiors," Robert Morley in "Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Anthony Hopkins in "Magic," Jason Robards and Richard Farnsworth in "Comes'a Horseman," Lee Canalito in "Paradise Alley," and Christopher Reeve in "Superman." Best female performances: Isabelle Huppert In "The Lacemaker" and in "Violette," Theresa Russell in "Straight Time," Glenda Jackson in "House Calls," Jill Clayburgh in "An Unmarried Woman," Penelope Milford in "Coming Home," Maureen Stapleton and Marybeth Hurt in "Interiors," Diana Ross in "The Wiz," Jane Fonda in "Comes a Horseman," Margot Kidder in "Superman," Ingrid Bergman and Liv Ullmann in "Autumn Sonata," and Maggie Smith in "California Suite." Runners-up for my "10 Best" list "The Last Waltz," "An Unmarried Woman," "That Obscure Object of Desire," "Violette," "Cat and Mouse," "Heaven Can Wait," "House Calls," "Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of "Comes a Horseman," "Animal House," andiln-ternational Velvet." And now, without further ado, here are the 10 best films to play at least one full week in a Chicago-area theater in 1978. Films are listed in order of personal preference.

1. "Straight We've all seen dozens of Hollywood movies about criminals, and yet compared with the gritty realism of "Straight Time" they all seem phony. Dustin Hoffman, in yet another superb performance, plays a robber who gets out of prison and heads straight for an CHICAGO TRIBUNE Arts Fun-January 7, 1979.