The PAD Awards: 1980

Time again for the Paul and Doug (PAD) Awards. This year we came to the end of the 1980s, a decade filled with sentimentality, high budgets and some men in running shorts. We were joined at the Awards again by a variety of great stars, including the superb Mary Tyler Moore who didn’t let her being dead stop her from knocking back the tequila shots. We say go Mary! 

Mary Tyler Moore, seconds before doing a fourth tequila shot,
falling bodily into a dinner table, and shouting 'Mary Tyler RAWR'.

So let's crack on with the awards. 

Least favourite film

Paul says: Terms of Endearment

I was rather spoilt for choice here - the '80s was very style-over-substance which never bodes well for me. For my choice of Least Favourite Film, I’ve picked something that I think epitomised this level of triteness. Terms of Endearment covers quite a large amount of material but, in my eyes, provided no insight into any of the issues it skims over. Despite some great character work from Shirley MacLaine, this is nothing more than the edited highlights of a basic soap opera, and the musical fades between scenes made it feel like a lengthy tv advert for a bad interior design company. Give it a miss.

Doug says: Platoon

For me the 1980s was filled with quite a few duds. Out of Africa was overlong and so so dull, while Chariots of Fire seemed to miss every point it was trying to make. But in terms of sheer ‘I cannot bear watching this mess’, Platoon takes the biscuit. I’m never a fan of war films, and this explains why. A long, dull, bloody mess with lots of posturing and Men saying Manly Things - a turn-off if there ever was one. 

Favourite Male Performance

Paul says: Dustin Hoffman, Rain Man 

I’ve raved about him already in my review for Rain Man, but Dustin Hoffman is the most convincing Autistic man I’ve ever seen. Every mannerism, movement, form of speech and reaction is something that I have seen in my professional life with real Autistic people. The fact that he makes such an unchangeable, repetitive and detached character develop and display more humanity than his non-Autistic brother is a credit to Hoffman’s skill and the writing of the film. Shout outs also go to Timothy Hutton in Ordinary People and Ben Kingsley in Gandhi.

Doug says: Ben Kingsley, Gandhi

This wasn’t even a question. Dustin Hoffman was great in Rain Man, and there were some lovely male performances in Ordinary People but Ben Kingsley gives possibly the greatest performance of his life - and certainly in my eyes the greatest male performance of the Oscar-winning films we’ve seen from 1927 up till now - as Gandhi. We feel every facet of his rage, his humanity, his flaws and his hope; and it’s a stunning, beautiful example of an artist using every colour in their palette to the best possible end. Just the moment when he silently surveys the carnage of the Amritsar Massacre with fury and disappointment wins him this alone. 

Favourite Female Performance 

Paul says: Mary Tyler Moore, Ordinary People

Bearing in mind that I’m already a fan of her, I probably chose Mary Tyler Moore as my favourite '80s female performance before I’d even seen the film. Moore plays completely against her ditzy-nice-girl type, effectively presenting the stoic, punctilious matron one often finds in the upper-middle classes. You feel hatred and pity for her simultaneously, and Moore fully deserved her Oscar nomination. Shout outs to Joan Chen and Jessica Tandy too. 

Doug says: Joan Chen, The Last Emperor and Jessica Tandy, Driving Miss Daisy

I’m doing something we haven’t seen since 1969 when Barbra Streisand and Katharine Hepburn tied and jointly won ‘Best Actress’. I

literally cannot choose. Joan Chen uses two or three scenes to deliver a devastating portrayal of a woman decaying, destroyed by her wanton husband. It’s nasty, pulls no punches, and lingers long after the film ends. Jessica Tandy though pulls out an equally great performance, delivering witty put-downs with enough sass to make a gay man do a z-snap, and matching it with beautifully judged, wistful monologues. Her eventual frailty is performed emotionally and with respect, and again remains long after the rest of the film has faded from the mind.

Favourite Film 

Paul says: Gandhi

This is a tough one. Nothing in the '80s rated higher than an 8 for me, and most gathered around the 5/10 “safe” zone. So I’m picking a film that, despite my misgivings about some elements, still displayed the highest level of emotional involvement, skill and passion- and that is Gandhi. Three hours is nowhere near enough time for the story this tells and I could have happily had it continue for a further 3. It’s the only film in the '80s that took me through a profound array of emotions, and had me in an endless Wikipedia hole for weeks. It’s a great watch, and manages to pull away from the sort of flowery softness that the 80s movies fall into. Rain Man came a close second. 

Doug says: Gandhi

Not only my favourite film of the ‘80s, this is my favourite film we’ve watched so far. For three hours Richard Attenborough holds us spellbound, with a uniformly superb cast, extraordinary cinematography, and a real, evocative portrayal of India. Kingsley leads of course, but everyone else is pulling their weight, and moments including the aftermath of the Amritsar Massacre, the forming of Pakistan, and the death of Gandhi’s wife are covered sensitively, powerfully and with great feeling. Even the closing shots of the sun setting on the rippling waves is unforgettable. 

Average Film Scores 

Paul: 5.5/10 (Paul’s lowest-rated decade)

Doug: 6.35/10 (Doug’s second-highest rated decade)