Dysfunctional Families
Perhaps because it's something nearly all of us can relate to (apart from The Bradys), messed-up families have always been a popular subject for filmmakers in all genres. Whether you're playing it for laughs ('Arrested Development', 'Go For Zucker'), drama ('Kramer vs Kramer', 'Nil By Mouth'), or thrills ('The Quiet Family', 'Olivier, Olivier') the family dynamic is a deep well of ready-made love/hate relationships, seething resentments and hidden secrets. What more could a filmmaker, or a film-watcher, ask for!
Sorry!: Series 1 (1981)
6.8/10
Director: David Askey
Starring: Ronnie Corbett, Barbara Lott, William Moore
Ronnie Corbett's solo series ran for seven years and features him as the 41-year old Timothy Lumsden. He has a good job as a librarian, plenty of int... Read more
Smash Palace (1981)
7.2/10
Director: Roger Donaldson
Starring: Bruno Lawrence, Anna Jemison, Greer Robson, Keith Aberdein
Bruno Lawrence delivers an unforgettable performance as Al Shaw, a former pro racer who now operates an auto salvage yard in hicksville. When his wif... Read more
Mommie Dearest (Blu-ray) (1981)
6.7/10
Director: Frank Perry
Starring: Diana Scarwid, Faye Dunaway, Steve Forrest, Mara Hobel
Based upon the best-selling book by the adopted daughter of film legend Joan Crawford, Christina Crawford literally blew the lid off the private life... Read more
Mommie Dearest (1981)
6.7/10
Director: Frank Perry
Starring: Faye Dunaway, Steve Forrest, Diana Scarwid, Mara Hobel
Based upon the best-selling book by the adopted daughter of film legend Joan Crawford, Christina Crawford literally blew the lid off the private life... Read more
On Golden Pond (1981)
7.7/10
Director: Mark Rydell
Starring: Henry Fonda, Jane Fonda, Katharine Hepburn, Doug McKeon, Dabney Coleman
Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn play an aging married couple, Norman and Ethel Thayer, spending a dramatic summer in the woods. Their estranged daug... Read more
The Blue Lagoon (1980)
5.7/10
Director: Randal Kleiser
Starring: Brooke Shields, Christopher Atkins, Leo McKern, William Daniels
In the Victorian period, two children are shipwrecked on a tropical island in the South Pacific. With no adults to guide them, the two make a simple l... Read more
Ordinary People (1980)
7.8/10
Director: Robert Redford
Starring: Donald Sutherland, Judd Hirsch, Mary Tyler Moore, Timothy Hutton
An intense examination of a family being torn apart by tragedy and tension, 'Ordinary People' won four Academy Awards including Best Picture and Direc... Read more
Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
7.8/10
Director: Robert Benton
Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Jane Alexander, Meryl Streep
Dustin Hoffman must become a single parent when Meryl Streep walks out on their marriage and their young son. A terrific male weepie where Hoffman lea... Read more
Soap: Season 1, Episodes 1 - 10 (1977)
8.2/10
Starring: Katherine Helmond, Cathryn Damon, Robert Mandan, Richard Mulligan, Diana Canova,...
The controversial sitcom that defined the late '70s and became an instant classic, "Soap" took viewers into the quirky lives of the Tates and the Camp... Read more
Abigail's Party (1977)
7.4/10
Director: Mike Leigh
Starring: Alison Steadman, Tim Stern, Janine Duvitski
Mike Leigh delivers in grand fashion with this acerbic social commentary. Beverly (Alison Steadman) is a gin-sodden shrew with middle-class aspiration... Read more