Feminist Tendencies
Feminism as a concept has gone in and out of vogue since the first suffragette demanded the right to vote, but throughout history there have always been remarkable women, prepared to claim their power in the name of a cause ('Ride to Freedom: The Rosa Parks Story', 'Veronica Guerin'), or just to rediscover their own self-worth ('Shirley Valentine', 'My Brilliant Career'). This collection does not only contain films about the political struggle of women to achieve equality ('Iron Jawed Angels'), if it did it would be a very short list because despite the fact that the rise of women in the workforce and in politics was one of the defining movements of the 20th century, very few films have been made on the subject - filmmaking being still a largely male-dominated pusuit. Now, as women are making films in greater numbers than ever, our own Niki Caro is a good example of someone ready and willing to tell a story about the oppression, and ultimate triumph of women in the 'post-feminist' 1980s ('North Country'). Perhaps women as an audience are now ready and willing to hear their own stories.
The Color Purple (1985)
7.8/10
Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Adolph Caesar, Danny Glover, Whoopi Goldberg, Margaret Avery
Steven Spielberg's magnum opus, with Whoopi Goldberg and Danny Glover in an adaptation of Alice Walker's seminal book. A richly-textured, decades-span... Read more
Mask (1985)
7.2/10
Director: Peter Bogdanovich
Starring: Cher , Eric Stoltz, Sam Elliott
Based on a true story, Bogdanovich's account of a courageous teenager who suffers from a disease that enlarged his head, and who searches for love and... Read more
Sweet Dreams (1985)
7.1/10
Director: Karel Reisz
Starring: Jessica Lange, Ed Harris, Ann Wedgeworth
The true story of Patsy Cline, the gifted, fun-loving queen of Nashville sound, charting the most dramatic years of her efforts to become a top countr... Read more
Places In The Heart (1984)
7.3/10
Director: Robert Benton
Starring: Sally Field, Lindsay Crouse, Ed Harris, Amy Madigan
Against a Depression-torn background in Waxahachi, Texas, Sally Field struggles against incredible hardships. With fine performances by John Malkovich... Read more
Educating Rita (1983)
7.2/10
Director: Lewis Gilbert
Starring: Michael Caine, Julie Walters, Michael C Williams
An entertaining adaptation of Willy Russell's stage play about a young working class wife who wants to better herself and selects a boozy professor as... Read more
Silkwood (1983)
7.2/10
Director: Mike Nichols
Starring: Meryl Streep, Kurt Russell, Cher , Craig T Nelson
Meryl Streep plays Karen Silkwood in this true account of the mysterious circumstances under which Silkwood died while exposing the dangers of Plutoni... Read more
Sophie's Choice (1982)
7.7/10
Director: Alan J Pakula
Starring: Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, Peter MacNicol
Meryl Streep deservedly received an Oscar for her depiction of a Polish Catholic mother who survives the death camp at Auschwitz, but not the memories... Read more
Cagney and Lacey: Season 1 (1982)
Starring: Tyne Daly, Sharon Gless, John Karlen, Philip Baker Hall, Lance Henriksen, Grace...
Here was something entirely new: a cop show featuring two strong and intelligent female detectives in a male-dominated workforce. Credited as a ground... Read more
Butterflies: Series 3 (1981)
7.2/10
Starring: Wendy Craig, Geoffrey Palmer, Nicholas Lyndhurst, Andrew Hall, Bruce Montague
In the third series Ria (Wendy Craig) remains frustrated by her mundane life with her successful, though dull, dentist husband, and two glib teenage s... Read more
Tenko: Series 1 - Episodes 1 - 5 (1981)
8.8/10
Director: Various
Starring: Stephanie Beacham, Ann Bell, Stephanie Cole, Louise Jameson, Eiji Kusuhara, Burt...
In 1941 the terrors of war-torn Europe seem far away for the small community of ex-pat Brits living in Singapore. But their privileged lives are soon... Read more