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.
Tenko: Series 1 - Episodes 6 - 10 (1981)
8.8/10
Starring: Stephanie Beacham, Stephanie Cole, Ann Bell, 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
The Gentle Touch: Series 1 (1980)
7.1/10
Director: Various
Starring: Nigel Rathbone, William Marlowe, Jill Gascoine
The first ever UK cop series to star a female lead, 'The Gentle Touch' introduced audiences to a new sort of law and order, and a new sort of main cha... Read more
Butterflies: Series 2 (1980)
7.2/10
Director: Various
Starring: Wendy Craig, Geoffrey Palmer, Bruce Montague, Andrew Hall, Nicholas Lyndhurst
Bored housewife Ria (Wendy Craig) is still frustrated with her mundane life and her platonic relationship with Leonard is proving more problematic tha... Read more
Coal Miner's Daughter (1980)
7.5/10
Director: Michael Apted
Starring: Beverly D'Angelo, Levon Helm, Sissy Spacek, Tommy Lee Jones
The film biography of country-western superstar Loretta Lynn. Sissy Spacek won an Academy Award for her performance as the lass from Butcher's Hollow.... Read more
The City Of Women (1980)
Director: Federico Fellini
Starring: Marcello Mastroianni, Anna Prucel, Bernice Stegers
Marcello Mastroianni stars as the bruised, baffled, bedazzled man who stumbles into a feminist convention, setting off a series of wild surrealistic f... Read more
Private Benjamin (1980)
6.1/10
Director: Howard Zieff
Starring: Goldie Hawn, Eileen Brennan, Armand Assante
Goldie Hawn is delightful as a spoiled Jewish/American princess who decides to get away from her life by joining the "new liberal" Army. Her army camp... Read more
Norma Rae (1979)
7.4/10
Director: Martin Ritt
Starring: Sally Field, Beau Bridges, Pat Hingle, Ron Leibman
In an Oscar-winning performance, Sally Field is unforgettable as Norma Rae, the Southern millworker who revolutionises a small town and discovers a po... Read more
Prisoner Cell Block H - Volume 1 (1979)
Starring: Elspeth Ballantyne, Sheila Florance, Val Lehman, Fiona Spence
Attaining cult status around the world, this Australian series set in a women's prison was a gritty no-nonsense drama that tackled issues such as homo... Read more
My Brilliant Career (1979)
7.3/10
Director: Gillian Armstrong
Starring: Judy Davis, Robert Grubb, Sam Neill, Wendy Hughes
Inspiring story of a spirited, sensitive young woman at the turn of the century who, despite poverty, isolation and pressure to marry, fulfils her dre... Read more
An Unmarried Woman (1978)
7.2/10
Director: Paul Mazursky
Starring: Alan Bates, Cliff Gorman, Jill Clayburgh, Michael Murphy
In an Oscar and Bafta-nominated performance, Jill Clayburgh plays a New York art gallery worker trying to cope with life after her husband walks out o... Read more