Best Drama Films of 1981
Rollover
Alan J. Pakula directs ... Hume Cronyn and Josef Sommer. This story also foreshadowed Jane Fonda's marriage to corporate bigwig Ted Turner in 1991. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
The Marva Collins Story
When the story of ... in the title role, the all-but-flawless Marva Collins Story was originally telecast as a Hallmark Hall of Fame special. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
Ragtime
E. L. Doctorow's novel ... and stars-to-be, including Pat O'Brien and Eloise O'Brien, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Allen, Moses Gunn, Jeff Daniels and Fran Drescher. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
Skokie
Skokie is the true ... view with equanimity, proving that there are no simple solutions when the fundamental right of Free Speech is involved. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
Victory
John Huston directed this ... film, along with Bobby Moore, the captain of Britain's 1966 World Cup champions, and Argentine soccer star Osvaldo Ardiles. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
Death Hunt
Set in the '30s, ... extensive knowledge of wilderness living, but Millen has the resources of the Canadian police at his beck and call. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
Quartet
No relation to the ... is released, he learns about the Bates-Adjani-Smith contretemps. When the dust settles, it is Adjani who suffers the most. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
Americana
In Americana, David Carradine's ... new neighbors' confidence, Carradine expedites the healing process necessary to leave the collective shame of Vietnam far, far behind. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
Night Crossing
Two friends chart a ... Keith McKeon as members of the Strelzyk Family, and Glynnis O'Connor, Michael Liesik, and Geoffrey Liesik as the Wetzels. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
The Postman Always Rings Twice
Bob Rafelson's remake of ... Cain novel, the film garnered a certain degree of notoriety for the explicit sex scenes between Lange and Nicholson. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
The Chosen
The overemphatic acting of ... attraction in many cities; years after its release, the film served as the basis for a short-lived Broadway musical. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
Agency
Agency tackles the question ... a fashion. But Mitchum is good, as are his costars Valerie Perrine, Lee Majors, Saul Rubinek and Alexandra Stewart. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
Raggedy Man
Sissy Spacek was directed ... paced for most of its running time, Raggedy Man takes a disturbing violent turn in its last half hour. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
Out of the Blue
Out of the Blue ... It was Hopper's first job behind the camera since The Last Movie, his legendary flop follow-up to Easy Rider. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
Body and Soul
A medical student decides ... of boxing and dives into a life of superficial values and corruption in this remake of the 1947 classic. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
Eureka
A reclusive, unhappy gold ... Devoted fans, however, will find further proof of the director's impressive visual sense, especially during the film's earlier sequences. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
The People vs. Jean Harris
The videotaped TV movie ... to assess The People vs. Jean Harris, since it wasn't completed until virtually the eve of its television premiere. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
Mommie Dearest
When her adoptive mother ... Our favorite scene: Joan Crawford dazedly replacing her ailing daughter in the cast of a daytime TV soap opera. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
Zoot Suit
Based on a 1940s ... (Daniel Valdez), as they are tried and sentenced to San Quentin for a murder they may not have committed. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
Antony and Cleopatra
Perhaps inspired by the ... part of the Soothsayer. At three hours, Antony and Cleopatra has some trouble getting bookings outside the "art" houses. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
The French Lieutenant's Woman
John Fowles' original ... parallels their characters' relationship. The commercial TV version of French Lieutenant's Woman eliminates 30 minutes' worth of "extraneous" scenes. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
Dallas: Season 05
Having closed its fourth ... to commit suicide -- and if he dies, it will mean disaster for several of the main Dallas characters. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
Knightriders
Knightriders may well be ... his own band of "black knights." Keep an eye out for a chucklesome unbilled bit by novelist Stephen King. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
Ticket to Heaven
The "Moonie" cult of ... shake David out of his religious euphoria. Ticket to Heaven was based on Moonwebs, a novel by Josh Freed. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
Mephisto
Based on Klaus Mann's ... after the film's release and would be cast as the villain in Never Say Never Again as a result. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
Prince of the City
Inspired by a true ... own good, but its opening expository sequences and its final twenty minutes more than compensate for the duller stretches. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
Hill Street Blues: Season 01
[ best drama films - 1981 ]
Great Expectations
Dickens' oft-filmed novel Great ... also appears in a pivotal role. Running 300 minutes, Great Expectations is currently available as a 2-cassette videotape set. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
Made in Britain
Director Alan Clarke's influential ... Leland (Wish You Were Here) and the songs on the soundtrack are by the anarchist hardcore band the Exploited. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
Kagero-za
The inner workings of ... spirit. The film is set in 1926, when cinema was silent -- and that era is evoked in Kagero-za. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
Hedda Gabler
[ best drama films - 1981 ]
The Flame Trees of Thika
Based on an autobiographical ... the question that gnaws at Elspeth and her mom -- and Lettice -- while life goes on at Thika. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
Texas Lightning
A manly trucker decides ... tonk bar where the lad soon experiences stirrings of manhood when he falls in love with a world-wise waitress. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
American Pop
The rise and growth ... process called "rotoscoping" -- shooting the scenes with live actors, and then tracing their movements onto animation cells. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
Das Boot ist voll
Based on fact, The ... the intensity and sincerity of everyone involved in The Boat is Full compensates for any and all production crudities. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
Choices
Director Silvio Narizzano totes ... the high school. Demi Moore appears in a small supporting role in this film -- her first film role. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
Lady Chatterley's Lover
The once-notorious D. H. ... of Lady Chatterly's Lover was filmed in France in 1959, with Danielle Darrieux and Erno Crisa in the leads. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
Silsila
[ best drama films - 1981 ]
Perro Callejero 2
The gritty Mexican drama ... as a drug trafficker. Soon his attempts to get away from the criminal life are thwarted by crooked cops. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
The Child Bride of Short Creek
Originally made for television ... his father (Christopher Atkins), a veteran of the Korean War, wishes to take a 15-year-old girl for another wife. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
Danger UXB
The 13-part Danger UXB ... romance with Susan Mount (Judy Geeson). Danger UXB's American TV run extended from January 4 through March 30, 1981. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
Death of a Prophet
Morgan Freeman makes an ... and spending precious moments with his wife (Yolanda King). Legendary jazz percussionist Max Roach composed the film's musical score. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
A Long Way Home
A young man searches ... his brother and sister many years after the three were sent to separate foster homes in this made-for-TV drama. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
Sense and Sensibility
Ten years before Jane ... for proper, and properly wealthy, husbands. Sense and Sensibility was served up in three 60-minute portions by the BBC. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
The True Game of Death
When a man forms ... plan goes wildly askew, however, when the drug they had intended to use as an aphrodisiac turns out deadly. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
The Quack
The unusual Polish drama ... Quack concerns a doctor who, while suffering from amnesia, spends his time walking through sparsely populated sections of Poland. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
Looks and Smiles
Graham Green (a juvenile ... can't see the value in him. Looks and Smiles is absolutely not to be judged by its happy-happy-joy-joy title. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
Pictures
Pictures is an expansive ... Through the eyes of the ubiquitous Burton brothers, we are treated to the history of New Zealand's colonial era. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
Do You Remember Dolly Bell?
Filmed in Yugoslavia, Do ... Best First Film at the Venice Film Festival, the first of several such honors for its director, Emir Kusturica. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
Miss Morrison's Ghosts
In this period drama, ... turned upside down when they are visted by what they believe to be the ghost of their late mother. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
36 Chowringhee Lane
An older woman teaches ... any longer, she is at a loss as to how to recuperate some sort of balance in her life. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
Zigeunerweisen
This is an enigmatic ... fate of the missing woman. Cerebral and intriguing, the film seems to take place on several levels at once. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
Szabadgyalog
A kind of fictionalized ... other interests. The film looks into alcoholic wards and various societal niches as it meanders along to its ending. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
Death in Venice
Tony Palmer directs this ... provided by the English Chamber Orchestra, under the direction of Steuart Bedford. Filmed on-location in Venice, Italy, in 1981. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
La Muerte del Palomo
When a dedicated jockey ... animals are truly man's best friend in a touching, Spanish-language drama starring Mario Almada, Carmen Montejo, and Pedro Infante. [ best drama films - 1981 ]
Dukhda Khame ee Dirki
[ best drama films - 1981 ]
Mi Nombre Es Sergio Soy Alcoholico
[ best drama films - 1981 ]
Baby Broker: Born to Be Sold
[ best drama films - 1981 ]Supplemental Navigation
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