1981: Year in Review
Fritz Golden Superlatives

1. Blow Out (dir: Brian De Palma)

2. Ms. 45 (dir: Abel Ferrara)

3. Raiders of the Lost Ark (dir: Steven Spielberg)

4. Lucifer Rising (dir: Kenneth Anger; finalized and released with Bobby Beausoliel’s soundtrack composition)

5. Reds (dir: Warren Beatty)

6. The Decline of Western Civilization (dir: Penelope Spheeris)

7. Prince of the City (dir: Sidney Lumet)

8. Thief (dir: Michael Mann)

9. Looker (dir: Michael Crichton)

10. The Howling (dir: Joe Dante)

Honorable Mentions (in alphabetical order): Body Heat (dir: Lawrence Kasdan), Chariots of Fire (dir: Hugh Hudson), Cutter’s Way (dir: Ivan Passer), Escape from New York (dir: John Carpenter), Gallipoli (dir: Peter Weir), Modern Romance (dir: Albert Brooks), Mommie Dearest (dir: Frank Perry), My Dinner with Andre (dir: Louis Malle), Pennies from Heaven (dir: Herbert Ross), Southern Comfort (dir: Walter Hill), They All Laughed (dir: Peter Bogdanovich), Time Bandits (dir: Terry Gilliam) and Wolfen (dir: Michael Wadleigh)

Best Film of the Year: Blow Out
Director: Brian De Palma Producers: George Litto
US Distributor: Filmways Pictures

Best Director:
Brian De Palma, Blow Out
2. Abel Ferrara, Ms. 45
3. Steven Spielberg, Raiders of the Lost Ark
4. Warren Beatty, Reds
5. Kenneth Anger, Lucifer Rising

Best Actor:
Harrison Ford, Raiders of the Lost Ark
2. John Travolta, Blow Out
3. Warren Beatty, Reds
4. James Caan, Thief
5. Treat Williams, Prince of the City

Best Actress:
Diane Keaton, Reds
2. Faye Dunaway, Mommie Dearest
3. Kathleen Turner, Body Heat
4. Sissy Spacek, Raggedy Man
5.  Kate Nelligan, Eye of the Needle

Best Supporting Actor:
Jack Nicholson, Reds
2. Ted Danson, Body Heat
3. James Tolkan, Prince of the City
4. Christopher Walken, Pennies from Heaven
5. John Cleese, Time Bandits

Best Supporting Actress:
Jessica Harper, Pennies from Heaven
2. Tuesday Weld, Thief
3. Maureen Stapleton, Reds
4. Melinda Dillon, Absence of Malice
5. Helen Mirren, Excalibur

Best Original Screenplay:
Reds — Warren Beatty and Trevor Griffiths
2. My Dinner with Andre — Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory
3. Modern Romance — Albert Brooks and Monica Johnson
4. Looker — Michael Crichton
5. Raiders of the Lost Ark  – Lawrence Kasdan, George Lucas and Philip Kaufman

Best Adapted Screenplay:
Prince of the City – Jay Presson Allen and Sidney Lumet
2. Pennies from Heaven – Dennis Potter
3. Thief — Michael Mann
4. Cutter’s Way — Jeffrey Alan Fiskin
5. Gallipoli — Peter Weir and David Williamson

Best Cinematography:
Blow Out – Vilmos Zsigmond
2. Reds — Vittorio Storaro
3. Pennies from Heaven – Gordon Willis
4. Looker — Paul Lohmann
5. Wolfen — Gerry Fisher

Best Original Score:
Ms. 45 – Joe Delia
2. Lucifer Rising — Bobby Beausoliel
3. Chariots of Fire – Vangelis
4. The Beyond – Fabio Frizzi
5. Wolfen — James Horner

Best Film Editing:
Blow Out – Paul Hirsch
2. Reds — Dede Allen and Craig McKay
3. Raiders of the Lost Ark – Michael Kahn
4. Chariots of Fire — Terry Rawlings
5. The Howling — Mark Goldblatt and Joe Dante

Best Production Design:
Raiders of the Lost Ark – Norman Reynolds and Michael Ford
2. Excalibur — Anthony Pratt and Bryan Graves
3. Time Bandits — Milly Burns and Norman Garwood
4. Reds — Richard Sylbert and Simon Holland
5. Escape from New York – Joe Alves and Cloudia Rebar

Best Costume Design:
Excalibur — Bob Ringwood
2. Raiders of the Lost Ark — Deborah Nadoolman
3. Time Bandits — James Acheson
4. Pennies from Heaven — Bob Mackie
5. Chariots of Fire — Milena Canonero

Best Visual Effects
Raiders of the Lost Ark
2. The Howling
3. Time Bandits

Best Sound
Blow Out
2. Raiders of the Lost Ark
3. The Howling

Best Makeup
An American Werewolf in London
2. The Howling
3. Mommie Dearest

Best Documentary Feature:
Penelope Spheeris, The Decline of Western Civilization

Best Animated Feature:
Osamu Dezaki, Tomorrow’s Joe 2

Best Ensemble Cast:
Cutter’s Way

Orson Welles' Best First Feature:
Michael Mann, Thief

Best Ensemble Cast (dir: Ivan Passer; in alphabetical order): Jeff Bridges (pictured), Ann Dusenberry, Lisa Eichhorn (pictured), Stephen Elliott, John Heard (pictured), and Arthur Rosenberg

Best First Feature: Tuesday Weld and James Caan in Michael Mann’s Thief

RECAP

W I N S :

Blow Out — 5,
Raiders of the Lost Ark — 3, Reds— 3, An American Werewolf in London — 1, Cutter’s Way — 1, Decline of Western Civilization — 1, Excalibur — 1, Ms. 45 — 1, Pennies from Heaven — 1, The Prince of the City — 1, Thief — 1, Tomorrow’s Joe 2 – 1

M U L T I P L E
N O M I N A T I O N S :

Raiders of the Lost Ark — 9,
Reds — 8, Blow Out — 6, The Howling — 5, Pennies from Heaven — 5, The Prince of the City — 5, Thief — 5, Chariots of Fire — 3, Excalibur — 3, Looker — 3, Lucifer Rising — 3, Ms. 45 — 3, Time Bandits — 3, Body Heat — 2, The Decline of Western Civilization — 2, Cutter’s Way — 2, Mommie Dearest — 2, Wolfen — 2

the year-end project:
2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997, 1996, 1995, 1994, 1993, 1992, 1991, 1990, 1989, 1988, 1987, 1986, 1985, 1984, 1983, 1982, 1981, 1980, 1979, 1978, 1977, 1976, 1975, 1974, 1973, 1972, 1971, 1970, 1969, 1968, 1967, 1966, 1965, 1964, 1963, 1962, 1961, 1960, 1959, 1958, 1957, 1956, 1955, 1954, 1953, 1952, 1951, 1950, 1940 - 1949, 1930 - 1939, 1920 - 1929 + Superlatives Index

Best of the Decade:
2010s, 2000s, 1990s, 1980s