Here, I thought, was a fascinating artifact: the Last American Film Made for Adults! When I rewatched it, however, I realized the characters aren’t really adults at all, at least not in the way you might remember. I rewatched it again, a few years back, on DVD, when I stumbled on the whole highest-grossing-film-of-the-year factoid. I remember all this very clearly.) At that time, the movie, to my young mind, could have been called “Why Are All the Grown-Ups Crying?”
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(I did see her naked, in a very famous scene, in which she runs into Justin Henry, the Kramers’ 5-year-old son, in a hallway.
#HIGHEST GROSSING MOVIES OF THE 70S MOVIE#
Once, in the movie theaters, when I was 8 years old - just old enough, I’m guessing, that my parents felt that the risk of me seeing JoBeth Williams naked was worth saving a babysitter’s fee. Kramer to Batman v Superman, am I right? (Or, as it’s officially known, Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, which raises the possibility of an enticing alternate history in which people flocked to see Kramer V Kramer II: Dawn of Justice, followed a few years later by Kram3r vs. (Recent highest-grossing films of the year: Harry Potter, Spider-Man, The Dark Knight, The Avengers, Toy Story 3, etc.) It also makes Kramer a handy go-to example for anyone who wants to make the argument that our culture is getting more juvenile. Kramer, which came out 35 years ago - and, as of this month, is available for streaming on Netflix - is either a fascinating anomaly in recent movie history, or a last Alamo-like stand against the impending economic forces that turned blockbuster movies into an annual visit to the comic-book store and Toys ‘R’ Us. Though you could definitely argue that Titanic is not a movie for grown-ups in quite the same way that Kramer vs. The only other film since 1979 to achieve that - both the biggest box-office hit of the year and the Best Picture winner - is Titanic, in 1997. It was the most critically acclaimed film of the year and the biggest box-office hit. Kramer was the big Oscar movie of 1979, winning five Academy Awards (out of nine nominations), including a sweep of the major categories: Best Picture Best Actor (Dustin Hoffman) Best Supporting Actress * (Meryl Streep) Best Adapted Screenplay (Robert Benton, from a novel by Avery Corman) and Best Director (Robert Benton again). Wait, you might say - there must be a mistake. Kramer, a movie about two New Yorkers getting a divorce and fighting over custody of their son. The highest-grossing film of 1979, with a total box-office take of just over $106 million, was Kramer vs. (Aliens! Kids again!) In 1983, Return of the Jedi (Sequels! Aliens! Spaceships!) … But what about 1979? (A reboot of cliff-hanger serials! For kids!) In 1982, it was E.T. (Spaceships! Sequels!) In 1981, it was Raiders of the Lost Ark. Looking ahead, in 1980, the biggest hit was The Empire Strikes Back.
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By 1979, Hollywood had, presumably, stopped making movies for grown-ups - you know, real, thoughtful, sophisticated stories of love, anguish, heartbreak, and personal growth. Pop quiz: What was the highest-grossing film of 1979? Remember, this is several years after Jaws (the highest-grossing film of 1975), Rocky (highest-grossing of ‘76) and Star Wars (highest-grossing ‘77) had, according to the common wisdom, doomed us all forever to a cinematic junk-food diet of robot sharks, alien spaceships, and unending sequels.