Now Playing: February 1981

My first reviews for the 1981 Project are way overdue, but trust me, they are in the works. In the meantime, let's hop in our time machines and take a gander at the films that were opening theatrically in the United States this month thirty years ago, The Roomates of the day, if you will.

Waiting for those who braved the winter elements to make it to their local theatres were an intriguing blend of genre fare, foreign curios of all stripes and an assortment of films by noteable directors such as Ralph Bakshi (American Pop), recently deceased Peter Yates (Eyewitness), Francois Truffaut (The Last Metro), Paul Verhoveen (Spetters) and Academy Award winner for Patton, Franklin J. Schaffner (Sphynx). But to this viewer, based on the titles I've seen, the gem of the month is the Richard Franklin (Psycho II) directed taut Rear Window inspired thriller, Road Games, featuring Stacey Keach as a truck driver in the outback of Australia who witnesses a murder on the road, and Jamie Lee Curtis as the hitchhiker he picks up and falls for.

The Last Metro, which due to the general fuzziness of foreign film release dates in America, was reviewed here last year as part of my 1980 Project.