It's rather too easy to look back upon the embarassment of riches offered up by American cinema in 1979 and deride the Academy for picking the pallid character drama from the director of Places in the Heart. Easy, but not necessarily apt, as even the critics agreed that Kramer vs. Kramer was the Best Picture of 1979. Such was the result of the Critics Consensus Awards for that year (as I'm carrying them out retrospectively, and entirely subjectively), which indeed opted for character pictures all the way. Apocalypse Now, Manhattan, The Marriage of Maria Braun - all movies generally regarded as more stylistically innovative, and all featured to some extent or another, but none won awards. In truth, the year's award winners themselves placed second across four of the seven categories between them as well, so those other titles didn't stand much of a chance. This year also marks the first appearance of one Meryl Streep, the CCA's most-nominated actor. Check out the 1979 CCA winners below.
Best Picture
Kramer vs. Kramer (Robert Benton and Stanley R. Jaffe)
Best Director
Robert Benton (Kramer vs. Kramer)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Sally Field (Norma Rae)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Peter Sellers (Being There)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Meryl Streep (Kramer vs. Kramer)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Melvyn Douglas (Being There)
Best Screenplay
Steve Tesich (Breaking Away)
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