1979 - Pop Culture Roundup
The year's biggest financial hit, Kramer vs. Kramer, hit on a number of emerging social anxieties; the rising divorce rate among Boomers entering their early to mid thirties, the precarious economic position of even many affluent, well-educated upper middle-class couples, and the emerging political and social power of women. Starring Dustin Hoffman and Kate Jackson, the film was a financial hit and wound up winning a slew of Oscars, and jumpstarted Jackson's own career in film rather than television. Overall in film (and to a lesser extent, television) the year was a strange time of transition and myopia. Audiences wanted escapism during lean economic times (already the worst since the Depression) but something that also felt real to their experiences. It was for this reason, and for its ballooning budget in an inflationary environment, that the James Bond film Moonraker was seen as a substantial disappointment both at the box office and in its critical reception (and mocked as one of a number of Star Wars retreads in the late 1970s and early 1980s) and wound up being the final appearance in the strange, very 1970s turn as the titular spy by Roger Moore.
In the music world, the biggest event was certainly Elvis Presley's emergence from drug rehabilitation and his subsequent first album since going clean and firing his old management team, titled simply Elvis. Regarded as an unusually somber piece of art, experimenting with gospel music, newspapers made a play on words in declaring "The Return of the King" (a reference to the popular Lord of the Rings series), but it was only a modest financial success. Regardless, it would mark the important third act of Presley's long, impactful career in pop music.
In sports, it was an age of dynasties. The most egregiously dominant squad were the Montreal Canadiens in their defeat of the New York Rangers in the Stanley Cup Finals 4-1 to win their fourth consecutive championship; coming close were the Seattle Supersonics, who won a second straight NBA Finals (of three) by winning their rematch with the Washington Bullets from the year before, once again in the seventh game. It was a tremendous year for American basketball more generally; in the most-watched NCAA tournament ever, largely credited with launching the "March Madness" phenomenon, Indiana State and their star Larry Bird defeated Magic Johnson and the Michigan State Spartans; widely regarded as two of the best young prospects in the history of the sport, the two would face off repeatedly in the 1980s, with Johnson being drafted first overall that summer by the Chicago Bulls. In baseball, the Baltimore Orioles avenged their Game 7 loss in the 1971 World Series eight years later to the same opponent, Pittsburgh, this team winning in Game 7 extra innings in what is regarded as one of the best Series in the history of the game.
European soccer delivered a shocking final as Nottingham Forest upended Austria Wien in the Munich to deliver England a third consecutive European Cup but also one of the most surprising champions yet, as Forest was certainly no major squad. A three-peat was, however, not in the offing for the Dallas Cowboys in the 1979-80 NFL season; despite posting an NFL-best 15-1 record and mauling most of the competition all year, they were shockingly upset as 13.5-point favorites the following January in Super Bowl XIV in a matchup of No.1 seeds (only the second ever in a Super Bowl but second in three seasons) by Dan Fouts and the San Diego Chargers, losing 33-10 in a remarkable beat-down. For collegiate fans, 1979 offered a classic; three undefeated teams headed into January, with the # 1 USC Trojans and # 2 Ohio State Buckeyes meeting in a famous Rose Bowl; Ohio State won on a late field goal, 27-24, defeating the Trojans and their Heisman-winning running back Charles White in a thriller to secure coach Earle Bruce a consensus national championship and helping him get out from under the long shadow of the controversial Woody Hayes firing. The third undefeated squad of '79, Alabama, was left frustrated again; undefeated and ranked No. 2, but empty-handed once more for the aging Paul "Bear" Bryant, who clearly wanted a legacy "one for the thumb" fifth national championship at the end of his long and storied career to tie him with the aforementioned Hayes but was empty-handed once more, and this time couldn't even blame losing heads-up to the Number 1 team like the conclusion to 1978.
