The Best of 1979

The last year of the 1970s gave us quite a few cinema classics. Apocalypse Now and The Amityville Horror each haunted us in different ways, The Jerk gave us Steve Martin at his wild and craziest, and Star Trek: The Motion Picture capitalized on the Star Wars craze while reminding us that, before Lucas, there was Roddenberry.

I was still a kid, so hands-down my favorite big screen bonanza of the year was The Muppet Movie. Seeing Kermit on the big screen playing swamp banjo in the opening scene is ...