Move over, James Bond...here comes a real spy by the name of Alec Leamas. Nominated for Best Actor Academy Award, Richard Burton is devastatingly good as a "seedy, squalid" spy who has seen it all and is disgusted with life. His performance is in the top two or three of his career.

Sally Field gives an all-time great performance in Norma Rae. She plays a deep character who's worth caring about. That's evident at the end when Reuben had a very hard time leaving her. The story is based on Crystal Lee Sutton at the J.P. Stevens plant in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, during the 70's. Ron Leibman is obviously excellent as Sally Field's support. The cinematography of the textile mill by John A. Alonzo is top-notch.

To counteract the wave of raw films coming out of the Blaxploitation genre, Sounder is a tough, uncompromising Louisiana picture about a family of black sharecroppers. Filled with gospel music, it was shot on location in two parishes: East Feliciana and St. Helena. Powerful performances demonstrate the black experience of living in the Jim Crow South during the 30's.

The Long, Hot Summer can be safely retitled as Take a Long, Good Look because Paul Newman is absolutely gorgeous. This is the one when the romance between Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward started to gain steam although they knew each other four years prior, but he was married at the time.After his divorce, they went on to have the longest marriage for a Hollywood power couple which lasted for fifty years, appearing in eleven films together.

James Garner gives his career best performance in Murphy's Romance. Easy-going and never in need of an acting lesson, that's why he secured the first and only Oscar nomination of his career. His lines were so good that I was seeing the real James Garner. As usual, Martin Ritt deserves credit for making a very wholesome movie with strong cinematography by William A. Fraker.

If you liked Harlan County, U.S.A. because of the coal mining aspect, you'll probably appreciate The Molly Maguires. A period picture set in almost the middle of Pennsylvania during 1876, it highlights the struggles that workers have while being paid low wages, living in a company-owned shanty town, and shopping at a company-owned grocery store. Impressive is the high amount of blackness everywhere, even on the doors where people normally touch. So is the photography by James Wong Howe.