After living in the Midwest for six years on chili and bad newspapers, I finally took my one diversion, movies, seriously, and began seeing two a week. The land of the B film, the Midwest on any given week can provide more diverse viewing fare than can be had in a film capital like New York, the ultra-ultra world of $4 first run presentations, foreign film flops and Museum of Modern Art premieres of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Where else but Detroit (or St. Louis, or Cleveland, or Champaign, Illinois) could I have seen Black Gestapo, Cornbread, Earl and Me, Mandingo and The Eiger Sanction all in one week? The tally follows. I usually listened for good music, watched for new talent, andsnuck into a Robert Redford matinee when the B's gave me theZ's. Half-bad movies were the compromise I learned to enjoy. The Staples soundtrack on Let's Do It Again was pretty good, but the movie wasn't, proving you don't have to be white to make a comedy as bad as The Fortune. Aloha, Bobby and Rose was a fine eulogy to Elton John, except that he's not dead yet, and PaulLe Mat proved he could not be James Dean when he had to. This mustn't have been a good year; I wound up seeing my favorite movies several times, but here I am, at year's end, a satisfied addict.

ALICE DOESNT LIVE HERE ANYMORE (Martin Scorcese):: As Kate Millett would say, a poineering work. Middle aged working class woman faces independent pursuit of self after death of husband. Lands first job ("Why don't you come back tomorrow?" "No. If I come back tomorrow you'll say no."); quits job; travels with son ("Why did you marry Dad?" "Because he was a great kisser."); survives crises with friend ("What do you want?" "If I knew that, I wouldn't be sitting here crying in the toilet. "); settles down. First of two commercial releases this year (A Woman Under the Influence) genuinely interested in the question, "What is a woman?" to be answered by same. Fine performances by Ellen Burstyn, Lila Kedrova, Diane Ladd.