A Wistful Look Back At The 70s

[inman50]

I don't know if this topic has been beaten to death on this fine website, since I just recently joined, thanks to the kind invitation of its founder, but I'll give it a go.

I've been around long enough to remember with fondness the anticipation of a new film from Altman, Ashby, Coppola, Kubrick, Scorcese, and the two wunderkinds probably singlehandedly responsible for the rise of the dreaded multiplex and wide release: Spielberg and Lucas. These gifted and adventurous mavericks (granted, Kubrick was already a god with Dr. Strangelove and 2001), along with others, changed the American film landscape. It really began in the late 60s with films like Bonnie & Clyde, The Graduate, Easy Rider, and Medium Cool: an artistic expression and freedom born out of the turmoil of the 60s. As someone pointed out to me recently on IMDB, for every Godfather or Taxi Driver, there was a Hammersmith Is Out or Bluebeard. True enough. We all tend to filter our perceptions through the comfy prism of nostalgia, but there was a creative excitement back in the 70s that the studios allowed to foster. Yes, it did lead to self indulgence and hubris and all the unfortunate side effects of too much laissez faire. The Deer Hunter lead to Heaven's Gate, Shampoo to Ishtar, Taxi Driver to New York New York, The Last Picture Show to At Long Last Love (maybe the Gigli of it's day), Apocalypse Now to One From The Heart, and on and on. No doubt there is a lesson to be learned there, but until the fallout in the 80s, there was a spirit of adventure in the American film community. Risks were taken and even failures were sometimes interesting, certainly less formulaic than they are now. I won't parade all the great films from that decade here since I'm sure most of you know what they are, but I think the point I'm trying to make is that they were part of the mainstream moviegoing experience back then. Now it's called independent filmmaking and thank God we have it. If it weren't for films like Lost in Translation, American Splendor, Dirty Pretty Things, and The Secret Lives of Dentists, it would be a barren creative landscape indeed.

[oscar jubis]

Originally posted by inman50
I've been around long enough to remember with fondness the anticipation of a new film from Altman, Ashby, Coppola, Kubrick, Scorcese. These gifted and adventurous mavericks (granted, Kubrick was already a god with Dr. Strangelove and 2001), along with others, changed the American film landscape. It really began in the late 60s with films like Bonnie & Clyde, The Graduate, Easy Rider, and Medium Cool: an artistic expression and freedom born out of the turmoil of the 60s. Risks were taken and even failures were sometimes interesting, certainly less formulaic than they are now.

Hollywood was indeed reflecting changes in the general culture, more specifically, the values of babyboomers, which differed radically from those of the previous generation. Our sheer numbers made it imperative for the studios to make films specifically for us. Young directors were given financing to approach issues with a new openness, afforded by cultural changes, such as the replacement of the Hays Code (that had regulated film content since the early 30s) with a ratings system that acknowledged that each film is no longer addressed to every person. Not to be discounted is the influence of foreign films on directors, as a result of better distribution stateside beginning in the 50s, and peaking in the 60s and 70s(especially films from France,Italy and Japan).

1966 to 1975?

The release of Bonnie and Clyde and The Graduate in 1967 (as you imply) are adequate time-markers for the start of this Hollywood "renaissance". But consider the marriage of Taylor and Burton in 1966's Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf("hump the hostess") and its 13 Oscar nominations.
Hollywood produced daring films in the late 70s, but Jaws initiated the blockbuster era, as expressed by Charles Champlin in this excerpt from "The Movies Grow Up":

"The movies used their new-won freedom to best advantage in the pursuit of social realism, as in the portrayals of urban half-life in Midnight Cowboy, or in the projection of a harrowing near-future in A Clockwork Orange. The movies continue to be so various that generalizations are risky, but it is obvious that the flirtation with hard reality, which fell upon hard times at the box office, is now over. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest was the exception that proved the general surrender of the movies to escapist stuff in one form or another. The extraordinary commercial triumph of Jaws confirmed the Hollywood wisdom about where the audience is and what it wants. The spend-money-to-make-money formula does not invariably pay off, but the successes have come frequently enough to keep the bandwagon rolling. The danger for those who love the movies is that the infatuation with scale leads to a narrowing of the kind of movies that get made"

10 FAVORITE AMERICAN FILMS ('66 TO '75)

Chinatown
2001
McCabe and Mrs. Miller
Five Easy Pieces
The Godfather Part II
Woodstock
The Conversation
Nashville
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
Medium Cool

Runners Up: Once Upon a Time in the West, American Graffitti, Bonnie and Clyde, The Godfather, A Clockwork Orange, Midnight Cowboy,Cabaret,Badlands, A Woman Under The Influence, Easy Rider, Dog Day Afternoon, The Long Goodbye,M*A*S*H,The Graduate,The Honeymoon Killers,Mean Streets,Young Frankenstein,Phantom of The Paradise,Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Scarecrow,Blow-Up, The King of Marvin Gardens,Shampoo,Two-Lane Blacktop, The Last Picture Show,Jaws, Harold and Maude, Sounder, Lenny, Klute, Faces,Thieves Like Us,Whose Afraid of Virginia Wolf?,The Sting,Paper Moon, A Touch of Class,The Parallax View,Planet of The Apes, Straw Dogs, Carnal Knowledge,The Rain People,Bang The Drum Slowly, The Way We Were, Play it Again,Sam,...

[Johann]

I agree with inman50. Welcome to the site!

Speaking of failures, Cimino's Heaven's Gate was torture to sit through, but every time I think of it, I remember scenes in the barn, scenes with Walken that were really well done. It's just the overall emptiness of this long picture that reminds you to never see it again...But is Heaven's Gate considered 70's?

My favorite films from the decade of my birth:

Barry Lyndon
A Clockwork Orange
The Last Detail
Tommy
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Mean Streets
The Last Waltz
Taxi Driver
Paper Moon
The Last Picture Show
What's Up, Doc?
Jesus Christ Superstar
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
Hair
Dirty Harry
The Godfather (I & II)
Cabaret
Jaws
Shaft

wait a minute..this list is gonna be long.................

[HorseradishTree]

Man, Jubis mentioning Dog Day Afternoon reminds me that I should be watching more Sidney Lumet. I recently read his book, which was very insightful and provided some entertaining looks at how his various co-workers' styles would compare.

[inman50]

Hello to Johann, oscar jubis, and HorseradishTree. It's a pleasure to read all your comments and appreaciate how urbane and insightful you all are. Johann, I didn't mean to imply that Heaven's Gate was a child of the 70s, but one of the fallout victims on the cusp of the new decade (1980). I imagine you all have read, or at least heard of Steven Bach's terrific book on Cimino's Folly, Final Cut. I think Cimino was pretty much made a scapegoat for the general over indulgence that resulted from all that 70s free reign, even though a case in point could be made for Friedkin's Sorcerer being another prime example of an ego-driven misfire. I've often wondered what it must feel like to be responsible for the demise of a studio (sic), in this case, United Artists. And do any of you fine people know if Cimino is getting his financing for the filming of Andre Malraux's Man's Fate? Also, when Coppola is ever going to commence filming Megalopolis? I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that working title, as it echoes D.W. Griffith, but I'm sure that's Francis's intention. Oscar, I like the fact that you delineate the 70s into that 1966 to 1975 time frame, since Jaws was the catalyst for the multiplex mentality that followed, and 1966 was the year of "hump the hostess" and Antonioni's Blow Up which put mod London on the map. And HorseradishTree, I've always thought Sidney Lumet has never gotten his due. He and Norman Jewison (who has The Statement with Michael Caine coming out this December) both are the sort of solid craftsmen that can tell a good social issue story, much like Stanely Kramer did before them, but with more grit. Johann, your choice of Barry Lyndon at the top of your all time list intrigues me, not because I don't admire the choice, quite the contrary. It's perhaps the greatest evocation of what life must have been like in Thackery's England, but of course a movie with it's pace today would be compared criminally to something like Gigli. Most of the movies on Johann and Oscar's lists of favorites are pretty much on mine, so I won't repeat. I will add to those, however, La Conformista, The Garden of the Finzi Continis (yes, gotta love De Sica's neo-realism), Cries & Whispers, Fanny & Alexander, The 400 Blows, Rashomon, Blue Velvet, Amacord, Wages of Fear, Lawrence of Arabia, Repulsion, Knife In The Water (ok, I have a thing for Catherine Denueve, so shoot me), Breaking the Waves (von Trier can be one grating MF but you're never neutral about the guy, so yes, I DO want to see the THREE hour version of Dogville and not the 2 hour and 20 minute USA friendly version I'm hearing about), Before Sunrise (you may question this choice but there is NO better movie out there that shows the pure adrenaline high of meeting THAT person and stepping out of real time). There are plenty of others I'm sure, but I'll have to give it more thought. I will talk to all of you later...

Inman50 (yes, it's based on the main protagonist of Frazier's Cold Mountain, and if Minghella screws up the film version, he will have hell to pay).

[oscar jubis]

Originally posted by inman50
Oscar, I like the fact that you delineate the 70s into that 1966 to 1975 time frame, since Jaws was the catalyst for the multiplex mentality that followed, and 1966 was the year of "hump the hostess" and Antonioni's Blow Up which put mod London on the map.

The pace of socio-cultural change in the 60s was truly remarkable. In 1963 one could not imagine late 60s films like Midnight Cowboy and Easy Rider.

Johann, your choice of Barry Lyndon at the top of your all time list intrigues me, not because I don't admire the choice, quite the contrary.

Barry Lyndon is a classic I had the pleasure to watch during its theatrical run. The reason for it being excluded from my list above is that Barry Lyndon is a British film, whereas 2001 and A Clockwork Orange were produced by MGM and Warner Brothers.

Repulsion, Knife In The Water

I am a fan of Polanski, especially his 60s and 70s films. I finally will get the chance to watch Cul-de-Sac. Have you? I should receive a Polanski dvd set from the UK which includes it (along with a disc of pre-Knife shorts!) any day now.

I DO want to see the THREE hour version of Dogville and not the 2 hour and 20 minute USA friendly version I'm hearing about)

Trier gave his endorsement to a shorter version (132 vs. 177 minutes) he himself asked assist. director Anders Refn to cut to meet demands from Italian theatre owners. My local "alternative" video store has ordered the uncut but full frame dvd just out in Russia. Can't wait. You can buy it from an American seller at xploitedcinema.com.

[HorseradishTree]

While all of the above mentioned films are indeed stupendous, one musn't forget the long string of B-flicks that happily graced the 70s, some good, mostly terrible. One of my favorites, that has pretty much sadly been forgotten, is The Brotherhood of Satan, starring everyone's favorite Strother Martin. Fortunately it's on DVD now, and I ought to pick it up. Next is the wonderful Wicker Man, with Edward Woodward. To this day it is probably the most chilling film I've seen. Don't forget Christopher Lee, as he plays Lord Summerisle, leader of a strange cult. Man, that guy's been in so many movies. Finally there is a little known blaxploitation film called Welcome Home, Brother Charles, or Soul Vengance. It's directed by Jamaa Fanaka, who also did the Penitentiary movies. The best part about the film is the hysterical and absurd plot. Charles is a black man who gets castrated by a white cop. Then he goes to jail where they apparently commit horrible experiments on him. When he gets out, he exacts revenge on those who put him there with his newfound "powers." Get this:

First he seduces the guy's wife, makes love to her, and suddenly she's under his spell. He then enters the guy's room. This is the crazy part: His penis elongates to an incredible size and begins to choke his enemy.

This was supposed to be a serious film, and all of a sudden the most absurd thing happens. With my juvinile sense of humor, I was rolling on the floor, dying of laughter. Man, what it must have been like to live in the 70s...

[inman50]

Strother's poignant reminiscence to Paul Newman about one of his former hockey players (Reg) deliberately getting penalties, just so he could masturbate in the penalty box, in the splendidly entertaining Slap Shot (another great 70s movie) is one of my all time favorite movie moments, HorseradishTree. Just so you know I'm one of those guilty pleasure kind of guys. I MUST see Soul Vengeance! It sounds hysterical!!

One of my best friends and I are probably responsible for creating the mountain man jokes that came out of Deliverance (another 70s film we haven't mentioned). And now I hear Burt Reynolds is going to PLAY a mountain man in a spoof of Deliverance called Without A Paddle, co-starring Seth Green. Some things just never die, do they? Here's another one for you, The Devil's Rain with Ernest Borgnine and the great R.G. Armstrong. Talk about glorious schlock.

Oscar, I haven't seen cul de sac but will look for it and thanks for the other tidbits.

Over and out.

[Johann]

I have a difficult time approximating in text my feelings about Stanley Kubrick's BARRY LYNDON . This film is the absolute zenith of the cinematic universe.

That big enough praise for ya?

This was the only film that ever held me in a trance for 3 hours.

This was the only film that made me conscious of patience. (big learning curve there- and I learned it young- praise Kubrick)

This was the only film that ever made me physically shake with emotion.

This film is the greatest piece of celluloid ever produced, and I will never take it off of it's #1 perch.

[inman50]

Johann, I remember seeing Barry Lyndon Christmas Week in 1975 at the now gone Northpoint Theater in San Francisco. Back then, the weekly Variety would often have a wonderful insert for an upcoming major film nestled in it's pages. The one for Barry Lyndon to this day may be the most gorgeous, opulent array of glossy magnificence ever: photo after glorious photo of scenes from the movie. It made my mouth water and my heart quicken in anticipation of a movie that wouldn't be out for months. I showed that "magazine" to all my friends and told them this was going to be one incredible movie. That Kubrick was going to top himself. When Richard Schickel had a front cover of Time Magazine story about the movie, called "Kubrick's Grandest Gamble", along with his reverential rave of the movie, I couldn't wait for that Friday to come to rush to the Northpoint. I'm not sure I can put the film at the singular apex you do, but I will say I wasn't disappointed. Considering how high my expectations were, that is the highest praise I can give any film. It was like watching a great 19th Century novel come to life, down to every detail. The dueling scene has more tension in it than any ten thrillers. If there are those who want to attach the word enuii to this masterpiece as some did to 2001, it doesn't matter. I can't tell you how many times I've listened to The Women of Ireland in various forms, from the Chieftans on the soundtrack to Kate Bush's lovely celtic rendering of it. Is there a more haunting or beautiful piece of music out there? By the way, I still have that Variety insert to this day.

One last word for now to all of you I'm getting to know. I'm going out of town for a week and a half, but will try to check on here when and if possible until I get home. Take care.

[Johann]

I love hearing that you and Oscar Jubis saw Barry in it's first run.

That's history.

I bid on the press kit for Barry Lyndon on eBay and won- I believe this is the package of stills you are speaking of..

Wow. I envy you inman. I have only seen Barry Lyndon on the small screen (about 100 times). I cannot describe to you how much this movie means to me. I thought I had discovered the holy grail of movies when I took it out of the library back in 1991.

Ever since I've been a Kubrick freak. I could talk for hours about Stan The Man. I also got his autograph off of eBay, but I was told by an authenticator that it was fake. (That pissed me off-I paid good coin for that 8x10)

The most wonderful thing about that production to me was a story Ryan O'Neal told about Kubrick: (I'm paraphrasing, but the gist is correct)

"We had been shooting something like 75 takes for a scene and Stanley could tell I was exhausted- completely tapped out. No more to give with Redmond. Between the take Stanley wanders over to my general area- barking orders at the crew: "I need that lens.,blah blah" Without looking at me he grabs my hand and gently squeezes it. He continues barking orders and ends up back behind the camera. I was so overcome with emotion I could have done a thousand takes for him at that point. With that hand-squeeze he let me know that I was doing great work. I'll never forget it. Working with Kubrick was like going to finishing school".

[Johann]

Re: Barry Lyndon being a british film- Oscar- 2001, Clockwork and Barry are all british made, so you might have to amend your list..
(Barry Lyndon & ACO were financed by Warner Bros.)

Inman: I listen to the Barry Lyndon soundtrack often- I love "Sarabande" and the marches. I truly feel Barry is better than 2001. Everyone who worked on Barry felt that Kubrick was trying to make his masterpiece. And considering all that research on Napoleon he did, he NAILED Thackeray. I had to re-read Vanity Fair which I read in high school after seeing Kubrick's opus. He spoke of the difficulty of making Vanity Fair into a film (he considered the cinematic possibilities of all of WMT's works- he had a set of Thackeray books at home, story goes)

I agree about The Wicker Man, SlapShot (My dad's favorite film- the Hanson Brothers?!), and Lumet's lack of props.

Coppola's Megolopolis must be a top-secret, batten down the hatches, closed set affair. I haven't heard a thing about it except it stars Nic Cage, and it's supposed to be Coppola's epic "fin du film".

Polanski's best work came from the time-frame Oscar mentions. Enjoy those films oscar! I love TWO MEN AND A WARDROBE- his first short- it's probably on that set you are anticipating- as well as The Fat and The Lean. You'll love the early Polanski just as much as the "marred" Polanski. Please let us know if you feel Trier's DOGVILLE needs the trimming it got.
Uncut Dogville.
Lucky bastard....

[oscar jubis]

Originally posted by HorseradishTree
Jubis mentioning Dog Day Afternoon reminds me that I should be watching more Sidney Lumet.

Lumet's had a 45-year career in cinema, after 10 years doing television. Whereas you must watch everything Kubrick directed, Lumet is hit 'n' miss. Avoid Garbo Talks, Equus, A Stranger Among Us, The Seagull, and the lamentable remake of Cassavetes' Gloria, for instance. Go for the definitive adaptation of O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night and Lumet's specialty: NYC crime/cop dramas, such as Prince of the City, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, The Verdict and Night Falls On Manhattan.

[oscar jubis]

Originally posted by Johann
Re: Barry Lyndon being a british film- Oscar- 2001, Clockwork and Barry are all british made, so you might have to amend your list..(Barry Lyndon & ACO were financed by Warner Bros.)

Correct me if I'm wrong. All three films were largely made in the UK, but 2001 was mostly financed(production company) by MGM and A Clockwork Orange was mostly financed by Warners. On the other hand, Warners bought distribution rights but did not finance the production of Barry Lyndon, hence its exclusion from my list of American films of what I call: The counter-culture decade of '66 to '75.

Polanski's best work came from the time-frame Oscar mentions. Enjoy those films oscar! I love TWO MEN AND A WARDROBE- his first short- it's probably on that set you are anticipating- as well as The Fat and The Lean. You'll love the early Polanski just as much as the "marred" Polanski.

I'd be surprised if Anchor Bay fails to release the Polanski 4-disc set in North America. It was released in the UK less than a month ago to glowing reviews for quality of image transfer, liner notes, etc. It contains both shorts you mention including three supposedly older ones in the tradition of "free cinema" movement, which deal briefly with Polanski's favorite themes of violence, voyeurism and cruelty. Apparently they lack the surreal elements of Two Men and a Wardrobe. One of these is called Let's Break The Ball. Apparently Roman held a party and didn't tell guests he had also invited a gang of violent thugs.

Please let us know if you feel Trier's DOGVILLE needs the trimming it got.
Uncut Dogville.
Lucky bastard....
The buzz about Dogville is very good, especially about Nicole's perf. But the film will again result in complaints(in some quarters) about Lars being a misogynist. My worry is that audiences will reject a film that takes place largely on an empty stage.

[oscar jubis]

Originally posted by Johann
I love hearing that you and Oscar Jubis saw Barry in it's first run.

I was 14. I'll never forget the shimmering quality of the orange-tinged lights in the indoor scenes. The bright, sunny outdoor scenes. The use of zooms, which I had found so annoyingly hectic in Bergman's The Magic Flute the previous week, so captivatingly luxurious here. The wigs a tad too big, the faces a tad too white, chalky like ghosts. All the effects used to distance the audience. The characters felt like alien beings to me, particularly Berenson, who poses-not-acts as Lady Lyndon. Actors reduced to figures on a panoramic painting. Kubrick denying us the cheap thrill of suspense by starting each half with titles describing what would happen. The detached voice-over narration setting the events in the past.
The rise and fall of Redmond Barry. Was Kubrick's interest solely to recreate an era? Was it some type of aesthetic experiment for him? Is there anything relevant to contemporary man? The dangers of opportunism, the pitfalls of ambition, the consequences of male competition, the absurdity of rituals?

[Johann]

Marisa Berenson was hired as the lonely Lady Lyndon after Kubrick saw her in Cabaret. She sure worked hard for this movie.

It must have been agony to not know where Kubrick was going with this huge prod. It took years to prepare, and during the frustrating shoot Ryan O'Neal shouted to Kubrick: "No one is going to see this movie, Stanley!!!!!"

The scenes that remain entrenched in my mind are the card game with the Chevalier and Steven Berkoff: "I believe you have cheated me", the scene where Hardy Kruger finally exposes Redmond: "You are a liar", the early seduction scene with Nora Brady: "Why are you trembling?", the robbery of Redmond by Capt. Feeney & Shamus: "Capt. Feeney at your service", The battle where Grogan dies: "Kiss me my boy, for we'll never meet again", and any scene with Murray Melvin: "Lord Bullingdon, you're rather glum today.."

And that duel scene is the best duel ever committed to film.
Satisfaction indeed.....

Re: the wigs, makeup- Kubrick was so meticulous about the look of these characters (you can rest assured that he is giving you 18th century fashion DE FACTO) that he even considered lice in the wigs (which was a problem back then), condoms, combs, hairbrushes, underwear, soap, shoes, FUCKING EVERYTHING!! The man was possesed with creating the 1790's in the 1970's.
He apparently had a cataloging system on rolodex cards for his Napoleon research.

I would like to have a look at that collection of info...

I would like to recommend Polanski's TESS as a companion film to Kubrick's Barry Lyndon. It's another 3-hour epic and arguably Polanski's masterpiece as well. Jack Nicholson said upon it's release: "The little bastard did it again!"

[JustaFied]

Interesting discussion of the great (and not-so-great) movies from the '70's. So, what's happened since then to the mainstream American movie? Why are they so bad? I guess mainstream America expects their movies to be simple entertainment now.

To me, what was so great about many of the movies from the '70's was the story. That sounds rather commonsensical, but, amazingly, a real story seems to be something that's lacking in too many movies today. "The Last Detail", "Five Easy Pieces", and "Midnight Cowboy" were wonderful movies about real people and the the subtleties, pain, and pleasure of life and of human interaction. I'm amazed (and delighted) when I see a movie these days that retains these subtleties instead of choosing the over-the-top route. "You Can Count on Me", and more recently, "Lost in Translation" remind me of these '70's movies in that way. Funny, at the end of "Lost in Translation", I expected Bill Murray to go running to her, with the soundtrack playing the violins, and they embrace and live happily ever after. And, when they're lying in bed, talking, I kept expecting him to spout off some witty dialogue so that he could get in her pants, because that's what we're used to seeing. But, it didn't work out that way, and it made the movie much more believable. Shouldn't that be the norm and not the exception?


Every movie does not need a fast-paced action sequence to make it interesting. Every scene of emotion does not need to be profound. Subtlety exists in the world, just not in mainstream American film.

[cinemabon]

With all the revolution in the 1960's and rebellion against the establishment, it wasn't until the 1970's that the true revolution in filmmaking began. The baby boomers had truly come into their own, putting to rest such tired genres as the western and the musical, and bringing back the comedy, expanding adventure films, making realistic dramas, and creating a more believable science fiction genre.

Copolla, Scorsese, Speilberg, Lucas, DePalma, Zemekis, Pakula, Dante, Scott, Friedkin, and many other, all had their biggest debuts in the 1970's. As much as the 1930's premiered its generation of filmmakers with the advent of sound, the 70's gave birth to the next generation with a huge explosion of talent, destined to change the face of cinema forever. Gone were the old blue screen shots and studio set ups, these filmmakers shot on location, using handheld cameras with fast film stocks. Writers were no longer held by the "Hayes Code". A great proliferation of talent and energy flooded into the film market in that illustrious decade and splashed across screens all over America. One of the best decades ever.

1970
I never sang for my father
Five easy pieces
The great white hope
Patton
LIttle Big Man
Dairy of a mad housewife
MASH
Women in Love
Woodstock

1971
The French connection
Sunday bloody sunday
McCabe and Mrs Miller
Klute
The Last Picture show
Carnal Knowledge
Death in Venice
Summer of '42
A clockwork Orange
Shaft
Straw Dogs

1972
The Godfather
The Ruling class
Caberet
Butterflies are free
Travels with my aunt
Lady Sings the blues
Deliverance
Sounder

1973
The Sting
Last Tango in Paris
Save the tiger
The last Detail
The Exorcist
The Paper Chase
A touch of Class
American Graffiti
Cries and Whispers
The Way we were
Day for Night

1974
Chinatown
Godfather part II
Lenny
Alice Doesn't Live Here
A Woman under the influence
Blazing Saddles
The Longest Yard
The Conversation
Young Frankenstein

1975
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Dog Day Afternoon
Shampoo
The Sunshine Boys
Nashville
The Man who Would be King
Barry Lyndon
Jaws
The Wind and the Lion

1976
Taxi Driver
Network
Rocky
All the President's Men
Carrie
Voyage of the Damned
The Last Tycoon
Bound for Glory
King Kong
The Seven Percent Solution
Obsession
The Omen
Silver Streak
A Star is Born

1977
Annie Hall
The Goodbye Girl
Star Wars
Equus
Julia
Looking for Mr. Goodbar
The Turning Point
Close Encounters of the third kind
The Spy who loved me
The Deep

1978
The Deer Hunter
Heaven Can Wait
The Boys from Brazil
Coming Home
The Buddy Holly Story
Interiors
An unmarried Woman
Midnight Express
Superman
Pretty Baby

1979
Being There
Kramer VS Kramer
The China Syndrome
And Justice for all
The Rose
Norma Rae
Manhattan
Apocalypse Now
Breaking Away
All That Jazz
Alien

Every film on this list was nominated for an Oscar. Sorry, I left out many, many good foreign films from this list.

[oscar jubis]

Originally posted by cinemabon
Copolla, Scorsese, Speilberg, Lucas, DePalma, Zemekis, Pakula, Dante, Scott, Friedkin, and many other, all had their biggest debuts in the 1970's.

Actually, Coppola, Scorsese, DePalma and Pakula had their feature film debuts in the 1960s. Two of the most important actors of the past 40 years, Robert DeNiro and Harvey Keitel, had their debut performances in 60s films like Scorsese's Who's that Knocking at my Door? and De Palma's Greetings. Zemekis and Friedkin are certainly not visionaries, whereas some of the most groundbreaking films of the era were directed by older men like Kubrick and Altman.

Jaws, Rocky and Star Wars are good movies. But their enormous success created the bigger-is-better, appeal-to-everyone blockbuster era responsible for the dearth of subtlety in mainstream American film, as expressed by JustaFied in the previous post. Of course I'm not saying there weren't good Hollywood films post-'75. But commercial interests completely took precedence over subtlety,experimentation, ambiguity and artistic integrity.

[Johann]

Christina Ricci said recently that she likes to watch Scorsese movies when she's at home alone. "They're comforting" she said.

I agree. Especially Marty's 70's work. The Last Waltz is a film that I worship. Van Morrison's "Caravan" is something that excites me even just thinking about it. He's better than Dylan in this. Marty captured this 1976 concert in a way that can't be described. It was also made "under the radar" apparently...
Multiple cameras, annecdotes from The Band, staged musical numbers: "Evangeline", "The Weight" & it opens with the last song of the concert!!! Brilliant film and the best concert movie ever.
And I've seen them all: Woodstock, Monterey Pop, Stop Making Sense, The Up in Smoke Tour, etc..

PBS is currently showing a 7 chapter documentary on the Blues.The first episode was by Scorsese, and every episode has a different director (Wim Wenders, Mike Figgis, Clint Eastwood,etc.)
Check it out- it's on all week and Scorsese's opening chapter (which he narrates) is incredible.

I agree with cinemabon's choices: Ken Russell's Women in Love, Summer of '42, Straw Dogs, Deliverance (the duelling banjos!), Last Tango (how did I forget my fave Brando film?), American Grafitti, Day For Night, Nashville, The Deer Hunter, and of course the best film of the 70's: APOCALYPSE NOW


(Barry Lyndon excepting)

[Johann]

The French Connection should not have beat A Clockwork Orange for the Best Picture of 1971.

I was relieved to hear that Bill was basically seeing a shrink after he won because he also felt he was unworthy. He followed it up with a masterpiece, tho: THE EXORCIST. Max von Sydow, Ellen Burstyn, serious scares, beautiful cinematography, killer film.

However


We all know how big Billy's ego got after that- he thought he could pull off a remake of Clouzot's The Wages of Fear. (Sorceror). Big mistake. Why bother? The film was hell to shoot, it bombed at the box office, and it is merely a good movie.

Since his glory days his career has been spotty. I feel he could have been a giant director if only he kept his wild ego in check.
I enjoyed The Hunted with Benicio & Tommy Lee Jones if that helps, Bill...

[oscar jubis]

After repeat viewings this week of several films listed below, I cannot leave Stanley lonely at the top. I managed to find an old ( full screen) vhs of The Passenger. A forgotten classic, Antonioni's last English-language film is a superb metaphysical exploration with stunning visuals.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE FAVORITES

1. BARRY LYNDON (Stanley Kubrick)
NASHVILLE (Robert Altman)
THE PASSENGER (Michelangelo Antonioni)
4. ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST (Milos Forman)
5. DOG DAY AFTERNOON (Sidney Lumet)
MANDINGO (Richard Fleischer)
PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK (Peter Weir)
8. SMILE (Ritchie)
NIGHT MOVES (Arthur Penn)
10.THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING (John Huston)

RUNNERS UP
Jaws (Spielberg), Shampoo (Ashby), Tommy (Russell), The Killer Elite (Peckinpah), Day of the Locust (Schlesinger), Farewell My Lovely (Richards), Lies My Father Told Me (Kadar), Love & Death (Allen), Shivers (Cronenberg), Stepford Wives (Forbes)

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FAVORITES

1. JEANNE DIELMAN (Chantal Akerman)
THE MIRROR (Andrei Tarkovsky)
THE TRAVELLING PLAYERS (Theo Angelopoulos)
4. ADOPTION (Meszaros)
NUMERO DEUX (J.L. Godard)
STORY OF ADELE H. (Francois Truffaut)
7. CAT'S PLAY (Karoly Makk)
COUSIN COUSINE (Tacchella)
LOST HONOR OF KATARINA BLUM (Schlondorff)
THE SEASONS (Pelechian)

RUNNERS UP:
Fox & Friends (Fassbinder), Salo (Pasolini), Cat & Mouse (Lelouch), The Magic Flute (Bergman), Special Section (Costa-Gavras),

[Johann]

I can't argue with your lists, oscar.

I forgot about Adele H., The Travelling Players and The Killer Elite.


How about:

The Tin Drum, All That Jazz, Satan's Brew, The Tree of Wooden Clogs, Scarecrow, Amarcord-(great 1974 film) or Dante's Inferno? (a 1967 tv movie released in the 70's)
Who thinks Ken Russell is a master director?
I certainly do.
(He came from a photography background just like Kubrick- very few of those)

[oscar jubis]

As time allows, I'll continue to revisit the films of the 70s, year by year. I'm using IMDB dates so Amacord will make my '73 list. I'm trying to watch again movies I haven't seen in a while. I'm glad I kept list of the films I loved back in the day.
I like all the movies you mention Johann, especially Tin Drum, made into a cult film by censorshit, and Tree of Wooden Clogs.
As for Mr. Russell, sometimes I like the "supercamp", baroque excess, sometimes I do not. Russell is never boring. Food for thought: Is he somewhat under-rated nowadays because home video cannot do justice to his art direction and cinematography?

[oscar jubis]

ENGLISH LANGUAGE TOP 10

1.CHINATOWN (Roman Polanski)
HEARTS AND MINDS (Peter Davis)
3.A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE (John Cassavetes)
THE CONVERSATION (Francis Ford Coppola)
THE GODFATHER II (FF Coppola)
6.BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA(Peckinpah)
7.ALICE DOESN'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE (Scorsese)
FEMALE TROUBLE (John Waters)
MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS (Sidney Lumet)
YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (Mel Brooks)

RUNNERS UP
Thats Entertainment(Haley), Phantom of the Paradise(De Palma), Parallax View(Pakula), Thieves Like Us(Altman), Harry & Tonto(Mazursky), Blazing Saddles(Brooks), Taking of the Pelham 1,2,3(Sargent), Zardoz(Boorman)


FOREIGN LANGUAGE TOP 10

1.ALI: FEAR EATS THE SOUL (Fassbinder)
MARTHA (Fassbinder)
3.CELINE AND JULIE GO BOATING (Rivette)
4.LACOMBE, LUCIEN (Malle)
ALICE IN THE CITIES (Wenders)
THE MYSTERY OF KASPAR HAUSER (Herzog)
7.COUSIN ANGELICA (Carlos Saura)
DERSU UZALA (Kurosawa)
EL SANTO OFICIO (Arturo Ripstein)
PHANTOM OF LIBERTY (Bunuel)
THE PROMISED LAND (Wadja)

RUNNERS UP
Lancelot of the Lake(Bresson), Sweet Movie (Makavejev), Going Places(Blier), Arabian Nights(Pasolini), Conversation Piece(Visconti), Scent of a Woman(Risi), Swept Away(Wertmuller), The Night Porter(Cavani).

[Johann]

Ken is garish, no doubt about it. He is virtually unknown to the movie-going public. Video might have something to do with it.

How do you tell a regular movie-goer to rent the NC-17 rated WHORE?

How do you convince them to embrace TOMMY or WOMEN IN LOVE (with it's insane scene of Bates & Reed wrestling completely nude?)

Tough sell, Ken is, but if you broaden your viewing horizons, you'll discover a master who belongs in the same class as Herzog and Fellini.

I am anticipating his version of Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher to be genius.

[oscar jubis]

Fall of the Louse of Usher went straight to video. Russell wrote, directed, edited and produced it. He even cast himself as "Dr. Calihari". It's out on dvd. Novices should start elsewhere. Maybe Women in Love.

[inman50]

Oscar, I'd love to initiate those unfamliar with Ken Russell's work to watch The Devils, and see what they think. I know that's cruel, but that's the point. I'm in one of those up to no good moods today.

[Johann]

All of Russell's films are an acquired taste.

The first one of his I saw was Tommy. I didn't like it. It was only when I got into The Who much later that I understood it/appreciated it.

The Devils is something. Same with Lisztomania. Russell's universe is a strange one....

[oscar jubis]

Lisztomania's major problem is simple:"score and orchestration by Rick Wakeman".
Most of us THE WHO fans hated Tommy's soundtrack, except for Tina and Elton. We'd rather listen to the original and to "Who's Next".
I think that Russell's kitsch 'n camp excess needs a counterbalance: the class-production values of The Devils. The expert storytelling of Savage Messiah and Women In Love( Alan Bates, Oliver Reed and Glenda Jackson too). Ms. Jackson's perf in The Music Lovers. I haven't seen Mahler but many like it as much as those earlier ones. Nothing Russell's directed since reaches as high but several are worth seeking out.

[cinemabon]

What a great year for controversy. Remember the fall of Nixon? Remember the Oscars! You had Peter Davis accepting the Oscar in the same vein as Michael Moore, declaring our involvement in Viet Nam is what brought shame on us all, and then Frank Sinatra coming out and saying comments made on the show did not reflect the views of other members, then out comes Warren Beatty calling Sinatra, "You old Republican, you!" WOW! It was great.

And all that over a simple documentary that to this day reflects so many things that are wrong with the way we practice our foreign policy. Nearly thirty years have passed and yet, in the core of America, they still believe that when this country goes to war, we will always have God on our side to guide our way. The mass murder of human beings has never been considered a moral choice for any God, let alone one that purports to condone forgiveness.

[oscar jubis]

Thanks for comments about 1974, HEARTS AND MINDS, and matters of greatest import.

[inman50]

Thanks for reminding me about Hearts and Minds. Sadly, nothing much has changed. America's jingoistic spirit is alive and well. Will Michael Moore's upcoming documentary, Farenheit 911, create the same sort of fervor Hearts and Minds did? I hope so.

[Johann]

How can anybody not be affected by this doc?

Unsettling to the nth degree, how are you supposed to claim to live in an "enlightened age" after this?

Jaw-dropping, nerve-rattling, bone-chilling.

Hearts and Minds should make you very uncomfortable, and after I saw it I was ashamed to be such a big fan of the Rambo movies.

Fahrenheit 911 looks to have Michael going for the jugular once again. George W. Bush is going to have a mini-war on his own soil with the man from michigan....

[cinemabon]

Professor to his secretary: Does all of this chaos make you feel frightened?

Secretary: Oh, yes professor!

Professor: Good! I'm glad!


The Day the Earth Stood Still