If you're giving my list of 1970 movie favorites a looksee, thank you very much. Creating this list makes me realize that there were some hellified actresses getting work back then. (Where IS Susan Anspach?!!!) Hmmm, I think I need a 70's marathon at home very very soon. I’ve listed these films alphabetically b’cuz anyway else would be masochistic, and included within is a separate homage to "Just Jack":
ALIEN - I love Tom Skerritt, but my eyes never left Sigourney Weaver or the idea of an alien whose blood is acid. The shock of it all. The crew being stalked, the chest bursting scene, Yaphet Kotto. (Hey, is this a re-make of
“It! The Terror In Space”?) What in the name of Raisinettes is going on?! You watch Sigourney become a leader (and a star). It was amazing to watch her fight through her fear in her final confrontation with the Alien. I floated home. I had a hero. I had a hero who was a girl. “Aliens” in the 80’s was an even better sequel. When Weaver suits up to protect little Newt and confront & fight the queen Alien says to it:
“Get away from her, you b*tch!” THAT almost caused a riot in the theatre of screaming and cheering by every man, woman and dog.
AMERICAN GRAFFITI - I found this a joyous infectious romp. Boys and cars and music. I saw the movie seven times (four times one day; three times the next day). The kids...the music. I just loved it.
ANNIE HALL - Aaaah Woody! King of the (cerebral) comedy. Smart, clever, romantic and showed a New York I wish I lived in...and
I’m a native New Yorker born and raised there!!! Diane Keaton was a dream. You should have seen the windows of Bloomingdale’s filled with the fashions of Annie Hall.
La-dee-dah, la-dee-dah!!
BLACULA - Finally, African-Americans in a horror film where our eyes weren’t bulging and our feets weren’t doin’ their stuff! Updating the saga of the vampire into the urban world was great! And William Marshall is elegant, handsome and I’d love to be bitten by him.
Dracula's Soul Brother?. Aaah, American International Pictures. You had me at hell-o. Oh look, the great Elisha Cook Jr. is in this too.
BLAZING SADDLES /
YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN - Mel Brooks, the King of the (Slapstick) comedy. He’s a genius...and his homage to classic films genre is...is...genius. The funniest movie I saw in the 70’s. Pokes fun at everything. Cleavon and Gene’s chemistry was wonderful. Korman showing a student i.d. to get into the movie; Cleavon holding a gun to his own head and wearing that baaad suede suit. Mel playing with the bat and ball (“This is defective.”) And then there’s Madeline Kahn. “It’s twue, it’s twue.” And “...Frankenstein” Frau Blucher; Fronkenst
een; the lab; and Gene Hackman as the Blind Man, it’s all hilarious. "Y.F." just played at the TCMFF, and the packed crowd
still found it hilarious.
CALIGULA - The best way to attend a Roman orgy without being beheaded, pillaged and hungover is to watch it from your movie seat. Astounding cornucopia of orgiastic decadence. Malcolm McDowell. Insane. My eyes fell out of their sockets a couple of times. This film was wilder than a 60’s love-in. Now that's what I'm talkin' about. (The Moderators might tar & feather me if I cite a scene here).
CARRIE - Blown away by this movie. Love DePalma. Carrie’s not a teenage werewolf, or a teenage frankenstein. She’s a paranormal teen (again...taking the normal, the regular and heightening it. Sex, religion, science, teen angst, revenge. What a mixture, what a cast, what a laying out of the story...that prom nite at the gym...woosh! Poor poor Carrie, a night from hell. And then she goes home to Mama. Piper Laurie shows her acting chops as Carrie’s sexy scary repressive mom. How does Stephen King sleep at night? What do
his nightmares look like.
DAY FOR NIGHT - Love Truffaut, gentle Truffaut. Saw a slew of his movies in the 70’s. I liked this movie about movies and getting involved in all the film’s characters’ lives. I sub-titled my way throughout the 70's seeing a lot of foreign films.
Here is a little reminder. And I really liked Jacqueline Bissett.
DON'T LOOK NOW - Eerie, provocative ghost story... a couple’s tragedy played out in an abandoned
Venice. The love scene between Donald Sutherland & Julie Christie was innovatively shown. But what the heck was that scary little thing in the red raincoat. Holy...
THE EXORCIST - The 30’s had its Frankenstein and Mummy. The 40’s had its Wolfman. The 50’s had its creatures from the black lagoon and all sorts of radioactive ants, tarantulas and men and women and octupi. But thanxxx to Ellen Burstyn, Lee J. Cobb, William Friedkin’s direction, "The Exorcist" was the scariest movie of the 1970's. It practically killed my mother EVER attending another film in the theatre alone. AGAIN. The tension ev’ry time the camera took us up the stairs to Linda Blair’s bedroom was maddening, frightening. Burstyn gave a great performance:
“I’m telling you that thing up there is not my daughter. Now I want you to tell me that you know for a fact that there’s nothing wrong with my daughter except in her mind. You tell me for a fact that an exorcism wouldn’t do any good. You tell me that!" And how good is Mercedes McCambridge? So good we don’t even have to see her to be scared. I just saw the movie recently in a one-night only screening at a multi-plex. Still eerie and terrifying. Those bells...those bells.
GODFATHER/
GODFATHER II - An epic Shakespearean tragedy of the saga of one family. It had me hooked and took me inside a different world.
"You broke my heart, Fredo." That last shot of Michael in the sequel...deadly.
HALLOWEEN - I guess I tend to like the “First” of things and this’d be one of ‘em. I like getting scared in the movies. The monster chasing kids. Well...that just about killed trick or treating. Became a big Jamie Lee Curtis fan. What does Activia have that today's scripts don't offer Jamie Lee.
JAWS - Saw nothing like it before. Loved “Rodan” and “King Kong.” But really, a gigantic ape? Now a shark is based in reality. And that was scarier. Reality. It could happen. That first shark attack is seared in my memory. You could not tell me that there wasn’t something dark, deadly, gigantic and primeval below the surface. Poor girl. Good god, Spielberg could have retired after this. What a great movie. Robert Shaw was the human shark.
JULIA - Two powerhouse actresses/activists. Strong women who speak their minds. A good involved drama of deep friendship and respect. ...And they weren’t
even fighting over some guy. Fonda & Redgrave. Maybe they
are their fathers' daughters.
KLUTE - There’s my girl again...and she ain't no Barbarella. Jane Fonda as a high class call girl mixed up in a murder mystery Donald Sutherland is trying to solve. Fonda’s very good as the call girl who is more afraid of committing that of being the next murder victim. I loved her performance. Here’s a touch of it in this three minute
trailer.
LAST PICTURE SHOW - The last days in the life of a movie theater, in a town, in the life of boys turning into men. It looked so empty and desolate out there. No hustle bustle about it. Great character study. My 70’s heartthrob and crush was Timothy Bottoms; but no doubt, this was Ben Johnson’s movie. Glad he got talked into doing it. The strength and sensitivity he showed as the anchor, the rock was fantastic. His scene talking to the boys by the river is a dream. I think Ben pulled this from his
soul. It touched mine. Thank you Academy. (The only thing of Bogdanovich’s I ever liked. And could s'meone ask him to puhleeeze take off that darned ascot or scarf he
still wears...sheesh!).
LAST TANGO IN PARIS - To think, a simple dairy product... Well, listen, ya gotta see this movie at least once. I found it very daring. There goes Brando again...taking chances. Ha! What does he have to risk at
this stage of the game.
NETWORK - Never in ten million years will anyone ever again write like Paddy Chayefsky. Incisive writer!Perfect casting! Brilliant script! Beatrice Straight’s ten-minute scene was worth three Oscars. Conchata Ferrell channeled Eve Arden (why is she on “Two And A Half-Men”?!) And Faye Dunaway: fearless. She was the It Girl of the 70’s like I said. In this, she’s a lethal laser beam that would slice through anyone’s soul like a machete. And the scene with the contract negotiations with the faux Symbionese Liberation Army send up is hands down...a classic. That’s the way to do comedy...seriously!! Chayefsky was Nostradamus. Don't believe me? Then check
this out. Seeee what I mean? Oh Wisconsin, Wisconsin. What have you done!
* * * *
Just a coupla
“JACKS.” If Faye Dunaway was the It Girl of the 1970’s then I’d nominate
JACK NICOHOLSON as the Male Actor of the 70’s. He made a number of films that I really enjoyed back then, and here’s my take on some of ‘em:
( * ) ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST - If anyone could buck the system it was Jack, or he’d die trying. I thought Louise Fletcher made a perfectly lethally sexy black widow. Freud!!! Paging Dr. Sigmund Freud for CineMaven! Dr. Freud!! (Guys...you don't know the half of it).
( * ) CHINATOWN - Sister? Daughter? Pay no attention to the historical significance of L.A.’s H
2O history. Loved Jack’s mystery solving journey. And Faye
was the IT Girl of the 70’s.
( * ) FIVE EASY PIECES - One of those quiet relationship dramas the 70’s did so well because the audience en masse had a longer attention span. Jack can’t escape his family drama. Check out the
trailer for a little reminder. Jack’s good when he’s quiet, and he’s good when he’s explosive. Waitresses, do yourself a favor, just please give the man what he’s ordered.
( * ) CARNAL KNOWLEDGE - One man’s journey into sexual oblivion. We watch Jack’s relationships with a gamut of women, who set themselves up for a bad bad fall dealing with him; like being mesmerized by a cobra. He simply cannot sustain a relationship. He’s hatefully hilarious. Ann-Margret gives a great performance and becomes roadkill to Jack’s
libido. Nope, by the end of it all he can't sustain...a...single...thing as Rita Moreno and the film's ironic ending will demonstrate. I say Jack was the most fearless actor of the 70's.
* * * *
ROCKY - Yes, we know this age-old story. But it was new once. What can I tell you, I fell for this story hook, line and sinker. Stallone was great (writing this, he held out for being cast as the lead when no one wanted him). I rooted for the big palooka. “ADRIAN!!!!” rivals Brando’s rebel yell for Stella. Go Rocky! Maybe not “Rocky 13” but definitely the
first time was the charm. I enjoyed it very much.
SHAMPOO - WHAT? You didn’t like Warren Beatty in the 70’s? Awww man. I did. Boyishly sexy then he produced and directed. But I loved this sex romp of a Beverly Hills hairdresser who wooed and rinsed the rich ladies like their husbands never could. Big Julie Christie fan as well. She had IT too. I found it funny and sexy.
STAR WARS - I’d never seen anything like it. Aw c’mon, “2001: A Space Odyssey” was too cerebral for the high schooler that I was...but THIS? Whoa!! Yeah, a good ol’ fashion western thrust into the 25th century. Great story, epic villain, the sfx were just right and didn’t overwhelm the story. The audience cheered when the Millenium Falcon went into hyperdrive. The most deadly line of the decade:
“I am your father.” The audience screamed. I loved Han Solo, but there was something sexy about that man in black with the killer voice and all that power.
SUPERMAN - Whoa!!! Way more than George Reeves could ever conceive, I was just in love with Christopher Reeve in this. The whole legend really came to life for me here. Superman’s grief at Lois Lane’s death brought tears to my eyes as he literally flies up in a rage into the heavens. Good good fun, I saw this movie several times during its initial release. He’s actually flying.
WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE - Another one of those grown-up dramas that made me feel like a grown-up when I watched and tried to get my twenty-year old brain to understand. Gena Rowlands was remarkable as a woman on a slippery slope to mental illness. Gena is an unsung treasure in movies. Not always on the A-list's radar, except for those in the know ("GLORIA"). But when you cross her path, you’ve got to just siddown a while and watch her. Cassavetes, the hero of ‘indie cinema’ to me and my classmates who were trying to explore movies as more than just entertainment. This isn’t an easy watch, but you
will be compelled to watch
Gena.
May I please give an honorable mentioned shout out to two Genevieve Bujold films from the 70's:
"OBSESSION" and
"COMA" Can someone please tell me where Elizabeth Ashley is?
I see some folks have included lists of 80’s films. I'll look into that very soon. I saw
“MS. 45” included. Aaaaaah, a movie after my own heart. Oh yeah, my heart is very very dark in the 80's.