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?