What are your favourite films from the '70s?

Guest 33484 · 21-11-2005, 18:57

I was recently reading the decade feature in Empire Magazine in which they were dissecting the '70s and examining why it's hailed by many as the golden decade for cinema. So which films do you lot recommend as essential viewing in order to see how the '70s not only revolutionised filmmaking but also provided fine films in their own right?

Guest 20735 · 21-11-2005, 19:09

I think that the most groundbreaking film of the 70's has to be StarWars. It almost changed the face of movies for good with its effects and merchandising.

John Hodson · 21-11-2005, 19:12

No doubt you'll get lots of replies Rik, but check out these thread:

Great 70s Cinema
Must See '60s & '70s movies?
Overlooked '70s Pictures

Personally, if, in hindsight, it is seen (quite rightly) as a revolutionary period, it stretched from the '60s through to latter part of the '70s, think of Point Blank, The Parallax View, Bonnie & Clyde, Electra Glide in Blue, The Wild Bunch, 2001; A Space Odyssey, Close Encounters..., Chinatown, Blow Up, Performance, Don't Look Now (and on, and on...)

Quote:

Originally Posted by gunner

I think that the most groundbreaking film of the 70's has to be StarWars. It almost changed the face of movies for good with its effects and merchandising.

It didn't 'almost', it did. The most groundbreaking? Not IMHO. Earthshaking? Certainly. Without SW we wouldn't have a cinema today which is so soft, flabby and safe.

Guest 41134 · 21-11-2005, 19:41

Blockbuster Mentality as Peter Biskind likes to call it. But he likes putting some of the blame at the feet of Jaws first.

Once read George Lucas getting quite shirty about the term connected to his films, in a 1999 Big Issue interview of all places. About the same time Biskind's 70s Hollywood book was out. His reply went something like

"Its not my fault the cinema audiances are stupid!!"

He had a point kinda. Which the homeless magazine obliged to plaster the quote on the cover next to a picture of his cheeky chops.

John Hodson · 21-11-2005, 19:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by JOEY PINEAPPLES

Blockbuster Mentality as Peter Biskind likes to call it. But he likes putting some of the blame at the feet of Jaws first.

Jaws changed the way movies were marketed, but it has the advantage of better direction, a much better script and performances; in short, it is, for me, the much better film. Don't get me wrong, when I'm in the mood, I can sit down in front of SW and have a rollicking good time, just in the same way I can still enjoy Buster Crabbe in Flash Gordon; but that's no Grapes of Wrath and SW is no Annie Hall.

anephric · 21-11-2005, 20:04

Exactly - Jaws might be a poor man's Moby Dick, but at least there's a lofty source to begin with/crib from (I don't care what you say about Campbell and Kurosawa). Star Wars is a rich, stupid man's Flash Gordon.

What that means, I don't know. Um. Zero of a Thousand Faeces?

Guest 41134 · 21-11-2005, 20:12

True.
For the 70s kids in Hollywood its more a situation of..
Jaws put its head around the door.. SW kicked it off the hinges.

R-T-C · 21-11-2005, 20:17

The greatest era of Euro-cinema, from Argento's Suspiria, to the plethora of Spaghetti Westerns and German exploitation films. Sure there is a load of trash there, but some classics buried in there as well:

- Profondo Rosso (Deep Red) - dir. Dario Argento
- Zombi 2 - dir. Lucio Fulci
- Mark of the Devil - dir. Micheal Armstrong
- Venus in Furs - dir. Jess Franco
- Suspiria - dir. Dario Argento
- Don't Torture a Duckling - dir. Lucio Fulci
- Blood for Dracula - dir. Paul Morrisey

Guest 41134 · 21-11-2005, 20:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by R-T-C

The greatest era of Euro-cinema, from Argento's Suspiria, to the plethora of Spaghetti Westerns and German exploitation films. Sure there is a load of trash there, but some classics buried in there as well:

- Profondo Rosso (Deep Red) - dir. Dario Argento
- Zombi 2 - dir. Lucio Fulci
- Mark of the Devil - dir. Micheal Armstrong
- Venus in Furs - dir. Jess Franco
- Suspiria - dir. Dario Argento
- Don't Torture a Duckling - dir. Lucio Fulci
- Blood for Dracula - dir. Paul Morrisey

Not sure about the Spaghetti's. 66-70 was the golden era. When Terence Hill started slapping the bad guys it went slightly pair shaped. still a boom time maybe.
Wasn't a good time for British Cinema, American money and production went home after that little skirmish in Vietnam.

Guest 52384 · 21-11-2005, 21:36

The age when violence,sex and swearing became prerequisite in adult cinema,and Bob Kellett directed the film version of "Are You Being Served?"

Guest 33812 · 21-11-2005, 22:16

The seventies was the golden age of horror. The whole genre reinvented itself. Cannibal killers replacing the classic screen monsters of the past. The idea that our neighbours could be monsters is a hell of a lot more frightening than some bloke creeping about in a black cape. Not only did these new type of horror films up the levels of violence, but there was often social commentary to be found too.

The seventies was when 'horror' wasn't regarded as a dirty word. Even the big studios got in on the act too, The Exorcist and The Omen for example. A couple of serious and pretty damn creepy horror flicks served up for a mainstream audience. It wouldn't happen now, or if they did they'd be called "pyschological" or "supernatural thrillers" or something equally inane.

Anyway, my faves in no particular order are:

Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Suspiria
Jaws
Deliverance
Dawn of the Dead
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Zombi 2
The Hills Have Eyes
The Last House On the Left
I Spit On Your Grave
Halloween
Shivers

I could go on forever with this, so I'll stop. I guess I should get one of those car stickers or a T-shirt that say's "I love the 70's". I wouldn't mind but I was only a kiddie back then. It's just that these films are so much better than the formulaic rubbish we get these days.

Guest 50820 · 21-11-2005, 23:04

Jaws
Little Big Man
Ulzana's Raid
The Eagle Has Landed
Wicker Man
Straw Dogs
Friday the 13th

and many more, the late sixties and seventies was cinema at it's very best. Movies made by adults for adults, not the teen/kiddie rubbish they make these days.

thescrounger · 21-11-2005, 23:21

Jaws
The Towering Inferno
Papillon
Star Wars
Westworld
Capricorn One
Star Trek The Motion Picture
Alien
The Long Goodbye (Altman)
The Getaway
Chinatown
One Flew Over The Cuckos Nest
The Drowning Pool
The Godfather: Part II
Superman The Movie
Apocalypse Now
The Great Gatsby
Marathon Man

thescrounger · 21-11-2005, 23:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by gunner

I think that the most groundbreaking film of the 70's has to be StarWars. It almost changed the face of movies for good with its effects and merchandising.

I dunno, James Bond and Planet of the apes had plenty of cash in merchandising, underpants, towels, dolls, you name it. That was all before Star Wars. Besides, wasn't James Bond really the first event blockbuster? Thunderball and You Only Live Twice were huge global action and effects laden popcorn movies that everybody *had* to go and see.

Guest 4252 · 21-11-2005, 23:44

This evening I watched Three Days of the Condor, which I think may be a bit unjustly forgotten in comparison with The Parallax View, and is even topical in this age of oil wars.

And why has everyone forgotten Michael Ritchie films, with such gems as The Candidate, Smile, Downhill Racer and The Bad News Bears? Also, no discussionn of the seventies can neglect The Long Goodbye and Nashville, Altman's masterpieces. Nasville initiated a style of film making that continues today in the work of film makers like Paul Thomas Anderson and in the recent Crash.

In the seventies Francis Ford Coppola was in his prime with The Godfather pts 1 and 2 and The Conversation.

There was Hal Ashby with Harold and Maude and The Last Detail.

Bob Rafelson made Five Easy Pieces and The King of Marvin Gardens.

Nicholson was in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest and The Passenger.

Woody Allen made Annie Hall, Manhattan and Play It Again, Sam.

All these in addition to the films mentioned above by John Hodson.

Jaws may have been the first blockbuster, but it was also a very good film that Spielberg has never bettered.

Looking at it now it seems an incredibly rich few years.

corkbouy · 22-11-2005, 00:49

The French Connection and Dirty Harry, which both came out in the same year, 1971. it's very interesting to watch them back-to-back and compare their ideologies. cuz back in the 70's, films weren't afraid of such big subjects.
still, i'd compare this era to the 60's where the big epic reigned. maybe the 2010's will be the new 70's! fingers crossed!

Guest 52384 · 22-11-2005, 01:16

maybe I'll start a thread "Favourite films with "the" in the title"

Guest 20765 · 22-11-2005, 10:20

the thing about pre-video 70's is that you would have to go to the cinema (or school/uni film clubs) to see some earlier classics - so it was a great decade for adolescents like me to catch up on 60's classics too (inc James Bond flicks).
As for 70's movies, I was never one to be sucked into blockbusters like Star Wars or Jaws (or even Alien), but I remember cinema trips to see:
Tommy
Holiday on the Buses
Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii
(I'll get my coat...)
Thank heavens for dvd now and the chance to capture some of the best films of this momentous decade for the arts (music as well as film was most inventive from late 60's to early 80's).
Too many great films to list but I think 70's was best for Woody Allen and Luis Bunuel

Guest 7300 · 22-11-2005, 13:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by thescrounger

James Bond and Planet of the apes.

I missed that film.. shame sounded good

as for jacquesbrel.. the first two.. yup get your coat.. but their aint nothing wrong with Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii. Actually Tommy wasn't too bad.

My Fave 70's flix have to be Jaws and StarWars I'm afraid. these films were so big when I was so little. Now as a thirtysomething adult I have perhaps more refined tastes but at the time those were the pics that did it for me.

Also a big thumbs up to Westworld and One Flew Over The Cuckos Nest as mentioned above previously.

Guest 15513 · 22-11-2005, 20:27

I'll try to avoid repeating ....

McCabe and Mrs Miller - no other film has evoked the western era as this has for me.

The Conversation - a film which deals with the 'larger' issues of technology and surveillance by focussing on one lonely man's obsession.

The taking of Pelham 123 - Hijacking a train - 70s terrorists had no more fancy objectives than money.

The Sting - a great story superbly acted.

Cross of iron - a haunting film using Coburn's officer to reveal the psychological impact of war.