Kick Ass Films of the 70s

[Zen]

Ok, I'm sure this is probably something I have just placed way to much significance on, or even imangined completely, but when I think about films of the seventies, that I have really enjoyed I always get the sense that there is some sort of stylistic thread linking them evokes the decade itself for me. It's not the clothing or the slang, but the mindset behind the films.

In any case, I am looking to compile a list of really cool films from the seventies that are representative of the decade, that I should see. To give you a few examples of the types of films that I am talking about I will list a few I have already seen and hopefully y'all can give me some other ideas.

Marathon Man
And Justice For All
Three Days of the Condor
Dog Day Afternoon
The Taking of Pelham 1, 2, 3
Superfly

The films don't have to be in any specific genre or style. They just have to kick ass. Come on people, dig deep into your grey matter and throw out some titles of must see 70's films

Thanks.

Shabba!

[Phil Hall]

The 1970s was the last decade of cool films. Even the musicals were cool, or at least funky ("Cabaret," "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," "Grease").

You could clog up the Film Threat bandwidth by listing every cool movie of the 1970s! ;)

[bronsonseven]

The 1970s was the last decade of cool films. Even the musicals were cool, or at least funky ("Cabaret," "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," "Grease").

You could clog up the Film Threat bandwidth by listing every cool movie of the 1970s! ;)

Speaking of Bob Fosse and the 70s, let's not forget about All That Jazz. I think that's the only musical I can recall liking all the way through.

Others:

Taxi Driver, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore and anything else Scorsese.
Chinatown
Halloween
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
The Conversation
The Deer Hunter

The list goes on and on.

[sonaboy]

Speaking of Bob Fosse and the 70s, let's not forget about All That Jazz. I think that's the only musical I can recall liking all the way through.




you don't like The Blues Brothers all the way through?
or The Muppet Movie? or Willie Wonka?

I always labeled myself as someone who didn't appreciate musicals, because i don't like ones with showtunes in them, but the more i thought about it, the more i realized a lot of my favorite movies are musicals.
they just aren't the traditional formula for the musical.

[Furious D]

Some of my fave flicks of the 70's.


The Godfather parts 1 & 2
Dog Day Afternoon
Serpico
Star Wars
Chinatown
Straw Dogs
Halloween
Deep Red
Duel (TV movie, but still among Spielberg's best work)


And probably loads more, but that's all I can think of at the moment.

[bronsonseven]

you don't like The Blues Brothers all the way through?
or The Muppet Movie? or Willie Wonka?



Not to bring it up again on this fine board, but I pretty much hated everything about the original Wonka (except Wilder). I dig the Muppet Movie but the music isn't as annoying as most other musicals.

Blue Brothers is about the music, so it doesn't bother me. I hate musicals that try to tell a story through song, where the song really has no purpose being there in the first place. Like, Chicago or Singing in the Rain. It's an exercise in storytelling I just never connected with.

[Phil Hall]

Wasn't "The Blues Brothers" released in 1980?

[bronsonseven]

Wasn't "The Blues Brothers" released in 1980?

Indeed it was but he was just bringing it up in relation to my statement about the musical genre, not the as an example of of this thread's subject matter.

[sonaboy]

Wasn't "The Blues Brothers" released in 1980?

yes, but i was asking more about his movie tastes than the actual era when it was released.

and i completely agree with you bronson, about exposition through song - that bugs the hell out of me too.

which is why i usually gravitate towards movies like Hedwig, and Blues Brothers, rather than West Side Story, or whatnot..


My faves from the 70s:
The Exorcist
Chinatown
Star Wars (duh)
Alien
A Clockwork Orange
Close Encounters
Taxi Driver

[El Duderino Diablo]

Likely to be an awful lot of repitition here. That being said then, in no particular order:

Alien
Two-Lane Blacktop
Vanishing Point
Phantasm
Lone Wolf & Cub/Babycart series (nobody said this had to be an American list)
Lady Snowblood
Jaws
Enter the Dragon
Dawn of the Dead
Exorcist
Taxi Driver
The Three Musketeers
The Four Musketeers
Monty Python & The Holy Grail
Close Encounters
Star Wars
A Clockwork Orange
Royal Flash
Marathon Man
Boys in Company C
Go Tell the Spartans
Apocalypse Now
Female Convict Scorpion Jailhouse 41
Halloween
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Animal House
Do'des Ka Den

[Ricky Retardo]

I first watched "The Blues Bros" on a hit of acid and HATED it (an impression that lasts to this day). When I see that movie I feel lame jokes, piss poor acting, bad production numbers and uninspired stuntwork. I think these guys hurried through thier scenes the sooner to get to the cocaine. It's pretty bad when I thought the best thing in the film was a 30 second shot of John Lee Hooker sitting on a street corner singing "Boom, Boom". I MUCH prefer "Neighbors" or "1941".

As for the topic...there are far too many to list.

[dawgzilla67]

I'd throw in God Told Me To, Eraserhead, and Little Murders to the already excellent list of choices presented. Oh, and The Honeymoon Killers.

[sonaboy]

I first watched "The Blues Bros" on a hit of acid and HATED it (an impression that lasts to this day). When I see that movie I feel lame jokes, piss poor acting, bad production numbers and uninspired stuntwork. I think these guys hurried through thier scenes the sooner to get to the cocaine.

uninspired stunts?
uhh..yeah - it's only got TWO of the greatest car chases on film. :rolleyes:
since when is the dancing and acrobatics in the church scene considered uninspired?
piss poor acting, check - that happens when everyone acts as a caricature, and you use non-actors to fill main roles.
there were some bad production numbers, granted - but it had some good ones too:
James Brown
Ray Charles
Cab Calloway doing a call and return with 300 people

sorry the Electric Kool-Aid ruined a potentially good time for ya.

[Mr B Natural]

Lone Wolf & Cub/Babycart series (nobody said this had to be an American list)

Damn right!

Master Killer (great kung fu film)
Piranha
Gimme Shelter
Dawn of the Dead

I'm sure there are more I can't think of right now...

all around a great decade for films.

[flash]

My top 10 has already been listed by everyone else, but I'd consider dumping the lot of 'em in exchange for my Drunk list:

Breaking Away
Smokey and the Bandit
The Warriors
Saturday Night Fever
Dirty Harry
Eraserhead
Superman
Sorcerer
Young Frankenstein
Blazing Saddles

[Ricky Retardo]

MY OPINION is that The Blues Brothers is one of the worst movies ever made. Everything about it sucks and I become suspicious of anyone who holds this crapfest in high regard.

[Rory L. Aronsky]

I like it to a certain extent, but even in the theatrical version, it gets to the point where it becomes exasperating.

[djdirector]

Would love to hear your thoughts on what film, if any, encompasses the sensibilities of both 70's and 80's filmmaking.

It's funny. Whenever I watch AMERICAN GIGOLO, as it rolls the credits over Blondie's "Call Me," I always get this feeling that the film is saying to the audience, "Say hello to the '80s!" Although a substantial portion of the film has a true "70's" sensisbility, I do believe this film captures the moment when the flashy Bruckheimer (who produced it)/Miami Vice aura of filmmaking began.

What do you think?

Great forum topic, by the way.........

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You're talkin' to McElroy, lead singer, drives the Winnebago!"

-Blues Brothers

[djdirector]

also let's not forget:

THE PARALLAX VIEW

NASHVILLE

NORTH DALLAS FORTY

ROLLERBALL

M*A*s*H*

AMERICAN GRAFFITI

[judex]

Several Horror films made in the 70s had a huge impact on the 80s including:

Alien
Halloween
Dawn of the Dead
Friday the 13th
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Suspiria

Frankly, I think most of the 80s horror output were poor reflections of these films..

[Action Jackson]

There's too many to list! Here's some of the best genre and explotation flicks:

Deep Red
Black Christmas
Bay of Blood
Alice Sweet Alice
Last House on the Left
Coffy
Thriller: a Crule Picture (aka They Call Her One Eye)
Five Deadly Venoms
Drunken Master
Master of the Flying Guilloteen
The Chinese Connection
Taxi Driver
:D :D

[fls13]

Music films from the 70s?

Tommy
The Song Remains The Same
Pink Floyd Live at Pompeii

[theNYripper]

Surprised no one has mentioned The Gambler with James Caan yet. One of my favorites of all time. I highly recommend it if you haven't already seen it.

other ones that I don't think anyone mentioned yet:

Midnight Express
Network
Rollerball
Dillinger
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
Wattstax

[Zen]

Would love to hear your thoughts on what film, if any, encompasses the sensibilities of both 70's and 80's filmmaking.


I know it didn't come out until 1983 but for some reason Scarface, for me, seems to do what you stated above and bridge the gap between 70's and 80's filmaking. I guess though that is part due to the fact that so much of the movie was trying to emulate the excess of the 80's but was made by a film director from the 70's who was still trying to find his footing in the new decade.

[The Baron]

My list? Just go back and re-read The Dude's list. For my money, he hit 'em right on the head.

It's really difficult to say what film or films were definitive transitions. IMO, every film made between 1979 and 1981 added something to the transit. In the 1970s, we (as a society) were still reeling (pun intended) from the '60s. The transition from the '60s to the '70s was actually more of a homoginizing. The end of the 1960s involved reassessing the values of your world, being more conscious of social injustices, and a goodly dash of paranoia was added to the mix via the Kennedy assassinations. We lost our collective innocence in the '60s.

Add psychedelics, stir and serve.

Star Wars is a prime example of "Film in the Early 1980s." New technology. Before SW, we had no idea that anyone COULD make a movie like that. And like cocaine, (the defining drug of the '80s,) it made you feel good, and left you wanting more.

As I see it, the "true '70s movie" has a deep message. (e.g., Dawn of the Dead's skewering of consumerism, Enter the Dragon's philosophical heart.) The "true '80s movie" is slick and exaggerated. It indulges the audience's whims a la MTV. (And there we see a foreshadowing of the disaster which is the Hollywood film of the New Millenium.)

From personal experience, (I started working in film in 1977,) there was a vast difference in the "attitude" of the scripts that crossed my desk between the '70s and the '80s. Even in horror films, the common place, the norm, was what was scandalous five years earlier. The film makers that pushed the boundaries in the '70s made the everyday excess of the '80s a non-issue. (A prime example: I starred in a film made in 1980, at the climax of which I am bludgeoned, shot, and finally set aflame. Overkill? Yes. But it was so '80s because it was "one-upsmanship." Like hostile take-overs.)

1970s drug = Quaaludes
1980s drug = Cocaine

1970s film = Tell a story. We have time. We have an attention span.
1980s film = Make it BIG, make it fast. I have dilated pupils. Did I mention fast? NOW! NOW! NOW! GIMME! Feed me...

You can't have a discussion about epochs in film making without considering the times and culture in which the films were made; and this post has already gone on far too long. ;)

[Action Jackson]

"You can't have a discussion about epochs in film making without considering the times and culture in which the films were made; and this post has already gone on far too long."


I agree but, I think that those who posted; (at least in my case) just posted what movies they thought were cool that happened to be made in the 70's. Movies are a reflection of society, and in todays society; where the people are so used to instant gratification; the movies are going to suffer. There's less focus on story, and more on just feeding the masses. Content is not as important as quantity. It's the old "quantity over quality" situation. We live in the information age, and everyone is bombarded with information nonstop. Every thing is compacted into short unspecific soundbytes, and clips. So, the attention span of the average person today is a short as the penis of an Asian midget. So, when someone like myself, who's a child of the 80's; sees the films from the late 60's and the 70's it's like wow! Why can't movies be like that now, and of course it makes you take notice of the era in which those films where made, and compare and contrast the state of society at that time, with todays. I think most of us know (or at least are aware) that the times and the culture had a huge impact on the films from back then; as they do now.

[Zen]

So, the attention span of the average person today is a short as the penis of an Asian midget.

As an Asian Midget speaking frankly, I will have you know I am hung like a tiny elephant.

[Rory L. Aronsky]

And even that elephant is laughing at you. :rolleyes:

[truepictures]

Don - starring Amitabh Bachhan - A Classic Bollywood flick. This coming from the guy who really doesn't dig much of Bollywood-fare. Don is basically about a biker with great sunglasses, bellbottoms, ass-kicking of bad guys, and being a smooth operator.

[judex]

The One Armed Boxer and its sequel Master of the Flying Guillotine. Wang Yu may or may not be a triad thug, but boy he made some whacky, entertaining kung fu flicks.

[Action Jackson]

The One Armed Boxer and its sequel Master of the Flying Guillotine. Wang Yu may or may not be a triad thug, but boy he made some whacky, entertaining kung fu flicks.



Wang Yu a triad thug? Really? I never heard that, sounds interesting. Let me know more...

[judex]

Yup. That's the rumor. You can go here to find out a little (very little) about his alleged triad ties:

http://www.kungfucinema.com/people/jimmy_wang_yu.htm

Or just go to google and run a search for "Wang Yu Triads."

[El Duderino Diablo]

Aye, supposedly Jackie Chan was quite opposed to being involved in Island of Fire but he kinda owed Jimmy Wang Yu a favour. One of those offer they can't refuse sorta deals.

[colacola]

Race With The Devil
THX-1138
Rolling Thunder
The Killer Elite
Invasion Of The Body Snatchers
Klute
Deep Red
The Long Goodbye
Soldier Of Orange
Chloe In The Afternoon
Sorcerer
The Taking Of Pelham 123

[sharell]

My choice would be Grease.. that movie really set a trend in fashion, dance, songs.. It has really made a huge impact on everybody..

[sterling]

The Long Goodbye



Thank you for choosing The Long Goodbye--seems to be the only Altman movie i can enjoy, much less love, these days. I know there are more I want to pick that nobody else has, but the one that most immediately jumps to mind: Don't Look Now