The Eleven Best 70s Films
Submitted by lbangs on Tue, 09/17/2002 - 03:36
Tags:
- 1) Cabaret (1972)
- 2) The Garden of the Finzi Continis (1970)
- 3) Chinatown (1974)
- 4) The Godfather Part II (1974)
- 5) Harold and Maude (1971)
- 6) Nashville (1975)
- 7) Halloween (1978)
- 8) Manhattan (1979)
- 9) Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
- 10) Alien (1979)
- 11) Taxi Driver (1976)
Just happened to drop by...
I'm sad that Badlands isn't here, but I'm elated that Alien is:) I don't know if I would put Halloween in the top, ahem, eleven, but I think it is a really good film that gets overlooked because of how horrible most of the "slasher" films that followed were.
I'd also maybe give the nod to Jaws over Close Encounters when it comes to the big event movies of the seventies, but that's just a quibble.
I also haven't seen Finzi Continis, but I know you've mentioned it before. I'll have to see if you've posted a review of it somewhere.
Johnny Waco
Wow, I'm very happy to hear from you, Johnny!
I may just be a sucker for Halloween, but I find it to be a masterpiece of emotional manipulation. I love it.
You know, thinking mostly of your valuable opinion, I checked the Badlands DVD out of my library a few weeks ago for a rewatch. I like the film, but have only seen it on a crappy old VHS tape, and I suspect a decent print may impress me more. Unfortunately, the disc was scratched and battered. I wasn't able to watch it again. :(
Jaws is great. I slightly favor the awe-inspiring aspects of Close Encounters, but either film would be quite comfortable here.
Finzi Continis is a great film, but I am well aware that not everybody found it as moving as I do. I'm not even sure if I have a review up for it or not! YOu should definitely give it a shot.
I trust all is well?
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
Yeah, all is well. A lot of stress, but oh well.
I first saw Harold and Maude maybe a year or two ago, and was really entertained by it; don't you think that Hal Ashby is way overlooked? He had several really solid and offbeat films during the seventies; one I wouldn't put on this list, but that I still like a lot is Being There. It's one that if I simply heard about the plot, I don't know if I'd even be interested, but it really works. Peter Sellers puts in one of the roles of his career.
Also, speaking of Westerns, which we were on the sixties list I believe, do you like McCabe and Mrs. Miller? A lot of the so-called revisionist westerns were long on preachiness and cleverness and short on content and resonance, but McCabe is one of the few that really stands up. Jeremiah Johnson, with Robert Redford, does as well.
Johnny Waco
Good luck with the stress.
Hal Ashby definitely does not get the respect he deserves. He and Bob Fosse are two directors from the 70s who are constantly passed over in favor of Scorsese and Coppola. I've no desire to take any fame away from either of those directors, but surely there is room enough for Ashby and Fosse too. Perhaps their early deaths are a factor.
Being There is another great film, and yes, Sellers shines in it.
I watched McCabe and Mrs. Miller really late at night, and while I know I really liked it, I don't feel steady enough in my recollection to rate it just yet. Jeremiah Johnson is also in limbo, since I saw it years ago and don't recall much but the premise and the ending. Again, though, I remember liking it.
Both are certainly due a rewatch soon.
You should check out John Ford's The Informer. It is one of his non-westerns, but when I recently watched it, I for some reason thought you would enjoy it.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
What do you think of Zerkalo?