Films in the 70's

[antryg]

One really great film to look at is The Strawberry Statement. It is about a student takeover of a small college during the Vietnam War. It won best picture at the Cannes Film Festival in (I think '72). It was important for several reasons. It seriously expressed the viewpoints of students, both supporters and protestors, concerning the Vietnam War. It accurately depicted the stupidity and violence found in the confrontations at that time. One thing that gets lost is that this was the first film to use contempory rock music as its soundtrack and as an actual part of the screens action.

[Desuma Malevois]

You might consider mentioning "Shaft", an action/adventure which starred Richard Roundtree. Featuring a mostly black cast, its success caused Hollywood producers to sit up and notice that black people watched movies too. As a result many "black-ploitation" films were produced, such as "Superfly" and "Blackula". While I don't believe that many of these films were of very good quality, I do think that it laid the groundwork for the later successes of Spike Lee and many of the "gangsta" films that one can see now.

[Albromor]

Star Trek: The Motion Picture

The Sting - won best picture with Paul Newman and Robert Redford

Chariots of Fire


* As already mentioned JAWS, Star Wars, and Saturday Night Fever. Those three were monster - and I mean MONSTER - hits, but even more so they really impacted our culture. Star Trek: The Motion Picture was able to be done because of the impact that Star Wars had. The three I mentioned were major influences in their own right. Chariots of Fire won best picture that year.

* Also, don't forget small gems like John Wayne's very last picture The Shootist.

* Oh! Here are some other major, major pictures: All The Presidents Men, Apocalypse Now, The Deer Hunter, Rocky.

* Then there are the Dirty Harry flicks of Eastwood.

* If you do look into these movies you'll find that many of the musical tracks were also big and to this day the Jaws music of when the shark was coming is still around today

[Epona]

Definitely the following films:

Shaft (1971) - dir. Gordon Parks.
The most famous of the blaxploitation films. It wasn't the first, but it popularised the genre that will forever be associated with the '70s. John Shaft is a private detective going up against the mob. What is different about these films is that they had black actors (in this case Richard Rounndtree) taking roles that were traditionally white - Shaft goes up against white cops, white gangsters, and is depicted sleeping with a white woman - things that up until that point would never have been shown on screen. The score by Isaac Hayes did a lot popularise Funk - and I'm sure most people have heard the theme song from this film.

The Harder They Come (1973) - dir. Perry Henzell.
One of the best non-American gangster films, starring the reggae musician and prolific writer of music Jimmy Cliff as Ivan, a young Jamaican trying to make a record. When he's exploited by a record producer he turns to drug running to make money. Political and social comment from Jamaica. Fantastic reggae score by Jimmy Cliff, Desmond Dekker, and The Slickers.

The Godfather (1972) - dir. Francis Ford Coppola.
Quite simply, a film about the Mafia, loved by millions. What is important about this film (to my mind) is the impact it has had on the popular consciousness. When you imagine a Mafia boss, you imagine him talking like Marlon Brando. When someone has annoyed you, you threaten that they may wake up 'with a horses head in their bed'. The assisination scenes have been copied in films about the Mafia ever since.

Mean Streets (1973) - dir. Martin Scorsese.
This was Scorsese's breakthrough film, starring Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel. Gritty movie concerning racketeers set in Manhatten. This film is important in that it launched the great Scorsese's career, and has been the inspiration for many films since.

Saturday Night Fever (1977) - dir. John Badham.
Starring John Travolta as a young man trying to make his name as a dancer and escape his dull job and family home where he feels trapped and suppressed. A tough film (inspired to an extent by Mean Streets, mentioned above) about the hard lives of a group of poor teenagers - fantastic dance scenes which live on in the memory, Travolta in his white suit strutting his stuff in a dance that everyone has at some point parodied when they have heard disco music set against a gritty urban backdrop where there is no hope; the themes of death, rape, and crime are highlighted. Did a lot to popularise the disco phenomenon, with a soundtrack by the Bee Gees.

Star Wars (1977) - dir. George Lucas.
I'm sure I don't need to say much about this film as almost everyone has seen it. Groundbreaking special effects, epic 'good vs evil' storyline, and quite simply the best sci-fi movie ever made.

I'll try to think of some more later.

[The Hierophant]

Ridley Scott's 'ALIEN' (1979) did quite a bit to kick-start the sci-fi horror genre and get it out of the traditional, b-grade, 1950s campiness that it was trapped in.

[ 05-05-2003, 07:28 AM: Message edited by: The Hierophant ]

[HolyWarrior]

Dirty Harry
Logan's Run
M*A*S*H
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
First Blood (NOT the later Rambo movies)
The Longest Yard

[Night Stalker]

A true all time comedy great:

Blazing Saddles!

[Ladyzekke]

Also let's not forget the Pink Panther films [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Arledrian]

Originally posted by Desuma Malevois: You might consider mentioning "Shaft"

Uh huh huh huh...

[harleyquinn]

WHAT??? No one's mentioned "Kiss Meet The Phantom of th Park"???

-- Just kidding btw, had friends in college that loved that movie, it's the only reason I know of it.

How about "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" ??