1970
Love means never having to say you're sorry
Ryan O'Neal and Ali MacGraw in Love Story
There really wasn't a movie out there in year of 1970
bigger than Love Story. Based on the best-selling Erich Segal book and with its
somber musical theme, romantic New England setting, and likable leads of Ali
MacGraw and Ryan O'Neal and the catchphrase "Love means never having to
say your'e sorry," and did I mention that the leading lady gets a terminal
disease?... this was the movie to see...though I was too young at the time to
really be interested in it. I finally watched it all these years later and
though it does look a little dated, it still had a certain appeal to it...though
that appeal may be slightly nostalgic to a time and a movie galaxy far, far away…
You have just entered the strange world of El Topo
Alejandro Jodorowshy's El Topo may be the most
famous cult film of the 70's that I had never seen before and it is quite a
head trip.In fact, it's pretty much like Sergio Leone and Federico Fellini went
to Mexico and had a love child and named it El Topo. It is one of the most bizarre
Westerns (if you want to label it as such) that you will ever see. Personally,
I thought it well worthy of the cult status it has, though I probably would
have liked it even more if I had seen back in the day...
Here are a list of other films released in 1970 that I
have seen but are NOT listed in the 1001
Movies Book.
1. Airport-The first of the disaster
films of the 70's and formula
setter of having an all-star
cast, an airline in peril (or building, boat or entire city as the case may
be), placing a high priority on special
effects and for some reason, George Kennedy in a supporting role.
Dean Martin tries to charm his way out of trouble in Airport
2. The
Baby Maker-Hippie chick agrees to give birth to a baby for a square
couple. Would probably be interesting to go back and watch a young Barbara
Hershey in the title role.
3. Beneath
the Planet of the Apes-My least favorite film in the Ape series did have
some cool mutants and end with a
bang (the destruction of the earth). Obviously since there are three more films
in the series, the earth did return in Escape
from the Planet of the
Apes.
The mutant choir in Beneath the Planet of the Apes
4. Bloody
Mama-One more time so I can keep it straight. Cloris Leachman was Crazy Mama, Angie Dickinson was Big, Bad Mama and Shelley Winters was Bloody Mama. During this period, Cass Elliot
released an album called Don't
Call Me Mama Anymore...though that may be beside the point...What was the
point again?
5. Getting
Straight/The Strawberry Statement/ R. P. M.-The three films listed here are
what I refer to as the Student
Protest Film Trilogy. I admit to having an affection for these movies that
may or may not be warranted. From what I remember, Getting Straight was the most commercial of the
three, The Strawberry
Statement was the most
radical of the three and R. P.
M., the story of the cool teacher who eventually sells out to the
establishment, was probably my favorite of the three...though no one else I know seems
to like R. P. M. very much.
Elliot Gould sees the light in Getting Straight
The students accelerate their protest in The Strawberry Statement
Anthony Quinn inspires the students until he sells out in R. P. M.
6.Flap-During
the 70's and before movies on cable were in the picture, it use to be a big
deal when the network would present the television premiere of a film that had
been in the theater a couple of years (or sometimes longer) before. I remember the ABC movie of the week was always
presented as a big deal along with a mini-trailer and dramatic music. It
certainly worked on me. By the time the network got around to showing Flap (a so-so movie featuring Anthony Quinn as hard drinking
Native American who eventually comes around to being an anti-establishment
protester) the build-up did make me want to watch...but I remember the buildup
as being better than the film. I wouldn't mind seeing Flap again, though.
Tonight on the ABC Monday Night
Movie of the Week
we present Anthony Quinn as FLAP! Dramatic music ensues
over flashing credits...Those were
the days...
7.House of Dark
Shadows-As someone who was under the hypnotic spell of the creepy, campy
soap opera reruns of Dark Shadows during the late 70's, I found it interesting
that the movie House of Dark
Shadows managed to
encapsulate the entire run of the hundreds and hundreds of episodic shows into a two-hour movie that was
actually pretty good.
Jonathan Frid as Barnabas Collins in House of Dark Shadows
And an autographed picture to me from
House of Dark Shadows star Katherine Leigh-Scott
8. C. C.
and Company-That brief period when the powers that be decided to try to
make Joe Namath a movie star. This one did have Ann-Margaret and a cool
chopper. Does anyone else remember Namath's series The Waverly Wonders? Where he
was a basketball coach? Just a random thought.
9. Let
it Be-The Beatles documentary swan song that did feature some good songs, a lot of the lads griping at
each other and that memorable rooftop concert. Not the Beatles
finest hour, but still worth seeing.
Free concert! The Beatles in Let it Be
10.
11. Brewster McCloud-Robert Altman cult classic about...well, its about a young guy that wants to fly...and he's in the Astrodome...and...a plot description doesn't do it justice but it should really be in the top ten of any list of cult/midnight movies (I'd now include El Topo in that top ten list as well). I'm also glad we finally get to see Margaret Hamilton finally get the ruby slippers here!
I believe it's time for me to fly...Bud Cort as Brewster McCloud
12. Tora Tora Tora-Movie
that gives us both sides of Pearl
Harbor. I just remember it was a cool movie to say that you had seen when you
were in elementary school.
13. The Aristocats/The Boatniks-I mentioned that this was a time period that I might have watched The Aristocats and The Boatniks....Hmmm. Did I really see both of these? Maybe I'll look at the movie posters to jog my memory...Looked at the posters...still not sure.
14. The Owl and the Pussycat-Barbara Striesand is a hooker and George Segal is a writer. I remember it being kind of funny...
15. Where’s
Poppa...Though of the George
Segal 1970 comedies, I much prefer Where's
Poppa where the constantly
flustered Mr. Segal tries to deal
with his hopelessly nutty mother (Ruth Gordon). I saw this as a double feature
at The Silver Screen theater during the 80's with A Thousand Clowns, another favorite of mine.
George Segal tries to reason with mama Ruth Gordon
in Where's Papa
in Where's Papa
16.Cockeyed
Cowboys of Calico County-I remember
watching this Western comedy with
Mickey Rooney and Dan Blocker and
Nanette Fabray but remember next
to nothing about it.
Bob Balaban, Arthur Garfunkel, Alan Arkin and Martin Sheen
in Catch-22
18. The Boys in the Band-Interesting
film based on the play featuring the lives of a
group of gay men in New York. Lots of strong, dramatic moments from what I
remember. Directed by a pre-Exorcist and French Connection William Friedkin.
19. Myra Breckinridge-Often noted as one of the worst movies of all-time. This Mae West sex-change comedy based on the Gore Vidal book features a most unusual cast combination that included" Raquel Welch, John Huston, Farrah Fawcett, John Carradine and film critic Rex Reed! I saw this in a double feature with West's later Sextette, with the later film looking like Citizen Kane compared to Myra Breckinridge.
American woman...Mae West in Myra Breckinridge
20. There's a Girl in My Soup-According
to Frank Sinatra's biography by James Kaplan, this Peter Sellers/Goldie Hawn
comedy was at one time supposed to be a Sinatra/Goldie Hawn comedy. I bring
this up only because I can't think of anything else to say about it.
21. The Twelve Chairs-This Mel Brooks comedy made in-between The Producers and Blazing Saddles is definitely one I need to revisit.
22. Jenny-I remember this partly as being a sort of an attempt at a hip comedy with Marlo Thomas and Alan Alda. The other thing I remember about this is that I watched this at my Aunt's house and she was absolutely outraged that they showed a breast feeding scene (gasp!) at the end of the movie!
An introspective Alan Alda in Jenny
23. The Moonshine Wars-The thing I remember the most about this film is that it included a pre-MASH Alan Alda as a redneck moonshiner. It seems I may have also been partaking something akin to moonshine as I was watching it if memory serves, but that's neither here nor there.
A redneck Alan Alda in The
Moonshine Wars
24. Husbands-John
Cassavetes's deeply introspective film
about three guys approaching middle age and trying to deal with the death of
their friend and other life and family issues. After seeing a few of theme now, I've come to really like Cassavetes's films. They aren't exactly easy to get into, the plots are never laid out easily for you to follow and scenes
at times seem to go on and on, but they often take you to emotional places that a lot of more mainstream movies
can't reach.
A long, uncomfortable (but effective) scene from Husbands
25. Chariots of the Gods?-Did alien cultures come
to earth and influence our culture in ancient times? Erich Von Daniken's book was
the most famous of this series of seemingly endless paperback books with
similar themes that came out during the 70's. I remember fondly that my father read many of them.
As far as the documentary film goes, Chariots of the Gods? looks today like pretty cheesy stuff-
promoting the pretty far-fetched premise of ancient aliens building the
pyramids and such. I was surprised after looking it up that the film was one of the top ten box office hits of the year (and with
a minuscule budget) and was nominated for Best Documentary at the Oscars that
year! It led to many low budget conspiracy documentaries that decade (many of which I saw, I
admit) from In Search of Noah's Ark, In Search of
Historic Jesus, Beyond and Back and The Mysterious Monsters, which convinced me at the time that Bigfoot was out
there.
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