KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE (1977), STROSZEK (1977)

1977

The Fistful of Yen section from the 1977 classic,
Kentucky Fried Movie

The most important movie release of 1977 was unquestionably Kentucky Fried Movie (Sorry, Star Wars fans). KFM is a slicker version of other 70's vignette movies such as The Groove Tube or If You Don't Stop It, You'll Go Blind. KFM included several scenes that are probably ingrained in your subconscious if you saw this as a teenager when it was released. Included in this is: "The popcorn you are eating has been pissed in," Catholic High School Girls in Trouble, Big Jim Slade, A courtroom scene which was a clear forerunner of Airplane! with the taking of everything that went on literally, cooking the cat in Wesson Oil, Cleopatra Schwartz, Danger Seekers and more. Best of all is a half hour satire of the Bruce Lee movie Enter the Dragon called A Fistful of Yen!

I saw Kentucky Fried Movie at Emory Cinema in Atlanta the year it came out. The little theater near the university of the same name still has an admittedly romanticized feeling for me, because I saw my first film there in 1973 (the Exorcist era) and my last film there in 1978 (the Animal House era). The cinema burned down in 1978, never to be rebuilt. But those few years were very formative years in my movie viewing.

Here are some of the movies I remember seeing at Emory Cinema during that time frame:

The Exorcist (Even though I was pretty young at the time, I convinced my dad to take me to see it. It scared the hell out of me as he told me it would, but is still one of my favorite movies all these years later.)

Blazing Saddles (Another movie I saw with my dad. He loved to quote the line about Hedley Lamar and the thought of that brings a smile to my face).

Harold and Maude (Emory had midnight movies and Harold and Maude is probably the very definition of what a midnight/cult movie should be.)

Animal Crackers (The 1974 re-release was very fun and made me a Marxist for life.)

Love and Death (Made a twelve-year-old a Woody Allen fan.)

Earthquake (The disaster movie that had the added addition of Sensurround which was a 

process that was supposed to shake the seats you sat in and make you feel you were part of the quake...but in reality was less than impressive.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (First of many viewings...it was also pretty much a private viewing for me from what I remember.)

Saturday Night Fever (No matter that I was a bit antagonistic toward disco at the time, I did feel the need to see this movie when it came out. I still thinks it is a good film and certainly a copy of the film should be put in any time capsule of 1977.)

An Unmarried Woman (I've got to be honest...I went to this movie because I knew there were nude scenes. But I do like the movie...Though the plot of a woman adjusting to a divorce isn't typical fare for most fifteen-year-old males I'm guessing.)

Julia (Went to see this political movie simply because it was nominated for some Academy Awards. I wasn't really into it that much, but I might need to give this one another chance after all these years.)

Animal House (Probably the last movie I saw at Emory Cinema and I've seen it at least a dozen times since. I'll hit 1978 for the next post and I plan to watch Animal House again for that.

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I went through the 1001 movie list and looked for another 1977 movie to watch for today's blog. I chose Stroszek. This German film directed by Werner Herzog reminds me of some of the character studies that began to be made in the U. S. during the early 70's (The Pacino/Hackman film Scarecrow, especially). The plot features Mr. Stroszek, who is a poor schlub from Germany who gets out of a mental institution and finds himself unable to get his life together. He moves to American with an unbalanced elderly acquaintance and Stroszek's hooker girlfriend. It seems things start working out for him in the states at first...though it begins to slip away from him just as quickly. Quirky, interesting characters, funny moments, heart-breaking moments and an ending filmed in Cherokee, North Carolina featuring a musical chicken I won't soon forget.

The musical chicken rehearses for the finale
of Stoszek

Here are twenty other non-1001 movie entries from 1977 that I have seen sometime during the past.

1 Airport ‘77 Yet another star studded airplane disaster movie from the series that  began with Airport and came to an end at the end of the decade with Airport '79.  I mostly remember this one ended up with the plane underwater and featured Jack Lemmon, Jimmy Stewart and (of course) George Kennedy as Joe Patroni!

George Kennedy is Joe Patroni in one of the Airport movies

2 Andy Warhol’s Bad-If you had to put an Andy Warhol film in the 1001 book, I'd pick this low budget sex and drug film over Vinyl. But then again I'd probably pick anything over Vinyl.

3 The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training-Original movie should have had a no sequel/no remake rule.

4 The Exorcist II-Technically, I never saw this sequel, I admit. But I remember my father and brother went to see it and elaborately described in detail how truly awful it was as soon as they got home. I've always thought of this discussion as a viewing deterrent to this film even all these years later.

5 The Deep- Despite being an elaborate production based on a Peter Benchley story, the most people seem to remember from this is Jacqueline Bisset in a wet T-shirt...I'm sorry, what were we talking about again?

Jacqueline Bisset's T-shirt in The Deep

6 Fun With Dick and Jane-Fun (as the title suggests) comedy with Jane Fonda and George Segal and I also liked the catchy theme song. And Ed McMahon's rare supporting role allowed Johnny Carson to make jokes about it for years.

7 The Goodbye Girl-David Gates supplied the theme for this Neil Simon film that was played often on the radio in 1977. The film itself won Richard Dreyfuss won the Oscar, but shouldn't he have gotten this for Close Encounters of the Third Kind if you were going to give him one for that year?

8 The Island of Dr. Moreau-Another version of the H. G. Wells novel. This one has Burt Lancaster as the doctor. That's about all I got for this one...Oh, yeah. Barbara Carrera!

Barbara Carerra and the "Beast Folk" in
Island of Dr. Moreau

9 Oh, God-A very likable comedy about an everyman who becomes the chosen one that is spoken to by God who tells him to spread the word in modern day California. John Denver and George Burns (as God) make an engaging team. Paul Sorvino is also memorable as a corrupt televangelist. 

10 High Anxiety-Another favorite Mel Brooks movie with countless and mostly funny Alfred Hitchcock references.

Mel Brooks Vertigoesque spinning always made me laugh.

11 Pumping Iron-Documentary on the Mr. Universe pageant that introduced many of us to Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lou Ferrigno, Spoiler: Arnold wins! 

12 The Rescuers-Didn't see this cute little Disney mouse flick until years later when I watched this on video with my children...about fifty times.

13 Semi-Tough-Probably the best 70's football movie not titled North Dallas Forty.

14 The Serpent’s Egg-Bergman's somewhat infamous English language film during his exile from Sweden is actually pretty good.

15 Slap Shot-Probably the best 70's hockey movie period! Who could forget the Hansen Brothers?

The Hansens take no prisoners in Slap Shot

16 Looking for Mr. Goodbar-I actually remember this movie based on a novel of he same name about a teacher who during the night exhibits high risk sexual behavior as being one of Diane Keaton's best roles.

17 The Spy Who Loved Me-Might be the best of the Roger Moore Bond movies. Introduced us to Jaws, the best Bond villain stooge not named Oddjob.

18 Smokey and the Bandit-The most popular (if not necessarily the best) Burt Reynolds vehicle of he decade.

19 Viva Knievel!-This marked the first starring role for stunt daredevil Evel Knievel. This also marked the last starring role for stunt daredevil Evel Knievel.

Red Buttons tries to dissuade Gene Kelly from leaving
the set of Viva Knievel!

20 Cross of Iron-I just watched this Sam Peckinpah World War II film for the first time. I'm glad I did. It's really a fine war film and deserves its place in the Peckinpah canon along with The Wild Bunch, Straw Dogs and Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia. Interesting that the film (based on a novel) is from the German point of view and gives a lot of war movie cliches such as the moral ambiguities of war a fresh coat of paint...At least from a point of view I haven't seen before or at least very often. A similar German point of view was used a few years later in Das Boot.

James Coburn as a German (work with me here!) platoon
leader in Cross of Iron

Don't stop believing in tomorrow, 1978 will soon be here.

THE MYSTERIOUS MONSTERS (1976), KILLING OF A CHINESE BOOKIE (1976)

1976

Bigfoot (played by Unknown!) in
The Mysterious Monsters

There was an actual trend of theatrical movies in the 70's that were documentaries (with dramatizations thrown in) based on controversial conspiracies such as The Search for Noah's Ark, In Search of Historic Jesus, Beyond and Back, The Lincoln Conspiracy and Mysteries from Beyond Earth. This documentary trend began when the cheaply made search for space alien documentary Chariots of the Gods? became a smash hit in 1970. These movies could be made with a small budget and many of them made a tidy profit...at least for most of the 70's. 

My favorite of all these films was The Mysterious Monsters, which spent most of its running time tracing evidence about the existence of Bigfoot, and featuring some stunning revelations about the Loch Ness Monster as well. The movie begins with earnest narrator Peter Graves stating that this could be the most startling movie you'll ever see! Watching it again, I thought it would be pretty cheesy. And it is, especially in the Bigfoot recreations. But I also see how people can believe some pretty strange things when it is presented in what seems like a reasonable way. This film features a lot of scientists dusting for Bigfoot prints and doing extensive investigations, witnesses that certainly seem credible and some of those film recreations seem pretty plausible. It's based on eye witness testimony, right? That proves that Bigfoot exists, right? It even tries to explain away the skeptical questions that dare think this Bigfoot thing is a load of malarkey...which it probably is for the most part. I was glad to see this movie for the first time in forty years and I admit it presents it's pretty silly premise about as well as you can. 

The original add that made me interrupt my
holiday season to go see this epic film forty years ago!

Killing of a Chinese Bookie-Any movie that has
Timothy Carey and Seymour Cassell as henchmen
has got to be worth seeing!

On the other end of the celluloid spectrum, I chose to watch the John Cassavetes film The Killing of a Chinese Bookie. The plot has a strip club owner played by Ben Gazzara forced to pay off his gambling debts by...knocking of a Chinese bookie. This film was barely released at the time, but has gained a bit of a following in the years since. I think it is a little more accessible plot-wise than some of the others in the Cassavetes catalog, but it still has his trademark style of long shots, long scenes, long dialogue...and not explaining everything that is going on in any kind of obvious way! Sometimes I have to think to myself after watching one of his films as to what I just saw was about...but I've come to the conclusion if you're puzzling about a film you watched the day after you saw it...that's a good thing.

While I’m thinking this over, I’ll reminisce about some of the other movie titles that came out in 1976 that did not make the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die cut.

1. The Bad News Bears, If you were thirteen when this movie came out, you pretty much had to go see this little league classic. Chico's Bail Bonds forever!

And now a word from our sponsor...The Bad News Bears

2. The Big Bus, I know I saw this. It seemed like it was about this giant bus and you could do all these things on this bus like bowling. And it was like The Love Boat, only a bus and…I"m afraid that's about all I can remember about this one.

3. Bound for Glory, I wouldn’t have pictured David Carradine as Woody Guthrie. Still don’t really.

4. Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson, Not the most memorable of Robert Altman’s movies, but you know, this one may warrant a second look.

5. Car Wash, I heard the song “Car Wash” more than enough times in the late 70’s to last me a lifetime! The movie itself does have an interesting list of 70's stand-up comedians: George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Franklin Ajaye and the legendary Professor Irwin Corey!

Franklin Ajaye sporting one of the best afros of he 70's in
Car Wash

6. The Enforcer, Callahan and Lacey?

7. Futureworld, It had been a long time since I had seen this one. I thought, “Yeah, the sequel to Westworld was actually pretty good from what I remember.” After viewing it a couple of years ago….eh, not so good.

8. The Gumball Rally, A strange multi-car race around the world. Like It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World with lesser known stars. I do remember Raul Julia was in it.

9. Lipstick, One of the Hemingway sisters gets raped and the other one guns down the rapist. I think that’s what happens.

10.  King Kong, This movie was really panned when it came out, but did jump start Jessica Lange's career as well as make fodder for a pretty good MAD magazine satire.

King Kong immortalized in the pages of
my 70's magazine of choice

11. Logan's Run, Yes, when I saw this movie I also thought thirty was old. Hah! There is no sanctuary!

12. Marathon Man, One of the top thrillers of the decade. Would be in my 1001 book, but additions and subtractions to particular editions is not up to me.

13. The Pink Panther Strikes Again, The best of the Pink Panther movies was The Return of the Pink Panther, though it’s easy to get them confused.

14. The Omen, I actually owned the book on this one. But little did I know at the time it was just a novelization! I feel had! I finally saw the movie for the first time last year. A pretty good horror flick.

15. Murder by Death, Main draw of this today would probably be to see Truman Capote act

Peter Falk, Truman Capote and David Niven make an
interesting trio in Murder by Death.

16. The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea, I admit when I think of this movie, the first thing that comes to mind is the infamous Playboy pictorial featuring Sarah Miles and Kris Kristofferson. If you can think past that, and I admit it’s hard for me to do, it’s a pretty good film.

17. Sebastiane, If you are looking for an art film with sex...you might want to look elsewhere if you are looking for sex with a heterosexual bent. That's all I'm saying...time to move on...

18. The Shootist, Fitting farewell for John Wayne.

19. Silent Movie, I thought Mel Brooks' Silent Movie would be the last new silent movie I'd ever see...but The Artist and Blancanieves proved me wrong (And I was happy to be wrong about this!).

20. Ode to Billy Joe. It was the third of June, another sleepy dusty, delta day...You'll have to excuse me but I can't think of this movie without thinking of the Bobby Gentry song on which it was based...and now Billy Joe McCallister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bri--hidge."

Robby Benson and Glynnis O'Connor
in Max Baer's Ode to Billy Joe...yep the
song just started going through my head again.

21. That's Entertainment Part 2, Old MGM musical clips on the big screen may have worked in 1974, but by 1976, the time had passed.

22. To the Devil a Daughter, One of those horror movies you watch on HBO in the late 70's late at night. I remember a scene from it where a woman is about to have a baby and...never mind, I don't want to think about it.

23. Silver Streak, First and best Wilder/Pryor teaming. Of course, I didn’t see their last couple of films, but I still feel pretty safe in that assertion. Of note: director Arthur Hiller and star Gene Wilder both passed away in August, 2016.

24. The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings-Enjoyable comedic look at a barnstorming black baseball team from the 40's. The film stars Richard Pryor, Billy Dee Williams and most importantly James Earl Jones, because when he later says "People will come, Ray" in Field of Dreams, Bingo Long has long before established his baseball chops.

25. The Food of the Gods, Just as conspiracy theory documentaries were abundant during this time, there also seem to be more than a few of animals gone crazy schlock films released during this general time frame. Not all these films were released by American-International films, but they all had that "American-International feel" to them. The Food of the Gods featured giant rodents. But  we also had Night of the Lepus (killer rabbits), Kingdom of the Spiders (arachnids), Alligator (Alligators that grew up in the sewers), Tentacles (Octopi), Squirm (worms), Bug! (Fire bugs) and Empire of the Ants (Ants, of course). Sounds like the makings of a late night movie marathon to me!

Food of the Gods:Child evangelist turned actor Marjoe Gortner and giant rodents is
basically all the ingredients you need to begin your 70's animals gone wild
B-movie marathon!

Oh, and one more...
I remember watching Massacre at Central High on cable way back when, and through the magic of YouTube I was able to relive the excitement of this drive-in classic through one quick click! The plot involves a transfer high school student who has to decide if he wants to get in with the school bullies or defend those who are being bullied. He makes his choice and suddenly the bullies start to get knocked off in creative ways until there are none of them left. With no bullies left...the former nobody nerds of the school start taking over and exhibiting some of the same traits the bullies did...and we know this isn't going to bode well for them either. This was a very low budget film, a bit cheesy at times and does seem to have very few teachers or adults at the school until the final scene...but I still have affection for this one and am glad I watched it again.

Warning: Massacre at Central High  features a scene where a bully knocks a group of books off the library shelf which may be disturbing to any librarian. The film does feature some performers who later had careers of note: Andrew Stevens, Robert Carradine, Lani O'Grady and 70's cutie Kimberly Beck.

Kimberly Beck during a more contemplative scene from
Massacre at Central High

Goodbye, 1976...
I had a friend who had this poster on his wall...
Ah,memories...

THE TRAVELLING PLAYERS (1975, GREECE), THE STEPFORD WIVES (1975)

1975

The Travelling Players

Theodoros Angelopoulos's 1988 film, Landscape in the Mist, is a very distinctive film that I thought was excellent. Landscape moves at a deliberate pace, makes limited but effective use of music and features slow, methodical camera movements.

Going back to Angelopoulos's 1975 film The Travelling Players, a lot of these same techniques in Mist are employed for the older film and there is a lot of good here. I can even see why some call the film a masterpiece! However, at almost four hours, The Travelling Players gets to be a little bit tiresome and I found it at times paced too slowly to hold my interest many times. Also, the timelines of the scenes where the players reside in seem to bounce back and forth between 1939 and 1952 a great deal and gets to be a bit confusing. One critic said that The Travelling Players is an easier film to admire than to love. I would have to agree.

The Stepford Wives

A Stepford Wife, meaning a perfected domesticated suburban housewife, has become a standard reference in our culture even if you've never read Ira Levin's book of the same name or viewed the original 1975 film adaptation. But since I was feeling pretty 1975ie today, I decided to view the original movie since I've never seen it. After watching it, I really thought it was better than I expected. The plot that has the wives of this suburban Utopia slowly becoming model homemakers had overtones of other movies I've seen (Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Westworld and Levin's own Rosemary's Baby) and didn't offer too many surprises, but the Levin/William Goldman screenplay was very smart and the movie doesn't pull its punches too soon. It's also nice to see Katherine Ross in a starring role this time out...And it's definitely better than the remake.

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During 1975, I kept a movie scrapbook of newspaper ads because I thought that was what every twelve-year old did...Well, not really. But anyway, I still have it and within its pages (now turning brown) I have listed some non-1001 essential movies which I have seen anyway accompanied here by pictures of the actual ads from my old notebook.

The Apple Dumpling Gang

For chicanery, skullduggery, tom foolery and habitual bungling! was a Disney tagline if there ever was one. I did see this Tim Conway/Don Knotts vehicle when it came out and I did like it all those years ago…but I confess to have no desire to revisit it.

The Strongest Man in the World

I certainly saw all of the Disney/Kurt Russell/Joe Flynn/ Medfield High comedies back in the day. I’m pretty sure this was the last in the series. The ad says, “A secret formula explodes…POOF!…Instant Muscle…Instant Fun!” Same plot as The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes only with brawn instead of brains..

Breakout

Tough, serious and mean looking Charles Bronson seemed born to be an action star. He did some memorable supporting work during the 60’s in The Dirty Dozen, The Great Escape and had a great staring role in Once Upon a Time in the West. The only problem with his starring roles from the 70’s is that most of them weren’t very good. But you can’t fault him for lack of volume as he seemed to crank out an action movie every other week during the mid-seventies! For Breakout, I still remember the TV ad for this proclaiming, BRONSON! BREAKOUT! BEAUTIFUL! The print ad before me has a large red nosed Bronson surrounded by drawings of explosions, helicopters, airplanes and people climbing ropes. The pictures of the cast at the bottom of the ad include little blurbs.

CHARLES BRONSON: The hit man of “Death Wish”
ROBERT DUVALL: the brains behind “The Godfather”
JILL IRELAND: Has a proposition for escape
RANDY QUAID: the law breaking sailor from “The Last Detail”
JOHN HUSTON: the big boss of “Chinatown”
SHERREE NORTH: has a sure way to distract prison guards!

My favorite of these blurbs is obviously Ms. North and her ability to distract the prison guards. I guess she lures them away with her homemade chocolate brownie recipe! 

Bug

Bug is a film by the self-proclaimed master of horror, William Castle. I enthusiastically went to see this movie the week it came out. From what I remember, Bradford Dillman was a science teacher who unearthed some deadly firebugs who create havoc and eventually achieve the ability to spell, which if I remember correctly, was a much scarier scene than you might think by that description. The ad has a screaming woman holding a telephone that has a recently ignited bug resting on it and boasts the tagline, “The Picture to See With Your Eyes Closed!”

The clever ad also advises you to check your car, neck, hair and bed after leaving the theater. (I didn’t do all that after I left the theater, but I always was a rebel.)

French Connection II

The French Connection II does have some admirers, as evidenced by the busy ad of positive reviews pictured above. The French Connection is also one of the first movies I recall to have a sequel with just the original title followed by simply the number 2 (or pretentious Roman numeral II) that I can remember. I honestly don't remember much about FC2 and it certainly lives in the shadow of the original classic.

The Happy Hooker 

Another infamous sex movie of the 70’s, The Happy Hooker is based on the memoirs of a prostitute Xaveria Hollander, who became a bit of a celebrity during the 70's through her books and these films. I did read her original book, but I assure you it was all in the name of research. The ad, which features just a picture of a shapely leg with a hundred dollar bill in a G-string screams Lynn Redgrave is a Delight!...Risqué Fun. There were sequels of sorts which I probably watched on late night cable, including one starring my personal heartthrob Joey Heatherton in The Happy Hooker Goes to Washington. 

Love and Death

First Woody Allen movie I ever saw at the theater (Emory Cinema, a movie house that tragically died in a fire in 1978) and is still one of my favorites in the Allen canon. This nice, big ad includes the memorable picture of Woody in the countryside with Death.

Mitchell

The ad above is not for the Joe Don vehicle Mitchell, but from the Joe Don Baker vehicle Framed...But these mid-70's Joe Don Baker flicks were mostly the same, weren't they? I actually watched Mitchell as part of a memorable episode of Mystery Science Theater. Word has it that Joe Don wasn't overly pleased about being spoofed.

Night Moves

This quirky little mystery adventure film seems to have achieved a bit of a cult status over the years. I only saw it in recent years and it features a nice role for Gene Hackman and a very, very young Melanie Griffith. There is also a scene when Night Moves takes a verbal shot at art films when the Gene Hackman character compares watching an Eric Rohmer film (My Night at Mauds?) to watching paint dry. I still haven't got around to seeing My Night at Mauds yet, so I don't have an opinion on whether or not this assessment is correct.

The Other Side of the Mountain

Basically a mid-70’s version of something that would have been written by Nicholas Sparks if he had been around then. 

The ad claims that… 

It takes a rare and special movie to each week attract larger audiences than in each preceding week!

The above description really isn’t exciting enough for me. Just say instead that-Mountain gets bigger and bigger every week and there aint’ no stoppin’ this behemoth! ...or something to that effect.

The Return of the Pink Panther

Nice ad featuring a giant shadowed Inspector Clouseau looking through a magnifying glass at the actual cartoon Pink Panther. I remember being excited when this movie came out and still think it’s the best of all the Peter Sellers/Blake Edwards Panther films.

The Prisoner of Second Avenue 

Prisoner of Second Avenue was a pretty funny Neil Simon play which I saw on TV a couple of years after 1975 and on stage a couple of years after that with Sid Caesar in the title role. The above ad is actually the monthly installment of Cablevision news, which was basically the 1975 version of Netflix. The difference between Dekalb Cablevision and your modern day Netflix (as you see below) is that we only had five new movies to choose from plus two encore movies. This was preceded by Key Cinema, which had about four movies per month. Plus, we also had to watch them only on the specific times they were shown. Oh, what a hard life we had in the 70's!

Shampoo

The ad from Shampoo was a simple picture of hairdresser Warren Beatty holding a comb against the head of Gloria Hawn as Hawn and Julie Christie stare blankly into the camera. Understated and effective as ads go. I'm a little surprised this one was left out of the 1001 movie book. Details on the making of this film and others from this period are detailed in Peter Biskind's excellent book, Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-drugs-and Rock 'n' Roll Generation Changed Hollywood.

Tommy

The Ken Russell film based on The Who’s rock opera would definitely be on my 1001 list, though it isn’t on any of the 1001 actual lists. The cast pictures wrapped around this ad features Ann-Margaret as the Mother, Roger Daltrey as Tommy, Eric Clapton as the Preacher, Keith Moon as Uncle Ernie, Oliver Reed as The Lover, Elton John as the Pinball Wizard, John Entwistle as Himself and Tina Turner as the Acid Queen. Interestingly, there is no side picture of Who frontman Pete Townsend. Go figure.

The Man with the Golden Gun

The first James Bond movie I ever saw was indeed the above listed feature of The Man With the Golden Gun and Live and Let Die. Some Bond fans don't care for Roger Moore's whimsical take on 007, but since he's the Bond I grew up going to see in the theater the next ten years, I'm good with him in the role. Of course, there's still only one Sean Connery.

Once is Not Enough

This theatrical soap opera based on the Jacqueline Susann novel spawned perhaps the silliest of all the movie ads that feature the pictures of the cast/characters at the bottom of the ad with a little blurb at the bottom. They are worth repeating in full.

Kirk Douglas as “The husband for sale-bought for $3 million!”

Brenda Vaccaro as “The high-fashion editor with low desires!”

David Janssen as “The novelist who couldn’t live the fantasies he wrote about”

Deborah Raffin as January “The daughter-a virgin eager to make up for lost time”

George Hamilton as “The playboy-the swinging set’s most wanted ‘escort’”

Melina Meccouri as the lady with “Untold wealth, untold marriages-her real love”

Gary Conway as “The Astronaut, but we know by the description that he is “a hero-but to his wife-something else.”

The ad’s tagline in bold print reads, JACQUELINE SUSANN’S BOLD BEST SELLER THAT EXPLORED ALL THE AVENUES AND DARKEST ALLEYS OF LOVE AMONG THE INTERNATIONAL SET!

I can’t say I miss this type of theatrical soap opera on the big screen, but I do miss the ads for them.

Race With the Devil

This is one of those movies that I remember seeing when it came out (In 1975, of course) and haven't seen since. However, I do seem to still have strong memories about what it was about. Two couples (Peter Fonda & Lara Parker and Warren Oates & Loretta Swit) go vacationing in a Winnebago when they witness a group of Satanists performing a virgin sacrifice. The Satanists spot the couples witnessing the crime and spend most of the movie chasing them down. The two couples try to tell the authorities, but everyone seems to be against them and they have no idea who they can trust. At one point, they are at a roadblock where there is a school bus accident and Peter Fonda yells out, "A school bus on a Sunday! I don't think so!" After this proclamation, Fonda wheels the Winnebago around at breakneck speed! The Satanists kill Lara Parker's little dog and put a snake in the Winnebago at different times. Loretta Swit also steals a library reference book in the film's most controversial scene (At least to a librarian). The Satanists do catch up to them at the end. In retrospect, the film seems like sort of a combination of The Exorcist and Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

Lara Parker is also know for playing a wicked witch in the 60's gothic soap opera, Dark Shadows. I met her at DragonCon in Atlanta a couple of years ago and she signed this picture of Race With the Devil for me below.

The Reincarnation of Peter Proud

“1975 will be the year of The Reincarnation of Peter Proud,” said Tower Ticker of the Chicago Tribune. Well, not quite. It was the year of Jaws, actually. It did mark the first movie in which I ever saw a woman topless in a movie (Gotta love Margot Kidder and Cornelia Sharpe!) so it does mark a personal historical cinematic landmark,

Other films I remember seeing in the past that came out in 1975, include: 

Crazy Mama, (the one with Cloris Leachman. Not to be confused with Bloody Mama with Shelley Winters or Big Bad Mama with Angie Dickinson),

W. W. and the Dixie Dance Kings (I couldn't go through a 1975 film list without mentioning at least one Burt Reynolds movie), 

Scenes From a Marriage (Ingmar Bergman's long Swedish mini-series got a theatrical release in a shorter form during 1975), 

The Passenger, (Michelangelo Antonioni's Italian drama which has one of the greatest final scenes in film history in my opinion), 

Inserts (a film that got an X rating, but thought it was a pretty tame movie to get an X when I actually saw it), 

The Yakuza (American/Japanese crime drama that was pretty good for action fans and fans of Robert Mitchum), 

Smile (An underrated cult film about the behind the scenes goings on at a beauty pageant), 

A Boy and His Dog (apocalyptic sci-fi film based on a Harlan Ellison story), 

The Sunshine Boys (The more prominent Neil Simon release of 1975 featuring the team of George Burns and Walter Matthau), 

The Sensuous Nurse (One simply doesn't get much sexier than Ursula Andress as The Sensuous Nurse!)

Ursula Andress tries on scrubs
in The Sensuous Nurse...
I'm missing 1975 already...