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Does anyone have any favourite films from the 1970's - the best decade for me, in particular for cop films.

 

I bring this up because last night ... we were looking for a film to watch as a 'family'. So I let my little boy decide from our collection ... he was intrigued by the cover for the dvd of 'The Taking of Pelham 123'. What a brilliant choice ... Walter Matthau at his withering best and Robert Shaw as the obligatory 'English' baddie!

 

If you ain't seen this film ... it is well worth a gander!

 

Norma

Edited by Norma_Snockers

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Good film this.. And with its "colour-coded" villain names, almost certainly an influence on a young, precocious Quentin Tarantino (hmmm, whatever happened to him...? :lol: )..

 

Other 70s Hollywood Classics include -

 

Dog Day Afternoon

Klute

Parallax View

The Godfather I and II

All The President's Men

Driver

Mean Streets

Taxi Driver

Don't Look Now

 

Late 60s, early 70s mainstream cinema was really a great, fertile period, it was a time when directors (such as Coppolla, Scorcese, Pakula, Roeg, Lumet, Kubrick and others) weren't afraid to experiment a bit more, utilising techniques that the likes of Godard, Truffaut and Euro art-house directors were doing in their films.... Hollywood, in general, took far more chances.. Is it likely that we'll ever get directors with an experimental bent such as Nic Roeg or Stanley Kubrick being afforded such large budgets to paint their pretty extraordinary cinematic canvasses ever again....? Such directors are now pretty marginalised, usually put out on the "indie" circuits....

 

 

 

  • Author
Good film this.. And with its "colour-coded" villain names, almost certainly an influence on a young, precocious Quentin Tarantino (hmmm, whatever happened to him...? :lol: )..

 

Other 70s Hollywood Classics include -

 

Dog Day Afternoon

Klute

Parallax View

The Godfather I and II

All The President's Men

Driver

Mean Streets

Taxi Driver

Don't Look Now

 

They're all good films too. I especially liked All The President's Men and Don't Look Now. I really didn't 'get' Dog Day Afternoon until I'd seen it (several times) later.

 

I must have a thing for Walter Matthau though as another two fave films from the 70's had him in ... The Laughing Policeman (a woefully underrated film) and the brilliant Charlie Varrick - this mainly because it was directed by (to my mind) one of the best American directors of all time - Don Siegel (he of Dirty Harry and Invasion of the Bodysnatchers fame). There's something about Matthau - although he's got a face like a thousand year old walnut - his laconic ways and dry sense of humour made him irresistible.

 

On the subject of The Taking of Pelham 123 - there's talk of a remake!!!! Horror of horrors! With Denzel Washington being touted for the Matthau role (bloody disastrous casting) and Gary Oldman as the Robert Shaw character!!!!!

 

By the way people ... sorry for perhaps posting this in the wrong forum ... wasn't sure whether to put it in Cinema or Retro ... but as its going back to classics of the 70's I think this is the right one!

 

Norma

Edited by Norma_Snockers

By the way people ... sorry for perhaps posting this in the wrong forum ... wasn't sure whether to put it in Cinema or Retro ... but as its going back to classics of the 70's I think this is the right one!

 

To be honest, as the mod, I would certainly have accepted this topic on the Cinema Forum.... I dont want the Forum to just all be about whatever's being released in any given week, it should be about topics such as this as well, cinema history is something I'm particularly keen on.....

 

now youve put the cat amongst the pigeons!

 

recently there was quite a heated debate on wether or not films should be included in the retro forum, or in the films forum!

 

neither lesley or i wanted films in here... as there is a forum for films..

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i liked 'the excorsist'...lol...

 

You got someone to open it up then? :lol:

 

But shouldn't your answer be in 'horror'? :lol: :lol:

 

 

Norma

 

i liked 'the excorsist'...lol...

i liked "The Exorcist" too but i feel it lacked the certain scares that i was expecting. But the atmosphere and mood was definitly set up very well ^_^

Late 60s, early 70s mainstream cinema was really a great, fertile period, it was a time when directors (such as Coppolla, Scorcese, Pakula, Roeg, Lumet, Kubrick and others) weren't afraid to experiment a bit more, utilising techniques that the likes of Godard, Truffaut and Euro art-house directors were doing in their films.... Hollywood, in general, took far more chances.. Is it likely that we'll ever get directors with an experimental bent such as Nic Roeg or Stanley Kubrick being afforded such large budgets to paint their pretty extraordinary cinematic canvasses ever again....? Such directors are now pretty marginalised, usually put out on the "indie" circuits....

 

Made me think of Network (1976) with Faye Dunaway. Gripping performances and storyline that would be typical in any modern drama about broadcast media tycoons. And yet it was a very odd, sureal film. It sort of veers in and out of reality... eerily presenting some kind of disturbing future, but not in the future tense (like an alternate present). I feel as though if the film were made today, it would be dumbed down significantly.

  • Author
Made me think of Network (1976) with Faye Dunaway. Gripping performances and storyline that would be typical in any modern drama about broadcast media tycoons. And yet it was a very odd, sureal film. It sort of veers in and out of reality... eerily presenting some kind of disturbing future, but not in the future tense (like an alternate present). I feel as though if the film were made today, it would be dumbed down significantly.

 

Brilliant film "I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore". Peter Finch was always a brilliant actor ... but this was just the best. Probably Dunaway's best performance too.

 

Norma

 

now youve put the cat amongst the pigeons!

 

recently there was quite a heated debate on wether or not films should be included in the retro forum, or in the films forum!

 

neither lesley or i wanted films in here... as there is a forum for films..

 

and like there is forums dedicated to pop music, games, TV, sport etc. tho its not really about retro all about the Clique!!! and esp when you are talking about stuff like this....

 

tonight on bbc2 at 2100... from the trailers ive seen it might be a decent prog, with plenty of retro clips.

 

i know she was a pain in the arse, but did she have a point? do we need a mary whitehouse now?

 

for people who don't know - this is the link to the TV forum

 

http://www.buzzjack.com/forums/TV-and-Soap...ussion-f11.html

and like there is forums dedicated to pop music, games, TV, sport etc. tho its not really about retro all about the Clique!!! and esp when you are talking about stuff like this....

for people who don't know - this is the link to the TV forum

 

http://www.buzzjack.com/forums/TV-and-Soap...ussion-f11.html

 

its another of those grey areas, however i promoted that prog in retro due to its retro clips and not for it as a programme.

I feel as though if the film were made today, it would be dumbed down significantly.

 

If it were produced by Steve Soderbergh and George Clooney, I dont think it would be all that significantly "dumbed down".. After all, these guys came up with the absolutely compelling "Good Night and Good Luck", which may have been set in the 50s, but you could easily transpose it to current world political events, which was probably the intent of Messrs Clooney and Soderberg anyway....

 

Of course, the films they produce tend to be more on the "indie" circuit.... So "Network" could be made now, it just wouldn't be a 'mainstream' studio doing it.....

 

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