It’s time to finish up my three part look at the 1970s. In part two I included some background info regarding the rise of 70s Hollywood and here in part three, I’m moving right along to particular movies from the decade.
Silent Running (1972) –Rare is the Bruce Dern film where Bruce Dern’s character is considered the most sympathetic one, but Silent Running is such a film, although this may have more to do with the fact that for most of the film his only companions are two droids named Hewey and Dewey. Set on a spaceship he is the sole caretaker for all the remaining plantlife in existance. After years in space, he is directed to return to earth along with his 3 shipmates but first he is ordered to destroy everything in the greenhouse. The Joan Biaz song Rejoice in the Sun that plays a few times throughout seems jarringly out of place for a sci fi film. Although the film is over 40 years old, Dern’s wild rant re: the organic versus synthetic food served onboard could easily apply to today’s epicurean battleground.
Across 110th Street: Two lines from Bobbie Womack’s stellar theme song pretty much sum up this gritty crime drama
“You don’t know what you’ll do until you’re put under pressure,
Across 110th Street is a hell of a tester.”
Filmed on location in Harlem, it was one of the first films to give an non NYC audience a glimpse into the physical degradation facing the poor neighbourhoods in 1972. A group of local hoods pull off a stick up and in the process end up killing everyone – everyone in this case is in no particular order – some Harlem money men, corrupt police and high profile mafioso. Enter Anthony Quinn, a racist old school cop on the take, with all the charm of Archie Bunker who has to team up with his new African American partner to bring justice to the streets (which quicly start flowing with blood…naturally. 
Westworld: Forget King Mongkut of Siam, this is Yul Brenner as you’ve never seen him before – a terrifying, nearly indestructable robot cowboy that stops at nothing to complete his objective – that being to track down and kill the hapless Richard Benjamin who had been trying his best to enjoy himself in the futuristic vacation-land called Westworld. The tagline is “Boy, have we got a vacation for you and where nothing can possibly go wrong”..after which the viewer is counting the minutes until something goes terribly terribly wrong. Written and directed by Michael Crichton (1973) whose bad guy Brenner is very much the forerunner of Swartzenegger’s Terminator released 11 years later.
The films of Sam Peckinpah – the Man, the Legend gets his own extended segment. Known during his great run from the late 60s to the mid 70s, this notorious director worked with some of the most famous leading men of the times – Steve McQueen, Dustin Hoffman, Warren Oates, James Coburn, Jason Robards, James Caan and Kris Krisofferson to name a few – there is no comparable list of actresses, women tend to get short shrift in his films. Rare is the mention of Peckinpah without the words violent and bloody following suite. I will simply say if you haven’t yet seen The Wild Bunch (although technically from 1969)..don’t get too attached the characters…any of them. Here’s a quote of the man responding to critics of his films as being too violent – “Well, killing a man isn’t clean and quick and simple. It’s bloody and awful. And maybe if enough people come to realize that shooting somebody isn’t just fun and games, maybe we’ll get somewhere.”
Infamously self destructive towards the end of his life, his films remain controversial (1971’s Straw Dogs is still a bit of a hot potato) and although more modern films have raised the bar considerably for on screen violence, as long as Peckinpah was making films, the squibs industry would never hurt for business.
Check out: Cross of Iron, the original and superior version of Killer Elite, The Ballad of Cable Hogue, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia and I just put in a order for the The Getaway (based on the book of the same name by one of my all time favourite authors Jim Thompson.
Night Moves (1975)– a great neo film noir, part of Gene Hackman’s amazing run of 70s films ( both French Connection films, The Conversation, Superman, Young Frankenstein, Poseidon Adventure, Scarecrow, Prime Cut) also was the film debut of James Woods and Melanie Griffin.
Fat City (1972) – One of John Huston’s last films – you just know any film which starts off with a Kris Kristofferson song playing is not likely to be a happy one, particularly when the song in question is called Help Me Make It Through The Night as the main actor (an underwear clad, supremely hung over past-his-prime-ex-boxer Stacy Keach) tries throughout the entire credits to stumble out of bed, and into the street..only to light a crumpled cigarette and go back inside. Also stars a very youthful Jeff Bridges and a wonderfully wasted Susan Tyrell who earned an Oscar nomination for her efforts. 
Mikey and Nicky (1976) – Who doesn’t like Peter Falk? One of the rare female directed movies of the era (Elaine May – previously part of Nichols and May, she unfortunately went on to direct the much maligned Ishtar), also starring John Cassevettes in this amazing atypical gangster film
Cisco Pike (1972) – Kris Krisofferson looks remarkably modern (sartorially speaking) in his film debut. Harry Dean Stanton has his fingerprints on so many top drawer films and this one is no exception. It has great music and has a whole host of odd ball cameos – Antonio Vargas, Joy Bang, Viva etc. Oh..and yet again Gene Hackman comes up with another fine piece of work as the corrupt narc who pushed Cisco back into the world of dope peddling.
Hard Times (1975) – Stars Charles Bronson who at the time was the 4th highest box office earner in all of Hollywood (behind Robert Redford, Al Pacino and Barbara Streisand) although he didn’t acquire action hero status until after he turned 50 – with a string of quality films such as Death Wish, Mr. Majestyk, and The Mechanic. Here he stars with that other iconic tough guy James Coburn, plus Bronson’s real life wife Jill Ireland. Nerdy trivia time –Ireland starred in an episode of the original Star Trek as Leila Kalomi – aka the only woman Mr. Spock has ever loved. Who doesn’t want to see a New Orleans based Depression era film about the bare knuckle boxing circuit? As the poster states: “It was tough on the streets. But Bronson was tougher.” No doubt. 
Straight Time (1978) This is an underrated Dustin Hoffmann film which tells the classic story of a criminal who gets out of jail only to find himself struggling to retain his freedom. Based on a story by real life criminal and author Eddie Bunker (aka the youngest prisoner ever to enter San Quentin prison aka Mr. Blue in Reservoir Dogs) and has a plethora of great supporting actors – once again Harry Dean Stanton is involved as is a young Gary Busey and Kathy Bates as well as the great character actor M. Emmet Walsh.
McCabe and Mrs. Miller ( 1971) A western directed by one of my favourites- Robert Altman (M.A.S.H. , Nashville, The Long Goodbye, Thieves Like Us) starring Warren Beatty and Julie Christie with Leonard Cohen providing the soundtrack and British Columbia providing the backdrop. This is one of many superior westerns made in the 70s…some others being Jeremiah Johnson (Robert Redford), Little Big Man (Dustin Hoffman), Valdez is Coming (Burt Lancaster) Missourri Breaks ( Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson) Pat Garret and Billy the Kid (with Bob Dylan in a supporting role) and Clint Eastwood’s efforts (High Plains Drifter, The Outlaw Josey Wales)
I just saw this one last night so while it’s still fresh in my mind I figured I’d include it here. The California Kid (1974) was a TV Movie about..well..this opening description from the beginning of the film says it better than I can.
“In 1958 Clarksberg was a well known speed trap. During that year, seven persons were killed trying to outrun the law. And then one day a stranger drove into town…”
That stranger was none other than – you guessed it – The California Kid who is a rebel with a cause, played by Martin Sheen. Also starring is Michelle Phillips of The Mamas and the Papas fame, fresh faced Nick Nolte ( you may think Nick Nolte and fresh faced do not go together but watch this movie and you’ll see otherwise) and Vic Morrow (who died tragically in the well publicized helicopter accident during the filming of the Twilight Zone movie) as the downright rotten sherrif who enjoys running speedsters off the road and to their deaths. While it can be a touch simplistic like the tv movie it is, it’s fun to see how the 70s does the 50s ( Happy Days style) it’s fairly well done and the score is pretty fantastic apart from during the shlocky bits (i.e. the parts that don’t feature cars)
Before I get too carried away, no discussion of American cinema in the 70s would be complete without the paranoid/conspiracy thrillers that abounded throughout the decade. During the era it seemed to be a common belief that shadowy figures controlled our destinies, pulling the strings, government and authority figures were not to be trusted and bad things were planned in the privileged backrooms and unlit corners of society.
A few examples of this kind of film are – Executive Action, All the President’s Men, Chinatown, The Conversation, Capricorn 1, Three Days of the Condor, Marathon Man, The Boys From Brazil, Parallax View, Odessa File etc etc.
And lastly, the man who provided the excellent soundtrack to so many of the 70s (and 60s) films was Lalo Schifrin (there is even a documentary about him in our collection – Movie Music Man) without whom the movies would not sound as awesomely cool as they do – a quick tip – he wrote the theme song to Mission Impossible.
And that brings to an end my look back at the 1970s which I started two blog entries ago way back when the days were longer and extra layers were not needed. Hopefully I’ve given you some ideas how to delve into the decade I started this whole journey off with by ranking it as my all time favourite era. Next up I may very well get into what is probably the number two decade I’m most interested in – 1930s. Stay tuned. ..