ILX Best Films of the 1970s

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I have three Jack Nicholson movies on my list! Maybe I shouldn't be embarrassed about that.

― Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Monday, 8 August 2005 00:02 (eighteen years ago) link

I will vote at some point soon, but I'm hoping to manage to get around to watching The Conformist before I do. Pretty sure that once I see it I'll like it enough to put it on the list, but I haven't got around to it for 3 years...

― emil.y (emil.y), Monday, 8 August 2005 10:42 (eighteen years ago) link

Just trawling through IMDB for some thoughts. I don't know about "best", but some of my favourites here are Bugsy Malone (which I think I must have seen about 20 times) and The Big Bus.

"They're breaking wind at 90!"

― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Monday, 8 August 2005 11:32 (eighteen years ago) link

Also Slapshot.

― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Monday, 8 August 2005 11:34 (eighteen years ago) link

Excellent, up to 10 ballots received.

The voting period is half over, you have 2 weeks remaining to case your ballots.

I am still doing a drawing for a Amazon gift certificate for all ballots received.

Results are interesting so far.

― Jeff-PTTL (Jeff), Monday, 8 August 2005 14:52 (eighteen years ago) link

case = cast

― Jeff-PTTL (Jeff), Monday, 8 August 2005 14:52 (eighteen years ago) link

bump, ballot status is the same.

I'm still working on mine, I'd like to watch a few more films that I feel like I should see.

― Jeff-PTTL (Jeff), Tuesday, 9 August 2005 14:44 (eighteen years ago) link

I'll figure out some kind of order and send my vote in soon, but for now, here's for everyone's discussion:

The Conformist
Annie Hall
The Third Generation
End of the Road
Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street
Lucifer Rising
Dawn of the Dead
The Harder They Come
Tout Va Bien
The Act of Seeing With One's Own Eyes
Ganja and Hess
Thriller: A Cruel Picture
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie
Razor 2: The Snare
Under the Flag of the Rising Sun
Sisters
11 x 14
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
Female Convict Scorpion: Jailhouse 41
It's Alive

― Anthony (Anthony F), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 11:44 (eighteen years ago) link

Shit, I didn't realize the voting was on, I thought this thread was just for suggestions. Maybe you should start a new thread for folks who're as dumb as me.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 12:07 (eighteen years ago) link

Just sent in my ballot, and i would like to shout-out the following films in the hopes that future ballot-senders will remember them when they vote('cause I forgot a couple, and the others are cool):

Murmur of The Heart
Prime Cut
California Spilt
Who Is Harry Kellerman And Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?
Smile
Jonah, Who Will Be 25 In The Year 2000
Night Moves
The Heartbreak Kid
Little Murders
Blue Collar
GATES OF HEAVEN
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia

― Marxism Goes Better With Coke (Charles McCain), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 19:22 (eighteen years ago) link

1. The Godfather I & II
2. Nashville
3. Taxi Driver
4. Five Easy Pieces
5. The Conversation
6. Goin' Down the Road
7. Chinatown
8. Jaws
9. The Candidate
10. Carrie
11. American Graffiti
12. Mean Streets
13. California Split
14. Straight Time
15. McCabe & Mrs. Miller
16. All the President's Men
17. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
18. Invasion of the Body Snatchers
19. North Dallas Forty
20. The Heartbreak Kid

I know my list is ultra-conventional, but I think most of these films are famous for good reason. I've counted the two Godfathers together, as Sight and Sound did in their last poll--there are arguments against doing so, but it makes sense to me. I'll get this e-mailed...

― Phil Dellio (j.j. hunsecker), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 19:37 (eighteen years ago) link

Oops--forgot Frederick Wiseman's Welfare. Put that at #7 and drop everything down. Goodbye, Charles Grodin.

― Phil Dellio (j.j. hunsecker), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 19:38 (eighteen years ago) link

Worse than that, goodbye Jeannie Berlin :(

― Marxism Goes Better With Coke (Charles McCain), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 19:41 (eighteen years ago) link

And goodbye, pecan pie.

― Phil Dellio (j.j. hunsecker), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 19:45 (eighteen years ago) link

Phil, I emailed you back. We're actually counting the Godfather's separate for no reason other than I've received a ton of ballots already with them separate.

― Jeff-PTTL (Jeff), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 21:35 (eighteen years ago) link

and I don't want to ask a dozen people to re-list and re-submit.

― Jeff-PTTL (Jeff), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 21:45 (eighteen years ago) link

Hey, Jeff, I just realized that The Sorrow and the Pity is, according to IMDB, a '60s film (1969). Is there any chance I could swap in Scorsese's "American Boy" for the same points?

It's actually one of his best films.

― Pete Scholtes, Thursday, 11 August 2005 13:52 (eighteen years ago) link

And to remind everybody, there's only 11 days left to vote. You big procrastinators.

― Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Thursday, 11 August 2005 13:54 (eighteen years ago) link

>We're actually counting the Godfather's separate for no reason other than I've received a ton of ballots already with them separate.<

Well that's good, since Brando does what he can to wreck the first one.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 11 August 2005 14:01 (eighteen years ago) link

Come again? Are you sure you're not thinking of The Freshman, or maybe some SNL or SCTV parody Brando participated in? I'll concede that the The Godfather's greatest performance is given by Pacino, and that any awards that were given out should have gone to him, and I'll even agree that the gallery of character actors that populate the film--Richard Castellano, John Marley, Sterling Hayden, Alex Rocco--might be more indelible than any one leading performance, but Brando's an integral part of the first film anyway. Saying he actively wrecks the film makes as much sense to me as saying that Citizen Kane is hurt by Welles's poor direction.

― Phil Dellio (j.j. hunsecker), Thursday, 11 August 2005 17:42 (eighteen years ago) link

He's a joke except when he's very still, or clowning with the grandkid. When he shakes Al Martino and tells him to ACT LIKE A MAN, just bad hamming. Same when hearing of Sonny's death -- slump shoulders, furrow brow...

I prefer him in The Freshman, and Harry Belafonte in Uptown Saturday Night.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 11 August 2005 17:46 (eighteen years ago) link

If you can track down a version of The Godfather Saga with all of Coppola's deleted footage, you'll find an alternate take of the scene where Brando learns of Sonny's death: he high-fives Duvall, says "Finally, that hothead bastard's out of the way," and then the two of them dance a celebratory Tarantella together. So I sort of see where you're coming from.

― Phil Dellio (j.j. hunsecker), Thursday, 11 August 2005 19:51 (eighteen years ago) link

I see you're coming down Snotnose Bullshit Boulevard.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 11 August 2005 20:07 (eighteen years ago) link

films that are on my ballot but havent been mentioned yet:

Fist of Fury (1972)
Jeremiah Johnson (1972)
Juggernaut (1974)
Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx (1972)
Mr. Majestyk (1974)
New One-Armed Swordsman (1971)
Turkish Delight (1973)

― fe zaffe (fezaffe), Thursday, 11 August 2005 20:53 (eighteen years ago) link

Uh, "Dr. Morbius"--if you want to dismiss Brando in The Godfather with such sweeping authority ("He's a joke"?), you maybe shouldn't react so petulantly if someone wants to suggest that such a dismissal is absurd. Did you really think that no one would strongly disagree with you?

― Phil Dellio (j.j. hunsecker), Thursday, 11 August 2005 21:09 (eighteen years ago) link

My favorite deleted scene in The Godfather Saga is where they show those guys actually sneaking the horse's head into the mansion.

― Pete Scholtes, Thursday, 11 August 2005 22:37 (eighteen years ago) link

Oh, but no way that should have made the final cut. It ruins the punchline.

― Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Thursday, 11 August 2005 22:38 (eighteen years ago) link

Cause the scene builds like, "Blood? What is this blood? Did they cut his legs off or something?" And then you find out it's so much better than that.

― Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Thursday, 11 August 2005 22:39 (eighteen years ago) link

Pete, yes, I can do that. I'm away from my home computer right now, but if you can emailed me again to remind me, that would be great. Thanks.

Yes, vote early, vote often.

― Jeff-PTTL (Jeff), Friday, 12 August 2005 21:21 (eighteen years ago) link

I made that up, Paunchy Stratego, sorry.

Like the deleted scene after the door closes on Kay at the end of the movie, which shows her throwing a glass at the door, shattering it, and screaming, "Noooooooooooo!" It ends with a freeze frame of her face with her mouth open, and the credits roll over that.

― Pete Scholtes, Friday, 12 August 2005 23:44 (eighteen years ago) link

http://www.gonemovies.com/WWW/TopFilms/Godfather/kay1.jpg NooooooOOOO!

― richardk (Richard K), Friday, 12 August 2005 23:59 (eighteen years ago) link

http://www.outchy.com/images/vader_02.jpg NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

― richardk (Richard K), Saturday, 13 August 2005 00:01 (eighteen years ago) link

Good job folks, 18 ballots received.

9 MORE DAYS LEFT TO VOTE

― Jeff-PTTL (Jeff), Saturday, 13 August 2005 20:38 (eighteen years ago) link

bump, hooray new answers!

― Jeff-PTTL (Jeff), Saturday, 13 August 2005 21:27 (eighteen years ago) link

1) Dawn of the Dead
2) Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid
3) Mean Streets
4) Taxi Driver
5) Two-Lane Blacktop
6) Lancelot Du Lac
7) Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
8) Stalker
9) Jaws
10) The Long Goodbye
11) Apocalypse Now
12) Get Carter
13) Deep Red
14) High Plains Drifter
15) M*A*S*H
16) Young Frankenstein
17) Straw Dogs
18) The Getaway
19) The Ballad of Cable Hogue
20) The Last Detail

― gear (gear), Saturday, 13 August 2005 21:30 (eighteen years ago) link

Like blood much, Gear? Then you'll love Eric Rohmer!

'mazing how one person's opinion is indicted for 'sweeping authority' when it's phrased like 5000 others. Ah, the $ of challenging Conventional Wisdom.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 14 August 2005 13:19 (eighteen years ago) link

Jeff, can I amend my ballot to include a few (one?) omission?

― Leeeeeeee (Leee), Sunday, 14 August 2005 17:59 (eighteen years ago) link

email it to me

― Jeff-PTTL (Jeff), Sunday, 14 August 2005 18:15 (eighteen years ago) link

1)The Getaway
2) The Godfather II
3) The President's Analyst
4) Nashville
5) Dog Day Afternoon
6) Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia
7) Love On The Run
8) The Harder They Come
9) Love and Death
10) Blazing Saddles
12) Cross of Iron
13) Manhattan
14) Celine and Julie Go Boating
15) Sweet Sweetback's Badassssss Song
16) Stalker
17) Up in Smoke
18) Phantasm
19) Junior Bonner
20) The Hot Rock

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Sunday, 14 August 2005 19:07 (eighteen years ago) link

will someone please explain the appeal of nashville to me?

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Sunday, 14 August 2005 20:04 (eighteen years ago) link

explain the NOT appeal first, plz.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Sunday, 14 August 2005 20:13 (eighteen years ago) link

it's boring and none of the characters are interesting?

it also seems kind of snide and condescending, like altman wanted to make a renoir-style ensemble film but completely lacked renoir's wit and generosity.

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Sunday, 14 August 2005 20:23 (eighteen years ago) link

blood! blood!!

― gear (gear), Sunday, 14 August 2005 20:27 (eighteen years ago) link

i always thought it had enormous respect for all the characters. i mean, i guess if you don't find them and that sort of americana a strangely noble thing, then it'll do nothing for you.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Sunday, 14 August 2005 20:49 (eighteen years ago) link

I'll vote in this before the 22nd, if only to get "The Optimists of Nine Elms" in there; a sorely overlooked film...

― Tom May (Tom May), Sunday, 14 August 2005 22:21 (eighteen years ago) link

Dr. Morpheus: this war stops now. I'm not sure how it is that my last post reaches the level of an indictment. You ridiculed Brando in The Godfather, I defended him in a rather calm and measured way--conceding that he probably does get too much credit for his performance--you ridiculed him some more, I recounted with with what was intended as a humorous shrug of the shoulders as to how exactly you wanted him to play the scene where he learns of his son's death, at which point you really turned thoughtful: you called me a "snotnose." I have no problem at all with challenging conventional wisdom, but I've encountered this kind of back-and-forth before in another context: it seems to me you want to challenge conventional wisdom without having your unconventional wisdom questioned, and as soon as it is, you get very defensive.

― Phil Dellio (j.j. hunsecker), Sunday, 14 August 2005 22:49 (eighteen years ago) link

Well, it all comes down to whether we think his perf is bad or not, right? I'll grant you that. I just think his playing was obvious, gimmicky (let me stuff tissues in my mouth to look a dozen years older -- or "grotesque in an absurd makeup," as Leslie Halliwell put it) and vastly improved upon by deNiro in GPII. Diane Keaton's hair also gets multiple laughs in theater showings, as does Tessio's line about the good food in the place where Michael whacks Sollozzo and the cop. And the Corleones are generally sentimentalized, compared with II.

>The President's Analyst

late '60s.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 15 August 2005 13:59 (eighteen years ago) link

Let me say that I swear--on the souls of my grandchildren--that I will not be the one to break the peace that we have made here today. We're at an impasse on Brando, but no argument that Keaton is often terrible in both films. I think it's only partly her fault--it's the usual woman-as-accessory role, very poorly written, like Sissy Spacek's in JFK. I've probably seen the first Godfather 15-20 times in a theatre, and I've never heard Tessio's line about the food get an unintentional laugh, though. The one line that always turns the theatre upside down is John Marley's Kraut-Mick rant.

― Phil Dellio (j.j. hunsecker), Monday, 15 August 2005 16:57 (eighteen years ago) link

6 DAYS PEOPLE!!!

― Jeff-PTTL (Jeff), Tuesday, 16 August 2005 17:55 (eighteen years ago) link

I thought Part II had many, many worse lines. "If history has taught us anything... it's that you can kill anyone." Then again, maybe Michael turning into an idiot was a subtext there. I think both Keaton and Brando are great, by the way, but I've heard otherwise before. To me, this is the result of them both taking chances. I was utterly convinced when I was 12...

― Pete Scholtes, Tuesday, 16 August 2005 21:55 (eighteen years ago) link

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