*** ILE Best Films of the 1970s REVEALED ***

The Conversation is the Garret Anderson of '70s films: most overrated
"underrated."

How did News From Home sneak in there? I don't think I've even read about it.

Apocalypse Now would have a shot at being one of the 5 best films of the decade if Coppola cut it down to a short about Kilgore and the Air Cavalry titled "Charlie Don't Surf."

>morbius = pwnd<

Happily, I am still Luddite enough to have no fuckin idea what that means.

I was Gene Hackman from The Conversation a few years ago for Halloween, so I like it enough for that.

But I rented it a few days ago and my problem with it (once again) is that it just doesn't make sense (spoilers to follow): So the Harrison Ford character hired Hackman to record a conversation Ford knew was going to happen, and which the murderers knew was going to be overheard? Why not just record the conversation without Hackman?

I love the film so much, and get so caught up in it, I've never even stopped to ponder the logic. I guess I've always assumed that while Hackman is technically hired by Ford, it's with Duvall's knowledge; we hear Duvall say "You want it to be true" to Ford, which I take to mean that Ford initiated Hackman's hiring as a way to prove to Duvall that there's a plot against him, that Duvall approved the project, and that now they're sitting around weighing the evidence. I don't think Cindy Williams and Frederic Forrest were aware they were being taped. That would make Ford the really shadowy and unknowable figure--aligned with Duvall at the beginning, but keeping quiet and keeping his own proximity to the company's seat of power intact when the plot to kill the emperor succeeds and power is transferred.

I don't know, maybe that's wrong. But with The Conversation so steeped in the Watergate moment (accidentally; it's well known that Coppola wrote the script years earlier), I think a little mystery concerning the film's internal logic works well. The real-life parallel is why Nixon never burned the tapes, something that continues to puzzle everyone.

You mean "Gredo-shoots-first," right? On a related note, I also notice that the Jaws swimmer's breasts are less visible on the DVD art than they were in the original 1975 poster. These things matter.

I seem to remember Gene Wilder regreting that he made the film because it was "anti-child," but can't place the source...

But then, you know, "Looney Toons" is pretty fucked up, moralitywise, too (how many times does Bugs torture his foes in a manner of total overkill that isn't at all justified by the small infraction that they've made? That's without mentioning the times when it's entirely unprovoked), and I wouldn't want that erased from my childhood.

"Taxi Driver" is a good movie.

Of course, I could have voted.

/opening Netflix queue

They sound like utterly unremarkable films that have passed into greatness on qualities I can't ascertain.

Should I just break down and watch them?

actually, bugs usually doesn't go after ppl without a good reason (i.e. they're trying to shoot him or dig up his home or posting "rabbit season" signs all over the place). chuck jones talked about this in his autobiography, how he wanted bugs to be more sympathetic/interesting than, say, woody woodpecker. of course, daffy's another story...

"My coat! My lucky coat!"

"This pope has powerful enemies!"

OK, who was it who liked The Shout (96b)? It's showing at Lincoln Center at 4pm. Dave Kehr:

An airy allegory (from a Robert Graves story) held to earth by some scathing sexual passion. Alan Bates is the traveling madman who holds a composer (John Hurt) and his wife (Susannah York) in thrall. Sexuality triumphs over civilization through a series of small betrayals, each registered with appalling, pinpoint accuracy by Jerzy Skolimowski's camera. Though Skolimowski had backed off from his formal ambitions somewhat (he once seemed a real rival to Godard), this 1978 feature is shrewd, imaginative moviemaking, a trance thriller that beats Peter Weir on his own turf.

^this is like the most noize board movie ever (maybe crossed w/ I LOVE CRICKET: THE CHINATOWN OF ILX: THE CHINATOWN OF ILX)

I used to disagree with Dr. Morbius under my actual name; now I disagree with him under a fabricated one. The world has changed so much.

has anyone seen Chilly Scenes of Winter ('79) by Joan Micklin Silver, aka Head Over Heels?

http://www.ifccenter.com/films/chilly-scenes-of-winter/

A friend was telling me about this book--not sure if I knew about it or not.

https://academic.macmillan.com/academictrade/9781632868183/openingwednesdayatatheaterordriveinnearyou

Will definitely try to track down a copy at a decent price.

I was Gene Hackman from The Conversation a few years ago for Halloween, so I like it enough for that.
― Pete Scholtes, Monday, September 12,

Still the funniest Halloween costume I've ever heard of.