"The best thing we can do is go on with our daily routine."
-Nurse Mildred Ratched, after the suicide of Billy Bibbitt
On September 8, 1974, Gerald Ford granted Richard Nixon a pardon. This action caused the American public to be extremely skeptical moving forward with the Ford administration. It was just as corrupt as the Nixon administration. This echoed back to what young filmmakers were saying about the country in their films. It's all over Chinatown, a film representing the futility of good intentions. And it continued on into the next year. "In 1975, Chinatown is not Chinatown. Chinatown is America." as Rick Perlstein would say.
June 20, 1975. The release of Jaws from wunderkind director Steven Spielberg. As the country was getting more serious, people started turning to adventure movies like Jaws. During the Great Depression, as people were standing in bread lines, the genre that doing well at the box office were musicals. Escapist entertainment. Jaws was budgeted at $4 million and went over budget to $9 million. It would go on to gross more than $100 million and become the highest grossing film in history. At least until 1977.
The summer blockbuster was born.
There is a gauge I usually use when I encounter a film fan. And that is whether or not they appreciate Steven Spielberg. While this metric does have nostalgia play into it- he was the first director whose style I'd unknowingly fall in love with- there is a certain type of 'cinephile' who views themselves above such mainstream fluff like Spielberg. They are usually found exclusively in the foreign film section. Now there is no denying the director has made his share of stinkers. Movies so saccharine you get tooth decay from all the sugar he pours over every scene. But when's he good, he's good. Kubrick wouldn't pick up the phone to have three hour conversations with him otherwise. Jaws is legitimately a great film. You can't place the blame at the foot of the filmmaker for ushering in the summer blockbuster and how it has devolved to what it is today. You place the blame at the foot of the executives who saw it as a business model going forward.
For the 1976 show the nominees for Best Picture were Barry Lyndon, Dog Day Afternoon, Jaws, Nashville and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. The winner: the anti-authoritarian One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
The show for 1975 which honored the films of 1974 showed just how stark the contrast was between old and new Hollywood. John Wayne, Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope, Sammy Davis Jr. were presenters. Dustin Hoffman would described the award shows as "beauty pageants that show the worst aspect of this country."
Hearts and Minds would win Best Documentary Feature that evening. Producer Bert Schneider and director Peter Davis would receive the award. Schneider would read a message from Vietnam regarding recognition of their friends in America and "all they have done on behalf of peace." Backstage, John Wayne and Frank Sinatra confronted Schneider. Bob Hope insisted on a retraction from the Academy. Three weeks later, as the North Vietnamese surrounded Saigon, Armed Forces Radio played White Christmas which meant the evacuation of all Americans.
On the fringes of what society considers 'good taste' (to hell with them), filmmakers like Russ Meyer and Radley Metzger were releasing some of their strongest works. Rocky Horror Picture Show premiered and would become the midnight movie event. There are still repertory houses that host sing-a-longs and Rocky Horror themed costumed parties.
Beyond Hollywood, directors documented the turmoil in their respective countries.
The eclectic mix wasn't just to be found in cinemas. It was all over the music scene. Black Sabbath released the final album in their 6-album streak which planted the seeds for heavy metal. Queen and Elton John continued bringing operatic theatricality to new heights. Prog rock, ambient and experimental music were still going strong and reaching new peaks.
1. Queen- A Night At the Opera
2. Pink Floyd- Wish You Were Here
3. Bob Dylan- Blood On the Tracks
4. Brian Eno- Another Green World
5. Led Zeppelin- Physical Graffiti
6. Van Der Graaf Generator- Godbluff
7. Frank Zappa- One Size Fits All
8. Elton John- Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy
9. Black Sabbath- Sabotage
10. Patti Smith- Horses
FILMS
1. Dog Day Afternoon
Compulsively rewatchable. I continue to come back to this film because of it's energy. It has what is my favorite Pacino performance. It's constantly turning. Changing with each revelation.
2. Nashville
"A film can either put you to sleep nicely or wake you up and I'm interested in the wake you up part."
So says the writer of Nashville, Joan Tewksbery. And with the direction of Altman, Nashville became a major wake up call. Art that colors outside the lines has always interested me. It's why I am so drawn to a film like Magnolia. There was no protagonist or antagonist of the picture. It was after I saw Magnolia, I wanted to find out the sources of inspiration. Short Cuts kept coming up. So, naturally I sought it out. Then I got to Nashville off Short Cuts.
Every time I watch it it's like watching a new movie. There's just so much goddamn stuff in it! There are forces at the intersection of art and politics and this film captures them better than any other made.
3. Welfare
"We going into a vicious cycle again and I'm getting tired of it."
Kafkaesque has been used to describe so many works of art that deal with the nightmare of bureaucracy. Here is a film that deserves the title. Every sequence is dense with layer and meaning as Wiseman cuts to the marrow of the welfare system. Nobody gets helped in the entire picture.
Wiseman's world is a nightmare where rules, regulations and pieces of paper have a higher order of reality than the people they pertain to. The profound disconnect between reality and proven reality causes an aura an anger to hang over every interaction in the film.
Even in terms of form, there is a constant tension between fiction and reality. All the people we see here feel like characters straight out of fiction yet their situations go on longer than they would in a film. If you know of a better documentary, go to the sixth floor. If it's closed, then please come back tomorrow.
4. Jaws
In the song Indiscipline by King Crimson, Adrian Belew sings "No matter how I take it apart, no matter how I break it down, it remains consistent." I think of that lyric when I watch Jaws. The Jaws Log by Peter Gottlieb is a required text for anyone who likes the film or just wants to learn about how to make a film. It discusses how the movie was made from every arena possible. The now iconic score by John Williams. The editing by Verna Fields which, if one frame was added or subtracted dictated the difference between a fake looking shark and a real looking shark. The unmatched chemistry of the three leads in Schieder, Dreyfus, and Shaw. The way Spielberg does the oner on the boat while Brody is talking to the mayor. There are dozens of more things I can list off. I would be remiss if I didn't bring up my favorite part of the film which is the USS Indianapolis speech.
In a film with beat after beat of genuine character moments, Quint's speech never fails to do a number on me when I watch it. The way Shaw delivers makes you believe he was there. In the biggest movie of the year, the crown jewel of it all is a scene where three guys are sitting down and sharing battle scar stories. No big set pieces. No flashbacks. Just great storytelling. And that right there is the difference between Spielberg and the people who think they are Spielberg.
5. Barry Lyndon
One of the random facts about this movie is it's Brian Eno's favorite film of all time. This tracks because it plays like one of his ambient albums come to life.
His other films tend to overshadow this one. The photography here is the metric all other period pieces should be measured against. The ascent and descent of the O'Neal's character matched by the shift from flippant comedy to hopeless collapse comes without warning. Just as Lyndon is unprepared for responsibility.
6. Mirror
Tarkovsky's most autobiographical film. His ability to immerse the viewer into the texture of a scene is equaled only by Lynch. There is a hypnotic quality to his work and Mirror perhaps showcases this best. A man undergoes a spiritual crisis as he recollects moments from his childhood. There's no framing device. No hand holding. Just the viewer left to piece the fragments of the director's psyche in real time.
7. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
The performances by Jack, Louise and Brad all stand out here but what keeps me coming back to its padded walls and white interiors is the ensemble. Everyone feels authentic. When you have a cast this good, it is the director's movie to blow it. Thankfully, Forman exceeds.
8. Jeanne Dielmann
The whole thing is an experiment. A trapeze artist balanced precariously on a string for over 3 hours. I saw one review of it saying it has as much action as Die Hard. This is the genius of the film. By stretching out time through routine, we pick up any details added. Any difference from the first time we see Jeanne go through doing something to the second time causes tension.
9. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
A go to the movie when I just want to sit down for some nonsensical laughter. Part of the charm of the Monty Python is the troupe taking high art from high society and cutting it all down to size through absurdity. This is the best example of that. It gleefully deconstructs the Arthurian legend.
10. Deep Red
As much as I enjoy the "animals" trilogy, they were a warm- up for Deep Red. In particular, his theme of the unreliability of memory from Bird With the Crystal Plumage. Everything clicks into place. His mastery of giallo, the Goblin score, and the camerawork. From here, Argento is unstoppable. Well, until 1987.
11. Grey Gardens
Sure, there's hang out movies. But what about hang out documentaries? The Maysles allow this beautiful alchemy to simmer as we spend time with Big Edie and Little Edie. Just give this a watch and you'll be doing a dance with an American flag in no time.
12. Salo, or the 120 Says of Sodom
Sandwiched between a copy of Cannibal Holocaust and A Serbian Film in some edgelord's library is this movie. Bandied about in circles of teenagers who view it as a dare; all political and social context stripped away and reduced down to "the movie where people are forced to eat shit."
In an essay on the film, writer Gary Indiana observes, "Everything that happens in Salo is stylized, mechanized, prescribed and proceeds "by the book." The catalog of often physically impossible sexual combinations and maniacally complicated tortures it (Sade's 120 Days of Sodom) comprises would send the staunchest viewer running from the theater-or, obversely, put even the most enthusiastic viewer to sleep. Pasolini extracted the basic structural design of this novel and fleshed it out with an incongruous elegance and a certain trickster's tact."
By extracting this structural design of not just Sade's work but Dante's Nine Circles of Hell, Pasolini, an avowed Marxist, created a work which takes us on a tour of revulsion through 1944 fascist Italy. This depiction would cause numerous outcries and censorship.
Shortly after its premiere, Pasolini would be abducted, tortured and murdered at Ostia in November 1975. The likeliest culprits being the Banda della Magliana, a criminal organization with links to far-right terrorism. I watched this on the night Donald Trump took office for the 2nd time because I couldn't find any other movie more fitting.
13. ThunderCrack!
It's a 3- hour arthouse horror porn. One reviewer likened it to the hateful horror of Andy Milligan's The Ghastly Ones, the filth-is-my-life shock of Pink Flamingos and the winking camp of Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. Eminently quotable dialogue, gorgeous photography and tasteless sex abound.
14. Love and Death
You could divide his filmography up into two categories: slapstick and serious. This particular film is the best starting point for his slapstick. It tackles all of his high-minded interests and melds them with his trademark neurotic humor.
Woody sums it all up at the end: "Human beings are divided into mind and body. The mind embraces all the nobler aspirations like poetry and philosophy. But the body has all the fun."
15. Night Moves
"Who's winning?"
"Nobody. One side just loses more slowly."
A year after Chinatown, Arthur Penn managed to come close with his take on neo noir. The film has two strengths: Gene Hackman's performance and Dede Allen's impeccably timed editing that climaxes into one of the most terrifying ending sequences in any noir. She would edit Dog Day Afternoon the same year.
16. Fox and His Friends
Fassbinder's first depiction of gay life. Economic fate and emotional fate are intertwined to become one in the same. The director knew that such bleakness would make for either a black comedy or an abject tragedy. The line between the two is very short as he proves here.
This was Fassbinder's twenty second film made when he was twenty-nine. Think about that then think about the quality of films he made before it and the quality of the films after and you get an inkling on what a giant of cinema this guy was.
16. Lips of Blood
If ever asked the question: where do I start with Jean Rollin, I will point to this. It's not my favorite but it manages to encapsulate the fundamentals. Vampires? Check. Atmosphere for days? Check. Magnificent sets? Check.
17. Manila In the Claws of the Light
Lino Brocka, the most acclaimed filmmker to hail from the Philipines, documents his city of Manila as a dog-eat-dog world. Steeped in social realism, the film showcases the grittiness of urban life as poverty takes hold of its most vulnerable.
The ending definitely had an inspiration on Taxi Driver so if you like that movie, watch this.
18. Dersu Uzala
Some of Kurosawa's best work has been from adapting Russian source material. Dersu Uzala sees him take the Russian inspiration to the point of moving out of his homeland. Kurosawa hit rock bottom depression before this movie and making it so soon after shows his conviction in people. In the characters, he finds his own anxieties reflected when the studios were becoming increasing conservative and averse to risk taking.
More refined than his first color picture, Dodes'ka-den, he would make five years prior, but not quite as eye-poppingly gorgeous as Kagemusha or Dreams, Dersu Urzala is an unsung work in the sensei's career.
19. Footprints On the Moon
Every genre has its weak entries. Every subgenre has its weak entries. There are two subgenres in particular where this is readily apparent: the slasher and the giallo. If I had to list out ten examples of when the giallo is done right, Luigi's Bazzoni's 1975 effort would make the cut. It succeeds because its conventions are nebulous and its mood is ethereal. The film is able to achieve such moodiness due to it being built around memory and how images work.
20. A Haunted Turkish Bathhouse
Eroticism, pinku violence, and brothel-cum-bathhouse soapy sex mayhem are just a handful of the things this feline flick has to offer. I love cats. I love revenge flicks. Kazuhiko Yamaguchi combines both.
21. Supervixens
One of the more misunderstood or just plain underrated artists is Russ Meyer. Whenever his name comes up, he's described as "the Big Breasts guy." OK. So that is true. But there's so much more to him. An abundance, if you will. The way he frames his shots for example.
The main character here is constantly thwarting the advances of an array of robust women and the whole tone of the movie feels like a live action cartoon.
22. Smile
A scathing indictment on traditional Americana in the wake of Vietnam and Watergate. It's a satire about how the pursuit of the American Dream has crippled an entire small town and negatively affected the values of contestants in a beauty pageant, beating Drop Dead Gorgeous 24 years to the punch.
Smile came out in the same year as Nashville and while it hits a number of the same satirical notes, it still remains a film that is slept on. Easily one of the top 5 Bruce Dern performances.
23. Three Days of the Condor
I always think of the office massacre when I think about this movie. It's become a Christmas staple and with the passing of Robert Redford earlier this year, it made this year's viewing bittersweet.
24. Race With the Devil
A veritable grab-bag of a movie with all the stuff in the grab-bag being to my liking: Satanic cults, car chases, insane stunts, post-Watergate conspiracy/paranoia and Warren Oates.
25. The Image
"There are too many thorns. You simply have to get scratched."
A beautifully shot Sadean- read diary of Parisian punishment and pleasure, bejeweled blindfolds and perfumed asses. There's an intensity and sheer meanness here that Radley Metzger was able to achieve that other films of this period and genre could not.
26. Hard Times
A fantastic debut that kicks off one of the great director streaks. Everything Walter Hill does from here thru 1984 is gold.
27. Switchblade Sisters
Jack Hill balances humor and exploitation while taking his characters seriously. A film about women breaking free of their bonds and going out on their own. There's a reason why he's considered the Howard Hawks of exploitation filmmakers.
28. Death Race 2000
Paul Bartel cut his teeth on 1972's Private Parts which more or less could be considered a calling card film. Death Race 2000 allows him to cash it all in. This New World-era Corman production would showcase just how talented Bartel in not just action but humor.
29. Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven
An uncomfortably black comedic look at the way people and political groups exploit personal tragedies for their own gain. Brigitte Mira, hot off Ali Fear Eats the Soul, stars as the titular Emma Kusters, and turns in another acting showcase.
30. Report to the Commissioner
Billy Friedkin said a chase scene is pure cinema. There are two in here. One of them involves Bob Balaban and the way it plays out is something I've never seen in a movie before. A film like this is proof that however many good (and bleak) crime films of the 70's you think you've seen, there's always another hidden in the shadows, waiting to be discovered. "They is them and we is us. And that's the way it is."
