Bring Me the Films of 1974

"I have never been a quitter. To leave office before my term is complete is abhorrent to every instinct in my body. But as President, I must put the interests of America first. America needs a full time President and a full time Congress. Particularly at this time with problems we face at home and abroad. To continue to fight through the months ahead for my personal vindication would almost totally absorb the time and attention of both the President and the Congress in a period where our entire focus should be on the great issue of peace abroad and prosperity without inflation at home. Therefore, I shall resign the Presidency effective at noon tomorrow."

With those words, Richard Milhous Nixon, became the first president in the history of the United States to resign. It started with a piece of tape and ended with a speech on the news. Along the way, conspiracy, burglary, and treason were committed.

Nixon's Presidency lasted four years during the 70s yet so much of the decade orbits around it either as a reaction to or rejection of it. In the first six months of 1974, Paramount released The Conversation in April, The Parallax View in June, followed by Chinatown one week later. These three films are what I would show someone wanting to understanding the political climate of this decade. And if I could single out a specific scene, it would be the Test montage Warren Beatty's character is shown The Parallax View. Pakula's direction is not quite as exciting as it is in All the President's Men. But this test montage is one of my favorite 'scenes' in not just his paranoia trilogy, but in 70's film. What is editing but a manipulation of the viewer by placing two images side by side in a sequence to elicit an idea or emotion in someone's head.

If we look at the players in the film world there was Robert Altman, Warren Beatty, Peter Bogdonavich, Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, Jack Nicholson, Gordon Parks, Arthur Penn, Roman Polanski, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg and Robert Towne. In music there was Crosby Stills and Nash, Jackson Browne, The Eagles, Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Linda Ronsadt, James Taylor. And in television there was Alan Alda, James L. Brooks, Allan Burns, Norman Lear, Mary Tyler Moore, Carroll O'Connor, Rob Reiner and Gene Reynolds. 

When Altman wasn't wrapping production on California Split and Thieves Like Us, he was filming Nashville. Coppola had the greatest one-two punch of any director with The Conversation and The Godfather Part II. Spielberg was in the midst of filming Jaws. Lucas had completed the first draft on a little film called Star Wars. 

The art coming out of Los Angeles in 1974 was socially engaged, grappling with all the critiques of American life that had rumbled through society during the 1960s: greater suspicion of authority in business and government, more assertive roles for women, standards became looser for premarital sex, greater acceptance of racial and sexual minorities. They became infused into movies and the television landscape. Pop Culture became the bridge between mass audience and the once-insurrectionary ideas of the 1960s. 

Chinatown and The Godfather Part II would show America as a country built on corruption. Chinatown's Noah Cross is shown to be a representation of greed and amoral power. A monstrous father to Faye Dunaway's Evelyn Mulwray. The Godfather Part II would have a similair message. Coppola would state of The Godfather Part II: "I wanted to make a definitive statement about power. The finished film says that this country is in danger of losing its soul, like Michael did. That power without humanity is destructive." These two films would be the top contenders at the Academy Awards. The competition would be uncomfortably intimate. Coppola and Chinatown screenwriter Robert Towne had been friends since their days with Roger Corman. Coppola would enlist Towne to write the garden scene between Michael and his father in the first Godfather. 

The artistic explosion wasn't just happening in America. It was happening all around the world. New German Cinema directors like Fassbinder and Herzog were releasing their strongest works. French directors Jacques Rivette and Chantel Akerman were stretching the limits of narrative. Japan was releasing transgressive films through it's 'pinky violence' subgenre. 

In his book, Rock Me On the Water, Ronald Brownstein states that "cultural eras don't precisely follow the calendar. The creative renaissance in Los Angeles did not begin on January 1, 1974 and it did not abruptly end on December 31, 1974. But the dynamics that rejuvenated culture and politics in Los Angeles reached their fullest expression through 1974. And as the year transitioned to 1975, forces gathered momentum that would end the city's revival in movies, music, television and politics. The most important of these was a shift in cultural preferences that reduced America's appetite for popular entertainment that relitigated the arguments of the 1960s."

The few years afterward, 1975 though 1977, can be seen as not quite a transition to the decadent 80s, but more a glimmer of what was to come after the success of Jaws and Star Wars. A bridge to where an audience accepted Robert Blake getting blown away on his motorcycle for no particular reason in Electra Glide In Blue to Luke blowing up the Death Star in Star Wars. 

So where are we today? 

Altman, Bogdonavich, and Penn have passed away. Roman Polanski is a name synonamous with sexual assault; an incident which happened in 1977. Warren Beatty is more known as the guy who announced the wrong title for Best Picture than his film career. Francis Ford Coppola would release a decades-in-the-works Megalopolis to polarized reception. A couple of months after the release, the country elected Donald Trump for a second term as President. 

There's a part of me which would like think the results of the 2024 election would bring about the kind of art we had 50 years ago. Then there's the cold water in the face realization of so many other factors keeping it from happening. There is no "relitigating the arguments from the sixties" because we are further removed from that type of class warfare than ever. The revolutionaries from the 60's- Fred Hampton, Malcolm X, MLK. have all been eliminated through assassinations and COINTELPRO.  The Maysle's documentary Gimme Shelter is basically a snuff film with the hippie movement being laid bare. Hippies turned into yuppies. Yuppies turned into people angry bitter at programs like NAFTA outsourcing their jobs. The angry bitter people were promised Hope and Change but were given more shit on a plate. They donned their MAGA hats and finally said Fuck You to a government that continually stabbed them in the back. Top down became left right. The class war became a culture war. 50 years of neoliberalism, austerity and imperialism has caused the American Empire to take a downward trajectory that has no means of stopping. 

But enough of that noise, we're here to talk cinema. In 2013, Steven Soderbergh said in his State of Cinema speech that "cinema is under assault by the studios with, from what I can tell, the full support of the audience. The reasons for this are more economic and philosophical. But when you add an ample amount of fear, a lack of vision, and a lack of leadership, you got a trajectory that is pretty difficult to reverse." 

If you cut the timeline in half, you arrive at the year 1999. My second favorite year in film. Brian Rafferty in his book Best. Year. Ever. points out how "two decades after the cultural rupture that was 1999, movies have managed to simultaneously expand and shrink. Major studio films have never been more expensive, with budgets of $150 to $200 million. And because of these costs, the megamovies have to reach as many people as possible." You also have to factor in overseas distribution. This means no ambiguity, no narrative complexity or cultural specificity in order for the film to succeed in domestic and foreign markets. "Yet few viewers seem to be pushing back against them or even questioning their dominance. The mainstream audiences that were willing to be confronted in 1999 now largely want to sit in their seats undisturbed." 

"What people go to the movies for has changed since 9/11. The country hasn't healed in a complete way and people as a result are looking for more escapist entertainment." Soderbergh says in his State of Cinema speech. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the economic implosion in 2008, on-camera police violence against minorities, big tech companies spying on people would all yield films like There Will Be Blood, No Country For Old Men, Michael Clayton, The Wolf of Wall Street, Children of Men and Get Out. The problem is, modern audiences have an appetite for only a handful of such films each year. The blue pill version of the world goes down easier. 

In 2024, a year in which the genocide of Palestine was being streamed on social media platforms, it is not hard at all to understand this sentiment. 

Economic hardships such as the cost of living, our failed healthcare sytem and student debt have caused people to work longer hours. There is no time to go to the movies. When they are able to go, they don't want to be confonted with the world being on fire, let alone the collapse of the country around them.  

This is not to say confrontational art has disappeared. A24 and Neon continually put out films of quality through the 10's and 20's. Again, the amount of quality films are lacking when you compare it to any year from the 90s or 70s or even 80s. 

Bennett Media made a good case on how the shadow cast by Star Wars, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and Spider-Man, is still looming over film today. Speaking of Spider-Man, Kirsten Dunst said this while looking at a list of movies from 1999: "What happened to the movies? It showed me how poor movies are these days." When someone pointed out to her how it's 'kind of her fault' about joining a franchise series like Spider-Man, she retorted, "Listen: I wanted to be in Spider-Man. I love making those movies. But I'm not someone who will go to the movies to see a comic book movie. It's not my cup of tea." Thanks, Kristen. 

There's a scene in The Devil's Rejects where Otis Driftwood tells someone "I set my standards pretty low, so I'm never disappointed." He may as well be a stand in for the moviegoing public. We should be demanding more. It's objective fact that 1974 was better than any of the past 24 years. These anniversary lists serve as not just a reminder of how far we have fallen, but how we need to stop accepting mediocrity. If we continue to do so, then I see nothing but a bleak future on the horizon. We might as well settle into our recliners, pop in a blu ray and say "forget it Jake, it's...

1. Chinatown

When you have a story as complex and intricate as Robert Towne's script, the best bet to have the audience follow along without any trouble is to shoot simple. Polanski shoots eyelines wide with little use of close up cutaways. A whole scene can play out on one person's face with the other person off camera. The economy of storytelling portrays Gittes as a man who can go toe to toe with any individual creton (Noah Cross, for example) but finds his greatest enemy to be that of bureacracy. There are elements bigger than him. 

2. The Conversation

The cassette tape to The Godfather's grand opera. 

A case for Walter Murch being not just one of the giants of editing but of audio work. A movie where soundscapes are almost character in themselves. There's not a single moment that doesn't engage with the paranoia of not having any control over who's watching whom. There are thoroughly frightening scenes here because the whole thing is played with minimalism. 

3. A Woman Under the Influence

My vote for best performance by an actor from this, or any year, is Gena Rowlands in this film. It's the defining Cassavetes film because it embodies all of the hallmarks of his work: a depth plumbing character study, fraught emotional intensity, anchored by a towering performance by his wife and collaborator.  

4. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

There is something all the other TCM entries lack that this one has: mood. If you take Leatherface and his family out of the picture entirely, you have a document of decay. We open on a rotting corpse atop a grave, the sun pouring over it. A dead armadillo on the road. Spiders flittering frantically in the corner of an abandoned house. If you put Leatherface and the Sawyer family into this setting, you have one of the best horror films of the decade and in the running for all time. 

5. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia

In Sam's best films, I'm specifically speaking of Wild Bunch, Pat Garrett and this one, there is a finality of things that is an unstoppable force haunting the characters. The quote "You can't stop what's coming." from No Country For Old Men might as well apply in this instance. If it wasn't for Clint Eastwood, Sam would be considered the last great western director. And I am by no means discounting directors like Tarantino or the Coens who have taken stabs at the genre. Sam's films are more concerned about the end of a way of life. In Alfredo Garcia, Warren Oates' character is doomed. He knows it, we know it. Along this perilous journey are key stops in Mexican towns. The festering rot accrues and spills over into a violent climax only Peckinpah could deliver. 

6. Female Trouble

The Pope of Filth's worthy follow up to a film where Divine eats dog shit and a crucial reminder to get your partner or friend or family the gift they ask for. Even if it is cha-cha heels. 

7. Young Frankenstein

Nobody's winking at the camera. Gene, Teri, Peter, Madeline, and Gene all play it straight. There's nothing more tiresome than a comedian who laughs at his joke after he tells it. Luckily for us, Mel Brooks gave us something we still find hilarious after 50 years. 

8. Ali: Fear Eats the Soul

Rainer Werner Fassbinder's obsession with Douglas Sirk helped inspire him to make his own melodrama about a relationship grounded amidst racial inequality. Casting his own partner, El Hedi ben Salem in the lead role and regular Brigitte Mira as Emmi, a cleaning lady infatuated with him despite her own family not wanting anything to do with the man because of his race. Fassbinder imbues every frame with tenderness. This is the movie to start with for anyone unfamiliar with Fassbinder. 

9. Celine and Julie Go Boating

Of all the New Wave directors, Jacques Rivette was the most intellectual. Here he pulls out the rug, rearranges the rules and smiles while doing so. There is a go for broke stylistic freedom Rivette gives himself here. 

10. The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3

I can talk about how the last frame of this film is singed into my memory. Or how it captures an authenticity of New York folk more than any other film of the era (OK, Dog Day comes close). But let me just use this space to talk about the power of David Shire's throbbing jazz score. Between this and The Conversation he was on another level. 

11. The Godfather Pt. II

The best parts of this are the scenes in Italy. This is in no way denigrating the stuff with Fredo, Kay, Roth, or Pentangeli. It's simply stating how rich the operatic tapestry becomes as it takes us back to the turn of the century. Giving us new depths to the first film and laying out the family tragedy ahead.

12. Black Christmas

The dark and dirty flip side to Bob Clark's vision of Christmas. Frequently moody wide angle compositions, patient camera moves and a lived-in hang out quality. What is so startling about the killer is his uncertainty. Is he genuinely trying to talk to her or is he threatening her physical safety? Maybe it's both. 

13. Truck Turner

Isaac Hayes, Yaphet Kotto, Nichelle Nichols, Dick Miller and Scatman Crothers should be enough to have anyone want to see this. 

There's a shift tone where the film goes from rollicking action to stern character drama. Kaplan handles it gracefully. It puts it in the upper echelon of blaxpoitation movies coming out at the time. 

14. Martha

A dark comedy that hurdles headlong into horror. The horror of Fassbinder's tale of abuse lies in its titular character never able to put into words her feelings because the abuse isn't physical but psychological. 

15. The Living Dead At Manchester Morgue

The bridge between Romero's Night and Dawn and every bit as great as those. A bleak, unsettling atmosphere with ample amounts of gore. Also a good contribution to ACAB cinema. 

16. Lenny

This is one of Dustin's top performances. As good as the directing and editing are here, they almost feel like a warm up for what director Bob Fosse and Editor Alan Heim unleash in 1979. 

17. Thunderbolt and Lightfoot

Outside of The Deer Hunter, Michael Cimino's films have been largely overlooked or just dismissed altogether. His debut manages to combine buddy comedy, road movie and heist flick. As far as Eastwood flicks, it proves he is more versatile than people give him credit for. As far as Bridges flicks go, it's one of his best performances. 

18. Rabid Dogs

Easily the darkest thing Bava made. More than any of his gothic horror pictures. This is something you watch in the summer. Sweating in the profuse heat of a car with George Eastman in the backseat. 

19. Hearts and Minds

There weren't any movies coming out during the Vietnam War that properly addressed what was going on. The ones that did come out were basically propaganda films like John Wayne's The Green Berets. This documentary came out the year we pulled out and paints an ugly, brutally honest picture of the conflict. 

Daniel Ellsberg said it best: we are the wrong side. 

20. Busting

Hyams declaritively stamps his foot in the fucking ground here with his debut. The car and foot chases are on point and the market sequence is the highlight of the picture. The script does a good job at mirroring the similarities between the cops and the crooks. The chemistry between Elliot Gould and Robert Blake is fantastic here. 

21. Zero Woman: Red Handcuffs

Pop Art and Pure Filth collide in a melange of degradation, trenchcoats and...handcuffs. This film is a good representaion of pinky violence, a subgenre which was relgated to the 70s. Arterial spray, sleaze and nihilism abound. 

22. The Sugarland Express

Duel was an impressive feat in itself. Here, Spielberg is tasked with his first studio picture and pulls it off. Here we have the first use of a theme he loves to use in his early work, a character who comes from a broken home. He'd use it later on in Close Encounters and E.T.

There's a varied tone in Express. On the one hand it's an exploitation action flick, Duel on steroids. On the other, it's packed with comedy and energy. All good news for anyone who is turned off by his schmaltzier side. It's the first film of his to use John Williams and marks his first collaboration with cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond. 

In the midst of films like French Connection, Bullitt, and The Getaway, Sugarland Express holds its own and would show Spielberg as understanding the widescreen format to tell a story cinematically. 

23. Phantom of the Paradise

Gonna say it now, Phantom of the Paradise >The Rocky Horror Picture Show. This is DePalma having fun after the more strait laced Sisters. Like his pal Steven's movie, Phantom is loaded with energy from the start. There's a scene I always think about when this movie comes up and it's the camera chasing the Phantom down a hallway with his billowing cape. 

24. The Enigma of Kasper Hauser

There's a charming honesty in Herzog's direction and Bruno S. depiction of the titular character that creates an emotional impact. Kasper Hauser is a refreshing character, commenting on society's weird social norms. 

The working title for this picture was Every Man For Himself and God Against All which rates as one of the coolest titles of all time. Herzog would use it for his memoir in 2023.

25. Foxy Brown

Picking up where Coffy left off, Hill knew he had a unique talent on his hands with Pam Grier. So what does he give us? Another generous helping of her in the form of Foxy Brown. Belongs in the blaxpoitation starter pack. 

26. Blazing Saddles

"There's no way this would be made today" is the common quote thrown around about this movie. You can apply this quote to at least half of these movies but for different reasons. And ya know what? To hell with the naysayers. Saddles manages to be a confrontational live action cartoon written by a Jewish grandpa. An incisive skewering of Hollywood's racism and it's whitewashing of Western history while being a pretty fucking good Western in it's own right.  

27. Dead of Night

Like Romero did with Night of the Living Dead, Bob Clark uses the zombie archetype to lay American politics bare. In this case, he turns a critical eye toward the Vietnam War and creates an examination of the family unit post-Vietnam. To my mind, it's the first film to look at the war from a critical perspective. And it's a genre film from Canada to boot. 

28. Almost Human

I came upon Lenzi through Cannibal Ferox, followed his trail through giallo (Seven Blood Stained Orchids), the zombie film (Nightmare City) and most recently the politzioteschi. Probably the most versatile of the big Italian horror directors. Severin put out a box set collecting all of the films Lenzi and Tomas Milian did together and this is the diamond of the bunch. 

29. Memories Within Miss Aggie

Gerard Damiano's follow up to The Devil In Miss Jones is a winter flick thru and thru. Like Roberta Findlay's A Women's Torment and Roger Watkins' Her Name Was Lisa, Miss Aggie balances the allure of eroticism with the disturbances of psycholgical horror. Damiano shows a woman (wonderfully portrayed by Deborah Ashira) reaching autonomy not only through sexual pleasure, but reclaiming one's own perception. 

30. Freebie and the Bean

James Caan and Alan Arkin in a politcally incorrect buddy film with hugely impressive chase scenes. It's casually racist. It's constant lunacy. But above all...it's a love story. 

MUSIC

As far as music goes, my 3rd favorite album of all time, Genesis' concept album The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway was released. The last album with Peter Gabriel in the band. King Crimson released my favorite album from them with Red. The Wetton/Bruford lineup from '72 to '74 remains the incarnation I prefer. Progressive rock really hit an apex with not just those albums but with Yes releasing Relayer. Zappa, a genre unto himself, continued his hot streak with Apostrophe. 

Genesis- The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway

King Crimson- Red

Yes- Relayer

Frank Zappa- Apostrophe

Queen- Sheer Heart Attack

Supertramp- Crime of the Century

Tangerine Dream- Phaedra

SOURCES

Rock Me On the Water by Ronald Brownstein (Harper Collins)

Best. Year. Ever.: How 1999 Blew Up the Big Screen by Brian Raftery (Simon and Schuster)

The Big Goodbye: Chinatown and the Last Years of Hollywood by Sam Wasson (Macmillan)