In 1870, a gang robs a train and steals a ceremonial Japanese sword meant as a gift for the U.S. President, prompting a manhunt to retrieve it.Read More »
1971-1980
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Terence Young – Soleil rouge aka Red Sun (1971)
1971-1980Terence YoungThrillerUSAWestern -
Wade Shaw & Stan Vanderbeek – Symmetricks (1972)
1971-1980AnimationExperimentalStan VanderbeekUSAWade ShawFrom the DVD notes:
”A computer-created animation of high-speed stroboscope mandalas with molecular-like energy. The surprise of this film is the color produced from the strobing black and white symmetrical images. Done with an electronic stylus on a special computer at MIT. This film demonstrates the possible use of the computer interacting with the graphic artist.”“Electronic-optical computer finger-painting. Laws of reflective mirror images. An interplay between drawing by hand and computer. Art form of the future – electronic calligraphy.” – S.V., not dated.Read More »
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Sam Peckinpah – Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974)
1971-1980CrimeDramaSam PeckinpahUSAQuote:
A family scandal causes a wealthy and powerful Mexican rancher to make the pronouncement–‘Bring me the head of Alfredo Garcia!’ Two of the bounty-hunters thus dispatched encounter a local piano-player in their hunt for information. The piano-player does a little investigating on his own and finds out that his girlfriend knows of Garcia’s death and last resting place. Thinking that he can make some easy money and gain financial security for he and his (now) fiancée, they set off on this goal. Of course, this quest only brings him untold misery, in the form of trademark Peckinpah violence.Read More » -
Akira Kurosawa – Kagemusha [+commentary] (1980)
1971-1980Akira KurosawaClassicsJapanWarSynopsis:
Akira Kurosawa’s lauded feudal epic presents the tale of a petty thief (Tatsuya Nakadai) who is recruited to impersonate Shingen (also Nakadai), an aging warlord, in order to avoid attacks by competing clans. When Shingen dies, his generals reluctantly agree to have the impostor take over as the powerful ruler. He soon begins to appreciate life as Shingen, but his commitment to the role is tested when he must lead his troops into battle against the forces of a rival warlord.Read More » -
Mrinal Sen – Mrigayaa (1977)
1971-1980DramaIndiaMrinal SenSynopsis-
Nothing is common between the two men to ever meet and understand each other; neither the origin of the British administration of imperial time nor the primitive culture of the tribal from the jungle in central India. Nothing is common but the sharing of a common passion: hunting.To both of them a big game is a game, a prey is a prey; this is probably why Ghinua, the young hunter and a loving husband, reacts like a terrible “hunter” when the usurer-landlord steals his wife. He slays him as the wild pigs have to be slain when they destroy harvest, or a tiger when he lifts a child. An avenged man, he brings his trophy, the head of the most mischievous game in his area, to the only man who will understand him, the English sahib, the other hunter.Read More »
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Philippe Garrel – L’enfant secret AKA The Secret Child (1979)
1971-1980ArthouseFrancePhilippe GarrelQuote:
Four chapters based on the birth of a ‘secret child’, or a film, with chapter titles: “La séction Césarienne” (Caesarian section: a descriptive detail introducing the mother); “Le dernier guerrier” (the last warrior: how the father sees himself); “Le cercle ophydique” (the serpent’s closed circle: the couple reunites at the psychiatric ward); “Les forêts désenchantées” (unfairy forests: the film in the making).Read More » -
Robert Bresson – Lancelot du Lac AKA Lancelot of the Lake (1974)
1971-1980ArthouseDramaFranceRobert Bresson

Synopsis:
A million miles away from ‘Camelot’ or ‘Excalibur’, this film ruthlessly strips the Arthurian legend down to its barest essentials. Arthur’s knights, far from being heroic, are conniving and greedy men who, just before the film starts, have failed miserably to find the Holy Grail. Aimlessly resentful at first, the developing relationship between Lancelot and Queen Guinevere focuses their rage, leading to inevitable tragedy…Read More » -
Michael Crichton – Pursuit (1972)
1971-1980DramaMichael CrichtonThrillerUSAA political extremist plans to spread stolen nerve gas in a city where a political convention is being held. Government agents are sent to catch him.Read More »
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Bruce Baillie – Quick Billy (1971)
USA1971-1980Bruce BaillieExperimental







