1971-1980

Alistair MacLean’s two-fisted, no-holds-barred adventure yarns are a natural for the screen. When Eight Bells Toll brings in more slugging, quick action twists, sharp dialog, amusing acting than many pix twice its length.
Anthony Hopkins has a role that creates a character full of resource, courage, cheek and personality. A kind of James Bond, without the latter’s trademarks. Character is a naval secret service agent assigned to find out how millions of pounds in gold bullion are being pirated. He starts his explorations in the bleakness of the Western Highlands of Scotland. Hopkins and his pal (Corin Redgrave) posing as marine biologists find mystery and hostility among the natives and the obvious suspect is a suave, rich Greek tycoon (Jack Hawkins) whose luxury yacht guests some odd characters.Read More »

A mysterious disappearance takes place during the shooting of a commercial on the beach in the early morning hours. An unknown man suddenly comes into the shot, then walks into the sea holding an umbrella and seizes to exist, before the bewildered eyes of the whole crew. After the police are notified, a confusing array of red tape manoeuvers begins, revealing the close affiliations of the Authorities with the advertising company manager and the whole mechanism of Mass Media, all of which are trying not to investigate the event but to conceal or even exploit it in their own interest. Only the musician involved in that commercial is trying to figure out what really happened.Read More »

The rich and ruthless rancher Brandt Ruger keeps his beautiful young wife Melissa like a part of his property, subdued to his will. But one day she’s kidnapped by the famous outlaw Frank Calder – just to teach him reading, so he tells her. Calder doesn’t know or care who’s wife she is. He takes care of her well, and eventually Melissa falls in love with him. But Ruger feels humiliated. Full of hate, he sets out to kill him – and Melissa too, if necessary. Together with his friends and the newest technology in guns, which carry 800 yards, he initiates a battue on Calder and his gang.Read More »

Synopsis:
In the dusty town of Bannock, a stray bullet fired by the gun-toting gang of cattle mogul Vincent Bronson’s drunken ranch hands results in the inadvertent murder of an innocent elderly bystander. As the culprits return to Bronson’s farm in Sabbath, Bannock’s fearless and unyielding law-man, Marshal Jered Maddox, rides into town to bring the killers back to stand trial, even though their powerful employer is willing to compensate for this unfortunate loss. The law is the law, and Maddox is bent on arresting them all. Who can escape the merciless Widow-maker?Read More »

Quote:
The sweet life of a couple together for seventy years. After another cardiac incident, Armand knows he doesn’t have much time left. But after all these years in the same house, he doesn’t want to die somewhere else. His wife Rose has secretly decided she will die as she lived: with him.Read More »

Quote:
One of the most memorable paranoia thrillers of the 1970s, Sydney Pollack’s Three Days of the Condor never loses its focus as a tense, compelling exercise in suspense. The plot rests on the premise that everyone with power is corrupt; Pollack and writers Lorenzo Semple Jr. and David Rayfiel keep the proceedings from devolving into the preposterous or unconvincing. True to form, Robert Redford represents the powerless, non-corrupt, masses as the film’s bookish CIA researcher Turner. Unlike some of the bleaker examples of the genre (1974’s The Parallax View), Redford’s character ultimately outwits the system and finds a way to fight the corruption, much as he would the following year in All the President’s Men. Redford’s charisma smoothes over some of Condor’s less-believable moments, and Sydney Pollack directs in the distinctively gloomy-but-lively style common to 1970s films. This was the fourth film on which the director and star teamed; they would continue to work together on movies such as 1986’s Out of Africa and 1990’s Havana. –Brendon HanleyRead More »

Synopsis:
When political thugs murder an opponent’s volunteer and also kill a cop, chief inspector Verjeat believes the politician who hired them is as guilty as the murderous goon. Verjeat’s pursuit of the councilman, Lardatte, gets him a warning from his superiors. When he embarrasses Lardatte while disarming a hostage (the dead volunteer’s father), Verjeat is told he’s being transferred within a week. He speeds up his hunt for the goon and, with Lefévre, one of his young detectives, he engineers a complicated scheme to buy more time before the transfer. How should Verjeat play out his values of honor and duty?Read More »

Charlotte is better known by its original French title, La Jeune Fille Assassinee. The film combines Roger Vadim’s overriding twin fascinations: eroticism and death. Charlotte (Sirpa Lane) dreams of dying violently while in the throes of an orgasm. This curious desire is the principal motivation for her entering into a life of crime. In addition to directing Charlotte, Vadim also produced, scripted, and played a major on-screen role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie GuideRead More »

It all began with “Black Friday” – a massacre on Sept 8, 1978, by the Shah’s police. Official pronouncements put the death toll at 200, but the next day the people of Teheran witnessed how thousands of bodies were brought to Behast Zahra cemetery. Yet even this wasn’t the whole extent of the tragedy. As the families continued looking for their relatives they began to realize just how many had disappeared. Over the next few months the massacres continued, with many thousands more disappearing, until February 11th, 1979, victory day for the Revolution. Naderi’s film follows this search for the missing, through which the terrible truth is gradually revealed. The film is not only a documentary but also a document of a horrible crime.Read More »