1970s

  • Marco Ferreri – La grande bouffe (1973)

    1971-1980ArthouseComedyItalyMarco Ferreri

    Quote:
    Subversive Italian satirist Marco Ferreri directed and co-wrote (with Rafael Azcona) this grotesquely amusing French black comedy about four men who grow sick of life, and so meet at a remote villa with the goal of literally eating themselves to death. The quartet comes from various walks of life — a pilot (Marcello Mastroianni), a chef (Ugo Tognazzi), a television host (Michel Piccoli), and a judge (Philippe Noiret) — but all are successful men with excessive appetites for life’s pleasures (food is used as mere metaphor here, as graphic as that metaphor becomes). ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie GuideRead More »

  • Dan Curtis – The Night Strangler AKA Kolchak: The Night Strangler (1973)

    USA1971-1980Dan CurtisHorrorThriller

    Synopsis:
    The Night Strangler is the sequel to the enormously successful 1972 TV movie The Night Stalker. Darren McGavin returns as seedy reporter Carl Kolchak, who previously ran into conflict when Las Vegas authorities refused to acknowledge Kolchak’s uncovering of a modern-day vampire. Now he’s in Seattle, on the trail of a mysterious strangler who drains the blood of his victims. Kolchak’s quest takes him to a hidden underground city beneath Seattle and the bizarre residents therein. Margaret Hamilton (The Wizard of Oz) is seen briefly as an expert on alchemy; John Carradine also makes cameo. The success of this telemovie and its predecessor inspired a brief 1974 TV series, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, also starring McGavin.

    — Hal Erickson.Read More »

  • Leopoldo Savona – Byleth – il demone dell’incesto aka Byleth the Demon of Incest (1972)

    1971-1980ExploitationHorrorItalyLeopoldo Savona

    Synopsis:
    The Duke Lionello Shandwell is delighted that his sister Barbara has returned home, after being away for a year in Venice, to his lonely ancestral castle in the Roman countryside. His happiness is disrupted when she reveals that she has since gotten married to Giordano. Although he doesn’t fully show it around others, Lionello is deeply disturbed by his sister’s new union, and it’s not in a protective big brother sort of way. While his sister and brother-in-law stay with him, Lionello sometimes retreats into a tormented, depraved, and jealous state, spying on them making love, harboring repressed aggression towards Giordano. Barbara is a red head, and meanwhile a giallo-esque killer is going around killing red heads. Could it be Lionello venting his aggressions over his unrequited love for Barbara, or is it something more demonic?Read More »

  • Paul Bogart / Arthur Miller – Great Performances: A Memory of Two Mondays (1971)

    Drama1971-1980Arthur MillerClassicsPaul BogartUSA

    Set in the summer of 1933,in the depths of the Great Depression, Arthur Miller’s one-act play “A Memory of Two Mondays” (1955) focuses on the workers in a Brooklyn automobile parts warehouse, a grim place in which men and women work for small wages and are grateful for the work. Appearing at the beginning of this production to set the scene, Miller observes that the Civil War and the Depression were the only times in American history in which the whole country was in the same boat-“You could not do a single thing that you wanted to do because no one had any money.” The warehouse, he notes, became a grotesque sort of haven for the employees since they, at least, had jobs.Read More »

  • Val Guest – Au Pair Girls AKA The Young Playmates (1972)

    1971-1980ComedyEroticaThe Cannon GroupUSAVal Guest

    A detailed investigation of the 70’s Au Pairs, leaving no stone unturned and milking every situation.

    Four young women from Europe and Asia, recently arrived in England, begin their new jobs as Au Pairs. They quickly find that the English are not as stuffy and staid as they appear, and the young ladies are soon spending more time in bed than on the job.Read More »

  • Peter Bogdanovich – What’s Up, Doc? (1972)

    USA1971-1980ClassicsComedyPeter Bogdanovich

    Synopsis:
    Two researchers have come to San Francisco to compete for a research grant in Music. One seems a bit distracted, and that was before he meets her. A strange woman seems to have devoted her life to confusing and embarassing him. At the same time a woman has her jewels stolen and a government whistle blower arrives with his stolen top secret papers. All, of course have the same style and color overnight bag.Read More »

  • Robert Aldrich – Ulzana’s Raid (1972)

    USA1971-1980ActionRobert AldrichWestern

    Synopsis:
    Report reaches the US cavalry that the Apache leader Ulzana has left his reservation with a band of followers. A compassionate young officer, Lieutenant DeBuin, is given a small company to find him and bring him back; accompanying the troop is McIntosh, an experienced scout, and Ke-Ni-Tay, an Apache guide. Ulzana massacres, rapes and loots across the countryside; and as DeBuin encounters the remains of his victims, he is compelled to learn from McIntosh and to confront his own naiveté and hidden prejudice.Read More »

  • Henrik Malyan – Nahapet AKA Life Triumphs (1977)

    Drama1971-1980ArmeniaArthouseHenrik Malyan

    Story of a strong-willed man, Nahapet, who lost his family during the 1915 Genocide! is an eternal story of resurrection.

    From imdb
    Storyline
    Nahapet (meaning also patriarch in Armenian) has lost all his family and intimates, his house and properties during the 1915 Genocide. Self-absorbed and reticent, he reminds a withered tree. Same is with the village on the slops of Aragatz mountain where he finds shelter – half-destroyed houses, cowed faces, sun-scorched rocky earth. Could Nahapet find inner strength to build a new house, start a new family, revive the things cast away by the destiny. Eternal story of resurrection, so much symbolic for Armenian nation’s history. Written by ArtakRead More »

  • Rolf Olsen & Lee Payant – Blutiger Freitag AKA Bloody Friday [Uncut] (1972)

    1971-1980CrimeGermanyLee PayantRolf OlsenThriller

    Synopsis:
    After escaping from a courtroom during his trial, a criminal plans the biggest bank robbery every to have taken place in Germany.Read More »

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