1970s

  • Julian Aymes & Peter Hall – No Man’s Land (1978)

    1971-1980DramaJulian AymesUnited Kingdom

    Harold Pinter’s 1975 play, adapted for television by Granada in 1978.

    A legendary pairing for John Gielgud and Ralph Richardson, No Man’s Land is Pinter at his most ethereal and individual. Pinter’s obsession with memory making victims of us all is the starting point for this tale of Hirst, a wealthy writer haunted by his past, and Spooner, the man without a past who tries to rescue him. Spooner’s personality is built on a bundle of self-inventions that are likely to topple at any moment. It is a play of despair, of emptiness, vague in its diction and purveying an air of loneliness and waste. As a hypnotic treatise on the pipe dream of a past made good, it is a spellbinding, haunting cautionary tale.Read More »

  • Aleksandr Stolper – Chetvyortyy AKA The Fourth (1972)

    1971-1980Aleksandr StolperDramaUSSR

    wikipedia wrote:
    The Second World War. The crew of an American aircraft falls into the German camp. Three members of the crew decide to sacrifice their lives to let the other prisoners to escape. The film’s protagonist – the fourth member of the crew (He) – wants to join them, but the commander and fellow soldiers denied him, as for the implementation of planned to only three, and four people suspected Nazi cause and make an escape plan unfeasible. Saying goodbye to departing for the death of friends, the protagonist says:Read More »

  • Charles Eames & Ray Eames – Powers of Ten (1977)

    Charles Eames1971-1980DocumentaryRay EamesShort FilmUSA

    Beginning with a shot of a couple enjoying a picnic, then zooming out incrementally by powers of ten, the film offers a glimpse of everything from the edge of the known universe to the molecules on a person’s hand.Read More »

  • Prakash Mehra – Zanjeer AKA Chains (1973)

    1971-1980ClassicsDramaIndiaPrakash Mehra

    Essential Hindi popular cinema classic and a pioneer entry of the 1970’s Indian crime films. This is the breakthrough film of superstar Amitabh Bachchan, seen here in his “angry young man” persona for the first time. The people behind this was Salim-Javed, a screenwriting team who were responsible for bringing in a hardhitting socially-slanted style in Hindi cinema, penning such classics as Deewar, Sholay and Trishul.

    The plot is a revenge story in the mould of the spaghetti western Death Rides a Horse, with Bachchan witnessing the murder of his parents as a child, and a chain on the murderer’s wrist acting as a flashback device…Read More »

  • Stu Segall – Drive In Massacre (1976)

    1971-1980CultHorrorStu SegallUSA

    Synopsis
    Two police detectives try to catch a serial killer who is stalking a rural California drive-in theater, randomly killing people with a sword.Read More »

  • Karsten Wedel – Jag är Maria aka I am Maria (1979)

    1971-1980DramaKarsten WedelSweden

    Plot Synopsis:
    Visiting her mother’s cousin Lennart in a small town, Maria (an 11-year-old child) discovers a strange figure in the city, Jon – a large, dirty and old man. He is somewhat of an old pariah in the eyes of the townspeople, who reject him due to his slovenly appearance and drinking habits. Jon lives in a remote house on the edge of a village and is considered dangerously abnormal and Maria is not permitted to go near him. But one day he is struck by a car and Maria, independent and unafraid, helps him home. There she makes a wonderful discovery: Jon paints marvelous and unusual pictures, a real world of imaginative, naive painting. He makes her a gift of one and all too quickly becomes an unwilling celebrity, unable to handle the reaction of the townspeople and, especially, the media. Maria is the only one he trusts. Through her caring, the old man allows his life to take a different direction.Read More »

  • Richard Compton – Macon County Line (1974)

    Richard Compton1971-1980ActionCultUSA

    A vengeful Southern sheriff is out for blood after his wife is brutally killed by a pair of drifters.Read More »

  • Dennis Kane – French Quarter (1978)

    Dennis Kane1971-1980ExploitationUSA

    Quote:
    This is one of those hard-to-find drive in movies of the 70s which is worth seeking out. The basic story concerns a young woman (Fontaine) who comes to the French Quarter, badly in need of work and ends up dreaming that she is back in another century, or is she in fact an 19th century woman dreaming that she is in the future? The other characters around Fontaine are played by the same actors from the contemporary story. The sets, costumes and ambiance are incredibly detailed (it was shot on location).Read More »

  • Norifumi Suzuki – Furyô anego den: Inoshika Ochô AKA Sex and Fury (1973)

    Norifumi Suzuki1971-1980ActionExploitationJapan

    Synopsis
    During the Meiji era, a gambler named Ochô takes revenge on the three dignitaries who killed her father, shelters a wanted anarchist, and crosses paths with a British femme fatale.Read More »

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