The following things happened in 1973:
- The UK, Ireland and Denmark entered the European Economic Community.
- Elvis Presley's concert in Hawaii surpassed the moon landing in terms of TV ratings.
- Ferdinand Marcos became President of the Philippines.
- The U.S. Supreme Court overturned state abortion bans in Roe v. Wade.
- The Paris Peace Accords brought an end to the Vietnam War.
- The U.S. and China agreed to establish liason offices after Richard Nixon's visit to China.
- The Young and the Restless aired for the first time on U.S. TV.
- The World Trade Center opened in New York.
- The Watergate hearings were aired on TV.
- The automated teller machine (ATM) was patented.
- The first mobile phone call was made.
- The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) was founded.
- Bruce Lee died.
- The Yom Kippur War began between Israel, Egypt and Syria.
- An OPEC oil embargo triggered an energy crisis.
Required Viewing
1. Enter the Dragon
Every once in a while you just HAVE to watch Enter the Dragon. It's SO iconic, and it casts such a long shadow over the movies that have come after it. It's also one of those "lightning in a bottle movies," in which certain people and trends came together in exactly the right way, at exactly the right moment. Bruce Lee? Yeah, this movie's purely a function of who he was and his career up to that point. The director? The rest of the cast and crew? I'm guessing that Bruce Lee knew exactly what Bruce Lee wanted to do, and everyone else was smart enough to follow his lead.
Fun Fact 1: Jim Kelly's appearance in this movie led directly to Black Belt Jones the following year. Robert Clouse directed both movies.
Fun Fact 2: Clouse would also go on to direct Game of Death, The Big Brawl (one of Jackie Chan's early attempts to crossover into the American market) and the cult classic Gymkata.
Fun Fact 3: Many are aware of Jackie Chan's extremely brief appearance in this film, but fellow Hong Kong alumnus Sammo Hung is also in it for a second.
Sad Fact: Bruce Lee's costar John Saxon died last year. He's buried in the same cemetery as Bruce Lee.
1. (Andy Warhol's) (Flesh for) Frankenstein
I'd already seen this. This, and the one in which Udo Kier plays Dracula.
It's cheesy as hell, but god damn if this movie isn't entertaining. It balances offerings of sex, violence and drama perfectly, even if the acting isn't - how shall I say - professional.
Udo Kier stars as Dr. Frankenstein, with Joe Dallesandro as a villager caught up in his machinations. Oh, and I almost forgot the alarming Monique van Vooren, who performs her role without eyebrows. It's all ridiculous and compelling at the same time, a testament to the director who conceived it and a near-condemnation of almost everyone else involved in the production. In other words it's great. Full stop. Great.
This is hands-down my favorite adaptation of Mary Shelley's novel. A more literal approach? FUCK that noise. Give me Flesh for Frankenstein any day of the week. All the good stuff is in this film, in all of its italianate glory, and it awaits those who are ready for it.
Further Viewing: Check out the rest of director Paul Morrisey's filmography. Strap yourself in, clear out the rest of the day's schedule, because it's going to be a deep dive.
Fun Fact 1: The "Little Joe" mentioned in Lou Reed's song "Walk on the Wild Side" is Joe Dallesandro.
Fun Fact 2: The crotch on the cover of the Rolling Stones album Sticky Fingers also belongs to Joe Dallesandro.
Fun Fact 3: Monique van Vooren had a brief appearance in Oliver Stone's Wall Street.
Fun Fact 4: Roman Polanski came up with the idea for the plot
Fun Fact 5: Visual effects artist Carlo Rambaldi would go on to win multiple Academy Awards. His first was for 1976's King Kong, and this was followed by Oscars for Alien and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
Fun Fact 6: There actually is some basis for Serbians representing the "true Greeks." Serbia was part of the Byzantine Empire during the Early Middle Ages, and a community of Greeks remains in Serbia to the present day. There's also evidence of the Ancient Greeks expanding into the region between the 5th and 2nd centuries B.C.
Excellent
1. Lady Snowblood
I watched this alongside Lady Snowblood: Love Song of Vengeance, which came out the following year.
The star of this movie, Meiko Kaji, makes it great. The direction is flawless, and the story is told in the most concise way possible, but Meiko Kaji is the thing pushing it into the realm of greatness. It's like that confession scene in Kurosawa's High and Low, in that without that one element the whole thing would have been less than the sum of its parts.
In Lady Snowblood a woman in feudal Japan seeks to avenge her dishonored parents, with results worthy of Toshiro Mifune. This movie probably owes its present audience more to Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill than to its own merits, which is really too bad because it's an excellent film in its own right. Tarantino carried the outlines of this revenge story into the present day, but the heart and soul remains in 1973 with Lady Snowblood.
The sequel, 1974's Love Song of Vengeance, isn't nearly as good. It starts out well, but instead of investigating Lady Snowblood's reasons for surrendering herself it gets bogged down in a political subplot. And if it was so easy for Lady Snowblood to infiltrate the bad guys' lair, why didn't she do so from the beginning? Why wait around for them to burn down the village and infect people with the plague?
2. The Friends of Eddie Coyle
Peter Yates directed this crime thriller set in Boston, with Robert Mitchum as a small time crook set on avoiding prison time. None of the other actors in this movie went on to be names in Hollywood, though they might be examples of perfect casting. The Friends of Eddie Coyle was well received by critics, but it was something of a financial disappointment for the studio.
3. Scarecrow
Gene Hackman and Al Pacino star as two drifters headed to Pittsburg. Hackman had done The Poseidon Adventure the year before, and The French Connection the year before that. Pacino was a much newer face, having come from 1972's The Godfather. The director, Jerry Schatzberg, also directed Pacino in 1971's The Panic in Needle Park, which was both Pacino and Schatzberg's second movie.
Fun Fact: Cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond was a big deal in the 70s. He worked on Deliverance, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and The Deer Hunter. His last "big" movie was probably Maverick in 1994.
4. The Long Goodbye
Elliot Gould stars as Philip Marlowe, Raymond Chandler's famous detective. Robert Altman directed The Long Goodbye, so expect an ambitiously framed story and a lot of strange conversations happening just within earshot.
Fun Fact: Arnold Schwarzenegger is in this movie for a few minutes. He went uncredited, and did it between Hercules in New York and Stay Hungry.
Strangely Fascinating
1. My Name is Nobody
This movie starts out as a conventional western, and then balloons outward into this strange, stirring, existential thing. I'd be at pains to explain the mine subplot, but somehow it doesn't matter. Henry Fonda stars as an aging gunfighter, with the relatively unknown Terence Hill (a.k.a. Mario Girotti) as his enigmatic rival. Ennio Morricone's score is a real highlight.
Fun Fact 1: Sam Peckinpah is referenced several times in this film.
Fun Fact 2: That barber at the end? That's Geoffrey Lewis, father of Juliette Lewis. You may remember him as Clint Eastwood's buddy in Every Which Way But Loose.
Fun Fact 3: Those involved in the production argue as to how much Sergio Leone had to do with this film. Some would give him a director credit, while others would say he played a more marginal role.
Strap Yourself In...
1. Belladonna of Sadness
Weird, sexual, impressionistic anime based on a French novel. At 7 AM I was unprepared for gang rape and a penis sprite. You'll have to be careful where you watch it and who you watch it with, but if you're in the mood for pure, unrestrained 70s weirdness this is the movie for you.
Fun Fact: This movie is part of a trilogy of adult-oriented anime films which resulted in the animation studio responsible going bankrupt. Too weird for the 70s perhaps, but appreciation for this film has grown considerably over the years.
2. The Holy Mountain
Belladonna of Sadness, The Holy Mountain, Sweet Movie... if you're looking to begin a tour of 70s cinematic weirdness these are three good movies to start with. All three are sexual, violent and strange in equal measure, and all three - love them or hate them - are among the most idiosyncratic films ever made. If forced to pick a favorite I'd probably pick Belladonna of Sadness, but The Holy Mountain is almost as arresting. Sweet Movie? Well, let's just say that movie wasn't an easy two hours for me.
In tone The Holy Mountain is somewhat reminiscent of Matthew Barney's later Cremaster Cycle of films, though I think the images at play in Jodorowsky's work are more memorable. It also has a more coherent framing narrative, and of course it came first. It is uniquely the product of the man who directed, wrote, produced, co-scored and starred in it, and I applaud its unhindered ambition.
Warning: If you're an animal lover I recommend not watching this movie. I won't go into the gory details, but I very much doubt that the Humane Society was on hand during its production.
I'll Have the Cheese Sticks And The Cheese Plate With An Extra Side of Cheese
1. The Baby
If you're the kind of person who appreciates movies like Female Trouble and Pets you'll be all over The Baby. I'd rather not explain the plot here because I don't want to ruin it for you. DON'T read the Wikipedia entry beforehand, and DON'T look it up on IMDb. Go into this one cold and you'll see what I mean.
Further Viewing: For an even deeper dive into cult film watch The Harrad Experiment by the same director, Ted Post. There's also a lot of movie history in the combined filmographies of this movie's cast, everything from Alfred Hitchock to Elvis to The Last Porno Flick to The Godfather.
Some Good Ones
1. The Golden Voyage of Sinbad
Caroline Munro again, as lovely as ever.
As Munro struggles not to burst out of whatever top she's wearing, Sinbad and his crew race a wizard to a mysterious treasure. Ray Harryhausen's stop motion animation takes center stage, and the pacing of the story is excellent. This is the second movie in a trilogy, the first being The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, which appeared way back in 1958, and the third being Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, which featured the beautiful Jane Seymour in 1977.
Fun Fact: Check out 1981's Attack Force Z, featuring John Philip Law, star of The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, alongside a couple lesser-known actors by the names of Mel Gibson and Sam Neill.
2. Charley Varrick
Some problems with this movie:
1. That scene where Charley beds the bad guy's secretary. It's so implausible it took me right out of the movie.
2. The car/airplane duel near the end seemed like an excuse for stunts.
3. Even if the people chasing him are dead, it's still the mob's money, and they're still going to come looking for it. And in eluding one set of mobsters he's left a big trail for others to follow.
Aside from the above this movie's not bad. Walter Matthau stars as an aging bank robber, with Joe Don Baker as a mob enforcer trying to track him down. I thoroughly enjoyed it up until #1 above, and Lalo Schifrin's score adds a lot to the movie.
Fun Fact: Don Siegel directed this two years after Dirty Harry. He had a close relationship with Clint Eastwood, and Charley Varrick was originally written for Eastwood, who turned it down.
3. The Wicker Man
Uncomfortable yet? I certainly hope so!
In The Wicker Man Christianity, in the guise of a Scottish policeman, encounters a belief system much older than itself. I really wanted to put this movie in the Excellent category, and I've been meaning to see it for years, but parts of it are really blurry and hard to make out. Edward Woodward is great in the lead, veering between righteous indignation and pure disbelief, and the inhabitants of the island are sinister throughout. In terms of pagan-infused horror I'd put this one below Midsommar and far above the disappointing 2006 remake. It definitely has a lot to recommend it.
Fun Fact 1: The director, Robin Hardy, only directed four films before his death in 2016. He directed a sequel to The Wicker Man, titled The Wicker Tree in 2011, but it was a critical and commercial disappointment. He would have directed a third installment by the name of The Wrath of the Gods, but his attempts at crowdfunding that movie failed.
Fun Fact 2: The idea of the wicker man, which wasn't present in the novel that inspired the movie, was taken from Julius Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic War.
Fun Fact 3: Christopher Lee, who did this movie for free, would perform with Britt Ekland again in 1974's The Man with the Golden Gun.
4. Soylent Green
"Soylent Green is....!"
Sure, he lived long enough to become a right wing gun nut, but I'll always love Charlton Heston for three classic science fiction movies: Planet of the Apes, The Omega Man, and Soylent Green.
In Soylent Green Heston plays a corrupt cop investigating a murder. And guess what? This murder takes place in 2022. Yes, my friends, we're now living in the future, and thankfully it's not the Soylent Green timeline or else we'd all be in serious trouble. We're... not in serious trouble, right? Right?
I can't fault Richard Fleischer's direction overmuch, but this movie does take a bit too long to get going. Other than that it's good, and the ending still packs a punch almost 50 years later.
Spooky Fact: The "funeral scene" in this movie was a little more than acting. The actor involved died 12 days after filming. He (and maybe also the other actors involved) probably knew his days were numbered while they were filming it.
5. Mean Streets
From a storytelling point of view this movie has serious issues, but its nevertheless an intriguing look at the Scorsese yet to be. Harvey Keitel stars as a low level gangster, with Robert de Niro as his irresponsible friend. It doesn't quite end where it should and there are some unnecessary voiceovers, but it's still a serviceable movie incorporating elements that Scorsese would make better use of later on.
Oh, and I looked it up. Scorsese has directed 22 feature films since this one, De Niro has appeared in 91 films, and Keitel has appeared in 115 films.
6. Robin Hood
Disney adaptation of the oft-told tale. I can remember watching this when I was a kid. I had no idea it came out so long ago.
Not Really Good, Not Really Bad, Kind of in the Middle
2. Coffy
Pam Grier plays an inexplicably vengeful nurse bent on cleaning up the inner city. The dialogue near the beginning is really, really bad, and the acting isn't much better, but there's enough nudity to make up the difference. Here's a thought though: what if they hadn't given Coffy King George's "smack" in the car? How would her plan have worked then?
Fun Fact 1: A proposed sequel, Burn Coffy Burn, was scrapped in favor of Foxy Brown.
Fun Fact 2: In 1973, within the blaxploitation market it was a close race between Coffy and Cleopatra Jones. Coffy ended up earning more money.
Here Ye, Critics, Unite in Your Appreciation for This Movie or Be Damned!
1. F is for Fake
My initial reaction to this movie was "Fuck you, Orson Welles," but upon further reflection my reaction is "Fuck you, Orson Welles." Yeah, he was the guy behind Citizen Kane, but F is for Fake is writing checks the film can't cash. "What is art?" quoth the movie, but I was to busy watching YouTube on the side. Sorry, Orson... what was the question again?
Some Bad Ones
1. Les Aventures de Rabbi Jacob (a.k.a. "The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob")
The French sense of humor... eh... I suppose if you like Mr. Bean you might also like this movie, but as it is I struggled. I'm also not sure why it's called "The Adventures of Rabbi Jacob" when Rabbi Jacob isn't in that much of it. Instead of the good rabbi, most of the plot revolves around a Mr. Privert, a racist, older Frenchman perpetually on the way to his daughter's wedding. There's a zany chase through a chewing gum factory, some hijinks involving a boat strapped to the top of a car, and a few other gags, but these gags are set up so far in advance they're never a surprise, and hence never that funny.
According to Wikipedia this movie enjoys a cult following. I have no idea why.
2. Girls are for Loving
Just how badly did people want to see boobs in 1973? Judging by this film, really bad. The boobs, however, aren't worth sitting through the rest of the movie for. Nothing against the boobs, it's just that the acting is so atrocious, the dialogue is so cringy, and the plot makes almost no sense whatsoever. There's also plenty of straight up porn from the same time period that's much easier to watch.
3. Battle for the Planet of the Apes
When I was a kid these movies were on TV all the time. I remember the LP/storybooks, the action figures, even the coloring books. It was a very low maintenance franchise, in which facial prosthetics could be used and reused, and in which the story only had to be vaguely science fiction-y to get a passing grade from fans. I liked the first one, but I wouldn't say it was High Art. The reboots? Like the originals, they were often trying too hard to make a point.
Battle for the Planet of the Apes might be the most confusing entry in the series. With all the time travel and alternate futures I really had a hard time figuring out what was going on. This, and it's been a LONG time since I've seen the other movies. I'm still very confused as to the overall chronology, how certain characters know certain things, and how bits of technology still work in this post-apocalyptic (or is it pre-apocalyptic?) future.
Perhaps worst of all, the screenwriter never bothered to consider why anyone would care about these characters or their dilemmas. The apes are by turns arrogant and stuck in the past, and the humans seem to lack the self respect necessary to strike out on their own. I mean, it's not like any one group has such an advantage over any other group. Why the indecisiveness? Why the doubt?
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